Just about to teach the letter ‘Y’ Turns out it’s been changing it’s shape and expanding a songbook of sounds across the globe for some time now… #teach #eyfs #phonics #earlyyears #earlyreading #edutwitter #nursery #montessori #Y #letters #teaching #letterY

The ‘Poo Study Box’ Made from an old wine box; The Bristol Stool Chart as a key; 7 specimen jars for analysis; Fake Poo; Numerals as labels for classification; Rug to work on; Vocabulary: liquid, solid, viscosity, classify, order, key ..e.t.c #eyfs #earlyyears #science #maths

"Looking & Drawing are as much a process of unlearning as learning” My Art College tutors told me. Unlearning! The idea of ‘Unlearning’ as a positive process really stuck with me, it’s shaped my relationship with error, and if I embrace it, Unlearning is a great friend.

Brilliant how jo0L5s creates the conditions for mathematical play and creativity in his nursery. Read about the cycles of study made accessible by study boxes and rugs (open-access article): atm.org.uk/Mathematics-Te…

A #nursery child starts their journey into the world of recorded mathematics in classic style: “Look…I’m doing maths…my big brother does maths!” Joy!

A #nursery child’s independent play with the #montessori wooden letter box: He lays out the letter rugs cards, making words and reading as he plays. Taking it all in & looking within the words he joyfully jumps up & down in excitement: ‘Look at the vowels … i o a o e o e …!’

I’m struck by the capacity of young minds, whose age is measured in months, to learn at a speed much greater than mine, measured in years. Can I match the speed of learning they’ve achieved in their 36 months since birth? No! Working with brilliant minds is a serious business!

When my pupils playfully improvise with wooden blocks, shapes & spacial relationships, I can’t help recalling John Coltrane’s sentiment: ‘Damn the rules, it’s the feeling that matters’ And when I see the speed at which ‘feeling’ translates into learning, I think: ‘Yep, he has

‘It’s not how you fall, but how you get up’ (in progress)

Wherever you begin your journey through the mathematical landscape you’re guaranteed to bump into someone who started somewhere else.

Nursery child creates a beautifully executed & concise line drawing. He pauses, sits back, and scratches his head. I ask “What are you thinking about?” Child “What It’s like to be a snail with wings” Joy!

That moment when you walk past a little toaster left on a garden wall and you realise it sums up your state of mind!

A Nursery child picks fresh leaves & daisies and lays them out with careful attention to position and 1-1 correspondence. She adjusts any spacial and numerical errors as she goes: “Squirrel is making a picnic, all his friends get one daisy each so they don’t squabble!” Joy!

Since my pupils are the main stakeholders in their learning, why plan it without them? And, if I want them to drive their own learning, the sooner they’re in the driver’s seat, the more prepared they’ll be when the road is theirs to travel alone.

When my ideas stall, play is the spark I turn to. It’s the fire starter that breathes life into my sleepy designs. It unwraps and shakes awake thinking. Play excels at this, to tame play or try and contain it is to dim plays brilliance and silence the magic.

Nursery child plays on the “Number Ten Study Rug” with Numicon “You can make 10 with 5 and 5 and that’s fair but you can’t make ten with 6 and 6 “ “You can’t make ten with 7 and 7.” He laughs. “You’d have to squash a 7 down into 2 and 1 which isn’t fair … Or three” Joy.

A nursery child explores the Montessori Shape Boxes. She engages with the properties of congruence, shape, colour, & magnitude, using them to create imaginative & varied designs: “I’ve made a rocket & there are lots of stars around — every star is going to be different!” Joy!

Nursery child invites us into some thinking on shape and space: “I’ve made a face do you want to see? You turn the circle and the mouth can be happy or sad… But I can’t decide if square eyes are happier than triangle eyes!” We look, wonder and I see what he means. Joy!

Nursery child draws an elephant with wonderful expression & succinctness, a simple line and perfectly judged areas of tone capture the imagination: “I’ve drawn it for you…It’s sitting down and feeling sad because it’s the last day of school…and his trunk is crumpled up” Joy