Early Math Talk in Early Childhood Classrooms

Penn Foster Webinar Series
Fun and Easy Ways
to Incorporate "Math Talk"
Into Your Classroom (or Home)
Teresa Gonczy
Wednesday, Oct 5th
© Teresa E. Gonczy 2016 – Penn Foster Early Childhood Webinar Series, San Francisco, CA

Early Math Talk - Overview
- Introduction
- Research Background
- Types of Early Math Talk
- Math Talk in Classroom Areas & Activities
- Math Talk in Your Classroom (or Home)
- More Early Math Resources

Early Math Talk - Intro
Who am I?
Teresa E. Gonczy
* Researching early math at Harvard
* Previously owned early learning center
* Run the @earlymath Twitter community

Who are you?
* Teacher, Administrator, Student, Parent
What ages do you work with?
* Infant/Toddler, Preschool, Kindergarten

Where does math happen
in your classroom or home?

Block area
During math curriculum time
Water play
Kitchen area

Everywhere all the time!
Dramatic play, snack time, story time,
arrival & departure, outside play, etc.

Early Math Talk - Research
Why is early math important?

Research shows that early math skills are just as
predictive, and possibly more predictive, of later
academic success than early literacy skills.
Duncan, G.J., Dowsett, C.J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A.C., Klebanov, P., Pagani, L.S., Feinstein, L., Engel, M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Sexton, H.,
Duckworth, K., and Japel, C. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6).

Research shows that early math skills are just as
predictive, and possibly more predictive, of later
academic success than early literacy skills.
And yet many early childhood classrooms devote much
more time to literacy than to math.

So if early math is so important, how do we
incorporate it into our classrooms?
Not through worksheets and flashcards!

So if early math is so important, how do we
incorporate it into our classrooms?
Through math games, high quality curriculum, and
throughout the day with
Early Math Talk

What is early math talk?
Early math talk is language used by teachers and parents
that includes numeracy, spatial concepts, patterns,
measurement, ordering, and so much more!
Klibanoff, R.S., Levine, S.C., Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., & Hedges, L.V. (2006). Preschool Children's Mathematical Knowledge: The Effect of Teacher
"Math Talk". Developmental Psychology 42-1, 59-69.

What is early math talk?
Early math talk is language used by teachers and parents
that includes numeracy, spatial concepts, patterns,
measurement, ordering, and so much more!
You don't need to know algebra or calculus to talk
mathematically with young children! :-)

Why is early math talk important?
Children who had more early math talk in their
preschool classrooms showed larger gains in an early
math knowledge assessment over the school year.

Why is early math talk important?
In the home too!
Children who heard more early math talk from a parent
showed greater gains in early math ability a year later.
Susperreguy, M. I., & Davis-Kean, P. E. (2016). Maternal math talk in the home and math skills in preschool children. Early Education and
Development, 1-17.

So we know early math talk is important..
How do we incorporate more math talk into our
children's worlds?

Early Math Talk - Types
What kinds of early math talk are there?
Early math talk includes learning to count.
“How many cookies do you have? Let's count –
1 cookie, 2 cookies, 3 cookies, 4 cookies –
you have four cookies altogether”
University of California, San Diego. (2013, October 28). One, two, buckle my shoe: Importance of language to learning math. ScienceDaily.

Early math talk includes learning to count.
But also so much more than counting!
.

One-to-One Correspondence / Equivalence
“Do you have the same number of dollies and dresses?
Will all of your dollies be able to wear dresses? Will
you have any extra dresses?”

Number Operations – Basic Addition and Subtraction
“You have two paper plates for snack time and Sally has
two. Can you figure out how many paper plates you
have all together?”
.

Ordering & Seriation
“Whitney is first in line, then Peter is second, and
Quincy is third.”
.

Geometry – Shapes
“The crackers we're eating today are circles. Do you
remember the crackers we had yesterday? They were
rectangles with four sides and four corners.”

