Walking home from school, Ioan was telling us that Reception had been doing subtraction. We decided to have a go with some dandelion clocks. It’s a good job the fields are full of them as they did this, walking along, all the way home.

Resources

  • Dandelion clocks

Method

They took it in turns to ask each other a subtraction question.

Cian was fascinated by all this odd behaviour when they were blowing the dandelion clocks.

This video was Finn’s ‘ready to blow’ face. It just shows that when a child looks like they aren’t listening, they often are.

Finny didn’t want to stop with the questions.

This final video was when (after about a hundred sums) Ioan finally decided he had blown them all away.

DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)

Communication and language

ELG 01 – Listening and attention:

Children listen attentively in a range of situations.They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.

ELG 02 – Understanding:

Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

ELG 03 – Speaking:

Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Personal, social and emotional development

ELG 06 – Self-confidence and self-awareness:

Children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others. They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don’t need help.

ELG 08 – Making relationships:

Children play co-operatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.

Mathematics

ELG 11 – Numbers:

Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

DfES National Curriculum (2013)

Numeracy Year 1 programme of study

Number – number and place value

  • given a number, identify 1 more and 1 less
  • identify and represent numbers using objects and pictorial representations including the number line, and use the language of: equal to, more than, less than (fewer), most, least

Number – addition and subtraction

  • read, write and interpret mathematical statements involving addition (+), subtraction (−) and equals (=) signs
  • represent and use number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20
  • add and subtract one-digit and two-digit numbers to 20, including 0