Last night I had the distinct pleasure of attending a celebration honoring the 7th cohort of students to achieve state certification in ECE at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The university honored 11 students which brought the total number of students who have successfully completed this program to 91. This number is an extraordinary accomplishment by those […]
One of the best ways I know to incorporate the “Tinkering Philosophy” into an early childhood program is through a really nice woodworking area. Woodworking is one of those practices that many teachers feel very uncomfortable with. I see this when I visit programs. Rarely, do I see a woodworking table open and available for the […]
Last week, I wrote about the Sesame Street Project called “Math is Everywhere.” That site has all sorts of information about early math for parents of young children and educators of young children. After exploring the site for quite some time, I started thinking about television and learning, and whether or not there is real value […]
This 20 minute video appeared in my search engine this morning. I thought I would share it with you since it follows up our conversation about communicating the message about the importance of math to the parents we serve. It is called “Math is Everywhere” and it takes the viewer through several scenarios that parents […]
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 […]