Preschool
Master Mathematicians
How does a young child learn the commutative property of addition? (You remember that principle, right? A + B = B + A.) For our PreK students, all it takes is a balance scale and a basket of identical cubes and balls. Your child can reason—algebraically!—that if his friend puts a cube and a ball on one side of the scale, he must put a cube and a ball on the other side to make the scale balance. For young learners, a strong mathematical foundation begins by learning about patterns and relationships.
Your child will create endless patterns with beads, blocks, and a bowl of Fruit Loops. She will use natural objects, along with spatial reasoning and artistry, to plan, create, and extend beautiful designs using radial and bilateral symmetry. By working with increasingly complex patterns, students grow both in algebraic and geometric thinking. At the same time, they are building number sense, the deep understanding of numbers and the number system. Starting tangibly with ten blocks, beans, or tiles, your child will learn that numbers are composed of individual parts, and those parts can be put together (added) or taken apart (subtracted). Day by day, your PreK child will learn math in the best way possible: through stimulating, hands-on activities showing him that math is an integral part of life.
