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VIDEO: INCORPORATING LOOSE PARTS IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOM TO PROMOTE STEAM

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VIDEO: INCORPORATING LOOSE PARTS IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOM TO PROMOTE STEAM

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Incorporating Loose Parts in the Early Childhood Classroom to Promote STEAM

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Read Aloud Childrens Books And Fun Stuff

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Read Aloud Childrens Books And Fun Stuff

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Can You Be a Mathematician and an Actor?

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Can You Be a Mathematician and an Actor?

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Implementing Learned Strategies in Action

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Let’s Move Like the Animals! 🐾  Animal Dance Song for Kids  Exercise & Movement Song  Little Animal

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This initiative is supported by the California Department of Education and the California State Board of Education.

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ARTS IN STEAM: ACTIVITY, MEDIUM, MATERIALS, TOOLS HANDOUT

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ARTS IN STEAM: ACTIVITY, MEDIUM, MATERIALS, TOOLS HANDOUT

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CPE ARTS IN STEAM CHILDREN'S BOOK ACTIVITIES

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CPE ARTS IN STEAM CHILDREN'S BOOK ACTIVITIES

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PTKLF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PRACTICES: OBSERVATION AND INVESTIGATION

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PTKLF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PRACTICES: OBSERVATION AND INVESTIGATION

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P-3 LEARNING PROGRESSIONS SCIENCE: DEVELOPING AND USING MODELS

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P-3 LEARNING PROGRESSIONS SCIENCE: DEVELOPING AND USING MODELS

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EDUTOPIA ARTICLE: A GUIDE TO PRESCHOOL STEAM ACTIVITIES

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EDUTOPIA ARTICLE: A GUIDE TO PRESCHOOL STEAM ACTIVITIES

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Lessons focused on science, technology, engineering, arts, and math give young learners an engaging way to explore new concepts.

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STEM or STEAM? Which acronym is right for your school? - Elementary Inquiry

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STEM or STEAM... or STREAM... there are so many variations on these acronyms in education! Here’s why you should use STEAM for your classroom or school.

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Penguins, Chicks, and Caves: Journal Notes on Moving From STEM to STEAM

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Penguins, Chicks, and Caves: Journal Notes on Moving From STEM to STEAM

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NAEYC ARTICLE: BREAKING DOWN STEAM FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. PART 3: QUESTIONING

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NAEYC ARTICLE: BREAKING DOWN STEAM FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. PART 3: QUESTIONING

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Breaking Down STEAM for Young Children. Part 3: Questioning. Asking Questions and Being Problem Solvers

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There are many different types of questions you can ask to encourage children to share their ideas and to guide them toward greater STEAM knowledge and inquiry skills.

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NAEYC ARTICLE: BREAKING DOWN STEAM FOR YOUNG CHILDREN, PART 1

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NAEYC ARTICLE: BREAKING DOWN STEAM FOR YOUNG CHILDREN, PART 1

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In early childhood, we encourage STEAM teaching to integrate these subject areas within a meaningful context.

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🏰 Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building

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Simple Machines for Kids: Ramp, Lever & Pulley | Fun STEM Song

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VIDEO: STEM IN EARLY ENGINEERING WITH THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

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VIDEO: STEM IN EARLY ENGINEERING WITH THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

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STEM in Early Learning: Engineering with the Three Little Pigs

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14K views · 7.5K reactions | Save this video for your daily dose of ukulele inspiration! Here’s “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, but in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Like, comment, and share if you love seeing classic songs flipped with soul and groove! | Sunny And The Black Pack

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Save this video for your daily dose of ukulele inspiration! Here’s “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, but in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Like, comment, and share if you love seeing classic songs flipped…

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74K views · 32K reactions | This just might be our most loved Nursery Rhyme remake yet! Be sure to save this video and comment what Nursery Rhyme you want to hear next! Nursery Rhymes Done Right | “Itsy Bitsy Spider” by Sunny and The Black Pack | Sunny And The Black Pack

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This just might be our most loved Nursery Rhyme remake yet! Be sure to save this video and comment what Nursery Rhyme you want to hear next! Nursery Rhymes Done Right | “Itsy Bitsy Spider” by Sunny…

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10K views · 3.1K reactions | Save this video to enjoy with the kids in your life! This is our modern take on the timeless nursery rhyme “London Bridge.” | Sunny And The Black Pack

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Save this video to enjoy with the kids in your life! This is our modern take on the timeless nursery rhyme “London Bridge.”

