Blast Off to Math Readiness!

Language is so important as preschoolers develop concepts. Closeness with family and friends helps makes these ideas more meaningful and attaches a sense of pleasure to developing skills. Because many teenagers and older elementary students report math anxiety, we feel it is helpful to attach positive feelings about math with family time. Below are fun and meaningful ideas that help develop math skills, vocabulary, understanding of concepts, and a positive mathematical outlook.

Make geometry real by cutting out various shapes; squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles.  Encourage lots of talk about these shapes as you hold them up and have your child name them.

Children can talk about both shape and color.

Discuss how the shapes can be put together to form a rocket. Provide your child a large piece of paper, the shapes, and glue.

Anytime children participate in art activities, you are also developing important fine motor skills, too.

Encourage that wonderful preschool imagination! Allow your child to place the shapes on the paper to make a rocket. Remember – it doesn’t matter if the rocket looks like a rocket to your eyes, it will be a rocket in your child’s eyes!

When children share activities with parents, it leads to positive feelings about important concepts.

You have just set the stage for positive feelings about geometry.

Now…5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – let’s add another math skill. Children who know how to count backwards possess an important background for subtraction.  Blasting off and counting down from 5 or 10 makes this a part of preschool play. So, use the geometric rocket to role-play a NASA rocket lift-off.  Develop this precursor subtraction skill by pretending to be “mission control” as your child engineer counts down to lift-off.

Blasting off to positive feelings about math!

Concept of Print: Ask or Tell

We discussed helping children understand the difference between an ask (question) and a tell (statement) in our previous post. Now you can take this one step further and add Concept of Print to the fun. You may even want to enjoy the spring weather while you are reinforcing the concept. This adds to a child's enjoyment and helps learning feel like a natural part of life.

Write a large question mark on a paper and a period on another paper. When you and the child (or children) are talking about signs of spring, hold up the question mark to indicate an ask and the period for a tell.

For example, this child described the buds on the bushes. He said, "There are small, small buds on the prickly branches." This was a statement so he was prompted to hold up the period.

He also asked questions such as, "Are there worms crawling under the ground?" He was given the question mark to hold. He learned this was the special sign to use when you ask for an answer.

As the outdoor experience continued, the child did not need as many prompts to hold up a question mark or period. He learned by doing!

Finally, the child sat outside with a book and eagerly discovered the same punctuation marks in print.

We think we may need to teach literacy objectives inside, but outdoor learning, using a child's natural curiosity, can accomplish something as important as understanding punctuation marks!

An Overlooked School Readiness "Skill"

Children can be an endless stream of questions: 

“Why is the sky blue?”
“Why do I sleep at night?”
“How come we need to go shopping?” 

Preschoolers also love to tell tales and may not stop for a breath:

“We went to the park and saw a frog that was making a loud noise and he hopped away.”
“My brother took my puzzle and now one of the pieces is lost and my mother can’t find it so I am not happy.”

Often these questions and tales are told when you are trying to teach your preschoolers. That is why it is helpful to teach children the difference between an “ask” and a “tell.”

I like to tell children that some things are said to let others know what we are thinking. Other things are asked and we need the other person to answer. I give children some easy examples such as:

“Is your shirt red?”

I find out if the child has enough background to identify this as an “ask” or a “tell.” If the child does, I proceed; but if not, I share my thinking and say, “I expect you to answer. So that is an “ask.” What is your answer?” I then give several more examples of an “ask” before stating examples of “tells” like, "I have a yellow crayon."

Next, I would ask the child to provide some “asks” and “tells.” This is something I review constantly with preschoolers. When we have class sharing or a guest in the classroom, the child is then better equipped to understand what he or she can say when raising a hand. Kindergarten and first grade teachers will thank you as often children raise their hands to tell a long story when a question has been expected. This is an often overlooked but important school readiness “skill.”

Math and Fine Motor: A Colorful Combination!

We love when we can integrate a subject area with the development of fine motor skills. This math activity is perfect for doing just this. The bonus? It also helps review colors and it’s fun!

Prepare by creating number cards, about 3”x 3”. Write a target numeral on each along with a meaningful representation such as dots depicting the number as shown below.

You can develop verbal skills by asking children to talk about the dots as you draw them.

As you can see, these cards should then be attached to a pipe cleaner.

It is helpful to laminate the cards, if possible.

 Place a bowl of beads with a number of pipe cleaners next to it.

Be sure your beads have large enough openings for the child to place them on the pipe cleaner.

Children read the numeral on the card, use the dots to count, and then find the same number of beads. They thread the beads onto the pipe cleaner so that the target number is represented.

Children may initially use a variety of ways to push the beads onto the pipe cleaner.

Encourage children to use the pincer grasp. This develops important hand muscles and builds control for a proper pencil grip.

This child learned that using the pincer grasp was the most efficient way to slip the beads onto the pipe cleaner.

You can use this activity at a center, as a whole class hands-on lesson, or you can even send home the materials in a Zip-Loc bag for family practice.

