REL Appalachia is excited to announce a new, free resource: The Teaching Math to Young Children Toolkit (aka the Early Math toolkit). This comprehensive, classroom-embedded professional learning program helps early educators strengthen their foundational math instruction by connecting new learning directly to classroom practice across curricula and contexts. Developed and tested in collaboration with seasoned educators, the toolkit is grounded in the evidence-base for teaching early math to preschool-, prekindergarten-, and kindergarten-aged children.
The Challenge: Building a critical foundation for math teaching and learning
Early childhood is a crucial time for building math understanding, yet many educators feel unsure about how to make math instruction developmentally appropriate and engaging. Teachers recognize that math does not just “live” in the manipulatives in their classrooms. They want to help children discover and make sense of the math woven throughout their day, but often aren’t sure how to start. To meet this need, REL Appalachia developed a new toolkit that translates research on early math instruction into actionable guidance, grounded in the evidence-based recommendations from the Teaching Math to Young Children Practice Guide.
A Solution: A professional learning toolkit designed to empower educators
The toolkit helps educators learn about, practice, and master key numeracy teaching practices across four modules: subitizing, meaningful counting, comparing and labeling magnitudes, and solving basic problems. Studied over several months, the modules build teachers’ understanding of how children’s thinking develops and offer ready-to-use classroom activities and resources that bring math to life to support that development.
Designed for flexibility in a variety of settings, the toolkit can be used independently or in groups, requires no external professional learning facilitation, and aligns with any curriculum. Each four-week module includes short content videos, reflection prompts, and hands-on experiences that prepare teachers to try out new routines, games, children’s books, and large- and small-group activities with their students. Each activity is supported by clear instructions, downloadable resources, and demonstration videos featuring children and teachers in real classrooms. Together, these components provide educators with the understanding and means to make key numeracy teaching strategies a part of their regular practice. The toolkit’s design reflects what the educators who collaborated with REL Appalachia said they need most: practical, easy-to-access learning experiences that strengthen teachers’ understanding and instructional practice. The next sections highlight several features that make the toolkit especially powerful in supporting early math teaching and learning.
I did not realize there was a process to learning math... I have incorporated the books in my reading throughout the school year and I love the ten frame games we were taught to use. There was such a great deal of information, and it was so helpful! — Virginia preK teacher
Focus on a developmental perspective
In every early childhood classroom, children’s mathematical understanding varies widely, from those still learning to recite count words to those exploring different number combinations that make five, for example. To support this developmental range, teachers need mathematical knowledge that is both deep and broad, from understanding math concepts for a specific numeracy topic to learning to assess children’s development through observation. With the toolkit, teachers watch videos of children doing math, practice identifying what their behavior shows about emerging skills and understanding, and use knowledge of the developmental progression to anticipate what learning is likely to occur next. In this way, the toolkit supports teachers’ development of a nuanced sense of how children’s mathematical thinking evolves and how to provide both access and challenge for every learner.
Fitting it into your classroom
REL Appalachia’s toolkit design team understands that early childhood teaching looks very different from teaching in older grades. While structured group activities are possible — at least on some days!— many of the richest learning moments happen during play, transitions, or everyday routines. To help teachers make math part of these commonplace experiences, the toolkit includes two key resources: Math-in-Place and Math Stories. Math-in-Place offers guidance for weaving math talk into daily moments, such as asking, “How many pieces of construction paper will I need for six children?” or “Some of the doll babies are already being played with. What should we do to see if there are still four left to fill our strollers?” Math Stories connects math ideas to children’s literature, providing book suggestions, short descriptions, and discussion prompts that help teachers extend math learning through familiar classroom read-alouds. In the counting module, for example, Math Stories defines three different categories of counting books teachers might consider, and offers Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert as a great book for helping children become familiar with the ”plus-one” pattern of the numbers one through ten.
Key instructional practices and built-in self-reflection
Each module introduces key instructional practices, which are specific, easy-to-implement actions that strengthen children’s math understanding. For example, during the meaningful counting module, teachers prompt children to name the total after counting (“One, two, three…there are three pencils!”). This simple strategy of naming the total amount after counting — often missed by many adults — helps children link the counting procedure to the total it produces.
The module components — the large- and small-group activities, routines and games, Math-in-Place and Math Stories — provide ready-made opportunities for teachers to use each key instructional practice in their classroom. Through implementation with their students, teachers’ understanding and use of the key instructional practices evolve as they progress through the modules.
To help teachers gauge their own progress, the toolkit provides the SAMI – the Self-Assessment of Math Instruction. Teachers take this survey before beginning to use the toolkit’s learning materials and return to relevant sections as they complete each module. By tracking their understanding and use of the key instructional practices over time, teachers see their own growth in numeracy instruction as they progress through the toolkit.
Protocols for connecting with colleagues
Professional development experiences are most powerful when supported by reflection and planning with colleagues. So, while it can be used in isolation, the toolkit provides structured checkpoints for group meetings during the learning process along with a set of tailored discussion questions. Teachers are thus supported to reflect on activities they are trying and the things they are learning about their students.
Resources for early learning leaders
The toolkit includes resources designed specifically for school and center leaders seeking to create conditions for the successful, sustained use of its professional learning materials and resources. The Supporting Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching Math to Young Children Guide helps leaders assess, establish, and strengthen the structures and supports needed to effectively implement the toolkit and sustain teachers’ changes in instructional practice.
Three additional tools help leaders and instructional coaches support teachers as they use the toolkit. The Early Math Teaching Observation Tool (EMTOT) is a rubric-based measure for observing classroom instruction and engaging teachers in reflection, while the companion Teacher and Leader Professional Dialogue Protocol guides those post-observation conversations. The Assessment of System Supports for Evidence-Based Teaching (ASSET) helps leaders identify and prioritize what teachers need, such as planning time, instructional resources, and printing capability, to ensure professional learning success.
Try it for yourself!
The Toolkit for Teaching Math to Young Children is designed for educators and leaders who want to make math learning joyful, intentional, and grounded in research. It’s free, flexible, and ready to use.
Explore the toolkit: Visit the Toolkit for Teaching Math to Young Children and begin with the Welcome module to learn how the toolkit is organized and how to get started. From there, you can access modules, videos, and resources for teachers and leaders that support evidence-based, classroom-embedded professional learning designed to help every child build a strong foundation in math.
