I’m not sure when it first started…our obsession with making sure children learn to count. But here we are…constantly asking children to count, measuring how high they can count, and worrying when they count out of order or assign incorrect number tags.
Sound familiar?
Well, in today’s episode, I offer a number of different ways we can view how children learn to count, and what to do when they “struggle.” In particular, I break down several of the key “Big Ideas” that children need to learn concurrently, in order to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence or counting, which can be defined as…
“One number is named for each object. The child has to learn to coordinate number words with the physical movement of a finger and the eye along a line of objects, matching one number word to one object until all of the objects have been used up” (Erikson Institute, 2014, p. 53).
I’ve also written and talked about the developmental progression of counting before (see links at the bottom this post). And in this episode, I aim to revisit several key themes regarding what to do when children struggle or when development and learning have stalled. I also revisit the issue of children’s expose to stressors and the impact stressors have on their ability to count.
LISTEN NOW
Click here to download a transcript of episode 19.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- ECE Solutionary Membership. Click here to learn more or to join.
- Blended Practices for Teaching Young Children in Inclusive Settings, Second Edition. Click here for a podcast interview with author, Dr. Jennifer Grisham-Brown and ordering information.
Related Resources:
- Podcast 10: Discovering What Comes Before Counting
- Podcast 2: 7 Developmental Progressions to Troubleshoot when Children are Struggling
- Reducing Children’s Exposure to Stress One Zigzag At a Time
- How To Pinpoint Why A Child Is Struggling
- If I Had a Crystal Ball…
- What Comes Before Counting?
- Myths of Early Mathematics
- Learning Trajectories in Early Mathematics – Sequences of Acquisition and Teaching
- The Learning Trajectory for Counting
- Mathematics in the Early Grades: Counting & Cardinality (includes references to research and other helpful resources)
- Why Math Education in the U.S. Doesn’t Add Up