All young children are natural mathematicians. Piaget believed that what he called “logico-mathematical knowledge” begins to develop from birth. At MCNS, we believe that math-related activities should be an integral part of the everyday experiences in both the classrooms and the homes of our children.

Most early child educators agree that blocks are the essential learning tools for children. Block play in the United States was first promoted about 100 years ago by Carolyn Pratt, a teacher who believed, as we do, that children learn best through their constructive open-ended play. That is why you will find extensive block areas in all three of our classrooms. Blocks provide opportunities for children to build skills in many areas including language and social skills, but they particularly foster skills in mathematics.

The basic blocks we use are wooden unit blocks based on the proportions 1:2:4. When children play with unit blocks they are practicing mathematical skills. Children count blocks as they build towers. They compare buildings, learning comparative vocabulary such as big, bigger, and biggest. They problem-solve as they search for the right-sized block to complete a building. They use the blocks as measurement tools. They learn that two one- unit blocks are as long as one two-unit block. The relationships of the blocks help children explore the mathematical ideas of fractions and multiples. Many of the manipulations made when playing with blocks are similar to those needed for geometry and algebra. In fact, some studies show that children who play with blocks do better on math achievement tests in high school than children who did not play with blocks!

We also have Learning Materials Workshop blocks in all of our classrooms. These materials are designed in a variety of colors, sizes, shapes and textures that stimulate and develop perceptual, motor and language skills as they stimulate mathematical thinking and cooperative problem-solving. Because the materials are open-ended and can be used in simple and complex ways they are developmentally appropriate for a range of ages and abilities.

NAEYC is working hard to promote mathematics in the early childhood classroom and in the home. Sometimes concerns about literacy overshadow the importance of math in parents’ minds. Many adults describe themselves as math phobic and, because they are uncomfortable with math themselves, shy away from exploring math opportunities with their children.. They might not realize how much math they employ to solve problems in their daily lives. But there are many of these math experiences that we can easily share with our young children and even have fun while we do it.

For example, NAEYC identifies Logic and Classifying as an important mathematical area for young children. We commonly call this sorting. Young children love to sort, and it is a perfect home activity. Try letting your child help you sort the laundry. You can sort by color. You can sort by type—socks, underwear, pants, shirts. You can sort by family member—daddy’s shirt, mommy’s shirt.

The kitchen also offers many sorting opportunities. Sorting silverware is a great mathematical challenge for children, and, because it is real work, a satisfying esteem- building activity as well.

At MCNS children have many opportunities to sort as well. They sort by size, color, and type. They sort as they clean up activities. They place like-items on the same shelf or in the same bin.

Another important skill area is one-to-one correspondence. While setting a table for three people a child is required to find three plates and set them down in front of three chairs. Next they need three napkins, forks, knives, and spoons: a great accomplishment for a child and a necessary task which will give the child a sense of pride and accomplishment. There are different strategies a child, or group of children, might employ to solve the table-setting mathematical problem. For example, one child might count the children who will sit at the table and then count out cups and bring one for each child. Another might estimate the number and bring over an approximate number of cups and return the left-over cups that aren’t needed. A third might count the chairs at the table to get the correct number needed. There are many other opportunities for practical applications of number sense and counting. Children might ask, for instance, how many of them can play in the dramatic area or block area or at the play dough table. How many children are already there? Is there room for another child? A group of children given a task might devise a solution together and, if it doesn’t work out, try a different approach. Group work helps children learn to articulate their reasoning processes and to work out solutions to mathematical problems together.

Parts and Wholes is still another NAEYC mathematical standard. This is the beginning of understanding fractions or parts of a whole. Cooking with children affords many opportunities in this area. Measuring out cups and half-cups of flour, teaspoons, and tablespoons of baking soda and other ingredients are lots of fun for children and gives them a sense of parts of things. They learn the names of the fractions before they fully understand all of the relationships but that knowledge will help them in years to come.

Children encounter fractions in many other situations at school, especially music. They learn to count out beats—whole notes, half-notes, quarter and eighth notes. Music specialist, Louise Rogers, shows them the musical notes for each beat so that the children can acquire a musical vocabulary.

Language is a necessary element to mathematical thinking. This is why we teach children the mathematical vocabulary they need. The meteorologists in the Older Group track the weather each day using a thermometer, and the class tracks the day-to-day temperature on a graph. Children learn words to compare. Is it hotter or colder than yesterday? Which day was the coldest?

Comparing is the standard that is the beginning of learning how to measure. You can help your child in this area at home by asking a lot of questions. Who is taller? Which is heaviest? Which cup has the most milk? You will be amazed at how quickly your child picks up on the concept and starts asking you the same kinds of questions.

Even toilet training gives mathematical learning possibilities. Joann Chisholm, Group Teacher in the Young and Afternoon Groups, likes to start toilet training when a child has been able to stay dry for an hour. Then every 30 minutes she takes the child to the potty and tells them that it is time to try. She will also start to give the child 5 minute warnings, “In 5 minutes it will be time to go to the potty.” In this way the child not only learns how to use the bathroom but begins to internalize time and order his day.

Five-minute-warnings and schedules are used in every classroom to help the children break the day down into parts and begin to learn about time. They aid children to pick up the cues that help them understand the passing of time and the difference between hours and minutes, day and night, morning and afternoon.

There are many math manipulatives in all of the classrooms, including puzzles, dominoes, Kapla blocks, and gears. Books, both fiction and non-fiction, are read to the children about time, shapes, recipes, counting, and fractions. There are calendars and clocks and schedules for the day. The year is marked by months and holidays and birthdays. Math is everywhere!

March 6th is Staff Development Day at MCNS. This year our Educational Consultant, Liege Motta, will be leading a workshop focusing on math called “Mathematical thinking in young children and how to explore its development in the early childhood classroom.” Liege and the teachers will explore how mathematics is present in nearly every activity routinely taking place in our classrooms.

To prepare for the workshop teachers have been collecting anecdotal records regarding math-related activities that have taken place during the entire school day. They have been asked to identify the patterns they see—for example, what kinds of activities elicit math conversations, what times of day do they seem to be happening, what kinds of concepts are discussed, and which activities are planned and which emerge organically from these activities? During the workshop the teachers and Liege will look at their findings, discuss their implications for everyday practice, and construct their collective sense of how children are developing their logico-mathematical knowledge.

Some of the components of logico-mathematical knowledge that will be examined are informal measurement, classification, order, comparison, function, sequence, fractions, categorization and sorting, parts of the whole, patterns, time, numbers, size, temperature, number words, shapes, and seriation. Based on these discussions Liege hopes to explore ways to clarify approaches regarding math learning so as to make such learning more visible and more understandable to everyone, including MCNS families.