:: News
Welcome to the Early Childhood Level Link. This page highlights early
childhood mathematics. You will find news, upcoming events, early childhood
math in action, resources, and websites of interest to early childhood
mathematics educators.
NCTM and NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children)
released a joint position statement about early childhood mathematics
titled “Promoting Good Beginnings.” This is very significant!
To obtain a copy go to NCTM.org
or NAEYC.org or review
Teaching Children Mathematics September 2002 issue (p. 24).
> To view a brief synopsis of the document go to NCTM.org
> To view the entire document, go to NAEYC.org
:: Recent and Upcoming Events
Maryland Math Month is a yearly event sponsored by the Maryland
Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Maryland State Department of
Education. It is celebrated each April to coincide with NCTM's month long
celebration of mathematics. Packets containing activities for all grade
levels, including Prekindergarten and Kindergarten, will be sent to schools
in early March 2007. Go to www.marylandmath.org/events/math-month.asp to view the Maryland Math Month activities from 2004-2006.
These activities can be downloaded from this link
as well.
Month of the Young Child celebrations also occur in April. This is
a yearly event sponsored nationally by NAEYC (National Association for
the Education of Young Children), which is also locally sponsored in counties throughout Maryland.
Updates pertaining to these celebrations will be posted on this link closer to April
:: Resources for Educators
Teaching Children Mathematics is published monthly by NCTM during
the school year and includes a section entitled "Early Childhood
Corner."
Young Children is published by NAEYC and addresses the interests
of early childhood educators. The focus of the January 2003 issue is
mathematics.
Engaging Young Children in Mathematics is edited by Douglas Clements
and Julie Sarama and is an excellent resource.
The Banneker Banner is published by MCTM and includes articles
relevant to early childhood mathematics. See "Enhancing the Math
Talk in Our Early Childhood Classrooms" in the Spring 2003 issue.
Worthwhile reading is an article recently published in The Banneker
Banner, “Understanding the A word: Assessment in the early childhood
mathematics classroom” by Jennifer Taylor-Cox and Karren Schultz-Ferrell.
The authors describe a variety of options that provide authentic assessments
for assessing what young students know and are able to do.
The Young Child and Mathematics by Juanita V. Copley
addresses how to educate young children utilizing the content and
process standards and includes activities as well.
Showcasing Mathematics for the Young Child: Activities for Three-,
Four-, and Five-Year-Olds is also by Juantia V. Copley.
Teaching Number Sense, Kindergarten and Teaching Number Sense, Grade 1, both by Chris Confer, show teachers how to utilize literature to provide young students with opportunities to develop important number sense skills. Teaching Number Sense, Grade 2 by Susan Scharton, completes this early childhood number sense series.
There has been multiple research, articles, and discussions about what
algebra should look like for our youngest learners. An excellent article
to read is from Teaching Children Mathematics, “ Algebra in the
Pre-K-2 Curriculum? Billy Goats and Bears Give Us the Answer”
by Portia C. Elliott (September 2005). The author discusses a variety
of strategies that provide algebraic experiences for students, and uses
literature (e.g., There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms
Taback [1997] and The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carl [1979]) as a vehicle
for helping young children begin to develop understandings about algebraic
thinking. Read the article to find out how you can help your students
think algebraically.
A crucial area to develop in early childhood learners is that of problem solving and reasoning. A few suggested literature selections that encourage children to problem solve and reason are:
- Math Fables-Lessons That Count by Greg Tang
- Math Appeal, Mind-Stretching Math Riddles by Greg Tang
- 12 Ways to Get to 11 by Eve Merriam
- Pigs Will Be Pigs: Fun with Math and Money by Amy Axelrod
:: Websites For Young Children
Mathstories.com
This is a site that contains many word problems and open-ended activities. These are sorted by level and topic. They are also available in Spanish.
Funschool.com
This site hosts online math games.
Funbrain.com
This site includes online math games.
http://www.primarygames.com/patterns/start.htm
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/index2.html
