I am so honored and excited to be the Math at Home blogger for the next year! I love math, and I love watching math happen with children every day. My goal for the next year is to avoid how high and fast our children can rote count. I want to build the deepest, strongest foundation for learning and let the children build their own house of math on that foundation. I hope to give you a collection of pictures from my own program, quick-reading ideas, some great books to find at the library to build on the literacy skills and math understanding and a question to get some dialogue going about math and kids and life. We want to immerse them in math environments without worksheets or set times for math. It will come naturally, through play. I promise to keep it fun and easy.

Let’s start with a quick look at the brain. We know that the right brain develops first. It is really busy building our children’s imagination, creativity and intuition for the first three to four years of life. The left brain starts to kick in developmentally at about the age of seven. It gives us logic, language, literacy, numeracy. The right brain is full of sensory, play, relaxing. I like to think of it as RIGHT BRAIN=RECESS. That left brain over there…whoa, that looks like school/office to me. My own students are in the right-brain zone, age-wise. They are playing with rocks and friends, being creative and using their imaginations while learning how the world works. I really like recess, just like I did when I was five. So let’s stay out here in recess land for as long as we can! It will build the foundation for that school/office side of learning. I promise that play really will get us ready for the left-brain part of life. So, let’s get started!

Collections

Do you have a collector in your midst? That small child who can turn a five-minute walk into a 15-minute treasure-discovering adventure? You know, that child who slows us all down to look at the world below our feet or above our heads?  I love these kids. They make me crazy, wrack my nerves and raise my blood pressure, but they also make me slow down, take a breath, smile and find beauty in the oddest of places. And they make me smile really, really big, when I remind myself that this is the gold treasure chest of math’s foundation.

At the Ginkgo Tree, we are full of collectors!  We collect lots of nature’s loose parts like acorns and buckeyes, feathers and rocks. But we also collect colored gems, bottle caps, keys and other oddities. THIS, my friends, is the rock solid, hands-on, building the foundation of great solid math brain that we look for in early childhood play.

If it attracts their attention, and they touch it, they own it. They own their learning at this moment! Grab a bag, basket or bucket and take a walk and see what speaks to your children. A good pocket is priceless. Keep your phone in your own pocket and give your child the gift of time. What treasures do they find? What captures their attention? Do you need to mentor collecting? Keep your eyes out for heart rocks. We love a good heart rock, and it’s a great pastime when waiting at restaurants or appointments. Hidden in those landscape rocks, there is sure to be a heart rock!

When you return home, dump those treasures out. Before we can begin to count our collections, we need to figure out which are acorns and which are bottle caps. This will come very naturally as a child sorts the acorns into one pile, the bottle caps into another. We can sort into groups, we can arrange by size, color, shape, texture or weight! Remember, back in kindergarten and first grade, these were referred to as sets. Before you could count sets, you needed to separate into sets. If your child hit the jackpot on a particular item, you may wish to give it a special home. Perhaps a small box, a canvas bag, a Ziploc bag or an egg carton. These treasure are chock full of math potential.

Regardless of how high a preschooler can rote count, a child’s sense of what those numbers actually mean develops gradually. We call this “understanding number sense,” and it requires relating numbers to real quantities.

Young children have an inborn sense of more and less. What is fair or equal? Who has more ice cream, acorns or toy cars? They know! Children learn math sense by working with small sets of collections. Math sense refers to relating numbers to real quantities. Slow it down and let’s work on small groups. One to three objects for the wee ones, five objects for our preschoolers. If the grouping of sets leads to counting, try moving each object and giving it a number. Number sense is the ability to understand that the quantity of the set is the last number name given in that set. By making counting hands-on fun, children are learning place value and addition. Take it slow and keep it fun. Children will be exposed to the idea that the same collection can be sorted in different ways. Sets can be flexible. (Ugh oh, I saw your math brain go to sixth-grade math, where sets started getting a bit confusing. Pop out of that left brain! Get back here in recess!) Math is being taught a whole new way. They are removing that obstacle, your left brain might not have learned this new way, so relax and just sort the rocks!  Remember, not all skills come in a certain order. They will come at different times for different children and in different learning styles. It will come. Baby steps. Strong foundation. Let’s stay out for recess and enjoy the ride.

