Counting- I

Anyone else feel a little tired after the first week of school? This is understandable- it's a big transition with a lot to consider. As a teacher, I learned about my new students, learned how to best meet their needs. As a parent, I talked with my son to see how his day was, and tried to assess if he was transitioning well- and this process will continue. For early childhood education, the goal is often to meet the child where they are developmentally and to help them acquire skills in a way they can manage. This requires knowing each child and how to best help them- I believe this is a goal to which all who are involved in education can aspire.

This week I said I would talk a bit about numbers. If you are familiar with my children's music, you know I enjoy a bit of word play involving numbers. From my first album- "If one and one is two, I'll be there with you- If one and two is three, you'll be there with me." From my second album- "I am 1-2-3, going on a million, I'm a million moments going by- I am 4, 5, 6, 7 and a billion, I'm just working out the reason why."

Learning numbers as a young child is an important skill- fortunately there are a lot of ways to approach the skill in ways that are both hands on and a bit more conceptual. Here are some ways to help your child learn to count and use numerical concepts such as time.

Hands on learning-literally!- Using our fingers to count is a powerful way for young minds to associate numbers with quantities- 2 hands, 5 fingers on each hand, and 10 fingers. However, one of the best counting activities I have seen for young children is a Montessori style matching the number to the same amount of small objects (see below). Picking up small objects and counting them develops a one-to-one correspondence of numbers to objects. Ask children to "touch one, count one," and your child will soon learn to be intentional and concrete when counting.

Time concepts- Learning about time can be tricky for youngsters. We can't really see time, even if we use clocks and calendars. Birthdays definitely help with learning that we measure time in years- I would suggest that music can also help demonstrate how time can be measured. Rhythmic patterns demonstrate ratios and mathematical patterns long before children will study fractions and sequences, however, being exposed to music at a young age is much like being exposed to language. Children will be able to speak this "language" their whole lives. In addition, using music to learn about time makes it hands on learning- just think about counting to 4 as you hit a drum to the beat. This can often make the concept of time more easily acquired for little ones.

There are a lot of good songs for little ones to help memorize time concepts like days of the week, etc. So much in fact they will be the subjects of  future blogs. We'll start with finger plays that use five fingers when I post next week. Stay tuned!