Robert Williams - Preschool Math

Contents

CHAPTER 1
Art Math

CHAPTER 2
Block Center Math

CHAPTER 3
Body Math

CHAPTER 4
Cooking Up Math

CHAPTER 5
Math Center Math

CHAPTER 6
Moving Math

CHAPTER 7
Outside Math

CHAPTER 8
Small Group Math

CHAPTER 9
Wet and Messy Math

CHAPTER 10
Whole Group Math

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the parents and children of the Titusville Montessori School, Titusville, Florida and the Campus and Kingfisher preschools in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia for trying out the activities before we decided to use them in the book. The children have become very good little mathematicians!

In Florida, Jackie and Shawn Quinn have helped in numerous ways. Shawn took pictures and Jackie transmitted details during the writing stage. It was Jackies insistence that brought Bob and Debbie together to form part of this writing team.

In Australia, we would like to thank Rodney Kenner at Pademelon Press for his encouragement.

From Debbie Cunningham

Thank you to my family for their love and support and a special thank you to my niece, Casey Diane, for sitting with me through long hours of creating wonderful math activities for children to experience.

From Joy Lubawy

Thanks to my partner, Peter Law, for all the encouragement he so willingly gave me. Thanks for the IT support, editing and proofreading, critical analysis, and difficult questions. Thanks also to my former and current workmates, Barbara Lawler, Sue Brady, Monique Saddler, and Tricia Hilton for their valuable support and patience and to my colleagues and mentors Sandy Tester and Yvonne Winer for individual ideas that have enriched my understanding of what is possible. Thanks also to the children who have shared their wonderful insights and ideas with me over many years. Thanks also to Jack, the pink and gray parrot, for patiently sitting with me for countless hours.

Dedications

I would like to dedicate this book to my grandchildren, Jeffrey, Julianna, and Katerina, who will move forward in this world with so much more to learn and experience. I do hope that the world of nature will add its sanity to their lives. Robert Williams

For my grandchildren, Hannah, Grace, Olivia, Max, and Theodore. You are much loved.

Joy Lubawy

For my son, Michaelmay you always enjoy learning.

For my nieces and nephews, Jonathan, Sierra, Blaine, Jenae, and my grandson, Jeffreya blessed new generation of math lovers.

For all of my students through the yearsenjoy math forever.

Debbie Cunningham

Illustrations: Kathy Dobbs | Photographs: Joy Lubawy, Shawn Quinn

gryphon house, inc.

Lewisville, NC

2005 Robert Williams, Debra Cunningham, and Joy Lubawy

Printed in the United States of America.

Published by Gryphon House, Inc.

P.O. Box 10, Lewisville, NC 27023

800.638.0928 (toll-free); 800.638.7576 (fax)

Visit us on the web at www.gryphonhouse.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced (except as noted on individual pages), stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Reprinted October 2013

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Williams, Robert A.

Preschool math / Robert Williams, Debra Cunningham, and Joy Lubawy.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-87659-000-3

1. Mathematics--Study and teaching (Preschool)--Activity programs. I.

Cunningham, Debra. II. Lubawy, Joy. III. Title.

QA16.W55 2005

372.7--dc22

2004028486

Bulk purchase

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Disclaimer

Gryphon House, Inc. and the authors cannot be held responsible for damage, mishap, or injury incurred during the use of or because of activities in this book. Appropriate and reasonable caution and adult supervision of children involved in activities and corresponding to the age and capability of each child involved, is recommended at all times. Do not leave children unattended at any time. Observe safety and caution at all times. Every effort has been made to locate copyright and permission information.

Introduction

It has been a labor of love and passion writing Preschool Math. It was a challenge to bring together ideas from three very different people. Bob is a scientist from Illinois, Debra is a Montessori teacher from Florida, and Joy is an Australian preschool teacher using the Emergent Curriculum and Reggio Emilia-inspired approach. Each of us has drawn on our own considerable experiences with education of young children and used these to enrich opportunities for learning and the environments in which it may occur. Underlying all aspects of the book is respectamong us as authors for each others particular way of doing things or expressing ideas, for all adults who are working in close contact with young children whenever and wherever, and most importantly, for young childrens quest for knowledge.

What Is the Book About?

Preschool Math is about math as seen through the eyes of young children who are just beginning to think in the logical ways that mathematics expects. The book encourages thinking in patterns, finding ways to classify, measuring with non-standard and standard materials, and approaching math from a playful and child-centered point of view. The book is about teaching children to use their senses and bodies to explore ideas; to find out how math feels, tastes, and looks; and to record and talk about the concepts.

We have taken a novel approach to playing with, exploring, and learning about math in everyday situations in childcare centers, home-based care, preschools, or kindergartens. Our approach uses the scientific ideals of exploration, experimentation, making guesses, forming a hypothesis, testing, problem solving, and evaluating. At the same time, this approach is set alongside the clever use of beautiful, yet common materials and environments in mathematical ways, encouraging playful work inspired by the Montessori approach. In addition, the book encourages adults to listen to, observe, and talk with children, projecting (Rinaldi, 1998) where their interests may extend and providing materials and environments that will create spaces for the exchange of experiences, co-construction, and reflection (Dahlberg, 1999). The book also provides suggestions of ways to record or document the childrens learning.

Spontaneous, explorative, and imaginative play is an essential ingredient in the life of the young child. For at least 50 years, early childhood educators have discussed the importance of play. In more recent years, play has even been renamed as socially constructed learning opportunities. However, the fact remains (as far as we are concerned) that children play. Play is the most natural way for children to explore their world, construct knowledge, develop skills and imagination, and learn to live in a social world. The approach used in Preschool Math is playful. We have attempted to draw attention to what children naturally become involved in and explore ways that the adult may promote further exploration and learning.

Giving Children Time and Opportunity to Practice