MODULE: EMA1501
YEAR MODULE: ASSIGNMENT 02
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
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1 QUESTION 1 (PRE-NUMBER CONCEPTS 3
1.1 One to one correspondence 3
1.2 Comparison 3
1.3 Conservation 4
1.4 Subitising 4
1.5 Ordering 5
2 QUESTION 2 (DEVELOPING MATHEMATICAL CONCEPT 6
THROUGH PLAY)
Picture 1 – Physical and locomotor play 6
Picture 2 – Fantasy play 6
3 QUESTION 3 (TIME) 7
(i) Birthdays 7
(ii) Calendar 8
(iii) Seasons 9
(iv) Day and night 10
4 QUESTION 4 (PATTERNS) 11
4.1
4.1.1 (a) Identify types of patterns 11
(b) How patterns contribute to an understanding of 12
counting and mathematical concepts
4.1.2 The developmental sequences for teaching patterning 12-13
skills to young children
5 QUESTION 5 (DATA HANDLING) 14
5.1.1 Meaning of data handling 14
5.1.2 Steps of data handling 14
5.1.3 Data handling exercise 14
6 ASSINGMENT 02 RUBRIC 15
ZANELE MKHATSHWA
MODULE: EMA1501
2
YEAR MODULE: ASSIGNMENT 02
QUESTION 1 PRE-NUMBER CONCEPTS
1.1 One to one correspondence
This is an object count. Each object being counted must be given one count and only one count. It
is an important skill that will help children to count correctly. Learners need to practice one-to-
one correspondence, they should know the number sequence and apply it to individual counted
fingers. A learner who understands one-to-one correspondence is able to identify that 6 eggs = 6
Example of activity:
(the child is given an egg carton and variety of different pom-pom. The child is counting by putting
one pom-pom in each hole.)
1.2 Comparison
Comparing involves identifying the similarities and differences, more than, less than, equal
amongst objects, numbers etc. The ability to compare will allow them to conserve numbers by
possessing the ability to know that the amount of something remains the same even if the
arrangement changes. The learners must determine which set has more and how many more. For
example, Mike has 3 pens and Lieh has 2 pens. Who has the most pens? And how many more?
(3-2=1)
Example of activity:
(The learner must compare amongst the objects, and find out which set is greater than, less than
or equal to. Being able to count with understanding and having an idea of the value of numbers,
lays the foundation for addition and subtraction.)
1.3 Conservation
Conservation refers to the fact that the count for a set group of objects stays the same even if the
representation changes by spreading them out or are close together.
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Example of activity:
(In this challenge, there are 8 discs in two horizontal rows in a one-one correspondence. One line
of disc is spread apart so it becomes longer. The learner must determine which row has more
discs. And explain why the rows are the same or different. If the learner understands this concept
very well the answer will be; they are the same because you didn’t take any away or add any.)
1.4 Subitising
Subitising is the ability to recognise a small number of objects at a glance without having count all
the object. It is an ability that young children must develop. It involves the brains ability to
perceptually or conceptually integrate that number.
Example of activity:
In this Roll a dice activity, when the dice lands on, the learner is supposed to be able to recognize
at a glance the number that it lands on. For example, the dice lands on, the leaner will immediately
need to say ‘4’
1.5 Ordering
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Ordering is the ability to arrange objects according to a certain characteristic, for example from
large to small, first to last, etc. To arrange objects, children should be granted the opportunity to
compare a particular attribute of two items at a time.
Example of activity:
The learner orders these animals according to size from large to small. This help the learner with
problem solving and categorizing skills
QUESTION 2 DEVELOPING MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS THROUGH PLAY.
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Picture 1. Physical and locomotor play
Picture 1 is an outdoor play, the children are playing on a slide, climbing to the top and pushes
themselves down the chute. In this type of play children need lots of opportunity to move around by
running and more space to explore possibilities of movement. Physical and locomotor play provide
the children with important foundation when it comes to concentration, engaging with others and
level of thinking. They learn to share, taking turns, and patience (one child should be on the slide
platform at a time, no pushing).
The mathematical concepts that develop through this play are;
i. Time - children need more time for outdoor exploration
ii. Distance - moving from one place to another and stay safe distance from one another (there
must a distance between them to avoid injuries or bumming to each other).
iii. Space - they need more space to run around
They also learn problem solving, counting, (less/more) whilst playing.
The children are playing with a
skipping rope.
