Math: Naming How the World Feels

We've been doing the first chapter in Count on Math, which is about attributes of materials. That's curriculum-speak for adjectives. We went to the beach and felt hot sand and cool, rumbling waves. Before the weather got cool, I set up outside water play with toys for pouring, sinking and floating. I listen as Ladybug observes that the sack of potatoes is very heavy, the food is very hot, water is very wet, and oatmeal is very sticky.

The opportunities for discussion are so numerous that I lose track. I have approached this unit with several books, a few planned activities, and a lot of listening. Bug was already excited to talk about her world, so this gave her another way to do it. She has enjoyed Spiky, Slimy, Smooth: What is Texture? and Wet Dog! We also checked out Dry or Wet by Bruce McMillan.

We've done some cooking together, usually where Bug helps me dump and mix muffin ingredients. We also took a walk and collected leaves, which went along with art (and obviously science). The leaves were brought inside and we fingerpainted them. Today we took about five minutes and played with one "hot" coin and one cold coin.

In between it all we've been seeing friends and getting out in the community. Church School began again, as well as Joyful Noise, our music class. Ladybug was overflowing with happy energy during the first music class. I'm reflecting that, much like her father, for this child music is a necessity that satisfies a very deep need.

When I mentioned to my mom that Ladybug likes poems, mom reflected that poems give words to a feeling or experience, often one that we didn't have a way to talk about before the poem. It seems that the life of a small child is all about these types of intense experiences without words. Parents of toddlers eventually figure out that naming the child's feelings can help with temper tantrums and other outbursts. It's so validating. Mom's idea was that poems are a similar kind of validation. For us, this math chapter has been in the same vein: empower the child to express how her world feels, looks, sounds, and smells.