Early Childhood Center Instructional Programs Bridges Math

After extensive curricular Math research, the Math curriculum committee decided to adopt and implement Bridges Math program starting in preschool all the way to Grade 5.

Our priority in the early years was to adopt a playful and play-based developmentally appropriate program where students practice the many concepts and skills through the use of contextual themes. Hands on games, stories, manipulatives, mysteries and intriguing problems and visual models. Bridges focuses on developing children’s understanding of mathematical concepts, know-how with key skills and understanding how to approach and solve complex and narrative problems.

Open exploration is essential at such a young age. Activities and games are designed for children in early years to strengthen their counting skills and computational fluency thus promoting number sense.

These games often incorporate visual models like five-frames, ten-frames, finger patterns to 10, linking cubes, and the number line.

Every day students gather for Number corner, an engaging 15 minute instructional skillbuilding session that revolves around the classroom calendar. It provides daily practice where students count, read and write numbers to 10 or 20 depending on age. They compare sets and numbers, model and solve addition and subtraction problems, identify, describe and compare shapes in the environment.

What makes it even more appealing for our students is the way patterns are introduced and practiced. Each month features a collection of some kind—cubes, sticks, shapes, coins, or data— that serves as a springboard for representing and analyzing data, practicing counting and computation, and solving problems. Collections promote deep understanding of estimation and counting, place value, measurement, and data. Kindergarten students also benefit from two other distinct but integrated curricular components: Work Places, Problems & Investigations.

Early years Math instruction is carefully sequenced along research-based learning progressions, to allow for depth and focus as children progress in knowledge and skills.