Description: Engaging ideas and activities to develop children's mathematical thinking by solving problems from real life and their favorite children's books.
Brief description: Mary Hynes-Berry, PhD, has more than 40 years of experience teaching through oral storytelling while working directly with young children. Her original focus was literacy, but she soon began to find ways to weave in mathematics as she worked with preservice and in-service early childhood professionals. Mary is a faculty member at Erikson Institute in Chicago and a founding member of Erikson Institute's Early Math Collaborative, which provides professional development and carries out applied research on foundational math in early childhood. She is the author of Don't Leave the Story in the Book: Using Literature to Guide Inquiry in Early Childhood Classrooms (Teachers College Press, 2012) and a contributing author of Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: What Teachers of Young Children Need to Know (Pearson, 2014) and Growing Mathematical Minds: Conversations Between Developmental Psychologists and Early Childhood Teachers (Routledge, 2019).
Review Quotes:
"This great resource not only supports teachers as they cultivate mathematical thinkers in fun, developmentally appropriate ways, it does so by naturally infusing rich conversations and early literacy skills! A must-have addition to any early childhood classroom." --Jessica Mercer Young, Senior Research Scientist,
Education Development Center
This book is an insightful guide to helping children discover, learn from, and fall in love with the math that is all around them. While clearly grounded in early math learning research, it's written in a style that makes the topic approachable, immediately useful, and compelling." --Eric Dearing, Professor of Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology, Boston College
"Where's the Math? shows you how to support children's mathematical thinking and inspires you to look at everyday experiences through a mathematical lens. Using this resource, you can intentionally shape your "math talk" to help children understand the relationship between their play and the big ideas in math." --Cate Heroman, Early Childhood Consultant and Author, Cate Heroman, LLC
"This book is much more than a collection of activities--it is an engaging set of explorations teachers can adapt to engage young learners in finding the math that is all around us." --Jie-Qi Chen, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Founder of the Early Math Collaborative, Erikson Institute
"At last! This well-written book gives concrete examples of ways to build on children's natural wonder and curiosity about the world and to support their mathematics learning. Where's the Math? is a valuable resource for any early childhood educator." --Kristen E. Reed, Senior Project Director, Education Development Center
"Each chapter of this must-read resource describes practical classroom activities for increasing children's mathematical thinking and concept mastery through real-life investigations and problem-solving situations." --Danielle Davis, Pre-K Teacher, Metro Nashville Public Schools
"The authors of this important book make a compelling case that mathematics is everywhere in the lives of all young children. It is a valuable resource for early childhood educators who are committed to seeing the math." --Danny Bernard Martin, Professor, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago