a celebration of learning
Recent research has shown that children learn early number concepts developmentally, just as they learn other skills like crawling, walking and so on. They have to be developmentally ready to learn a particular skill or concept. The Instructional Framework in Early Number, developed by Robert Wright and his team of math educators, has outlined five developmental stages all children move through as they learn about early number concepts. They have further outlined the learning outcomes involved in each of the five stages to help move children forward. This Instructional Framework in Early Number is detailed and includes over 200 learning outcomes. Having such detailed learning outcomes allows educators to identify where a child is at in his or her learning, if there are any gaps in the learning and how best to move him or her forward. Each child works at his or her own pace through this learning framework, some working quickly and some taking more time. However, being able to identify where a child is at, allows an educator to know how best to help them.
The Cross-Number Discovery Puzzles & Games series is based on the Instructional Framework of Early Number. The questions in the puzzles were carefully chosen to introduce each of the learning outcomes in turn. The puzzles allow children time to practise and consolidate these outcomes before another learning outcome is introduced. More information on the instructional framework on which these puzzles are based can be found in the book, Teaching Number: Advancing Children’s Skills and Strategies, by Robert Wright, James Martland, Ann Stafford, and Garry Stanger.
Teaching Number: Advancing Children’s Skills and Strategies (2nd Edition), Robert J. Wright, Garry Stanger, Ann K. Stafford, James Martland, Sage Publishing, 2010
Developing Number Knowledge: Assessment, Teaching & Intervention with 7-11-Year-Olds, Robert J. Wright, David Ellemor-Collins, Pamela D.Tabor, Sage Publishing, 2012
Early Numeracy Assessment for Teaching Intervention (2nd Edition), Robert J. Wright, James Martland, Ann K. Stafford, Sage Publishing, 2006
Teaching Number in the Classroom with 4-8 year olds (CD Rom), Robert J. Wright, Garry Stanger, Ann K. Stafford, James Martland, Sage Publishing, 2006
Math Recovery Overview: An elementary school implementation of an early intervention program to identify and service “at risk” mathematics students (White Paper)
Jenny Cobb, Ann Stafford, Pamela Tabor, U.S. Math Recovery Council, 2004
james r. martland
recovery program (u.k.)
“Celia Baron successfully draws upon the concepts of the Mathematics Recovery Program, and provides educators with exciting tools… The puzzles support learning and are a welcome and innovative addition to the field of mathematics education.”
As educators, we dreamed of a product that would help students learn and help teachers teach. It had to be interactive, provide immediate teaching feedback for students, and contain a large database of questions so students could have ample opportunities to master concepts. It had to be practical and easy to use.