Primary
Of course, it is not the materials, but the teacher, who creates a thinking classroom. But of course, the teacher can do with some help, and that is where the published schemes can save you an enormous amount of effort in trying to think up for yourself, each week, a new cognitively challenging idea and planning the social construction around it.
See some assessment resources that support your use of Let's Think and CAME as assessment tools. Find out how Let's Think and CAME can be mapped into the National Numeracy Strategy primary framework. Also, you might like to download some similar Maths resources by some of the CAME authors.
Let's Think!
This has 27 main activities, plus three introductory activities on listening, for children aged five to six. Groups can be up to six children each, the whole class should eventually be included, and there is enough material for one new activity every week of the year. This programme develops areas of thinking which are basic not only to maths, but to language, science and other curriculum areas.
Let's Think through Maths!
This has only 10 activities, which may be spread across the whole school year and are suitable for ages five to six. Each LTTM! activity is used with the whole class but, as will be illustrated below, the lesson consists of alternating episodes of small group and plenary work. A typical LTTM! lesson might last an hour.
The 10 lessons that make up Let's Think through Maths! help young pupils to see maths as a way of thinking about the world and not just a series of facts or algorithms. By focusing upon mathematical ways of thinking, pupils in Let's Think lessons begin to gain a better understanding of the content of maths. The lessons do not seek to deliver mathematical content but rather to develop, in 6 year old pupils, a mathematical way of looking at the world around them. Such a perception can then serve as a foundation for the more formal mathematical instruction to come.
The ten lessons are divided into the four thinking strands of:
- Number,
- Measurement,
- Data-handling,
- Shape and space.
Let's Think through Maths! 6 - 9
This pack has 19 activities designed to be used with the whole class, consisting of alternating episodes of small group and plenary work. A typical LTTM! Lesson might last an hour. These materials for 6 to 8 year olds can be seen to challenge pupils to get to grips with the big ideas underpinning primary school mathematics. The activities are arranged in strands and the authors suggest teaching all of the first activities in each strand, and then all of the second activities, and so on. The five reasoning strands are:
- The Number System,
- Multiplicative Relations,
- Measurement,
- Shape, Space and Data Handling,
- Word Problems.
New lessons for Year 4
Primary CAME or P-CAME
This resource is aimed specifically at 10 and 11 year olds, although it has been used by KS3 maths teachers as part of an intervention programme with lower abilityb students. It was the second maths publication developed by Mundher Adhami and Michael Shayer and is similar in structure and design to the original Thinking Maths file.
The 24 lessons that make up the P-CAME programme are designed to be used at a rate of 4 lessons per term during the final two years of primary education (Years 5 and 6 in England and Wales). The lessons themselves seek to complement and build upon existing good practice in primary mathematics. The P-CAME course is not in itself a scheme of work but an opportunity to allow pupils to struggle with some of the big ideas in mathematics. The idea is that this time, where ideas and thoughts are valued, can complement 'normal' lessons where time is fruitfully spent mastering specific skills.
The P-CAME lessons target the thinking strands are:
- Number properties,
- Shape and space,
- Data-handling and representations,
- Ratio and proportion,
- Algebra.
Let's Think Handbook
This is a comprehensive guide for headteachers, local authority advisors and professional development providers looking to implement thinking programmes in primary schools. It is designed to offer an introduction to "cognitive acceleration"; - a method proven to be effective in developing children's general thinking skills - for those new to thinking skills in the primary sector, as well as providing support and development to existing users of the series of cognitive acceleration teaching resources.
Edited by Philip Adey, an internationally recognised authority in cognitive acceleration, the Let's Think! Handbook includes contributions from a wide range of cognitive acceleration specialists, supported by case studies reflecting UK and international practice. It also includes advice and exemplar activities on implementing thinking materials across a wide range of areas, including science, mathematics, and literacy.
