Why do children need to cross the midline? The midline is an imaginary line that goes directly down the center of the body from the top of the head and between the eyes and down through the belly button. This creates the right side of the body and the left side of the body. Crossing […]
This past winter I was asked to be on the Advisory Board of the Chicago Children’s Museum, located downtown at Navy Pier. I had been serving on the Tinkering Board of the museum for the three years previous, so this was new to me. Yesterday, we had our board meeting and lo and behold, I […]
I wish I wrote this article. I feel like I say these exact words every semester to every group of students I encounter. But still, I go out into the field and see the same arts and crafts activities time and again. Where does it end? Many summers ago, some friends and I spent the […]
By now, everyone knows I love dominoes. I have blogged about them here and here and they have come up in several other posts about classroom manipulatives. Last week, one of our readers, Ivan (Thank you Ivan) was perusing the blog and landed on my post about the Really BIG Dominoes from the Chicago Children’s […]
I am always looking for winning combinations…Peanut butter plus jelly equals gooey deliciousness. A sunny day plus a half day of work equals a good long walk with my dogs. These are win-win situations that make me very happy. Me happy plus anything, equals a better day for everyone! I like to think of parents […]
Young children begin thinking spatially as early as the first time they play “dropsy” and their caregiver retrieves the fallen object and declares, “Oh, did you drop your _______?” What fun it is for the child to drop the same item again and again, exploring the depths of her caregiver’s patience. Exploring the concepts of […]
How frequently do you engage the parents in your program about math? This is one of those things that seems so simple, but in practice really hard. Parents are usually in a hurry, dropping off or picking up – trying to get somewhere else. The time for conversation is limited so are we really going […]
Over the past few years I have thought a lot about math anxiety. Before the Math at Home project and this blog, I never gave it much thought expect to acknowledge that it is a real thing and it matters. I wrote about a friend whose life was forever changed by a teacher who told […]
I can’t help but look through each classroom I visit to see what kinds of materials make up each center. Sometimes it feels like snooping as I try to ascertain whether or not the math center is also the science center or if there is a math center at all. In some rooms, there are […]
The easiest way to make rain stick is to use paper towel tubes, rice and tape, but if you want to create rain sticks that really sound like falling rain, try this. Rain Sticks Materials Needed: Paper towel tubes (1 per child) Corrugated Cardboard (enough to fill each tube) rice (the lease expensive possible) Small […]