Math

As with the Phonics lessons, since there are several different ages and levels of children participating in this curriculum, I will refer to each age range by a certain name.

Bobcats:  These are our youngest children, the 6-24 month olds.   None of the math lessons for these children will require them to talk, they will be mostly focused on hands-on activities such as counting, sorting, matching, or transferring.  This is when the kids can learn the skills they'll need to do real math later on; they will learn their colors, shapes, the opposites of big/small, tall/short, empty/full all through activities that use all their senses of hearing, sight, and touch.  The Montessori style of learning lends itself well to this age range, especially in math skills. 

Panthers:  These are the 24-48 month olds, the toddlers and bulk of our group.  Some may still be working to master colors, especially the boys, while others may be counting to 50.  The math lessons for this group will focus on counting by memorization, counting actual objects accurately, and sorting objects by size, color, or shape. 

Lions:  These are our big kids, 4 years old and up, who have already mastered basic counting to 10, shapes and colors.  They can handle more difficult crafts and activities, especially those that require fine motor skills.  The math lessons for this group will spend the first half of the year reviewing numbers and shapes while the second half of the year will be spent doing very basic addition and subtraction with objects and sorting objects into like and different, by size, and by shape.