The joy of Early Mathematics.
- Frédérique and the Wooden Fellows
We planted seeds together in June to elevate young children – the importance of listening to young children, dreaming about a world where young children are seen at their full potential, three playful activities, learning outside, and our first difficult topic, talking about death with young children. We also planted seeds for the creation of Rosie’s world that keeps us all, grown up, grounded into early childhood, with the Doudou-Tout-Doux, the Rigolos, the Tout-Triste, and the Mousse-Mousse.
We will continue to nurture those seeds throughout July as the Fellows come alive, and a perfect way to elevate young children is to embrace the joy of early mathematics.
Now, take a moment and reflect on your own experiences with mathematics.
Some may be positive, others, not so much. Engaging young children with early mathematics is not only useful for them, it can also empower grown-ups with their own mathematics experiences.
Mathematics is indeed all around.
Were you on time for an appointment this week? Do you like the patterns on your shirt? Do you usually avoid colliding with people at the store?
All of those involve mathematics. Look at the pictures on the left taken recently during a walk in Chicago: the spiral curve of a parking deck, the line of symmetry on the butterfly, the numeral 8 on a tray from Tary, next to a hot chocolate. What else do you notice?
So let’s put aside any negative feelings we may have about school mathematics, and let’s elevate young children mathematical thinking, shall we?
The collage below presents an overview of the content areas involved in the child’s development in mathematics.
Early mathematics offers many opportunities to see the full potential of young children, which we will embrace through our imaginary world and its Fellows in the coming weeks and months.
Numbers and Operations
Young children are often quite curious about numbers, especially big numbers. Counting skills. though, take time to develop, as they involve
- knowing the word sequence of counting numbers (rote counting). The English sequence is arduous to learn, as it has unpredictable patterns. Ten-one, ten-two, ten-three would make more sense than eleven, twelve and thirteen!
- keeping track of what is counted (one-to-one correspondence). A child may know how to root count over 50 but may still need some practice to count 15 rocks accurately!
- understanding that the last number recited is the number of objects counted (cardinality). A child may count 3 blocks accurately (one… two… three!), but when asked, “So how many blocks do you have?”, the child may start counting the blocks again. Similarly, when asked “Show me three blocks”, the child may point to the last block they counted instead of the whole set.
Measurement
Young children can develop their understanding of measurement through
- exploring measurement attributes and discussing how long something is, how much something holds, how heavy something is, how much space is covered, how long it takes to do something, etc.
- comparing and ordering items by their size, weight, capacity, etc.
- exploring the measuring process (i.e. assigning a number to an attribute of an object).
Early Algebra
Geometry and spatial sense
To extend their geometric and spatial thinking, children should, for instance, not only recognize shapes but also discuss their attributes and compose/decompose shapes.
Who can spot a triangle? Who can spot another triangle? Do they look the same? How are they different?
Spatial sense is associated with many position words — in, on, below, under, next to, etc — that young children can be exposed to through daily life, picturebooks, and other playful activities such as treasure maps and pretend play.
Data representation
Again, the goal is not to have 4-year-old statisticians; the goal is to expose them to data in a joyful and engaging way.
Three main concepts involving data representation can be explored:
- sorting and classifying objects. The sorting may not be consistent initially, but with some practice, children can start using, and describe, a well-defined attribute.
- representing data, using objects or symbols that can easily be recognized by children.
- describing data. Once children can separate objects into two groups—one that has the attribute, and one that does not have the attribute (e.g. red vs not red)—they can start describing the set.
Sorting buttons is a great way to start and follow young children’s thinking — are they sorting by colors? shape? materials? number of holes? — and extend their exploration — Which buttons have two holes? Which ones have not? Which group has more? fewer?
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This week, I encourage you to continue to listen to young children, adding on your mathematician lens!
You can start with the picture on the right, and progress made on Rosie’s world this week : )
How many hats? Soon to be puppets? What about their size? Any patterns you like? Lines of symmetry you notice?
Next post will be around drawing, another great activity to elevate young children’s thinking.
As always, thank you so much for being here.
Carpenter, T. P., Franke, M. L., Johnson, N.C., Turrou, A. C., & Wager, A. A. (2016). Young children’s mathematics: Cognitively guided instruction in early childhood education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Clements & Sarama. (2003). Engaging young children in mathematics. Routledge.
Copley et al (2007). Mathematics: The creative curriculum approach. Washington, DC: Teaching Strategies.