Beyond Math--MGT Focus Topic

We (the Mother Goose Time bloggers) have been asked to take note on how math can be and is incorporated into day to day learning.  Math is actually a much wider subject than most people think.  It includes measuring, identifying patterns, sorting by characteristics like size and color, shapes, number concepts like one to one correspondence, etc...When I worked as a speech language pathologist, I worked on a lot of these exact same things with my students with language impairments so I am used to identifying moments throughout the day when I can do some incidental teaching outside "class time".

One of my favorite ways to do this is with cooking.  Miss M loves to help me "do baker stuff" as she says.  When she sees me pulling out the KitchenAid, she runs over to the pantry for her little apron and tries to pull a chair over to the counter so she can help.  I talk to her about how much we need of each ingredient, we discuss the size of the measuring cups and spoons in relation to the others and I will purposely use smaller ones so we have to count more scoops (ex. I will use a 1/4 cup instead of the 1 cup measure for 2 cups of flour).  We talk about the colors and textures of the ingredients, smell them (carefully in the case of spices--no one wants a nose full of cinnamon), count how many cookies or loaves of pumpkin bread we are baking and talk about how long it will take for them to be done.  We also talk about the shapes of the containers and how some spoons are long and others are short, then decide which one would be better for mixing or scooping.

That is just one way I bring math into our day.  She isn't ready to sit down and do addition or subtraction just yet but if I give her four cookies after lunch (don't worry, they're the little mini ones) and she eats one, we can talk about how many she has left.  When she wants stuffed animals in her bed, we talk about how the little ones will be easier to sleep with than her big bear that takes up half the crib.  A few weeks ago while we were at a restaurant I noticed her trying to bend her straw into a triangle and rectangle so I helped her to do it and we talked about what shapes she saw at the table.  She also has these blocks that she loves to use to build castles.  Sometimes she'll try and use the pillars on their sides or put something on top of the cone so we talk about their shapes and how some of them are flat and can stack and some aren't.  All it takes is a little awareness and you will be seeing math all over your house and life.