Metro East Focus Schools Project - Support Visit 5 (Number), October 2026

Building Number Understanding Through Classroom Support

MEED teachers and learners explore the foundations of mathematical thinking.

Developing a strong understanding of number involves much more than learning to count. Children need opportunities to compare quantities, recognise relationships, explain their thinking and gradually connect practical experiences to mathematical symbols.

During October, the Basic Concepts Foundation continued its classroom support visits to schools participating in the Metro East Education District (MEED) project. The focus was on the Number domain, working alongside Grade R and Grade 1 teachers to strengthen their implementation of the Basic Concepts Programme.

Through practical demonstrations using counters, cubes and other familiar materials, teachers explored ways of helping learners move from identifying which group has more or less to comparing quantities, making sets the same, and understanding how adding or removing objects changes a number.

An important part of this work is the language teachers use to mediate learning. When children are encouraged to describe what they see, explain how they know and demonstrate their thinking, mathematical activities become opportunities to develop deeper conceptual understanding.

The visits revealed encouraging examples of teachers engaging with these approaches, alongside areas where further guidance and practice are needed. They also highlighted the importance of connecting hands-on activities to the numerals and mathematical symbols children encounter in their written work.

Classroom support is not simply about demonstrating a lesson. It is about building teachers' confidence and capacity to make these approaches part of their everyday practice.

The MEED support visits are continuing, with further opportunities to consolidate learning, share effective practice and strengthen the foundations on which children's future mathematical learning depends.