I have avoided talking a lot about counting on this blog because I have not wanted to reinforce the idea that counting is the way that we do math with young children. In fact, I believe that counting will eventually be important, but it certainly isn’t where we start working with young children and math. […]
Sometimes just having the right manipulatives at the right time can make all of the difference when planning your curriculum. This container of plastic bugs will not only delight your kids, but can be used for all sorts of fun and engaging math activities while you study bugs this month. As always, introduce the new […]
Last week, the Illinois Early Learning Project posted an article about the importance of maintaining children’s home languages while in childcare. This practice leads to greater success in reading in English later on. Check it out here.
Using newsletters as a means of communicating regularly and officially with families is one tried and true system that works, when it works. Good newsletters can set the tone for ongoing, reciprocal interactions between the world of child care and the world of home. Bad newsletters can make parents feels isolated, reprimanded, unsuccessful at their […]
As April showers bring May flowers, so too, do they bring bugs. This month, we are going to explore Bugs as our Thursday Theme. The possibilities are endless as bugs are endlessly fascinating to so many children. If you find creepy crawlies unbearable, you may have to fake it for the sake of the kids. […]
I saw this video this morning and thought I should share it. So beautiful.
Did you hear? The governor has approved a new mandate that insists that all people who work with young children, regardless of location (school, center, or home based) are paid a minimum of $100,000 per year with a cost-of-living increase each year working in the profession. In addition, he has added that benefits for child […]
Tomorrow we celebrate April Fools’ Day, although ‘celebrating’ is a bit of an exaggeration. For our purposes, it is probably enough to remind children that this is the one day of the year when we play small jokes or pranks on one another, all in good fun. I also like it because it always falls […]
I vividly remember the days when every single toy in my classroom was dumped out onto the floor and the thought of cleaning all of them up making me feel sick to my stomach. I know that this is the reason a lot of teachers only allow certain areas of the room to be open […]
Last week on Friday’s Focus on Families, I wrote about Continuity of Care and how healthy and strong attachments to caregivers might create a sense of unease in some parents. A few hours later, I received an email from a Early Math Counts reader who told me this story. A few months after my daughter […]