Math Explorations

Research has shown that a developmentally appropriate curriculum for young children should include hands-on experiences and problem solving situations. If you peered into our classroom on Friday morning, you could have seen these principles in practice. The room was buzzing. Children were working together (problem solving) to see what they could build using 20 blocks. The variety of outcomes were as diverse as the children who developed them.





At another table the children were calling out their discoveries about capacity, “Elaine, it took 1 cup and 2 tablespoon of rice to fill this container to capacity!” (The week before in math, we had learned that the word capacity was not a cap on a city or a city on a cap, but referred to how much something could hold. They had experimented with how much water containers could hold. This week we used rice.)

At a third table, (no pictures, sorry) children were playing with clocks and reading books about time. One child says, “In this book they go to bed at 7:00.” He changes the clock to read 8:00 and says, “This is the time I go to bed”. Another child discovers the 5 minute intervals indicated on the clock, “Look, 5, 10, 15, 20…”

Learning and discoveries abound.