Numeracy                    

Debney Meadows Primary School  uses the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction for teaching numeracy across the school. This model involves a progression from teacher modeling to shared and guided activities in small groups and then to sustained independent tasks.

All students can be successful learners of mathematics. Debney Meadows Primary School teaches mathematics in accordance with VELS (Victorian Essential Learning Standards).

One hour of explicit numeracy teaching occurs daily in all classrooms. We aim for students to be confident and enthusiastic users of mathematics.

Each one hour session includes

• a brief introductory skill session involving a mental strategy such as counting, addition, multiplication facts.

• an engaging shared activity with explicit teaching of the focus and the language related to the concept,

• a focus teaching group with others in the class involved in independent activities (pairs, small groups or individually).

• once the teacher has completed work with the focus teaching group these students then move on to a follow up independent task

• the teacher spends the remaining time monitoring independent work by making observations and conducting conferences.

We aim to give students a "hands-on" activity based program with an emphasis on problem solving and open ended tasks and where possible integrate mathematics across all learning areas.

For students to become numerate, they must be given opportunities to practise and apply the mathematics they have learned. This should take place not only in the mathematics classroom, but in other areas of the curriculum.