Do you have a Jenga set in your classroom? If not, you should. Jenga is a set of small wooden blocks designed to be set up in a tower formation. Players take turns removing one block at a time and placing it on the top of the tower until the tower becomes so unsteady that it […]
We recently launched the Early Math Counts professional development series. As a member of the Gateways Registry and an early childhood teacher in the state of Illinois, these courses are free and now available on-line though the ilearning system. In the comfort of your home, you can complete 8 hours of professional development focused on […]
The Lego Company thinks it can. According to this article in The Guardian, the head of the Lego Foundation, Hanne Rasmussen, is investing a lot of money in new research that will unequivocally prove the educational value of play. Check it out.
Over the years, I have blogged about 100+ kinds of manipulatives, from the homemade variety to the expensive stuff, from the kinds designed for toddlers to tools for early school-aged children. I really like interesting, diverse, multidimensional tools that can be used in a variety of ways and for many developmental levels. Today, let’s take […]
This just in from Pittsburgh’s NPR station. Child care costs soar as child care providers barely earn a living. Check it out.
This list, although not close to being complete, is a nice beginning if you want to enhance your children’s library with books loaded with mathematical concepts. It comes from Judy Schickendanz’s book, Increasing the Power of Instruction: Integration of Language, Literacy, and Math Across the Preschool Day (NAEYC, 2008). Check it out.
According to last Sunday’s New York Times’ article in the Sunday Review by Andrew Hacker, we are teaching math wrong. Rather than focusing on algebra and geometry, we should be focusing on “quantitative reasoning” skills – the math skills we will most likely use throughout our lives. These skills support a more comprehensive understanding of the math […]
How is rhythm and rhyme connected to early math learning? Our favorite rhythmic book, when the boys were little, was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I read that book so many times that I know every word by heart. We purchased several copies over those early years, since they did get a little worn out from […]
Everything about Dr. Seuss brings a smile to my face, from the rhyming sequences to the nonsensical words. The drawings are so lively and so engaging-you don’t know where to look first. If we begin at the beginning – the first book that comes to mind is The Cat in the Hat. There are so […]
While observing a kindergarten classroom the other day, I observed a child counting the pips on a die each time she rolled it. The lesson asked that children roll one die, read the number of pips, and complete a word chart determined by the number. Interestingly, this child could both read simple sight words […]