PLHS - Support for Learning

Window count

The pupils were given a very special task in maths one day…

Seemingly, the window cleaner was due in the school but he did not know how many windows he was going to have to clean! In turn, this meant he did not know how much water or cleaner he would have to bring with him to Preston Lodge. This was a big problem - a big problem that would need a special crack counting team to solve!

When arriving in maths on this particular day, there was a memo for the S1 ELP pupils - a memo their teacher read to them carefully. The memo told of the window cleaner’s dilemma and asked for volunteers to help him by counting the windows at Preston Lodge. The only criteria being that the volunteers would have to:

• be good at working as a team

• know their way around Preston Lodge

• be good at counting up to 10

• be keen to help

• be able to report back in simple terms how many windows they found

Of course, all of our fabulous S1 pupils responded positively - which meant that all there was left to do was organise themselves into a window counting team extraordinaire.

The children were encouraged to discuss how they might make their measurements. They knew there were lots and lots of windows to count - more windows than they could count in one go. They devised their own plan to enable all of them to make a contribution. It was simple and effective. Lets count the windows in small blocks of eight (as they had noticed how many of the sides of the school had blocks of eight windows) and do a tally system. One tally line for every block of 8 windows they could find!

They then decided to split the school up into four sides. They called these four sides:

• facing the Power Station (north)
• facing Musselburgh (west)
• facing Seton Sands (east)
• facing the shops on the top road (south)

Each side of the school had its own tally sheet. As the pupils went round the school building in an anti-clockwise direction to make sure they did not miss any windows, they would stop and ask themselves which direction each set of windows were facing. Landmarks like the Power Station were ideal in helping them consider their bearings at all times.

The tally sheets were then totalled with help from the teacher and the sum total windows at Preston Lodge High School was determined.

The pupils were then in a position to send in a simple A4 report to the school, in order that the window cleaner could begin cleaning the windows.