ABSTRACT

We only need to reflect on the past twenty-four hours to see how maths and especially number are part of everyday life: reading bus or train timetables, following recipes or selecting the correct coins to pay for the newspaper. However, research (Munn and Shaffer 1993) suggests that young children do not naturally focus on number unless they are encouraged to do so by adults around them. Adults need to actively engage children in opportunities to count and use number in everyday events, play, rhymes, songs, books and games. Similarly, in chapter 13 Robin Campbell emphasised the importance of adult support in children's acquisition of knowledge about reading and writing at home.