Exploring and Playing
Short Blocks
Maths Reception Summer Shapes and Sorting
Hamilton's Reception Maths planning targets the key characteristics of effective early learning:
- Through Exploring and Playing, children independently engage with their peers and their environment.
- Active Learning group activities promote the motivation needed to be involved and to keep trying.
- Guided Creating and Thinking Critically supports development of problem-solving & reasoning skills.
Maths Out Loud: whole-class counting, repetitive chants, rhymes, songs and a linked story to enjoy together.
Talking about shapes (suggested as 5 days)
Active Learning
Creating and Thinking Critically
Maths Out Loud
Counting
- Using a range of 3-D shapes, build a tower. Count the shapes as they are placed on the tower.
- If some fall off, practise counting backwards.
- Start again and continue counting forwards.
- How many can we get to?
Number Bonds
- Give each child a piece of Numicon. When I say 3 stand up…When I say 6 stand up… Continue to revise number recognition like this then…
- Hold up a 4 piece ‘When I say 4…’ Children who have 6 stand up with their piece…. ‘We say 6!’
- Continue to practise all the number bonds... ‘When I say 8…’ ‘We say 2!’ etc.
Song
London Bridge is falling down
See download for song words.
Books
- When I Build with Blocks by Niki Alling
- Let’s build a house: a book about buildings and materials by Mick and Brita Manning and Granström
- Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk Traditional Tales
- I spy with My Little Eye…Shapes! by Marian Yiangou
You Will Need
Exploring and Playing
'Shape Mat' (see resources), Construction kits; play-dough, plasticine or blue tac; lolly sticks; plastic or wooden 3-D shapes; play-dough tools; mats; sticky notes; shallow trays of paint, paper; junk modelling e.g. kitchen rolls, boxes (cuboid and cube); masking tape; glue; any embellishing resources e.g. googly eyes, pipe cleaners etc.
Active Learning
'Shape Nets' (see resources); matching plastic/wooden 3-D shapes; shapes made from 'Shape nets' (see resources); shallow paint trays; paint; 'Dice Nets' (see resources); glue/ Sellotape.
Creating and Thinking Critically
'Shape Nets' (see resources); 3-D shapes; 3-D wooden building blocks; 'Challenge Cards' (see resources); everyday packets of different shapes and sizes, e.g. small cereal packets, paper-hankie boxes, spice pots or boxes, etc.; '3-D Shapes and matching Nets' (see resources).
Sorting (suggested as 5 days)
Exploring and Playing
Active Learning
Creating and Thinking Critically
Maths Out Loud
Counting
- Draw a 5x5 grid on the board and stick a range of 2-D shapes inside the first row.
- How many shapes are there in this row?
- Add shapes into the next row of the grid.
- How many shapes now?
- Continue until the grid is full.
- How many altogether?
Song
3-D Shape song
Join in with the BBC version of this song.
See download for song words.
Books
- When I Build with Blocks by Niki Alling
- Let’s Build a house by Mick and Brita Manning and Granström
- Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk Traditional Tales
- I spy with My Little Eye…Shapes! by Marian Yiangou
You Will Need
Exploring and Playing
2-D shapes; basket; masking tape; sticky notes; pens; tuff spot; plastic animals/ creatures; '3-D shape sorting grid' (see resources); 3-D shapes in different colours; sorting hoops.
Active Learning
A2 paper; selection of 3-D shapes; 'Example sorting grid' (see resources); 'Shape cards' (see resources); 'Colour cards' (see resources); 'Coloured shape tiles' (see resources); 'Picture cards' (see resources); 'Sorting cards' (see resources); 'Coin cards' (see resources); 'Example Coin grid' (see resources); 'Example 3-D Shape grid' (see resources).
Creating and Thinking Critically
'Dotty grid' (see resources - enlarged to A3); 'Dotty cards' (see resources); 'Sorting grid completed' (see resources); 'Emoji grid' (see resources); 'Shape grid completed' (enlarged - see resources); counters.