Shape and Space Without a Worksheet – for Reception and Year 1
<< An ATM publicationThe book is written to provide a selection of activities for young children as they make the transition from Foundation stage to Year 1. It offers twelve activities with extensions and simplifications together with some suggestions for developing the ideas in other ways.
I was very pleased to see this book. I enjoyed the last book produced by this group ‘Number without a worksheet’, so I was eager to see what was in this one. I was not disappointed. At first glance I thought it was aimed mainly at Reception or even Nursery phase, as the activities presented looked low level, which appears to be the trend in this topic, which is not surprising, as the curriculum emphasises naming shapes with little expectation on exploring shapes. However, as you look closer at each activity you can see the thought and meticulous attention to detail that has taken place in each activity’s construction.
The use of story books is always a good stimulus for any activity, so it was lovely to see that some are suggested that relate to an activity and certainly offer you a contextual starting point. The structure of the book and activities is modelled on the previous ‘Number’ book, so if you need the mathematical learning explicitly identified for you this is written at the beginning of the activity. Resources are also offered together with starting points and extensions, which I have found very useful together with variations on the theme. Often we are isolated in our primary schools, especially if we are in a small school and no other early years practitioner is there for you to bounce ideas around with. Generally books offer starting points, I do not speak for everyone, but I know if I purchase a book the pages I thought that looked good, and persuaded me to purchase it in the first place, become the only activities I use, for when I look closer I find the others do nothing for me, not even give me inspiration to make them better. However, with this book, which is not very long, every activity I felt was a good starting point and offered me ideas on how to develop mathematical thinking in the classroom.
The activities are probably not new to you however I think they present a slightly different perspective on some old ideas. I like the use of questions noted for your use, something I believe new teachers, and teaching assistants, will find extremely helpful and offer those of us who are ‘longer in the tooth’ to think about our practice and the questions we ask.
Recording suggestions are presented for every activity which is a great plus in my eyes, for I am always looking for innovative alternatives to writing mathematics on paper, or worse, in books. Here the authors offer a myriad of alternatives including the use of that overworked digital camera and even simple drawings, after all it is shape and space!
The illustrations are simple, but I like that because it never dates. It’s simply presented and accessible for all.
Did I like this book? Very much.
Would I recommend this book to you? Yes strongly.
Would I purchase it myself? Yes; I have done and brought a couple for birthday presents and I know what I would get my student if I had one this year!
Judy Sayers Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education • The University of Northampton
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Shape, space and measures is an area of numeracy which I particularly enjoy teaching. While I use several strategies for introducing and reinforcing the concepts taught in this area, I am always on the lookout for new ideas. It is for this reason that I was attracted to ATM’s publication, Shape and Space Without a Worksheet – for Reception and Year 1.
This book offers an easily accessible set of suggestions for activities involving shape and space, which is relevant for both Reception and Year 1 children. The success of this book lies in its presentation. In addition to suggesting potential activities, there is also a list of the books and resources required for each activity. The themes this book explores are outlined below:
- Journeys
- Pretending
- Tangrams
- A construction site
- Irregular shape bingo
- Using the environment
- What do you see?
- Mazes
- Body shapes
- Mirrors
- Folding
- Covering
Each activity is accompanied by a list of ways in which the task may be simplified or extended to meet the needs of all the learners in your class. As such, this book is also suitable for Year 2 teachers, providing effective starting points for exploring objectives at a Year 2 level including faces, edges, sorting and problem solving by looking at tangrams.
Another strength of this book is the way it applies mathematics to a variety of subjects across the curriculum. I am looking forward to using ‘firework dances’ in PE, encouraging children to make movements and shapes to represent different fireworks, which I can then link to our work on firework safety in PSHE and our work creating firework pictures in ICT.
Shape and Space Without a Worksheet – for Reception and Year 1 is an easily accessible text which can refresh teacher’s methods for covering objectives in shape and space. While the text features many ideas, accompanied by a list of the necessary resources, it could be further improved by the addition of a section linking the activities to objectives at Reception and Year 1. Such an addition would mean that teachers could search for activities relevant to their current objectives. Even without this, I have already shared the text with colleagues and would thoroughly recommend it to teachers at both Reception level and Key Stage 1.
Fiona Paterson • Orchards CoE Primary School
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