NUMERACY
At St John’s, we believe Mathematics is best learned through diverse, dynamic and engaging learning experiences, connected to children’s interests and lives. We place children at the centre, and consider their individual needs when designing learning. We follow a progression of learning within each focus area (e.g. place value, addition, shape etc), which has been constructed by our staff through work with the Victorian Curriculum, as well as informed by developmentally appropriate research in the field.
Through a diverse range of experiences, children have opportunities to build mathematical skills and knowledge. Using a range of explicit teaching strategies, children practise skills, and share and reflect on their learning through dialogue and discussion. This occurs through targeted, small group explicit learning experiences, where we provide a variety of learning contexts including the use of hands-on materials, open-ended tasks and rich learning activities. We also value the opportunity to transfer these skills and understandings into an authentic learning environment. This is situated in thoughtful design of Discovery spaces and Discovery projects. For example, the grocery store is a space where children can practise transferring their knowledge of money, addition and subtraction to purchase or sell items.
Ultimately, children are encouraged to develop a growing confidence to take responsibility for their own learning journeys through feedback and discussion to inspire joy, passion and a lifelong love for Maths.
