A toddler math program is, first and foremost, a toddler program. Children and their grown-ups will enjoy (and benefit from) the same types of activities featured in literacy based toddler programs. Librarians can utilize the same skill set they use to teach literacy.
Fingerplays and action songs are an excellent tool for teaching math in the library.
Why?
***Children enjoy this type of participation.
***Parents often expect fingerplays and action songs to be included in library programs.
***Librarians are already comfortable leading toddlers and their grown-ups in this type of activity.
***Fine motor activities are an important part of mathematical learning for toddlers.
***There are four preschool math learning objectives--many fingerplays and action songs are tailor made for teaching one or more of the first three objectives to toddlers.
Fine Motor Skills and Math Learning:
"The increase in fine motor skills leads to an explosion in learning about mathematical concepts. One and "more than one" are already understood, and "more" becomes interesting to explore."--Kay Albrecht and Linda G. Miller
Librarians already know that toddlers need to move to learn--that's why we all include movement activities as an important part of all toddler programs. Fingerplays and action songs are, of course, a big part of how we incorporate movement into library toddler programs.
Preschool Standard 4-1: Children demonstrate an understanding of numbers and numerical operations.
Standard 4-1 simply means that children should have some awareness and understanding of numbers and counting when they start kindergarten (just as they should have some awareness and understanding of letters and the alphabet). They should also have some "number sense"--for example, if you give a child a whole bunch of M & M's and tell him to share them with his friend, a child who has some understanding of number sense understands that giving one single M & M to the friend is not "fair sharing."
Rote counting (being able to recite the numbers in order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on) is the first counting skill that children leasrn and an important basic skill for toddlers. (Toddler learn rote counting before they can accurately match the numbers with a number of objects just as they long to sing the alphabet song before they can accurately match sounds with the correct letter names.) F
Learning to count by rote both forwards and backwards is important--later this will become a basis for learning addition and subtraction.
Examples of fingerplays and action songs that teach forward counting: "This Old Man" and "I Caught a Fish Alive." Examples of fingerplays that teach backwards counting: "Five Little Monkeys" and "Five Little Pumpkins."
Preschool Standard 4-2: Children develop knowledge of spatial concepts (e.g., shapes and measurement.
For toddlers this mostly involves learning to identify shapes and developing an increasingly sophisticated sense of spatial concepts and an accompanying vocabulary.
Examples of fingerplays for teaching Standard 4-2:
"Roly Poly"
"Tommy Thumbs"
"Where is Thumbkin?"
"Two Little Blackbirds"
Preschool Standard 4-3: Children understand patterns, relationships, and classifications.
Anytime you repeat the same words and\or actions within a song or rhyme, you are establishing a pattern. Rhyming encourages phonemic awareness, but also an awareness of mathematical patterns. Pausing to have the children fill in the last word in a line encourages toddlers to analyze and extend patterns.
There you have it: an example of an existing toddler storytime activity (fingerplays and action songs) that can be used to teach three quarters of the math skills that toddlers need to learn.
Fingerplays and action songs are an excellent tool for teaching math in the library.
Why?
***Children enjoy this type of participation.
***Parents often expect fingerplays and action songs to be included in library programs.
***Librarians are already comfortable leading toddlers and their grown-ups in this type of activity.
***Fine motor activities are an important part of mathematical learning for toddlers.
***There are four preschool math learning objectives--many fingerplays and action songs are tailor made for teaching one or more of the first three objectives to toddlers.
Fine Motor Skills and Math Learning:
"The increase in fine motor skills leads to an explosion in learning about mathematical concepts. One and "more than one" are already understood, and "more" becomes interesting to explore."--Kay Albrecht and Linda G. Miller
Librarians already know that toddlers need to move to learn--that's why we all include movement activities as an important part of all toddler programs. Fingerplays and action songs are, of course, a big part of how we incorporate movement into library toddler programs.
Preschool Standard 4-1: Children demonstrate an understanding of numbers and numerical operations.
Standard 4-1 simply means that children should have some awareness and understanding of numbers and counting when they start kindergarten (just as they should have some awareness and understanding of letters and the alphabet). They should also have some "number sense"--for example, if you give a child a whole bunch of M & M's and tell him to share them with his friend, a child who has some understanding of number sense understands that giving one single M & M to the friend is not "fair sharing."
Rote counting (being able to recite the numbers in order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on) is the first counting skill that children leasrn and an important basic skill for toddlers. (Toddler learn rote counting before they can accurately match the numbers with a number of objects just as they long to sing the alphabet song before they can accurately match sounds with the correct letter names.) F
Learning to count by rote both forwards and backwards is important--later this will become a basis for learning addition and subtraction.
Examples of fingerplays and action songs that teach forward counting: "This Old Man" and "I Caught a Fish Alive." Examples of fingerplays that teach backwards counting: "Five Little Monkeys" and "Five Little Pumpkins."
Preschool Standard 4-2: Children develop knowledge of spatial concepts (e.g., shapes and measurement.
For toddlers this mostly involves learning to identify shapes and developing an increasingly sophisticated sense of spatial concepts and an accompanying vocabulary.
Examples of fingerplays for teaching Standard 4-2:
"Roly Poly"
"Tommy Thumbs"
"Where is Thumbkin?"
"Two Little Blackbirds"
Preschool Standard 4-3: Children understand patterns, relationships, and classifications.
Anytime you repeat the same words and\or actions within a song or rhyme, you are establishing a pattern. Rhyming encourages phonemic awareness, but also an awareness of mathematical patterns. Pausing to have the children fill in the last word in a line encourages toddlers to analyze and extend patterns.
There you have it: an example of an existing toddler storytime activity (fingerplays and action songs) that can be used to teach three quarters of the math skills that toddlers need to learn.