FOUNDATIONS IN Mathematics

The preschool learning foundations focusing on the child’s readiness for school in the domain of mathematics The preschool learning foundations represent goals to be reached by the time a three-year-old is just turning four and a four-year-old is just turning five. These preschool learning foundations are designed with the assumption that children’s learning takes place in everyday environments: through interactions, relationships, activities, and play that are part of a beneficial preschool experience.  

Learning Math Through Play Children learn math through everyday experiences. National standards in mathematics describe what children should learn in preschool. The key components of math include:

Number Concepts: Rote counting - memorization of sequence of numbers (songs, fingerplays) One-to-one correspondence – counting one number for one object and seeing a numeral and associating with objects. Recognitions numbers – number symbols

Patterns and Relationships Regular arrangements of objects, shapes, or numbers For preschoolers, the goal is to recognize and analyze simple patterns, copy them, create them, and make predictions about them by extending them.

Geometry learning about shapes and characteristics of shapes.

Measurement Children learn measurement from opportunities to use material and participate in hands-on activities Children learn concepts – longer, shorter, heavier, lighter, faster, and slower

Children Use : Standard measures – rulers, scales, measuring cup and spoon, scales, thermometers. Non-standard measures – using hands, feet, string, bears, etc.

Classification, Sorting and Matching: Group or separate things into categories.

Ordering (seriation): Ordering things in a sequence that leads gradually from the smallest to the biggest.

Graphing Is a direct extension of sorting and classifying As a visual representation of data, it helps children see relationships Graphing is a way for children to display many different kinds of information in different forms.