Each year group have similarly structured long term lesson plans. Lessons at the beginning of the autumn term are based on material that was taught last year. New topics are being gradually introduced throughout the year with a new knowledge being build upon already known material. For the most of the year groups teaching plans are covering the same topics during the autumn and summer terms, which allows to come back to the same material but on the new level within a year gradually reinforcing and moving to the more difficult tasks.
Process of teaching mathematics is organised in such way that children are starting to learn with simple concepts moving on to more and more difficult ones. At first they are applying their knowledge of mathematics to the familiar objects gradually moving on to the more abstract concepts.
Teaching mathematics starts in Reception with lessons on counting and recognising numbers. At first children are learning to count everyday objects but by the end of the Key Stage 1 they are expected to use confidently numbers to at least 100 without putting them into a context. Children begin to work with fractions in Year 2. They are starting with recognising and finding one half and one quarter of shapes and small number of objects. In Year 4 children are progressing in their understanding of fractions to using decimals, again starting with familiar concepts such as money. By the end of the primary school children will learn how to use fractions and decimals confidently and move on to understanding percentage.
In Year 4 children are being introduced to the concept of negative numbers. At the beginning they are expected to recognise negative numbers in familiar context like on a temperature scale. After returning to the same topic during the next two years Year 6 pupils will be able to find the difference between a positive and a negative number.
When learning to calculate, Reception pupils are begin with relating addition to combining two groups of objects and subtraction to ‘taking away’. In Year 2 multiplication is being introduced as repeated addition and division as repeated subtraction or sharing. In Year 3 children learn to recognise that division is the inverse of multiplication. This way teaching of the more complicated methods of calculations is based on the using the simpler ones, which children already know.
Throughout their years at the primary school children are progressing from simply calculating results to be able to estimate and check them. Year 2 pupils are starting to check results of their calculations repeating addition in different order and by Year 4 children should understand concept of inverse operations and to be able to use it to check results. At the same time they are starting to approximate results beforehand. By Year 6 children should confidently use different strategies for estimating and checking their results such as checking with inverse operation when using calculator, checking the sum of several numbers by adding in reverse order, using their knowledge of properties of odd and even numbers.
In Reception children are starting to learn about measures by making direct comparisons of lengths or masses and by filling and emptying containers. In Year 2 they will learn how to estimate, measure and compare lengths, masses and capacities, using standard units. Children continue to work in this direction and by Year 4 they should know and use the relationship between familiar units. In Year 5, as their confidence in using multiplications progresses, children should learn that area measured in square centimetres, understand and use the formula for the area of a rectangle. In Year 6 they are using this knowledge and learn to calculate the perimeter and area of simple compound shapes that can be split into rectangles.
When learning to solve problems children once again are staring with problems involving ‘real life’ or money. They proceed with this approach applying their growing knowledge of calculations starting with addition and subtraction and then multiplication and division.
Similar strategy of starting with simple tasks, adding new knowledge gradually, coming back to reinforce what children have learned is followed in teaching other parts of the National Curriculum for mathematics. This scheme of work allows children to progress starting with simple facts in Reception to quite complicated concepts in Year 6.
Although during my preliminary school experience I was able to observe only a small part of this process, nevertheless the main idea of reinforcing present knowledge and moving gradually to the more difficult tasks was clearly present. For example during Numeracy hour in Year 2 at the beginning of the week the teacher would ask children to count together from 1 to 100, next day she would play a game when children have to say the number that comes next, the next day the number that comes before the one that teacher said and so on.
In Year 6 every Numeracy hour would start with a game based on multiplication tables and then would move on to the reinforcing what children have learned on the previous lesson. For example they would repeat how to multiply two-digit number to one-digit number, then learn multiplication using written methods, and proceed to learning to multiply any two-digit numbers.
At the end of each half term two weeks are allocated for an assessment and a review of what pupils learned so far. At the end of the academic year all the children are taking SATs, which are statutory in Years 2 and 6. Results of those assessments allow to follow progress of each child throughout his or her time in the primary school.
All teachers are supplied with the same Framework document, which gives details on what should be taught and how from Reception to the Year 6. This allows teachers to either come back to the objectives taught last year or to provide teaching materials and learning activities for the more able pupils within the same framework. Teacher in Year 6 is supplied with teaching plans and examples for the Year 7, which she could use for the pupils working on the level 5 of the National Curriculum.
The Framework for teaching Mathematics is designed in a way that progression is included in it. If the whole school is following the same scheme of work then progression is implemented automatically.
As all primary schools are adapting similar system of teaching mathematics it should make easier transition of children from primary to secondary schools as well as transition of a single pupil between different primary schools.
I found my preliminary teaching experience very interesting and beneficial for my future training as a secondary teacher. During two weeks I learned a lot about the system of teaching in a primary school, about the National Curriculum and about children themselves.
I believe it is important to be aware of live in a primary school in order to teach successfully in a secondary school.
