Teach-Primary-Issue-19.2

36 | www.teachwire.net not mean they have learned anything yet. The new skills and knowledge need to be revisited at spaced intervals throughout the year and the best vehicles for doing this are short retrieval quizzes, starter activities and homework tasks. C urriculum time and space is precious and is, quite rightly, contested ground. Indeed, when the new government’s ongoing curriculum and assessment review put out its recent call for evidence, it seemed that one area of widespread agreement was that the primary curriculum is overcrowded. Maths is no exception, but one area that should at least retain its current weighting is spatial reasoning. There is strong evidence linking young children’s spatial reasoning capability to later attainment in mathematics (Gifford, 2020). Despite this, the former government went ahead and removed shape, space and measure from the EYFS Early Learning Goals in 2021, risking this crucial area being de-emphasised in early years teaching and learning. It therefore feels particularly important that its already limited position in the maths curriculum is not reduced. Beyond this, we need to work smart and weave opportunities for spatial reasoning into the wider curriculum. Here are five top tips to make this happen at your school. 1 Review and revisit As teachers and school leaders, we need to be constantly aware of the difference between learning and performance. In the short blocks of time allocated to shape and space in many curriculums, children may be extremely successful, but this does THROUGH! Coming Can’t go over it, can’t go under it... the primary curriculummay be busy, but we can still work to put spatial reasoning at the centre of maths, says Jo Austen connections to maths outside specific lessons? Spatial reasoning actually turns up in several other subject areas, providing valuable further time for some 3 Play games All primary teachers will have a bunch of whole-class games they like using to fill those odd few minutes here and there. Why not include a few spatial reasoning focused games amongst your options? Two of my favourites are “There is strong evidence linking young children’s spatial reasoning capability to later attainment in maths” essential concepts and skills. In art and design, the national curriculum for Key Stage 1 includes the aim to develop techniques using shape, space and pattern. In English, teaching prepositions of place allows us to further practise positional language such as “on top of”, “next to”, “underneath” and so on. Physical theatre activities in drama are a great way to get all children thinking creatively about shape and space, using their bodies to make part of the setting Throughout longer blocks of work on topics such as place value, fractions or decimals, I’d still hope to see spatial reasoning questions popping up each week outside the ‘main’ part of daily lessons. 2 Use wet playtimes Wet playtime often means sitting everyone down and sticking on BBC iPlayer. However, a little bit of preparation can help us take advantage of the rainy playtimes that will inevitably come along. Whatever boxes of construction materials you have (LEGO, mixed wooden blocks, straws and Blu Tack, etc.) can be preloaded with wet play challenges, ready to deploy when needed. Can pupils build a pair of giraffes… a climbing frame... a staircase? Constructing things shouldn’t just be for EYFS and KS1 either; any KS2 classroom will be improved by a box of buildable bits! Crocodile Crossing and Shapes Bingo. In any class with a carpet divided into some kind of grid, you can place crocodiles at various points and challenge children to guide each other from oneside to the other by giving precise instructions. Play two versions with different rules: one where children can simply step left/right and another that insists upon children making half or quarter turns before further forward movement. Shape Bingo works like normal bingo, but using shapes instead of numbers. You can then call each shape by describing its properties. It’s a very simple game and a great way to get children visualising shapes and recalling crucial knowledge. 4 Cross-curricular links We’re usually very good at recognising opportunities for reading and writing across the wider curriculum, but how often do we make