Staff Workshop Topic: Mathematics for the Youngest Learners

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Instructions for Workshop Leaders

1 Goals

• To increase teachers' comfort level with mathematics.
• To increase teachers' knowledge of how children develop mathematical knowledge.
• To acquaint teachers with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.

2 In Advance

• Have a flip chart and markers.
• Ask teachers to read the handout (pages 8-9) prior to the workshop.
• Bring children's books about counting to the workshop. Bring enough books so each group of four or five teachers can review a book.

3 Begin the Workshop

Begin by discussing how teachers feel about their own mathematical competence and their confidence in teaching mathematics to young children. Ask teachers to anonymously rate themselves on their own knowledge of mathematics on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest, and then to rate their confidence in teaching mathematics to young children.

Talk about teachers' ratings of their perceived competence to teach mathematics to children. Relate the teachers' ratings of their mathematical knowledge and their confidence to teach math.

4 Continue the Workshop

Discuss the major points of how children learn mathematics. Start the workshop by forming groups of four or five. Make sure teachers of different age groups are together.

Give one of the counting books to each group. Have teachers brainstorm about how they would use the book to foster children's mathematical skills. Ask teachers to compare how they would use the book with 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds. For example, you might simply read The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins (Pearson, 1989; $5.95) to 3-year-olds and enjoy the fun of all the friends who want to share 12 cookies. Fours might bake cookies together after reading the book, counting the cookies and picking out one for themselves, while 5-year-olds could bake cookies and follow the steps in the book, making sure the cookies were equally divided.

Then go over the informal ways children learn mathematics. Using the handout, focus on how mathematics learning is fostered through:

• socio-dramatic play and other play (using numbers to count plates at the table, making pretend phone calls, or marking the calendar)
• working with puzzles (gaining skills of spatial awareness, size, and shape)
• playing board games (following rules, taking turns, counting, reading numerals)
• language-rich, firsthand experiences (making ice cream, which includes using measuring cups, counting spoonfuls, reading the recipe)
• building with blocks (using language of shape, size, weight, height, balance, as well as counting unit blocks)

Together, brainstorm other ways of promoting children's mathematics learning through each of these experiences.

5 Conclude the Workshop

Spend the remainder of the workshop reviewing the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' standards for mathematics for young children. Take each standard in turn and brainstorm ways teachers are currently using it as well as innovative ways to incorporate it into the curriculum.

Carol Seefeldt, PhD, professor emeritus of the University of Maryland, College Park, and visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University, has worked in early childhood education for more than 30 years.

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