The following conversation took place about two years ago. It is probably the first one that made me realize how important it is to talk math with my kids. Near the beginning of the conversation I noticed myself making a choice between engaging her mind and moving...
A reader sends in a report of playing Chutes and Ladders with a 5-year old. Of particular interest is his observation of the difference between how we structure hundreds grids in classrooms and how the Chutes and Ladders board is structured (each,...
The New York Times Bits Blog reports that the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission against Fisher-Price and Open Solutions for claims the latter organizations make on behalf of their mobile apps for...
Talking math with your kids takes two forms: (1) seizing opportunities the kids initiate, and (2) creating opportunities where there might previously have been none. This is story of creating an opportunity—first with my four-year old, then with my seven-year old....
From a recent Education Week article: Greg Duncan and his colleagues found that in a comparison of math, literacy, and social-emotional skills at kindergarten entry, "early math concepts, such as knowledge of numbers and ordinality, were the most powerful...
Tabitha was $latex 3\frac{1}{2}$ years old when we were playing a game of Uncle Wiggily. In case you are not familiar with the game, I’ll briefly describe it. Uncle Wiggily is a board game with 100 spaces along a twisty path. Players draw cards; each card has...
Griffin (eight years old) and Tabitha (five years old) were discussing the day's activities. The feature activity had been making brownies with Mommy. This occurred while Griffin was out of the house. Griffin: How many brownies did you make?Tabitha: One...