Foundation Phase Comprehensive Workbooks

The NumberSense Foundation Phase Comprehensive Workbooks provide an all-inclusive mathematics programme that addresses all of the Foundation Phase mathematics curriculum learning outcomes in a single set of workbooks.

With the Original NumberSense Workbooks for the Foundation Phase, teachers, guided by the NumberSense Companion Teacher Guide, had to develop specific activities and/or worksheets etc. for Space and Shape (Geometry), Measurement, and Data Handling. These learning areas are now included in the Comprehensive Workbooks. The implication is that the full curriculum of each grade is typically covered over four consecutive workbooks.

Each workbook addresses more than one mathematics learning area and is organised by section. The pages in each section should be completed in sequence. However, the entire workbook is not completed in sequence. It is expected that the teacher will switch between sections throughout the term to both add variety and also to make sure that each of the learning areas in each workbook are addressed throughout the term. For example, the teacher may decide to let the class do Number, Operations and Relationships and Pattern pages on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then two pages of Measurement on Thursday and Friday. Teachers need to plan carefully because, on some occasions, activities in, for example, the Measurement sections may be spread over several pages and these pages should be completed as a single unit.

Specific features of the Foundation Phase workbooks include:

• A blue rectangle with two icons at the top of many of the Geometry, Measurement, and Data Handling pages. This rectangle suggests an activity that the teacher should complete with the children as part of the teacher-led activity at the start of each lesson. This activity should be completed before the children work independently (alone, in pairs or small groups) to complete the remaining tasks on the page. The rectangle also indicates the resources needed for the activity.
• Pages that make strategies that children could use to complete calculations explicit.
• An extra question that has been added to many counting activities to make the multiplicative reasoning that the counting activity is meant to reveal more visible. For example, when counting hands and fingers, the child is asked to count not only the number of hands and the total number of fingers, but also to think about the number of fingers on a hand. This draws attention to the relationship between hands and fingers, namely that three hands with five fingers per hand have (3 × 5) 15 fingers altogether.
• Activities are spread over several pages in some of the Space and Shape (Geometry), Measurement, and Data Handling pages. It is important to be aware of this as it impacts on lesson preparation.
• The Workbooks per grade are as follows:
  • Grade 1: Workbooks 1, 2, 3 and 4
  • Grade 2: Workbooks 5, 6, 7 and 8
  • Grade 3: Workbooks 9, 10, 11 and 12

Foundation Phase Workbook Overview