What is Early Math?

What is Early Math and why is it important?

Three children holding a triangle, ruler, and colored pencils ride on a yellow train with the numbers 1, 2, 3 on each of the cars.

When you Google 'what is early math' the AI overview that comes up states: "Early Math refers to the foundational mathematical concepts and skills that children begin to develop from infancy through early childhood. It encompasses areas like counting, number recognition, shapes, spatial reasoning, and measurement. These skills are crucial for later mathematical understanding and overall academic success."

Early math skills will help your child to understand how their world works better and can help them to be successful in their more formal education later on. As a Kindergarten - 5th grade Math Interventionist, many of the students I see are the children that didn't get much exposure to early math concepts. In a perfect world, all students would be able to come to Kindergarten with some background knowledge to help them with the ever increasing rigor of public school expectations set by the government.

I live and work in New York State, so everything I use when lesson planning comes from the NYS Standards. When I first began to really look into the math expectations for my students, I was surprised to see there were standards that Pre-Kindergarten students are expected to be exposed to and have some knowledge of. In all, there are 17 Pre-Kindergarten standards for NYS students. The standards are included in most kindergarten classrooms, but the curricula school districts use are expecting the students to have some knowledge of these Pre-Kindergarten standards. This is why I think it is critical for families to incorporate early learning into their daily activities—otherwise, their child might be playing catch-up in their very first year of school. For a link to check out the NYS Pre-Kindergarten standards, click the button below.

New York State Pre-Kindergarten Math Standards

All of this is to say, early childhood isn't meant for worksheets and little bodies sitting still for hours at a time listening to lectures. Our littlest learners need to learn through example, experience, and PLAY! I hope you will check back here often, and over at our Instagram @earlymathathome for some fun ideas that incorporate this learning into fun and engaging play activities.