I have received nearly a dozen responses to my Parent Questionnaire (not bad, eh?) about children and math. Our first respondent is Chris – my colleague and friend, a new dad, and a math educator. Since his children are still quite little, he has not had very many experiences with early childhood mathematics, but is […]
Here are two examples of bookmaking – one that I consider to be developmentally appropriate, interesting, engaging, and best practice and another that I consider to be boring, and – for lack of a better term – lazy. I frequently hear early childhood teachers introducing shapes as a curricular concept to children. This is good […]
I split the Geometry Standard into 2 parts for easier unpacking and even though I have written extensively about Geometry over the months, there are additional dimensions to this standard that are definitely worth exploring deeply. Identify and describe shapes. CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.A.1 Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of […]
Book making is one of those activities that some children will choose right from the get-go and others will warm to over time. There are many ways you can make your own book templates (pop-ups are a favorite and this site will teach you how to make 3 different kinds) which are perfectly fine for […]
I recently sent out a questionnaire to several people looking for some thoughts about young children and math. I chose the respondents using only two, but important, parameters. 1. They had to be educators (in some capacity). 2. They had to parents (in some capacity). That means that I sent the questionnaire out to dozens […]
Sometimes all it takes is a few pieces of paper and a stapler and you have the template for a mini-book that can be written and illustrated by the children in your program. I used to make these using three sheets of simple copy paper folded in half and stapled in the middle. I placed […]
Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category. CCSS.Math.Content.K.MD.B.3 Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.1 1 Limit category counts to be less than or equal to 10 ___________________________________________________________________ This second part of the Measurement and Data Standard of the Core for […]
Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category. CCSS.Math.Content.K.MD.B.3 Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.1 ____________________________________________________________________ Well you can’t get more straightforward than that, now can you? The ability to sort and classify into straightforward categories comes fairly easily to […]
I don’t normally think of pens, paper, or tape as “manipulatives” but since we are looking at bookmaking as a theme this month, I think they are worth exploring. And so I ask the question, “Do materials matter?” I used to think they didn’t. Newsprint sufficed as a canvas for painting and recycled office […]
I don’t think Larry or I recognized it at the time, but Noah’s interest in number started when he was really young. When other children were beginning to write the letters in their names, Noah was writing numbers. When other children were reciting their A, B, C’s Noah was counting (forwards and backwards). The other […]