Big Ideas of Early Mathematics

The Big Ideas that convey the core concepts of mathematics are at the heart of this new book that gives early childhood educators the skills they need to organise for mathematics teaching and learning during the early years. For teachers of children ages three through six, the book provides foundations for further mathematics learning and helps facilitate long-term mathematical understanding. It’s the perfect guide for those who want to focus their instruction on mathematics that is central, coherent, and rigorous. In it, readers see clearly why building early foundations in math matters, why teachers’ understanding of foundational math matters, and why the methods used to teach it matter.

Developed by the Erikson Institute’s Early Math Collaborative team, the book groups the Big Ideas into nine chapter on topics that are familiar to early childhood teachers–sets, pattern and regularity, number, counting, operations, measurement, data analysis, shapes, and spatial thinking. The work is in keeping with the content strands identified by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and maps pathways to help teachers meet the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.