online community, HELLO, where we encourage educators to connect with, learn from, and support each other.
One way we foster this ongoing community is by highlighting a“ Math Picture Book of the Month.” Our aim with this initiative is to
› Connect educators and others to meaningful, integrated, and engaging early math learning experiences.
› Reflect on the variety of math skills that young children can learn.
› Share practical ways to support children’ s math learning through a medium that is familiar and comfortable for teachers— books!
While each post’ s author provides initial suggestions for using a book to explore math, Forum participants extend and personalize the discussion through their replies.
We fully embrace the idea of math as“ a joy to find,” as Stephanie notes in the excerpt of her post at the beginning of this article. We also believe that early math and children’ s books are a natural pair: Through high-quality fiction and nonfiction texts, books can prompt young learners to think about and apply math in new ways. Following, we share four books that were recently highlighted in“ Math Picture Book of the Month” posts along with activity suggestions for educators.( Check out our HELLO page for more details and to read these posts in full.)
History and Purpose of the Early Math Interest Forum
The Early Math Interest Forum traces its beginnings to 2017. Inspired by the active community of NAEYC’ s Early Childhood Science Interest Forum, Jessica Mercer Young and Kristen Reed gathered over 50 signatures at NAEYC’ s Annual Conference to start a new interest forum focused on playful math learning. It was officially recognized by NAEYC in 2018.
The Early Math Interest Forum has more than 1,250 members( educators, researchers, teacher candidates) who are passionate about supporting early childhood math education. It is led by Toni Galassini and Carrie S. Cutler and a team of 16 co-facilitators who represent 13 organizations nationwide. They are guided by the following foundational principles:
› Math is everywhere. Children can mathematize their worlds across the learning day, indoors and outdoors, at home, and in their communities.
› Math learning can be playful, engaging, and aligned with developmentally appropriate practice.
› Every book has math potential.
› Math helps us make sense of our world. Whether through stories or problem solving, math gives children powerful tools for thinking and sensemaking.
› Math is for everyone. We are all capable of supporting early math, and every child deserves the chance to explore math’ s big ideas.
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