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Documents available
for download --
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"About making progress at early levels" Les Staves
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Download here
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Assessing Progress
Though the Early Years Practice Guidelines does include some reference to aspects of very early learning, neither the Foundation Stage Profile; Early Learning Goals; or National curriculum performance descriptions; match to the learning levels of the pupils with very special needs, who function at earlier levels of development throughout their school lives. To provide a framework for assessment on which teachers could observe progress towards the national curriculum the QCA introduced P scales and guidance in 2001, they were revised in 2004 – and guidance was updated in 2009.
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(PDF, 347 Kb)
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"A few apps that can relate to maths for I Pad"
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'Ipads apps and special learners - A-Z of resources' -
Flo Longhorn.
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(PDF, 284 Kb)
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"Life really is a tuneful little number"
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Mathematics and music often go together they say ...
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(PDF, 576 Kb)
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"Tips about making good use of everyday resources for teaching about counting." Les Staves
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In life we count many things and we all know teaching through real life experience is powerful. So many everyday objects and circumstances are good resources and opportunities for teaching – though if we are skilful teachers we will be seeking ways to maximise the effect of the experience..
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(PDF, 129 Kb)
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"Counting – a deceptively simple skill" Les Staves
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Many people consider counting to be a simple skill, but that leads us to be deceived – we often hear young children recite a string of words and assume they can count.
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(PDF, 310 Kb)
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"Making maths appropriate for pupils with very special needs" Les Staves
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Curriculum for early mathematical learning.
The Early Years Foundation Stage practice guidance (2007) and its predecessor Birth to Three matters (2002) both emphasise many aspects of learning that children must explore and master to become competent learners and skilful communicators, and they acknowledge this includes the beginnings of mathematical thinking.
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(PDF, 187 Kb)
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"Making sense of P Scales - Particularly P1 to 3" Les Staves
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The P scales used to assess and report on the progress of our very special pupils may seem to be a code. We often refer to the Levels P1, P2 or P3 etcetera but to many, who are not familiar with the original P level descriptors, these letters and numbers are mystifying. How do those letters and numbers relate to our real children?
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(PDF, 197 Kb)
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"Mark Making Matters"
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Mark making, creativity and critical thinking
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) identifies the central importance of creativity and critical thinking in early learning and development, asserting that: ‘When children have opportunities to play with ideas in different situations and with a variety of resources, they discover connections and come to new and better understandings and ways of doing things.’ It goes on to state that in the most effective settings practitioners support and challenge children’s thinking by getting involved in the thinking process with them. Young children’s mark making helps to make these processes visible.
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(PDF, 1,457 Kb)
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"Thinking about thinking" Les Staves
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We tend to suppose that thinking involves using words, perhaps this is because whenever we discuss
our thoughts, we use words to express their meanings. However we all know that there is a lot of
feeling, evaluating and reacting, which goes on before we get to put our thoughts into those words.
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(PDF, 293 Kb)
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"What is Three?" Les Staves
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If a group of adults are asked to visualise the number three and describe the image that is in their mind the vast majority of responses will describe a set of three things, objects dots, fingers, etc. the image is much less frequently described as a numeral. So we might infer that to most people three is not just a symbol. Other cultures use different names and symbols to represent it, but there is something about three that is the same the whole world over, and the overriding image that people envisage is a set of three things.
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(PDF, 205 Kb)
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"Working Towards Playfulness" Les Staves
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The importance of play in learning
Recognising early progress working towards intentional action
Developing active exploration and learning schema related to mathematical learning .
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(PDF, 422 Kb)
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"P Levels and the National Numeracy Strategy" Les Staves
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In the QCA Guidelines the "P Levels" for Mathematics are written in paragraph form.
This document rearranges them into separate statements that make them much easier for teachers to scan and use.
It also incorporates the 2004 updates for P levels 4 to 8 and differentiated NC Level 1.
Updated March 2006.
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(DOC, 205 Kb)
(Zipped RTF, 376 Kb)
(PDF, 356 Kb)
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"The Scope of Special Mathematics" Les Staves
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This document describes the scope of learning opportunities and activities that schools for pupils with severe or profound learning difficulties need to provide to help their pupils develop mathematical skills and understanding. It draws from the QCA Guidelines for "Planning, teaching and assessing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties".
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(RTF, 170 Kb)
(Zipped RTF, 33 Kb)
(PDF, 92 Kb)
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About Les Staves