So, that’s it. Collect some treasures and we will meet later in the month and start putting those collections into play. In the meantime, head to your local library, neighborhood bookstore or Amazon and cozy up with your child for some great books on collections!  Amazon is easy, fast and convenient, but we want to keep our book resources alive in our neighborhoods!

[amazon_links]

Left-Brain Adult Lounge

I would be absolutely terrified if I knew how many hours my brain has tried to come to terms with my students playing with…bottle caps. Beer caps, specifically. Craft brewers are knocking out some crazy creative bottle caps! They are fabulous for sorting! I DESPISE branding and have removed most of it from our program, so am I branding alcohol preferences to my three-year-olds? Is this early math politically correct?  Am I totally overthinking this? I asked the parents of the students for guidance. They looked completely baffled and said, “I know you have thought this out, and you must have good reason for it!” If they only knew. So, I observed the kids as they separated the caps by features (dogs, colors, whatever popped out at them.) They can’t read. The letters are foreign to them because, remember, that’s left brain and their brain development isn’t there yet! I grew up next to a state park, and I collected bottle caps as a kid. They clinked like coins, they were easy to find, carry in a pocket and sort into categories.

I flip, I flop, I struggle. Somehow, bottle caps always win. And here’s why:

Numbers and Letters!

Sequencing!

I kid you not!  How funny is this?

Same but different!

HELP! What are your thoughts on this topic?  Am I overthinking all of this? Do I justify all the goodness of a bottle cap?  Apologies in advance, if this sends havoc to your brain space on the ethics of early childhood education! Have a great week!

This is a delightfully illustrated book that centers around a small red brick who grows up and tries to find her place in the world. She travels to lands near and far searching for a structure that she fits into. She visits castles and famous buildings and walls, searching for the place that feels like home. I won’t spoil the book and tell you where she ends up, but it is a lovely story about belonging and life. It is not necessarily obvious where the math come into play in this book, but it jumped out at me when mathematical vocabulary was used to describe the brick (small), the buildings (tall) and other math vocabulary words such as same, different, wide, etc. In addition, the illustrations lend themselves to talking about similarities and differences, size, shape and number.

This is a deep and thoughtful book that is perfect for a quiet time during the day or evening when you and your child(ren) have time to really examine the illustrations and talk not only about mathematical concepts, but about doing great things, being brave and belonging.

The second book is a classic children’s book written by Bill Martin and illustrated by Eric Carle called Polar Bear Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? This book is a delightful companion to their book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? 

Polar Bear Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? is a classic pattern book. A pattern book is typically a book with few sentences on each page that has a very repetitive and predictable sequence to it. This allows children to be able to anticipate what the next word of a sentence is because it is repeated throughout the book. The book starts with a Polar Bear who is asked “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?” The polar bear then states that he hears a “lion roaring in my ear.” The lion is then asked what he hears and he tells us…. and so on. Children easily begin to predict that each of the animals will be asked what they hear…using the same simple words each time.

How does this help children with mathematical thinking? The answer is PATTERNS! The repetitive nature and predictability of the story helps children begin to acquire the important skills of predicting and hypothesizing. To start to predict what comes next is an important math skill. Recognizing patterns provides the foundation for being able to make predictions based on observation of the repetition of patterns and, as children grow in their mathematical skills, later make predictions based on data.

I hope you will enjoy reading these two books to your child(ren) and that you will continue to find books that foster mathematical thinking and skills. Please share your favorite books with us in the comments and tell us how they help children develop mathematical skills!

There are two rather sophisticated, fun and fantastic books that I want to tell you about this week.

The first is a book written by Barbara Kanninen and illustrated by Serge Bloch called Circle Rolls.

The main character in this book is a spunky, bespectacled Circle. That’s right, a circle—and all kinds of funny things happen when Circle starts to roll.

As Circle rolls, he smacks into Oval, who rocks because he is not perfectly round, and Square, who sits because his sides are straight. As Rectangle is bumped into, he stands and, as Triangle is smacked, he points. Then, as Circle hits the point of the Triangle, he POPS!  All kinds of crazy things happens when Circle pops and, soon, other shapes get involved.

This book is perfect for talking about the attributes of each of the shapes (the circle is round, the triangle has three sides and three points, etc.) In addition, the words rhyme. Rhyming helps children experience the rhythm of language. Through rhyming, they can anticipate the rhyming word, which will help them with making hypotheses, or predictions—an important early math and science skill.