Picture 2. Fantasy play
Here we see a little girl pretending to be doctor, and a teddy bear as her a patient. She has
stethoscope, taking a temperature, which is most probably an occupation that she finds to be
interesting. This type of play help children to work through their feelings, fears or worries and gain
confident in relation to own medical experience.
Fantasy play enable kids to play out experiences, pretend all sorts of scenarios related to their
everyday life and understandings of the world. Having a fantasy area in a classroom is important to
stimulate play and at the same time provide opportunities for mathematical exploration. For example,
this little girl pretending to be doctor, she is learning;
(i) Sorting – organizing all the tools she is going to use, for example stethoscope for temperature
(ii) Counting – counting the heartbeat, the temperature if is too high or less from the normal
human temperature, how much high or how much less. Developing knowledge of body parts
through counting what the doctor use to check, like eyes, ears, mouth, nose etc.
(iii) Measurement – measure and record each child’s height and weight.
(iv) Estimation -
She also learns one-to-one correspondence for example, checking one patient at a time.
This little girl is pretending to be a veterinary specialist.
QUESTION 3 TIME
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Time is an important life skill. It cannot be seen like the other concept and that is more challenging for
children to understand but using words like before, after, soon, now, later, bedtime, lunch time etc
helps the child to develop an understanding. Teaching time according to routines (its bed time) and
using standard units, like hours, days, months etc also helps.
I will teach time informally during the Grade R Daily Programme displayed in the class, and discuss the
following events;
(i) Birthdays.
I am going to use a birthday chart calendar which consist of each child’s birthday.
(a picture of a birthday chart)
I will ask them questions about ‘birthday’ to assess how much knowledge do they have.
Types of questions,
a) When is your birthday, date, month, year?
b) How many months left to your birthday?
c) What do you eat when it’s a birthday?
d) How do you celebrate your birthday?
e) Whose birthday is coming soon or later?
f) Ask the class to sing a birthday song.
This will be an interesting topic because children like to talk about their birthdays every time. Asking
them the above few questions will help them to develop an understanding of time. By knowing their
age, mentioning dates of their birthday months and calculating whose birthday is coming sooner or
later and singing a “happy birthday” song will show the sequence of event.
(ii) Calendar
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A calendar year means a period of time starting on January 1 and ending on December 31.
I am going to display a classroom calendar on the wall which is going to help the children to
learn about the passing of time along with the month of the year and their correct order.
Every morning, we refer to the calendar, asking them few questions, like, what day it is? What
is a date today? we are on which month? who birthday is it? They must know that the
Calendar consist;
(i) Twelve (12) months
(ii) Days of the week (7 days)
(a class calender – 12 months of the year) (7 days of the week)
We are going to sing songs about the days of the week every day, for example,
Days of the weeks
(to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”)
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday too,
Wednesday, Thursday just for you.
that’s the end.
Now let’s say those again!
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday!
(iii) Seasons
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They are four seasons in a year, which are spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The weather
is different during each season. As the weather changes, plants change, too, and animals
change their behavior to suit the weather. Winter is the coldest season, with short days.
When coming to this part it is actually very hard to teach a grade R learner because at times
the seasons tend to be the same, there’s no change in weather, but what one can do is let the
learners know the difference between when it’s hot and when it’s cold
I am going to use the learners birthday chart, grouping birthdays according to which months
they are in. Since we are having four different seasons in a year, I will then group their birth
months into the seaons they fall under. It will make easier for them to learn different seasons
as they are grouped based on their birthdays.
(iv) Day and night
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I’m going to start my lesson by greeting my students. Let them know that greeting is based
from a specific time. To say good morning, or good afternoon or good night I am describing
the time of day. That means things happen in a certain order.
I am going to present my lesson by displaying pictures about day and night which states clear
about these two different times.
a) Daytime is when you can see the sun from where you
are, and its light and heat can reach you. Even if the
sun does not shine you can see everything around you.
b) Night time is when the sun is on the other side of the
earth from you, and its light and heat don't get to you.
Everything is dark, you can see the moon in its
phases or there may no moon at all.
By listing out the activities that they perform in the daytime and at
night, the learners learn that their daily activities follow the day and
night cycle.
Morning activities
- Wake up
- Bath, have breakfast
- Go to school
- lunchtime
afternoon activities
- go back home
- eat super
- go to bed (night time
Greetings
- Good morning your first time for school
- Good afternoon or first time to go home after school or time for
lunch
- Goodnight refers to night time or bed time.
The use of such words as before, after, soon, now, later, bedtime, lunchtime helps the child to
understand time better and lot of mathematics revolves around learning the correct vocabulary and
applying it in a sensible and correct manner.
