This book is one of our First Steps series. It is very important that children enjoy this time. They are encouraged to look closely at drawings at the beginning of the book deciding which are the same and which is the ‘odd one out’. Pupils learn to identify different shapes, e.g. circles, squares, rectangles, triangles and match similar ones. They learn to recognise their written names then write them. Arithmetic starts with numbers and recognition up to 5. This is extended to 10 and further as the children learn about the use of numbers in counting in every day situations including addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. Pupils learn to develop the language of numbers such as bigger, smaller, equal to, more than, less than . . . They should be encouraged to tell and complete stories, ask questions and draw pictures to illustrate them. The work progresses through our books First Steps ‘Beginning to Read’, First ‘Beginning to Write’, First Steps ‘Number and Counting.’