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🏰 Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building

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PTKLF OBSERVATION AND INVESTIGATION STEPS

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PTKLF OBSERVATION AND INVESTIGATION STEPS

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This is Loree's Scissor Song that she shared during our October 13, 2025 session.

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Our reflections from our day together.......

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Our reflections from our day together......

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Our reflections from our day together.......

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Preschool English Learner Guide Use- of Questions

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Preschool English Learner Guide Use- of Questions

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Children with different levels of exposure to math vocabulary and math activities may enter your classroom from diverse language, cultural, and experiential backgrounds. When mathematical learning at school connects to familiar experiences and objects in children's lives, the math can seem more interesting and make more sense to children!

Jia sits at a table with the other 4-year-olds in her class. The teacher gives each child sheets of blue, red, and yellow paper and a handful of blue, red, and yellow buttons. She says something in English that Jia doesn't understand. Jia picks up some buttons and taps them together, but when the teacher gives her a stern look, she puts them down. She sees the other children putting the buttons on paper of the same color, so she does too. The teacher smiles, then collects the papers and buttons and dumps them in a box. Later, when her mom asks what happened in school, Jia tells her she put some buttons on paper. She doesn't know what else to say about the activity.

Ameer sits on the floor with the other preschoolers. The teacher, Mr. Jackson, brings out a basket of socks in different sizes and colors. He sits with Ameer and three of his friends and talks about the socks, attempting to say aljawarib (socks, in Arabic) and farz aljawarib (sort the socks, in Arabic) to help them understand the key words and the activity. Mr. Jackson and the children take off their shoes and try on different socks, sorting them into piles of "Fits the Teacher" and "Fits the Children." The children laugh when Mr. Jackson tries on a baby sock and when they try big socks on their own feet. Together they sort, compare, and observe, even though the children don't speak the same language as the teacher.

At home that afternoon, when Ameer sees a basket of clean laundry, he shows his mom what he learned in school. They laugh at Ameer's stories about mismatched socks and feet. Ameer tells his mom he's happy because he learned the word socks. Mr. Jackson helped him see it was the same as aljawarib. It was a fun and useful conversation for teacher and child.

Of these examples showing two different math activities, the second was more meaningful to a child with limited English than the first. Mr. Jackson used two strategies in his sock-sorting activity that made it more successful for dual language learners:

He chose materials that gave children clues about the skills they were learning, regardless of how much English they understand. The authentic activity used familiar, real-life objects (socks) in a useful and functional activity (sorting socks).

He tried pronouncing the Arabic words for two key terms-socks and sort.

Familiar objects and situations add meaning to any math exploration and help all children understand and use what they've learned.

Look for examples of counting, comparing quantities, ordering, patterning, identifying and comparing shapes, measuring, and sorting in activities that children do regularly and that are useful in their lives. This is the best way to build connections with what children already know-no matter what language they speak.

Here are examples of everyday experiences for children that are great jumping-off points for integrating intentional math learning.

Setting the table for meals and snacks

Distributing art or project materials

Comparing containers during cleanup time to see which toys fit and which don't fit

Reading recipes and cooking

Taking turns while playing games

Singing songs with repeating choruses

Planning and building structures with blocks or cardboard

Sorting crayons, puzzle pieces, or playdough to make use of old or broken pieces

Putting on clothes before going outside

Completing tasks that require a certain order ("We can't put our shoes on before our socks!" or "We can't dry our hands before we wash them!")

Reviewing the familiar schedule or routine of the day

Checking to see if there are enough supplies for all the children participating in an activity

Many early childhood programs find math the hardest area in which to improve children's outcomes and assessment scores. Most portfolio-based assessments encourage teachers to use real items and naturally occurring activities-these often often-overlooked ideas can be the keys to success in supporting growth on standardized assessments. Here's an example from one program I observed that served a population living in poverty and speaking multiple languages.

Miss Crystal attempts to record examples of children's understanding of patterns by having the children line up plastic manipulatives in the order of red, green, blue, red, green, blue. She tries to explain the activity in English, though most of her students speak other languages. The children are confused and do some unintentional playing-not much real math learning.

