"…Most parents know to read bedtime stories at night, creating cozy rituals that lead kids to associate books with loving parental attention. Hence many of us read for pleasure as adults. Sadly, 'math for pleasure' just isn’t a phrase we throw around."
In this article on Quartz, Laura Overdeck, the founder of Bedtime Math, reflects on young students’ differing perceptions of math and literacy. While many young students read for fun, very few do math for fun. In fact, math anxiety can start at a very young age and persist throughout one’s academic career.
Making the concept of “math for fun,” or at least minimizing math as a source of anxiety is certainly possible, however. Bedtime Math provides parents with bedtime math problems to supplement the more expected bedtime story. Numbers Are Fun! has created a series of math activities that call for cooperation and critical thinking. We have a number of ideas for fun math activities and mathematizing children’s stories that can be used at home or in the classroom.
The Early Math Collaborative works to improve math instruction for young children in three ways:
