Math – HDFS 331 – Blog Posts for Families

Written by: Jodi Buresh (Spring 2020)

Involving Kids

Getting kids into the kitchen to bake is not only something they love to do but it is a great learning environment. It’s safe, entertaining and most of all delicious. It’s also a great way to bond and create lasting memories with your child. You will be teaching critical math concepts, eliminating pressure, and fostering a love for deep learning. The important thing to remember is to let your child lead; be there for support and scaffolding. Baking is full of developmentally appropriate learning opportunities, one-to-one corresponding, colors, shapes, measuring, weighing, and fractions. Baking is so much more than math; there is reading and science involved too!

National Standards

The national standards in mathematics describes what children should learn in preschool. The key components are: Number concepts, patterns, relationships, geometry, spatial sense, measurement, data collection, organization, and representation (Dodge, Colker & Heroman, 2002).

One-to-one Corresponding

Counting with your child the number of ingredients you have out for your recipe is a great way to work on one-to-one corresponding. One-to-one correspondence means linking one, and only one, number with each item in a set of objects (Dodger, Colker &Heroman, 2002). I have found it helpful to have your child touch each ingredient as they count them. That way your child learns to link one, and only one, number to each item. If your child counts an item more than once, you can support them by having them count an object and move it to one side. You can also include quantity, by asking them how many ingredients do they have for their recipe. Comparisons, are a good one to use, you can ask them, “Is the flour bag bigger or smaller than the baking soda box?”

Measuring and Weighing

Baking is all about measuring and weighing out ingredients. For preschool-age children, get them familiar with measuring cups and spoons. It is important to use the correct vocabulary. Your child will learn more by using the materials themselves. Hands-on learning is always the best. This would be a good time to introduce comparing ingredients. Comparisons involve knowing the meaning of ‘more than,’ ‘bigger than,’ ‘less than,’ and ‘same as.’ An example would be, “Is there more flour than sugar?”

Color and Shapes

Kids love to learn about colors and shapes. Here is a fun way to get them involved in the kitchen. If you are baking cookies, you can talk about that they are in the shape of a circle. You can ask if we could make other shapes out of the cookie dough. Children first, learn to recognize simple shapes like squares, triangles, and circles (Dodge, Colker & Heroman, 2002). They will build on their knowledge and start to connect that because the shape has 3 sides then it’s a triangle.

Fractions

Baking is a great way to start to introduce fractions to your child and fractions are a huge part of baking. You can start out by showing your child what a whole and a half are. Once you feel they understand the whole and half concept you can move on to fourth and thirds. The two key ways for children to understand fractions are hands-on experience and visual (Nelson, 2015). Baking is both hands-on and visual; it’s a win-win. Depending on the age of your child and their knowledge of fractions you could teach them how to double a recipe or convert the recipe to a small batch.

Getting into the kitchen will be fun for both you and your child. Children love seeing what they have made and they are even more excited to eat what they have made. You will be teaching them important life skills and having fun at the same time. Baking is learning!

References

Dodge, D. T., Colker, L. J., & Heroman, C. (2002). The creative curriculum for preschool (4th ed.). Teaching Strategies

Nelson, K. (December 9, 2016). 5 ways to make teaching fractions way easier. Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/make-teaching-fractions-easier/

Create a Map with Me

Exploring Development

This activity allows children to foster literacy, mathematics, and cognitive skills while creating a map. Through this activity, children will learn the importance of written language, the purpose of print, several components of mathematics, what maps are, what a map is used for, and how to use a map.

Introducing Geography

Help children create a map. Use blocks, recyclable parts or a paper and pencil. Create a route from a neighbor’s home to your own. Explain that symbols represent real objects (Montessori Mapping Activities, 2012). To better explain a symbol, create a map key (Fig. A).

Figure A

Notice that a compass rose may be found on a map, labeling North, East, South, and West. To remember North, East, South, and West remember the phrase, Never-Eat-Sour-Worms.

Words to incorporate:

Map Equator

Globe Ocean

Compass Rose Country

Latitude Nation

Longitude Hemisphere

Nourish a child’s interest by watching the short film below.

How Does their Mind Work?

Cognitive development allows children to make sense of the world around them (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2008). Through an exploration of mapping, children will:

Learn and problem solve
Think logically
Represent and think symbolically

Have you heard a child repeatedly ask, What will happen if? Why? Why? Why? That is because children are fascinated by cause and effect; they want to know why things happen (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2008).

Learning and Problem solving

Creating a map will require children to draw on everyday experiences and apply their knowledge to similar situations (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2008). Ask child, how would you get from our house to ___’s house? Allow them to demonstrate.

Logical Thinking

Creating a map is a great opportunity to encourage children to show awareness of position in space. Use phrases like, put this next to, place this blow this, write this above this…

Use numbers and counting. In my map there are five cars and four houses (Fig. B). Encourage children to use one number for each object. Practice counting five objects on your map, then ten objects. This will help children to understand numbers, practice one-to-one correspondence, and to classify objects (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2008).

Figure B

Representation and Symbolic Thinking

Through this process, children are learning to make and interpret representations. They practice:

Drawing or constructing and then naming what it is
Drawing or building a construction that represents something specific
Planning, then creating increasingly elaborate representations

Are they Listening?

Help children to understand and follow oral directions. Integrate one-step directions and two-step directions. Ask child simple questions. What color is that polka-dot? (Fig C)

Figure C

Encourage children to add their own writing to the map. Adults can assist language development by writing letters and words on a separate page for children to copy. If there is something a child has to say but is not able to communicate that through written language have them tell you what they would like you to write. This creates an opportunity to follow the text from left to right with your finger when reiterating what you’ve written to help your child gain knowledge of print (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2008).

Comprehension can be fostered by asking open-ended questions and encouraging children to retell stories. Encourage child to retell a story about a time they used a map.

Tip: Pausing at the end of a sentence to let children join in, asking open-ended questions, and helping children make connections to prior experiences are all effective teaching strategies for developing comprehension skills (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2008).

Children may demonstrate comprehension by:

Asking questions or making comments
Explaining, “We use a map when we go on a road trip,” after doing Explore the World: Design and Diary your own Path activity

This is Enjoyable

Maps can be used to discover new things! Maps provide direction. They have even helped miners find gold. Who uses maps?Everyone. Maps are a universal tool used by people across the world despite their language or culture.

Audience: Families, Teachers, Center Directors, College faculty, Students, Policymakers, Researchers

Age: Preschool

Topics: Cognitive Development, Language Development, Art, Mathematics By Kaylei Lewis, B.S. Human Development

By Kaylei Lewis, B.S. Human Development and Family Science: Child Development Anticipated graduation: June 2021

Once, I use used a map to plan a camping trip that led me down the Eastern Coast of Australia. I traveled 1,109 miles using my map every step of the way. I found it rewarding to do away with technology, using a printed map to the best of my abilities.

While navigating the waters steering a commercial fishing vessel in Southeast Alaska, I used a map to plot my way.

References

Cunningham, S. (n.d.). Taking Time to Grow Series: Writing Letters to Loved Ones. Retrieved May 8, 2020, from http://pinenutsmusings.com/taking-time-to-grow-series-writing-letters-to-loved-ones/

Dodge, D. T., Colker, L. J., & Heroman, C. (2008). The creative curriculum for preschool (College ed.). Teaching Strategies.

Montessori mapping activities Intro to geography for kids. (2012, September 23). Retrieved May 8, 2020, from https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/montessori-mapping-activities-intro-to-geography-for-kids/

The Geography Song Globe vs Map Song. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pOKoIAnybg