When we talk later, Miss Crystal admits that she isn't even sure the children understood the color names or the ordinal terms first, second, third, and next. We talk about when patterns appear naturally in the children's lives, and she realizes that some of the class's favorite songs have repeating patterns. Miss Crystal plans to introduce "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" during the next small group time. After they become familiar with it, she'll be quiet and let the children finish the song to see if they remember the order of the body parts. She can observe pattern knowledge in children who use words in other languages or who use only gestures. Miss Crystal feels more confident thinking of where math skills appear in other daily activities, realizing that math learning doesn't have to happen only during a scheduled time.

1. How do people use this skill in real life?
Counting cups for snack time or counting the number of children playing in the block area gives children a sense of the value of counting even if they don't know all of the vocabulary yet.

2. What kind of materials or activities would help a child understand the skill, even if he doesn't understand my words?
It makes sense to measure a table by seeing how many plates will fit for lunchtime or how many pieces of paper will fit for an upcoming art activity. These kinds of measurement have obvious meaning to children, even with language barriers. Setting unrelated items (like paper clips or blocks) on a table and counting them would be hard for many children to understand, and the confusion would interfere with their experiences of measuring.

3. How can children use this skill at different times or in different areas of the classroom?
If children can measure the snack table using plates, those same plates could be used to measure the small table in the kitchen area or the counter next to the sink. Once children learn to count the number of cups needed for their friends at snack time, they can move on to counting the number of glue pots needed for an art project or helmets needed for children who want to ride trikes on the playground.

A math activity should not be a onetime event. To be sure that each child learns a skill, it's important to provide lots of repetition and practice. Highlight any opportunity for using the latest math skills in everyday activities. How many crayons do you need to draw your picture? How many blocks will you need to make your tower tall? How many mittens should you have when you go outside? Using real-life examples makes it easier for children to continue practicing at home and for their families to get involved in supporting that practice. Meaningful math is both universal and inclusive-it opens the door to learning for all children.

To learn more about teaching children from Different Experiences, Cultures, Abilities, and Languages (DECAL), read "Naming the New, Inclusive Early Childhood Education: All Teachers Ready for DECAL!," by Karen Nemeth, Pamela Brillante, and Leah Mullen. www.languagecastle.com/2015/08/decalforinclusiveearlyed/

Photos © NAEYC/Istock

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Make Math Meaningful for Diverse Learners

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Children with different levels of exposure to math vocabulary and math activities may enter your classroom from diverse language, cultural, and experiential backgrounds. When mathematical learning at school connects to familiar experiences and objects in children's lives, the math can seem more interesting and make more sense to children!

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Dual Language Learners with Challenging Behaviors | HeadStart.gov

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Children communicate so much through their behavior. Teachers and caregivers will find this article useful in identifying strategies for working with dual language learners exhibiting challenging behaviors.

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111K views · 6.3K reactions | Turn leftover fry cups into a math game your kids will beg to play! 🍟♻️ Perfect for ages 3+, this french fries counting activity is a hands-on way to practice numbers, counting, and fine motor skills, and it's so fun they won't even realize they're learning! We reused empty french fries cups, added some handmade 'fries', and turned them into the cutest and most unique math activity ever. Kids get to match the correct number of fries to each cup, boosting number recognition, counting skills, and coordination, all while giggling their way through the game. 🙌 The best part? It's eco-friendly, budget-friendly, and endlessly reusable. Learning + play + recycling = parenting win! 💛 #KidsActivities #CountingGame #EcoFriendlyFun #DIYLearning #MontessoriAtHome #MathIsFun #HandsOnLearning #PreschoolActivity #ToddlerFun #EducationalPlay #RecycleAndReuse #CraftyKids #LearningThroughPlay #STEMKids #PreschoolMath #3PlusFun | Stephanie Katrina CraftyMoms

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Turn leftover fry cups into a math game your kids will beg to play! 🍟♻️ Perfect for ages 3+, this french fries counting activity is a hands-on way to practice numbers, counting, and fine motor...

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Calming Practice: Breathe and Count to Ten

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Calming Practice: Breathe and Count to Ten

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Strategies Used by Second Language Learners

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Strategies Used by Second Language Learners

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PTKLF Language and Literacy: English Language Development

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PTKLF Language and Literacy: English Language Development