Early Math Counts

This one-minute video explains the philosophy of  “Tinkering” far better than I ever could. Check it out.    

The Early Math in Illinois report outlines several areas for improvement in professional development for ECE professionals based on extensive research of best practice and current practice.  The research revealed that there was an underwheliming amount of math education at the community college level and few opportunities for professional development exclusively in math for practicing teachers. […]

Over the past 2 years, I have written about every kind of math manipulative imaginable.  We have explored, nesting dolls and Legos, sorting boxes and puzzles, Tangrams and dominoes.  The list goes on and on. This got me thinking about limited budgets, limited space, and feeling overwhelmed by too many choices.  A lot of the manipulatives I […]

Have you informed your parents about the webpage specifically designed just for them? IllinoisParents.org is loaded with information for parents of young children in Illinois.  There, they will find resources, events, community partnerships, and local/regional hotline phone numbers.  Funded by the Illinois State Board of Education and the Early Learning First grant, this resource might be useful for your […]

Tinkering is a bold and exciting approach to curriculum that assumes several basic truths about children. 1.  Children are smarter than you think they are. 2.  Children are born problem-solvers. 3.  Children are capable. 4.  Children have great ideas. 5. Children learn from failure. 6. Children are competent. It also assumes several basic truths about early childhood […]

The Early Math in Illinois:Recognizing and  Raising the Profile report also describes the recommendations for delivering professional development in early math to ECE practitioners. The Illinois Early Math Advisory Committee came together and began their work by addressing these 9 Key Questions: 1.  What does research say about the correlation between early math competency and […]

Hello Early Math Counts Friends, We at Early Math Counts are looking for some feedback about our site.  If you have a moment could you click on the link below and answer a few short questions?  We really appreciate your thoughts and opinions. Thank you. Early Math Counts Survey

Is it enough to have wonderful math manipulatives, organized and available for children to play with, or do we need to be more systematic and intentional with the materials we present as well as in the way we present them? I’ve been writing about math manipulatives on Mondays for 2 years, but I thought it […]

If you were to try and explain to parents why you think early math education is as important as early literacy, what would you say? Would you explain to parents that children begin to make sense of the world by observing all of its dimensions, shapes, characteristics, and relationships?  This happens before the acquisition of language […]

I know I have been pretty specific about what makes a “good” graphing experience for young children and what falls short.  I tend to get pretty hard-headed about these things, really believing that there are “rules” that when followed, will produce a pretty good experience. The graphing mat pictured above breaks many of my “rules.”  […]