Developing Shape, Space and Measures. with 5-7 Year Olds. By Ros Leather. with 7-9 Year Olds. By Jon Kurta. with 9-11 Year Olds. By Jon Kurta. Scholastic pound;13.50 each.
This series offers dozens of activities for maths lessons. There’s a welcome emphasis on oral and mental work, enhanced by suggestions for individual follow-up and problem-solving activities for pairs or groups.
Each activity includes questions for discussion, assessment pointers and extension ideas, many supported by photocopiable worksheets, paticularly useful where symmetry or co-ordinate grids are involved.
The books are compatible with the National Numeracy Strategy and have been strongly influenced by it, although there are no references to link activities with the NNS Framework. Indexing is sketchy, which makes locating individual activities frustrating at times. Nevertheless, the activities and advice to teachers are sound. Each section includes “key ideas”, with useful notes on common misconceptions and suggestions for overcoming them.