Are You Addressing All 6 Early Childhood Math Standards? This Thematic Children’s Literature Matrix Can Help

 

Did you know that research suggests children who enter kindergarten with a solid understanding of preschool-level math typically perform better on measures of math and reading achievement years later? It’s true! But, what specifically do preschool children need to know, and how can we best support their conceptual knowledge? According to the Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME) Network, math experiences in the early years should aim to build conceptual knowledge across all six major math subareas (Number Sense, Arithmetic Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis and Probability).

Research also tells us that the amount of math-related talk teachers engage children in influences the depth of their conceptual understanding and that children’s books offer an entry point for math conversations (Klibanoff, Huttonlocher, Vasilyeva, & Hedges, 2006).This fact often makes me wonder if I am engaging my daughter in enough intentional math talk each day. Sure, we read math-focused books somewhat regularly, but how might I do this in a more systematic and motivational way? As you may already know there are many excellent books written specifically for young children out there that can be used to support math talk and conceptual development.

What I have done in the matrix below is organize some of these wonderful books by math subarea as well as by theme. This better positions me to select books that relate to a topic my child is more interested in; in addition to building math knowledge, I am trying to maximize her motivation and engagement to make math experiences as positive as possible. My daughter is all about dinosaurs right now, so we have been working from the dino-themed list a lot lately. That doesn’t mean we will read all of the books on the list (even she may become bored with this topic at some point--right???). It just means that we started with the books at the intersection of “Number Sense” and “Dinosaurs” and are now working our way through the books in the “Algebra” cell because she is still highly engaged in the work.

My thinking in sharing the matrix is that others who are creating theme-based, integrated, early childhood learning experiences might find it helpful. Feel free to reach out with questions or comments.

 

	Dinosaurs	Food	Animals
Number Sense (e.g. one-to-one correspondence, counting)	One More Dino on the Floor   How do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?   Ten Terrible Dinosaurs   Count the Dinosaurs!: A Fun Picture Puzzle Book for 2-5 Year Olds	The Very Hungry Caterpillar   Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Counting Fun Book   From the Garden: A Counting Book About Growing Food   Eating Pairs: Counting Fruits and Vegetables by Twos	Fish Eyes: A Book You can Count On   1, 2, 3, to the Zoo   One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab   12 Ways to Get 11   Splash   Sheep Won’t Sleep
Arithmetic Operations (e.g. addition, subtraction)	Tyrannosaurus Math   One More Dino on the Floor	Ten Apples Up On Top!   A Fair Bear Share   Hershey’s Kisses Addition Book   Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins	Splash   Mission: Addition   If You Were a Plus Sign     If You Were a Minus Sign   How Many Blue Birds Flew Away?
Algebra (e.g., sorting, classifying, patterning)	Duck, Duck, Dinosaur   What Did Dinosaurs Eat?   Mad about Triceratops T-Rex and Other Dinosaurs	Sorting at the Market   Food Patterns   The Crayola Sorting Book	Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails   The Crayola Sorting Book   Pattern Fish   Teddy Bear Patterns
Geometry (e.g., shapes, space)	Tyrannosaurus Math   Alfred the Dinosaur Goes to The City	Round is a Mooncake   A Star in My Orange   Round is a Tortilla   Spaghetti and Meatballs for All	Color Farm   Color Zoo Shapes   Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails
Measurement	How Big Were Dinosaurs?   How to Grow a Dinosaur	Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Weights and Measures   Me and the Measure of Things   Spaghetti and Meatballs for All	Stack the Cats   Tiger Math   Ants Rule: The Long and Short of it   How Tall?
Data Analysis & Probability	Count the Dinosaurs!: A Fun Picture Puzzle Book for 2-5 Year Olds	More M&M’s Brand Chocolate Candies Math	Tally Cat Keeps Track   Tiger Math