Year one demonstrated some amazing problem solving skills in their Numeracy class today. Games and challenges involved them finding different ways of making 7. They used a variety of addition and subtraction strategies, lots of mathematical vocabulary and were encouraged to record their findings in their own individual way.
Some children did an activity that involved making candy cookies for a King who loved the number 7. Using 7 Multilink cubes to be the candy pieces, the children explored ways of connecting them to make different shaped cookies. Each time they made a new shape they recorded them on squared paper. The children each made lots different shapes. I wonder how many are possible in total?
Other children played a game, in pairs, that used 7 pennies, 2 cups and a plate. The 7 pennies were put on the plate. Each child took turns to close their eyes as the other took some pennies off the plate and put them into their cup. Using the information of how many coins they had in their cup, added to those on the plate, they had to work out how many their partner must have in their cup. This was a challenging game and the children used a variety of strategies to figure the answer out. Some counted on in their heads, others used a whiteboard to draw a visual representation. Here are a few of examples of the children at work:
The children are also learning, by heart, the number pairs that make up a number. E.g. 7= 7+0, 6+1, 5+2 etc These are known as number bonds. As the week goes on, the children will continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of number bonds and practise their counting on and back skills. They will continue to explore ways of making numbers and play the cup and plate game again. Learning through hands-on activities like these is great fun and really helps the children to visualise the mathematics involved.