When thinking about early math skills, it is important to think about them in the context of your child’s daily life. Learning math can be done in daily routines, activities, and play. It doesn’t have to take place through worksheets or flashcards! By learning math within the context of daily life, children see how math fits into their life and gain confidence in their math skills.
Play is an important part of math learning. Through block play, water play, puzzles, and more, children begin developing early math skills. These concepts surround your daily life, you just don’t always actively think about them! You can count chicken nuggets with your child during dinner, notice shapes on your daily walks home from school, or talk about spatial relationships (e.g. the ball is under the coffee table). These are all ways children learn math concepts, and you can incorporate them into your daily interactions and conversations with your child!
This will look different depending on the age of your child, but teachers are incorporating math into everything they do through their weekly lesson plan activities! Teachers will count blocks a child is stacking and talk about how high the tower is that they are building. A teacher might ask children to put a toy inside their cubby or a book on the bookshelf. During meals, teachers will talk about how a child’s plate is empty and they need more vegetables or milk. As children grow, they will learn these skills and use them in their play and during weekly planned activities. You might see preschoolers comparing their height to how tall a peer is or counting out magnatiles to make sure everyone has the same number to use.
All these books are available at the Chicago Public Library! You can also watch the stories on YouTube!
As a learning organization, Concordia Place is committed to continued improvement. We have learned that distinguishing between the Concordia Place and Concordia Day brands was not necessary.
Starting May 1, all visitors to concordiaday.org will be redirected to day.concordiaplace.org
By unifying around the sole use of the Concordia Place brand, we will provide clarity and focus on our mission to serve families and provide both care and education for their children.