My three-year-old grandson, Charlie, loves me to read this book with him—and we both laugh a lot when that circle POPS! Laughing and learning at the same time is a fantastic way to spend an early morning story time.

The second book is about a bunch of party-loving hippos called Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton.

Hippos Go Berserk starts with one hippo sitting all alone who calls two hippo friends to come over. Those hippos bring other friends and the party begins as the house fills up with hippos playing, partying and working.

They go BERSERK having a fantastic time all night long. When dawn breaks, the hippos start to leave in groups until just the one hippo is left, missing the other 44 that were with him all night long.

This is a great book for practicing counting, composing (adding) and decomposing (subtracting). It is also a just a fantastically fun book that children and adults of all ages love.

I highly recommend these two fabulous, fun and fantastic books that will leave you and your children laughing while you learn!

Visualizing large numbers, understanding fractions, having fun with division, or just fine-tuning how you approach problems – all of these books present fun and winning ways to bring math into your children’s lives.

How Much is a Million by Stephen Kellogg

Master children’s book writer Stephen Kellogg’s book has been making large numbers understandable to young readers for generations, and is still the best book out there for visualizing them in an accessible way. No one who has ever read this book will forget that if a billion kids made a human tower it would reach past the moon.

The Pancake Menu by Lucy Ravitch

Lucy Ravitch, who blogs at Kids Math Teacher, has created a winning combination of cooking and eating out in this book aimed at getting kids comfortable with adding costs. It encourages readers to make their own fun pancake creations and figure out how much customers would have to pay if they were running their own at-home restaurant. An imaginative, active good time.

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table by Cindy Neuschwander

Clever all around, this title by Cindy Neuschwander is a rarity – a math picture book with a really great and memorable story. It is a smart take on an inventive side story of the Arthurian saga, about King Arthur’s quest to find a table that can accommodate all of his squabbling knights. If you love it, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table is the first in a series.

Which One Doesn’t Belong? by Christopher Danielson

This brilliant new book by math educator Christopher Daniels, of Talking Math With Your Kids fame is less about teaching right answers than about getting children to ask the right questions. On each page, readers are invited to pick the shape that doesn’t belong and talk about why they picked that shape. But there is not correct answer – just an opportunity to talk about how we think. A must-have.

What Do You Do With a Problem? by Kobi Yamada

It’s a shame that when we talk about solving math equations we equate it with a “problem.” However, this charming and emboldening book What Do You Do With A Problem? by Kobi Yamada. A dark, splotchy problem follows around the unnamed character and haunts his days until he decides to face it head-on. Along the way, this endearing story shows that maybe the problem wasn’t as scary as he thought after all.

The Best of Times by Greg Tang

Greg Tang has a number of math picture books out, but I like this one best. In it, he provides simple instruction for multiplying numbers. Here’s a choice example: “Four is very fast to do, / when you multiply by 2. / Here’s a little good advice – / please just always double twice!”

What’s New at the Zoo by Suzanne Slade

It’s a simple premise: A visit to the zoo yields possibilities for learning how to add. Four monkeys are all carrying babies – how many monkeys are there? What’s New at the Zoo is perfect for early math learners because of how simple it’s questions are and how it engages readers in a real-world problem. Add to that perfect rhyming and some cute pictures and you have the perfect addition to your library.

Full House: An Invitation to Fractions by Dayle Ann Dodds

Dayle Ann Dodds makes this list twice. In Full House, she wraps two learning stories in one book with the tale of Miss Bloom, the proprietor of an inn with six rooms. As guests arrive, Miss Bloom calculates how many of the rooms have been filled. Later, they all share a cake cut into six equal pieces. The illustrations are charming, the lesson spot-on, and the characters funny as can be.

The Great Divide: By Dayle Ann Dodds

When 100 people set out on a marathon, some of them don’t finish in this rousing story by Dayle Ann Dodds. More a concept book than a memorization story, The Great Divide follows the marathoners as, on each spread, half of them encounter a challenges taking them out of the race. In the end, there can be only one – but getting there is the fun in this book.

That’s a Possibility: A Book about What Might Happen by Bruce Goldstone

Some math concepts have as much to do with learning the meaning of words as anything else. Enter That’s A Possibility, a book that teaches students about the subtle differences in the language of possibilities. In popping, colorful illustrations, it leads young readers through a series of situations, defining the terms possible, probable, impossible, and certain along the way. Possibly a must for Christmas?