Acquiring the Language of Math Early On Boosts Learning
by Judy Reinhartz | Jan 7, 2024 | Santa Fe New Mexican
Young children have a surprising capacity to learn math from their surroundings. It doesn’t take much, and they hear and use math language all the time without realizing it.
When they ask for snacks, they use size comparisons, “big” and “little,” or when they count the number of kitchen utensils needed for a family meal, they are developing foundational math concepts that anchor their thinking for future learning. These casual and playful routine math opportunities are everywhere and free; all we have to do is to recognize and share them with children.
When children are babies and toddlers, parents and early childhood educators think about the best ways to provide them with a head start in life and in school. Often, the emphasis to date has been on reading, with less consideration given to math. Yet early math is an integral part of the complex web of learning that includes language, movement and social interactions that support children’s natural instincts to collect and organize information.
When they experience the consequences of pouring too much water into containers, play peekaboo, count when bounced gently on laps, clap a beat or make predictions while listening to bedtime stories, they are making sense of situations.
Children are born explorers and problem solvers who are relentless in finding solutions, whether they stack blocks from smallest to biggest; put into order toys by size; go outside to make more/fewer mud pies; sort laundry; collect pebbles to fill containers; hide under chairs or behind couches; move through space to music; or come up with totals without counting.
Math opportunities also abound at the grocery store. Children have scales to weigh fruit and vegetables as they view a cornucopia of colors and patterns, and let’s remember money is part of going shopping too.
As the National Association for the Education of Young Children notes, studies have found numerous benefits when young kids are afforded these early math experiences. They support cognitive abilities, enable greater persistence in decision making and problem solving, enhance overall literacy skills, have a positive impact on reading and may even be a greater predictor of later school success.
Other studies note most 3-year-olds in early childhood programs have minimal math learning time. The lack of math time can have long-term negative impacts on children’s overall future life pursuits. The importance of early math learning cannot be underestimated.
All it takes to get children thinking mathematically is to take the adage “math is everywhere” seriously and put it to work with young children. They will take it from there.
For children to get the most math out of ordinary encounters, responsive caregivers need to describe what children are experiencing and ask open-ended questions. These “interactive talks” contextualize math vocabulary and skills that give rise to meaning-making and number sense.
Add children’s books to the mix as robust “math talking starters.” They connect children to math vocabulary through fascinating characters, plots and predicaments, along with the attention-grabbing illustrations and rhyming and repetitive dialogue.
Books scaffold math learning and make it fun. They support recall and remembering, be it the total number of rides a mouse took on a roller coaster or starting with four cupcakes and “giving” two away, children know that they have two cupcakes left. Children learn part to whole, numbers in ascending and descending orders, and subtraction.
Hippos Go Berserk!, How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten, Round is a Tortilla, Quark and Count, Fish Eyes, Counting with — Contano con — Frida, or The Greedy Triangle connect seamlessly with counting with simple number operations addition. While reading them, add interactive talks, hands-on materials and complementary tasks. For more, check Resources for Families at mathamigos.org.
Remember, the goal of growing early math learning is not to get children to master math skills but rather to have them enjoy learning, unconcerned about making mistakes or getting the right answer.
Let’s give New Mexico’s youngest children a head start that will pay great dividends for them over their lifetimes and for us. Look to the future and for the math in our world. It’s all around us!
Judy Reinhartz is a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at El Paso, lead for MathAmigos and director of its literacy and math coaching program (mathamigos.org/math-and-literacy). She is a retired STEM educator and can be reached at jreinhartz@utep.edu.