Module 1

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On my placement I have been purposely observing play and looking for signs of literate and numerate thinking amongst the children in the child care setting. I have been surprised that literacy and numeracy is everywhere, and that children (especially babies) are always exposed to numbers, counting and communication. On 5th September 2014 I observed one of the children in the nursery using blocks in the outside play area, and was exploring the different ways of using them. This child showed a lot of interest in building the blocks, therefore I decided to sit with this child and assist his learning by counting with him and also letting him observe the way I balanced the blocks on top of each other. The following week (12th September 2014), I decided to follow up with this child's interest, and brought out some larger and softer blocks for him to experiment with to further his learning and thinking concepts. I will now explain my initial observation of the child, the learning that was involved, and how I have responded to this learning and planned another activity to further his skills and development (second observation).
For confidentiality reasons, I have decided to call this child Bob throughout my article.

Observing/noticing:

Initial observation: 5th September 2014 (Anecdote) 

Bob playing with patterned blocks outside

Bob had chosen to sit on the mat outside and play with the blocks which were patterned and had different materials inside of them. He started by touching the blocks and getting a sense of how they felt and in some cases, the way it sounded. He then started piling them on top of each other to make a tower. I assisted with the process, by counting each time he placed another block on top so that he could get familiar with the sound and pronunciation of the numbers. When the blocks collapsed he smiled, and then continued to build more towers.

Learning: Bob has gained confidence in his play with blocks, and has developed skills in spatial awareness and orientation with the area that he was working in. By trial and error, he got better at building the towers each time and successfully became familiar with using 3D shapes. Bob also got an idea of counting numbers up to 10, as I sat next to him and counted the blocks as he piled them up. Bob showed great concentration and patience with the blocks and enjoyed seeing them fall down once the tower got too tall. While playing with these blocks, he was learning through a hands on experience while observing the features and properties of the shapes (Knaus, 2013). Next week, I would like to follow up with Bob’s interest in blocks and allow him to use and experiment with different types of blocks to become familiar with measurement and analysing similarities and differences.

Responding 

12th September 2014 (Anecdote) 

Following up on Bob’s interest in blocks

As I observed last week, Bob has a great interest in playing with blocks, therefore to further his development I brought out the soft blocks, as it was a different type of block for him to experiment with. These blocks had numbers and pictures on them and were solid enough for Bob to stack successfully. Bob seemed extremely excited to play with these blocks and immediately started building towers with them. I continued to count with him each time he placed a block on top of another and he started to get familiar with hearing these numbers and occasionally would pronounce the number “3”. Bob initially piled three blocks before they collapsed. He didn’t seem to mind when they fell, and instead he laughed and started again. As he progressed, he got better and at one stage he had a six block tower. Bob also observed the patterns and objects on the blocks as well as the numbers that were labeled on them which allowed him to get familiar with how the numbers look and appear.

Learning: Bob has developed his numerate skills throughout this activity, especially while we were counting together and when he was visualising the numbers written on the blocks. Each block consisted of objects that added up to a certain number, for example 5 pigs, therefore I counted these with Bob and he watched me do this. He also had the opportunity of using triangular blocks which he put at the top of his tower (refer to image 5). This shows another dimension to his numeracy learning, as MacDonald (2001) suggests that children form a space between two types of blocks and often place a triangular block to represent a roof to distinguish between the two different shapes.
Bob has been given an opportunity to further his interest in blocks by exploring the weight, size and shape of these larger blocks and used his imagination to form these towers. 

Image 1

Carefully placing the block on top of the second one (learning to balance)

Image 2

The blocks after they had collapsed

Image 3

Selecting his next block to stack on the pile in front of him

Image 4

After Bob had piled 4 blocks

Image 5

He has chosen to pile a triangular shaped block on top of the square (learning about different shapes)

Image 6

Putting on the final block for his 6-stack tower. He has decided to now stand so that he is at the right height (spatial awareness)

Analysis of learning

According to Knaus (2013), young children like to construct and deconstruct objects in many different ways, and block play is one very important way of composing three-dimensional objects which was founded in the early 1800's. Many mathematical skills are developed during block play, not only in geometric concepts but in number and measurement as well (Knaus, 2013). Bob was using geometric concepts by learning about the different shapes of the blocks and the space in which he was placing them. He was also counting with me while piling up the blocks to make a tower which allowed him to hear the pronunciation of the numbers, and then try and say it out loud. 

Bob was also developing spatial awareness in his physical environment, by adjusting his body position to accommodate the height that the blocks were at. Developing spatial awareness entails an understanding of the relationship between our own body and other objects as they move through and around space (Knaus, 2013). As Bob was building the tower, he changed his body position as the tower got higher. This showed to me that he recognised the length and height of the tower and decided to adjust his body according to this change (see image 6).

The concept of 2D and 3D shapes emerges through hands-on experiences that children learn through the features and properties of shapes and comparing similarities and differences (Knaus, 2013). Bob had the opportunity to touch and hold the blocks to get a sense of their size, weight and shape. He is also showing signs of a mean maker, while drawing on background knowledge of the task he was undertaking, and by relating previous experiences with similar tasks. Outcome 5: 'Children are effective communicators' of The Early Years Learning Framework, explains that children begin to understand key literacy and numeracy concepts and processes, and take on roles of literacy and numeracy users in their play. Bob has shown initial signs of learning and thinking numerically through his play with blocks, and is beginning to understand key numeracy concepts of measurement, shape and space.  

In conclusion, by observing/noticing, recognising and responding to play in a numerate sense, it positively encourages growth and development amongst a child who has shown numerate or literate thinking during their play. Following on from a child's initial signs of learning sometime in the near future is extremely important so that their learning is appropriately developed through encouragement and questioning from an educator who has initially observed this interest or learning curve. As we have seen, Bob has shown great signs of development from the first observation to the next, and has used what he initially learnt from the previous week to expand his thinking skills in many different aspects. He also gained confidence with using the blocks, and developed his geometry and measurement skills while building the block towers.

References:

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian

Governments (2009). Belonging, Being and Becoming, The Early Years Learning Framework. 

Knaus, M. (2013). Maths is all around you (1st ed.). Albert Park, Victoria: Teaching Solutions.