Spatial Relationships
“Your bear is on top of the house. Oh and now, you put
him inside the house.”
Pruden SM, Levine SC and Huttenlocher J. 2011. Children's spatial thinking: Does talk about the spatial world matter? Developmental Science (14):
1417-1430

Patterns and Change
“Tommy's shirt has a pattern – do you see the stripes?
The pattern goes white, blue, white, blue, white, blue”

Measurement
“The box is heavy to move with all those books in it. If
we take some books out, the box will be lighter and
easier to move.”

Classifying and Sorting
“Thanks for cleaning up the block area. I see how you
put all the straight blocks together and all the curved
blocks together.”

Counting & Number Sense
1-to-1 Correspondence - Number Operations
Ordering & Seriation - Geometry & Shapes
Spatial Relationships - Patterns & Change
Measurement - Classifying & Sorting

Early Math Talk - Areas
Where can we talk about math?
Everywhere!

At the Block Center
“You're building with the rectangle blocks – see they
have four sides and four corners. Oh now you put a
triangle on top – that's a triangle because it was three
sides and three angles.”

At the Water Table
“Wow you're pouring water from the big container to
the smaller container. Do you think all of the water will
fit? Oh look, the water spilled out.”

Snack Time
“Can you set the table for yourself and your friends?
How many cups will you need? How many napkins will
you need?”

Circle Time
“We have eighteen children in our class, but Robbie is
out sick today and Rita is visiting her grandparents. So
how many children are sitting on the carpet?”

Story Time
“Do you remember what happened in the book? What
was the first part? And then what came next?”

At the Dramatic Play Center
“Are you doing a pattern with your cooking? I saw you
stir and pour and then again stir and pour. Are you
going to continue your pattern or do you think you'll
change and make a new pattern?”

Outside on the Playground
“I see you climbing so high. Now you are on top of the
slide. Are you going to come down to the bottom of the
slide?”

Arrival and Departure Time
“Sally and Peter – you two go get your coats. Melissa,
Sam, and Willy – you three can go next.”

Everywhere and all the time!
We build literacy-rich environments for our kids.
How can we create math-rich environments as well?

Everywhere and all the time!
And for all children – both boys and girls!
Talk with girls in block and other STEM areas.
Talk with boys in dramatic play and reading areas.
Simpson, A., & Linder, S. M. (2016). The indirect effect of children's gender on early childhood educators' mathematical talk. Teaching and Teacher
Education, 54, 44-53.

Early Math Talk – For You
Now let's try it out...
Pick a number from 1-9
and pick a letter from A-H
Type it into the chat...

(1) Counting & Number Sense
(2) 1-to-1 Correspondence - (3) Number Operations
(4) Ordering & Seriation - (5) Geometry & Shapes
(6) Spatial Relationships - (7) Patterns & Change
(8) Measurement - (9) Classifying & Sorting

Where and when can we talk math?
(A) Block Center - (B) Water Table
(C) Snack Time - (D) Circle Time
(E) Story Time - (F) Dramatic Play
(G) Outside Play - (H) Arrival & Departure

Early Math Talk – For You
Now let's try it out...
Using your number and letter, come up with an example
of early math talk of that type and for that area/routine
that you could use in your classroom.
Type your example into chat so we can all share ideas.
(No right or wrong answers!)

Early Math Talk – Other Ideas
More Resources
-Check out the @earlymath Twitter feed for more
articles and pictures from classrooms.
-Path to Math Tip Sheets
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/math-word.htm
-Talk Read Sing about STEM
http://toosmall.org/community/resources
.

Early Math Talk – Other Ideas
More Resources
-NAEYC Math Talk Tips
https://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-
development/music-math-more/support-math-readiness-
through-math-talk
-How to Count for Grown-Ups
https://kidsquadrant.com/2014/07/11/how-to-count-a-
guide-for-grownups/
.

Early Math Talk - Review
Conclusion
* I used to think... Now I think...
* Where & when will you use math talk
in your classroom this week?
Write out some examples beforehand.

Early Math Talk - Review
Feel free to contact me...
Teresa E. Gonczy - teresaeg@gmail.com
Twitter @earlymath
Slides will be available
on my blog at www.teresaeg.com/blog

Early Math Talk in Early Childhood Classrooms

Early Math Talk in Early Childhood Classrooms

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