2.2

2.2 RECOGNISE SUBTLE DIFFERENCES & LEVELS IN LITERACY & NUMERICAL LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO AGE, ABILITY, CULTURE & SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

TAGS:literacy, numeracy, counting aloud, snakes and ladders.

The following account occurred on the 27^th of September 2013.

Today I attended my prac placement at preschool.  During activity time, a little girl I will use the psyudonme Bonnie, came up to me and asked if I would play a game of snakes and ladders with her.  The Snakes and Ladders board is a bit different because every square has a different activity the children need to do.  As the children are unable to read, I read the activity out, for example touch toes, balance on one leg etc.  Bonnie is of African decent and has dark skin.  She found the snakes and ladders board and a very large dice, which had the numbers 1-12 on it.  The dice was sort of diamond shape, had lots of points. 

We used marbles to place on the start of the snakes and ladders board.  Bonnie rolled the dice, recognised the number but had some difficulty counting the number of spaces and moving the marble at the same time.  It was then my turn, she watched me intently and I counted the numbers out as I moved the marble.

I am not sure if English is Bonnie’s second language, she was born in Australia, but I observed she had some difficulty with counting when she was counting on her own.  When we counted together Bonnie had a better grasp of numbers.  When observed in a group setting she is able to count aloud with the other children, both in English, Japanese and Italian.  

I am not sure how much counting practice Bonnie is able to do at home.  I know she has many brothers and sisters, so she may not be receiving individual attention in literacy and numeracy. 

Unfortunately we did not have a lot of time to play as it was nearing pack up and it was clearing up time as it was the last day of term.  I hope to revisit this game on my final day of placement next term.

Image source: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-15305750-snakes-and-ladders-board-game.php