PLHS - Support for Learning

Maths lessons can take a number of guises!

Through working with the S1 pupils in the Enhanced Learning Provision it has become apparent that they have a strong interest in role play. They are very good at relating the things that happen in everyday life to the lessons in the classroom and often spontaneously enter into impromptu role plays to enact the concepts or areas we are talking about or working on.

We feel that it is very important that we encourage these situations as they not only allow the children to express themselves when simply using words might not convey their thoughts so effectively, but it also allows us to look at real life scenarios in the classroom. All it takes is a loss of inhibition on the part of the teacher or auxiliary!

In maths we have already enjoyed “visits to the restaurant” (where we went along to the school canteen after it had closed for the day and acted out the process of :

• looking at the menu

• finding out what things cost

• working out whether we have enough money on our smart card

• ordering our food, sometimes in multiples to encourage numeracy skills (two pizzas, one fish and a chicken sandwich please!)

• finding a table by number

• working out how many seats our party need

• working out how many chairs might be left over at the table

• working out how many chairs in total there are at the table (those with bottoms on them + those that are empty)

• working out if we can afford to go back for pudding

Alternative improvisations have included acting out a trip to the hairdresser or the cinema. Similar skills and scenarios arise that are linked to telling the time, counting money, buying numbers of tickets etc.

It is remarkable how much prior knowledge is teased out of the children in this manner as opposed to us simply doing an exercise in a jotter, on a worksheet or interactively. It also enables us to concentrate on incorporating other life skills into the lesson without the pupils realising (where do the knife and fork go on the table? which hand do we hold them with? what should we say to a waitress or waiter to be polite?)