What's the Big Idea | Big Idea | Math and Science in your library

MATH & SCIENCE LITERACY CONNECTIONS BIG IDEA

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"As a children's librarian I never thought much about standards until I started doing outreach to our local elementary school's Kindergarten class once a week. I began to notice that when I did activities based on the What's the BIG Idea? program, and talked about math and science concepts with children as we read books and did the activities, the teacher started to pay attention more and more each time. After one class I talked with her specifically about the standards I planned to cover in the following week's activities. I think it helped to show this teacher, in particular, that we're doing 'real' learning in the public library!"
—Delaware children's librarian

Standards and Outcomes are ways of thinking about what we're doing: Is it age appropriate? Is it important for children to know? Are we helping parents and other caregivers encourage children's cognitive (brain) development?

The standards practiced in the What's the BIG Idea?™ program are based on state and local standards, including Head Start Outcomes. They will be a close match to your state's education standards for preschool through first grade.

When you read a book to children, do you hold it up and show the cover? The endpapers? Do you talk about the author/illustrator and do you show them that text moves from left to right? Do you ask children to talk about the illustrations?

Whether you realize it or not, you're practicing language and literacy standards for early childhood.

Did you solve a problem today? Sort anything? Make a prediction? Notice changes in the weather? Use your senses? Observe the color, sound or size of anything? Estimate, compare or measure something?

Whether you realize it or not, you're practicing science standards for early childhood.

Can you count? Add simple numbers? Recognize a pattern? Sort? Make a chart? Write a number sentence (equation)?

You guessed it: you're already practicing mathematics standards for early childhood.

But keep in mind: who says math and science aren’t fun? Who says learning isn’t fun? A group of children plus a good book plus a science or math-based activity all equal FUN!

Related topic: Standards: An Overview

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0514746. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.