Creativity in Maths and Beyond

Preps

This was an idea I tried out over 8 years ago while working in a pre-preparatory school. I was teaching Year 2 children aged 6/7 years old. The concept emerged as a result of the children not particularly caring for their resources, especially the stationery on the table. "How can I instil a sense of responsibility in these children?" I thought to myself. I had tried the friendly teacher chat followed by several reminders, which then evolved into a less friendlier chat. The problem was that the children generally came from comfortable backgrounds where they needn't worry about taking care of things. If something was lost or broken, it would soon be replaced by a brand spanken new and often shinier model. 

The idea started with not giving the children any stationery at all at the beginning of the term and instead, giving each child a small amount of monopoly style money. I used an online tool to create the money and named the currency 'Preps'. I then made a stationery shop in the classroom accompanied with a price list of the various items. The children sat in table groups and had the task of combining their money together to calculate what they needed for the table. I craftily worked out beforehand that the stationery prices and the amount of money each child received would result in some intense debates within the groups. I also explained that if any item was lost or carelessly broken, they would have to use their Preps to replace it. Now I was not only teaching valuing property but also real life maths as well as negotiation and conflict resolution skills. Win, win, win! 

From here the idea extended to the children earning a weekly wage for completing their classroom job. The jobs were co-created with the children and consisted of your usual classroom routines e.g. handing out and collecting books, tidying the library corner, ensuring all the lights are out when we are not using the room (this aligned with our eco-focus pledge). The one, not so common, job we added was 'banker'. This responsibility involved paying everyone their wage at the end of the week. I ensured the weekly wage would mean the children would have to do some calculations while visiting the bank at the end of the week to collect their earnings. 

The children responded with enthusiasm and excitement and enjoyed their new responsibilities rewarded with fake money on a Friday. In fact they decided they needed somewhere to keep their Preps safely. This directed our next Design Technology project, wallet and purse making. Another win.

After sometime, there was no way for the children to spend their well earned Preps apart from the occasional replacement of stationery, which was miraculously being looked after with more vigour by the children. Therefore, the next evolution was developed. An end of term event where the children could spend their Preps. The first event involved funfair games in the school hall. I hired out spaces for the children to set up their own stalls, which they had to pay for in Preps. The children worked either on their own or with a partner and designed their own games to operate, ranging from knocking cups down with balls to pin the tail on the donkey. The children were also able to buy prizes for their stalls from an expanded stationery shop I had created, thank you Poundland. They also had to calculate how much to charge each other to have a go at their stall. They learnt not to charge too much, otherwise no-one would want to visit their stall, and not to charge too little, otherwise they would run the risk of giving away all their prizes and having no money to buy new ones. 

The children were completely immersed in the whole world of Preps from the start. All the boxes were being ticked in terms of what makes a great learning experience. Creativity, innovation, problem solving, planning, critical thinking, agency, collaboration, organisational skills, self-motivation, the list could go on. I never intended for this to happen. It was one of those special moments in my teaching career that grew into a greater success than I could have ever imagined. The best part was that the children steered the way and had a true sense of ownership and responsibility throughout. Of course I helped facilitate the process but the children were involved with every step. 

We finished the year with our second event, a movie afternoon where the children worked collaboratively as a whole class and hired another space in the school to set up a cinema experience for our parallel class, who had also adopted the Preps concept. They bought drinks and popcorn at wholesale prices from the stationery come minimart shop. They sold these for a profit at the event to their Year 2 peers next door and charged them an entrance fee. this was not quite as creative as the first event but the children still had a great time, all while learning, learning, learning!