Learning Math on the Move

When you are four and five you often do your best learning in motion. We try to incorporate music, movement, games, and other areas of interest in all areas of the curriculum. Here is a video that shows how we have started practicing counting backwards. While each girl has her turn I am checking for proper order of the numbers, one to one correspondence, inclusion of zero (We love using zero in pre-k), and following the rules of the game. At home you can remember to use zero when counting, practice counting down, give your daughter lots of things to count in real life situations. This is where I often see girls skipping items or numbers when they count. The real life disarray of the objects, interruptions, or distractions interfere. Having practice counting in all sorts of ways will help firm up this skill. We have also been working on identifying numerals. Sometimes it may seem as if a young child "knows" her numbers but children are experts at using clues to help them. Point out numerals all around you and help them recognize what they are. This will help as we learn to write them in our handwriting program.