QUESTION 4 PATTERNS
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4.1
4.1.1
a) Identifying types of patterns with examples and rules:
i) Growing patterns
Collection of rectangular rods of 10 colours, each colour corresponding to a different length
Rules: Place a Cuisenaire rod next to another Cuisenaire Rod in ascending order to make
it grow taller.
ii) Number pattern
3,6,9,12
Rule: Start at 3 add 3 each time.
iii) Dance patterns
Rule: Two step dance, move your left foot forward and place your right foot backward.
iv) Geometric Shape patterns
Rule: repeating shapes, blue square, red circle, yellow triangle
v) Colour patterns
Rule: repeating colour pattern diamond blue, blue, orange
b) How patterns contribute to an understanding of counting and mathematical concepts:
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i) Provide endless opportunities to introduce, investigate, and reinforce key math
topics such as addition, subtraction, geometry, measurement, multiplication, and
division.
ii) Enables learners to identify and describe patterns using terms such as “same as (=)”,
“bigger than (>), “smaller than (<)” etc.
iii) Patterns help learners to learn about arrangement and how to make predictions, leading
to mathematical skills and to establish order in life.
iv) Children who are able to identify mathematical patterns are able to predict later
mathematical achievement more than other abilities e.g. counting.
v) Patterns play a big part in creating a basis for the ideas of functions and algebra in the
foundation phase.
vi) Learners are encouraged to look for and evaluate patterns (pattern sniffing) which
develops mathematical thinking and understanding.
4.1.2 The developmental sequence for teaching patterning skills to young children.
a) Stage 1: Child can recognise a pattern
The child is able to identify a pattern from having encountered them before (due to previous
knowledge and experience). A pattern can be identified and represented in a form of
repetitive shapes, sizes, sound or rhythm, concrete objects, movement and colour.
(Example): In the picture shown above, we can identify the pattern through shape.
The repeating shape pattern in the form of AB as it has 2 shapes (heptagon, pentagon).
b) Stage 2: Child can describe a pattern
The child will be able to outline the characteristics and qualities of the pattern. These
aspects illustrate the importance of analysing patterns in classroom activities.
Instruction: Describe the shape(s), colour(s) and movement(s) that the pattern above
possesses: (Answer/description): The pattern is growing, each stack has one more
c) Stage 3: child can copy a pattern
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The child is able to mimic a similar or identical version of the pattern by identifying its
characteristics and simulating it in the imitation.
(Example): the child is asked to use tangram puzzles and create the same shape
Stage 4: child can extend a pattern
Extending the pattern allows the child to understand the logic and concept of the pattern.
The pattern may be able to stretch, made longer, larger or wider.
Instructions: Extend the following pattern by adding 2
Answer
Stage 5: Child can create a pattern
Children can create patterns from what they’ve learnt with similar or different sounds,
movements, concrete objects, shapes, colours and sizes. They can create different ones by
translating it in different manners, making it with different objects in the same colour etc.
(Example): student learn to identify and create increasing patterns, to name rules for
patterns with words, numbers, symbols, and variables. Different colours.
QUESTION 5 DATA HANDLING
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5.1
5.1.1 Data handling is a branch of mathematics in which we use mathematical tools to collect,
organise, represent and interpret numerical information or data.
5.1.2 Steps of data handling process
a) Collecting data: relevant information regarding the question that was asked must be found
b) Organising data: Information must be organised (sorted, grouped, classified) in a logical way
c) Representing data: a graphic representation of the information is created
d) Interpreting data: Decisions are made as to what the results of the process are, the question
is answered
5.1.3
5.1.3.1 Data handling exercise
Theme of the week: “Seasons”
a) Collecting data
Mrs Pelo is going to start by recording each child’s birthday in which months they in.
b) Organising data
Mrs Pelo would then explain to the 20 learners that she is going to group them according to
their birth months. For example, all the Januaries will be grouped together.
c) Representing data
Mrs Pelo is going to introduce the theme of the week ‘Season’. She will then explain that we
have four seasons in a year, which are summer, autumn, winter and spring. She will explain
which months fall under which season, for example summer has November, December,
January. She can create, for example, four corners in her classroom that will represent the
four seasons of the year and put up a chart in each corner (season) representing a season and
the months that falls under that season. She will then instruct the kids to go to the corner
(season) that represent their birthday months.
d) Interpreting data
By grouping the learners, Mrs Pelo want to get the total number of learners that were born in
each season. She will be able to get which season have the most learners and which season
have the least learners.
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