Children like to put their finished work in sequential order - another skill!

Use Your Words!

“Use your words.” It’s a statement that families and teachers often use when dealing with upset children. But, as we all know, this is often easier said than done. We use our words but how can young children, still in the egocentric stage of development, tell us how they feel rather than resorting to actions? And these actions can range from hitting to crying loudly so you can’t reason with the child.  How can we get children to use their words?

            One of the key things to remember is that our understanding, as adults, about this statement is different than a child’s understanding. We need to help children know what the statement means before they become upset. When children are talking in a normal and calm situation, you can reinforce the idea of using words by simply saying, “I like the way you are using your words.” For example, if a child says, “I would like more potatoes,” you can compliment him for using his words.

If you notice two children in a classroom sharing crayons, help them see that this is what you mean when you say, “use your words.” You can reinforce whatever you see by saying, “It makes me feel so happy when you use your words to ask for the yellow crayon.” This gives children an important background in what the phrase means.

You can also teach children an important sentence to fill in with feeling words. In the scenario above, the child could say, “It makes me feel happy when you share your crayons.” I often give children the starter phrase, “It makes me feel ____________________________ when you ___________________________.” We practice this phrase, even in calm times.

            When a situation escalates to crying or yelling at another child, you can ask the angry child to explain how he feels. So, for example, a child might say, “It makes me feel mad when you won’t share the glue.”  If you have practiced this enough times in a calm situation, chances are better that the child will know what to say in a tense moment.

            So, develop background in helping a child know what you mean by the phrase, “use your words” and practice saying “it makes me feel _________________ when you _______________.” Preschoolers are then more likely to talk about their feelings rather than resorting to tears and negative actions.  Of course, nothing is perfect and a developmental stage is a developmental stage but we can try!

This child has a background in “using his words.” He has something to draw on when he becomes upset.  His mother will coach him when he is crying uncontrollably.

             This child is upset in the grocery store. His mother gave him the phrase, “It makes me feel angry when you __________________” and he tearfully finished it for her by saying “won’t give me a cookie.” She was able to resolve the issue and continue shopping. 

Wild or Pet?

Children love animals. Homes, classrooms, and daycare centers have many stuffed animals on shelves and in cubbies. Use these much-loved toys to help children learn more about the world around them. Stuffed animals can be used by children to classify. Ask children to make groups of animals. One such grouping can be wild animals versus pet animals. We encourage children to gather a group of various animals as shown in this picture:

This child collected his bears and dogs.

Ask your child to verbalize the difference between a pet animal and a wild animal. If your child has a pet, talk about what kinds of things need to be done to care for this animal.

Talk about how people feed pets. They take them to a vet and keep them safe. See how many examples your child can give about taking care of pet animals.

Encourage your child to find all the examples of pet animals in the grouping of stuffed animals. Have your child then talk about wild animals. Talk about where wild animals live and how they find food. You may want to encourage an environmental sense of responsibility by discussing the role of humans in protecting wild animals and in preserving their habitat.

This child groups all of his "wild" bears together. He talked about how bears like to eat berries and fish. Even at his young age, he wants to be sure bears "have what they need to live."

After your child groups the stuffed animals into two or more categories, get out books to find more examples of wild and pet animals. Have your child point out the differences he or she sees, using the illustrations or photos in books. This is a good way to introduce children to the idea that books can help us learn new information.

This child points out a pet dog. This shows him the connection between text and the activity, an important literacy background skill.

Informational text is appealing to many children. Books such as R Is For Raccoon, A Northwoods Alphabet Book by Lesley A. DuTemple, illustrated by Susan Robinson, help children distinguish the differences between wild and pet animals. 

Noisy or Quiet?/ Loud or Soft?

As spring approaches in many areas, it is the perfect time to get children outside - and why not do it with a purpose? Help children increase verbal skills and develop vocabulary along with observing the natural world. First walk outside. Invite children to listen for loud sounds. What does a child classify as loud? Perhaps it is the sound of a crow calling, "Caw, caw, caw!" It may be a sound such as a fire engine blaring through town on the way to an emergency. These are all opportunities to increase expressive language.

What does your child do when a loud sound is heard? Talk about how some things are noisy while other sounds are quiet.

Share the joy of natural sounds with children. This child is listening for the quiet rustle of the wind in a bush.

Add favorite books to the experience by asking children to find pages that illustrate the vocabulary: loud/soft (or noisy/quiet). This child found a much loved page in the classic children's book, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, that reminds him of the quiet sounds of nature. The little old lady is whispering, "Hush." Ask children to point out words such as whispering and hush that describe the experience. This increases vocabulary.

Finding matching experiences in books helps children connect with literature, an important literacy skill.

 

Here, the child finds a page in a Llama, Llama book by Anna Dewdney that reminds him of loud or noisy sounds.

Talking about sounds and then finding similar experiences in books is a rich family activity for all to enjoy. The added benefit? Children learn more about the world around them, increase vocabulary, and connect with books!