Wk 6 Reading Blog

What?

·       The reading I chose to read this week that was related to numeracy in early childhood was Math Is for Everyone: Strategies for Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children (Notari-Syverson & Sadler 2008). I chose this article to read this week as I wanted to look further into what type of numeracy related experiences and activities teachers can use to help children develop skills in numeracy. I also wanted to look more at what numeracy looked like in an early childhood setting as well and I believe this book has been very helpful in answering what I wanted to know.

·       The reading I chose that was related to literacy in early childhood was Books as Natural Support for Young Childrens Literacy Learning (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter 2008). I chose to read this article as I was interested in looking at how reading books with children can help children develop literacy skills in reading and writing and how important it is to read in the early years of a child’s life.

So what?

The main arguments I found from Math is For Everyone: Strategies for Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children (Notari-Syverson & Sadler 2008) are:

·       When a child is given many opportunities to be able to learn and put into practice the mathematical concepts through daily experiences and activities, then this will help that child to be able to build knowledge that is important for understanding mathematics (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.3)

·       According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, a small understanding of numerical concepts, such as about shapes, how numbers operate and space etc, can be formed by children at a very young age (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.3). This is something important for early childhood teachers to know so that they will know what kinds of experiences they can use to teach children in early childhood settings.

·       Mathematics includes five concepts which are measurements, geometry, algebra, data and analysis and numbers and how numbers operate and the skills developed from each of these areas interconnect with one another (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.3).

·       When learning about numbers and how they operate, children can take part in many experiences to learn to count, add and subtract (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.4). Teachers can help support this learning by getting the children to count objects and play games where the children have to count objects and see how many more or less objects there would be if objects were added or subtracted.

·       Through geometry, children can learn about the shapes of objects and children can learn to identify shapes of objects that they see or use in their daily lives (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.4).

·       Through using measurement, children can learn to use numbers to identify the weight and sizes of objects as well as the volume, length, area and width of objects (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.4). Teachers can create experiences for children to gain skills using measurement through allowing children to use different measuring tools such as a ruler, measuring cups and scales (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.5).

·       It is known that children in the early years do learn best when they are able to take part in experiences where they can make meanings and connect to what they are learning through their own interests and what they have already learned about mathematics at home (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.7).

·       Problem solving is another concept that teachers can help children develop good skills in by creating learning experiences for the children to be able to use strategies to solve problems (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.7).

·       One very important factor is that for teachers to be able to make positive decisions on what activities to use to be able to help a child learn important skills, teachers need to have a great understanding of children’s capabilities in maths (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.9)

The main arguments I found from Books as Natural Support for Young Childrens Literacy Learning (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter 2008) are:

·       Learning to read is very important to do during their early childhood years as through looking at and exploring prints of books, this helps children to learn to read and write (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.87). Also, building on past experiences is very important to help children to be motivated to learn to read (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.87).

·       If children are in environments where they are given encouragement to take part in reading books and expanding their vocabulary, children will be able to develop literacy skills (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.87).

·       Reading to children and helping children to learn to read helps children to be able to learn about the sounds, letters and meanings of words in books (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.88).

·       The elements in books such as language structures, pictures, layout, rhyme and vocabulary, are elements that teachers in early childhood need to take note of when choosing what kinds of books to read to a child or group of children as they need to be able to know what will engage the children (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.88).

·       Children like to learn new words and through reading different types of books such as stories, fairytales and poems, children will be able to hear many types of language and vocabulary being used that may be different to the language that they use in their daily lives and teachers will be able to help them to understand these new words (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.89).

·       Illustrations also help children to be able to gain literacy skills as through examining illustrations in a book; children are able to engage a lot more in the story and are able to have a greater understanding of what is happening in the story (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.91). Through pictures, children can also connect certain pictures to words that they have learned (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter, 2008, p.92).

Now what?

Implications I have made from Math is For Everyone: Strategies for Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children (Notari-Syverson & Sadler 2008) are:

·       When I become an early childhood educator I will need to be aware of the many different mathematical concepts that can be used to be able to use in learning experiences for children.

·       In my class I will need to provide many learning experiences where children can experiment and explore to learn about how to use different mathematical concepts.

·        I believe that I will need to understand what mathematical capabilities that children have so I will know what kinds of learning experiences to provide that will help the children to be able to expand on their knowledge and current skills.

·       An important thing I believe for me to do will be to help children to make connections with mathematical concepts in their everyday lives so then they will be able to use the skills they are being taught in their lives.

Implications I have made from Books as Natural Support for Young Childrens Literacy Learning (Gaffney, Ostrosky & Hemmeter 2008) are:

·       When supporting children's literacy development I will need to provide many different reading resources for children to help them in their literacy development.

·       I can also encourage children to read books and create enjoyable experiences for children to be able to learn to read.

·       I believe I will need to read books to children that have some vocabulary that is more complex so then children will be able to expand their own vocabularies.

·       I think it will be good to let children look at books on their own so they can observe the pictures and make meanings with the pictures and this can also let them become imaginative and let them make up their own stories using the pictures if they are unable to read words.

 

References

Gaffney, J., Ostrosky, M., & Hemmeter, M. (2008). Books as natural support for young children's literacy learning. Young Children, 63(4), 87-93. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/61988750?accountid=10910

Notari-Syverson, A., & Sadler, F. H. (2008). Math is for Everyone: Strategies for Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children. Young Exceptional Children. 11(3), 2 – 16. doi: 10.1177/1096250608314589