The boys and girls in St.Therese of Lisieux have been enjoying developing their mathematics skills outdoors, thanks to the new markings that were put in place in the playground during the summer break. Learning outdoors offers a sense of freedom without the constraints of the indoor environment. It promotes good health and a heightened sense of well-being. P4 children have been working hard to show where the hands point to for o'clock and half past clock times. They have developed skills of counting in tens, jumping along the 100 square, which has greatly enhanced their confidence during lessons back in the classroom on place value. They have also enjoyed playing games to further develop their mental skills of adding and subtracting within 20 on our new number line. KS2 children showed good understanding of the mental maths strategy of partitioning to add two 2-digit numbers on our new 100 square. There is always great excitement among the children when they are given opportunities to engage in physical energetic play during mathematics lessons, as well as developing their numeracy and communication skills. The children got quite competitive at times, showing great concentration, when competing against each other to calculate answers! Our P2 children also enjoy developing their numeracy skills outdoors. They can make a repeating pattern and learn to count in twos using the giant bead string outside their classroom. This is just one of many resources purchased recently to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics outdoors!
