4-19-2010

4-19-2010

This week I have been paying special attention to what Play=Learning calls "everyday mathematics." I wanted to see how the children use math in their everyday language and how they show math skills in their play. I was actually fairly surprised to see how I was able to hear math talk coming out of the mouths of preschoolers. For example, almost every day at lunch the children compare how many boys to girls there are at the lunch table. I heard a three year old count the three boys, count the two girls, count everyone at the table and then say "three and two makes five." If you asked the child what three plus two is he would probably have no idea how to answer the question, but he had a basic understanding of addition despite his lack of knowledge of math concepts. Another observation I made was during some free play with play dough. Two children were making balls out of the play dough and the one would hold his up to the other and say, "Oh, mine is bigger than yours." This is another math concept that he probably has never been specifically taught but that he has an understanding of. I really was surprised as to how frequently you can hear children using everyday math. I think that the authors are right in saying how children really have a natural ability for math, but often the way it is taught in schools turns kids off. I really feel that in my classroom I would like to have a more play-based approach to math to tune into children's everyday math knowledge and utilize this natural ability for math skills and understanding.