Dunnikier Primary is part of the Balwearie cluster, which has four associated school groups (ASGs), one of which is for numeracy.
The Primary 1 class at Dunnikier Primary took part in a maths project called 'My Home' which focused learning on how routines and events in the real world link with times and seasons to explore ways to record and display the time using clocks, calendars and other methods.
Teachers abandoned the traditional approach of teaching the concept of time using workbooks in favour of linking it to environmental studies and discussing how clocks are used in the home. The children learned about the different uses of clocks and why they looked different. They sorted photographs of digital and analogue clocks and continued the sorting exercise using real clocks in the classroom.
Children also used coloured patterned squares to design floors for shoe-box houses. They used patterns and colours to count the number of floor tiles for their houses. The children started off with two colours and two rows but when they became more confident they progressed to three, four and five rows, using three colours.
Pupils then drew around the base of their 'house' while discussing the shape and cut the floor to fit; they then coloured their tiling pattern. This allowed the children to spot and explore patterns while encouraging creativity by making their own patterns.
Using the familiar environment of 'the home' Dunnikier Primary has helped children to creatively investigate, explore and measure maths against real-life events such as time and the seasons.
By taking a cross curriculum approach, teachers were able to help children make the links between learning and the real world, building the skills which help young people go on to further study, to secure work and to navigate through life.
Curriculum for Excellence was implemented in all Scottish nursery, primary and secondary schools as well as colleges in August 2010. For more information on how this will affect your child speak to your child's school or visit