Joyful Math Preview, Webinar and Review

Curious about my book Joyful Math? Click here for a preview!

"Deanna shows us that math can bring joy! Written to support play-based math learning for young children in clear and concise language, this colorfully illustrated text is all you need to give the gift of math to children. When math is connected to children's play it becomes real, meaningful, authentic, and joyful for children and their teachers."
--Dr. Diane Kashin, RECE, retired early childhood education professor, co-author of Play and Learning in Early Childhood Education

"Deanna's book provides a window into an early childhood classroom, sharing stories of young children's mathematics learning. The mathematics is embedded in a place of wonder, joy, and collaboration, full of playful learning with materials. The classroom stories share a joyful approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics which is sure to both inspire and provide a wealth of ideas for educators."
--Janice Novakowski, District Teacher Consultant (Mathematics) in Richmond, BC, Canada and coordinator of the BC Reggio-Inspired Mathematics Project

"In this beautiful book, Deanna McLennan shows us how teachers can create an environment for children to engage in mathematical play and learning with joy, curiosity, and discovery. Teachers will welcome these wonderfully authentic invitations to bring joyful playful math into their classrooms throughout the day."
--Katie Keier, kindergarten teacher and co-author of Catching Readers Before They Fall: Supporting Readers Who Struggle, K-4

"This is so much more than a math book. It's about a kindergarten teacher who is confident in her teaching, passing on sensible suggestions and practical advice to others who are looking to create interesting, engaging learning environments for their children, outside and in. It contains nuggets of commentary that are an inspiration and a joy to read. It's a reflective narrative of how Deanna integrates math into her everyday life of the class in meaningful and respectful ways based upon the principles and practice of the Reggio Emilia approach."
--Juliet Robertson, author of Messy Maths: A Playful, Outdoor Approach for Early Years

"What if all children had joyful math experiences in their earliest years? You may be wondering what would that look like and where do I start. Read Joyful Math and step inside Deanna McLennan's masterful, joy-filled kindergarten classroom. Here the natural curiosity, inventiveness, and exuberance of children is harnessed for deep mathematical learning through exploration and play. Deanna respectfully shares with teachers the methods she has developed over the years to surpass mathematical standards without leaving joy to chance. Rich with stories, conversations with children, and awe-inspiring photographs, Joyful Math is a game-changer for the early childhood math landscape."
--Katie Egan Cunningham, author of Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness

Interested in learning more about how to bring Joyful Math to your classroom? I am pleased to share a webinar here that I have presented in the past for Pembroke Publishers.

"Join author/educator Deanna Pecaski McLennan as she discusses building a kindergarten classroom in which math is inseparable from everything students do. She encourages you to create invitations to engage with math through art, literacy, and outdoor play. With stories from her own classroom, Deanna inspires you to be curious about math, take risks, try new approaches, and collaborate with children as co-learners."

 

 

Read the review for Joyful Math in the June 2021 issue of Professionally Speaking. 

 

 

 

Eager to learn more? Consider joining the Facebook 'Joyful Math' book talk happening September to November 2021 on Facebook!  

Join the book talk here! 

 

Have you read and enjoyed Joyful Math? I'd appreciate a review on Goodreads or Amazon! Thank you!

Do You Want to Make a Snowman (out of found materials)?

Since it was too cold to go out we made a snowman indoors using natural and recycled materials from around our classroom.

Recycled Caps on the Light Table

I love finding beauty in recycled materials. We have been experimenting with using more found and natural materials around here. For the last few weeks I have been saving any kind of cap or lid instead of tossing it in the recycle bin. Here is our collection - the diversity of colours, sizes, and textures is interesting and these qualities were evident when I placed the clear bin of lids on our light table.

It's interesting to see how the light from below really illuminates the lids and makes them appear to glow.

It was fun to use these 'loose parts' to explore and create some art.

A truck driving on a sunny day...

A boat floating in the water...

A rainbow...

A silly face...

(According to my daughter) me holding a water bottle...

I'm going to keep these lids for some future art activities. What might your children create with their found and recycled objects?

Fairy Playscape

I've been trying to get rid of a lot of our overly commercial toys the last several months. We have a plastic dollhouse that the kids haven't been very interested in. 

I have been thinking of a way to update it because I like how open and empty the dollhouse is. There is a lot of potential for creative play because there isn't much prescribed within the body of the house. After some thought I turned the house into a fairy house using natural materials like shells, rocks, and moss.

It took a very long time to hot glue the materials on the dollhouse, but the result was worth it! My daughter was thrilled when she saw it!

I was eager to capitalize on this interest, so I added a few props to enhance the play (fake grass, fabric flowers, large shells) and turned our sensory table into a fairy playscape.

The result? Hours of imaginative play! I'm eager to take this house outdoors into the garden when the flowers bloom and see how the play evolves as more natural elements from the yard and garden can be incorporated into the house.

My daughter decided to add a 'pool' for the fairies which was a shallow plastic bowl filled with water. It was interesting to add the water element to the playscape and created a whole new layer of exploration. The water drew her little brother in too!

Nothing like a dip in the pool to relax after a hard afternoon of imaginative play! My next goal is to encourage my daughter to design and create her own fairies using our art materials.

Loose Parts Provocation with Mirrors

I have been interested in exploring the use of loose parts with the children at home. After gathering some simple, versatile materials I set up an inviting provocation for exploration. I used two acrylic mirrors as 'mats' that would be each child's building space.

The materials were organic and each child was very interested in creating. At first the designs were simple.  

    

After a few attempts they realized that the pieces could be interpreted and used together to form interesting pictures.

A few faces...

A garden...

A roller coaster...

  

Someone's name...

I was amazed at the level of interest and creativity that a few ordinary materials could provide. I believe part of the appeal in this experience was the use of the mirrors, which reflected the pieces back and created interesting effects depending on whether the light hanging above was turned on. In a few days I plan to add a few more materials to the collection and see how they influence the play!

Co-created Colour Wheel

The kids have been very interested in rainbows lately - I think their thoughts are turning to spring! We decided to explore the colours of the rainbow using found materials in our art area.

After cutting out a large circle from bristol board, I helped them divide the circle into sixths. We designated each section a specific colour and then began gluing what we found.

We used magazine cutouts, pompoms, beads, popsicle sticks, recycled caps, feathers, buttons, paint chips, stickers, pipecleaners and anything else that matched and fit into the colour collage! What I especially love about this display is that it can be mounted on our wall as a reference for colour. Unlike mass produced, colour bulletin board kits that can be purchased from teaching stores, my kids have a vested interest in the colour wheel because they created it. Through the process of finding and sorting objects by colour, they are aware that each has many shades. For example, blue can look many different ways and is not just the blue depicted on a colour poster. 

So in addition to helping us learn about colours, this activity promoted creativity, refined fine motor skills, encouraged mathematical thinking like sorting and puzzling, developed oral language, and instilled a sense of pride and ownership in one's work. 

Beautiful! It's going to become a permanent fixture in our art area after I leave it out on our table for a few more days to see what else is added to it!

Recycled Styrofoam Stamps

I love discovering the unconventional beauty in found objects - I am constantly looking into our recycle bin and thinking about how we can use everyday materials in creative ways. The kids have been very interested in stamps lately and so I thought we could recycle some styrofoam trays we had from produce into our own handmade stamps (why do cucumbers need to be packed on styrofoam trays anyway?!?!).

This activity was so easy! We used a metal skewer to carve an image into a square of styrofoam. My daughter visualized what she wanted her design to look like, but it would be easy to have children preplan their stamp by sketching it on a piece of paper first.

Next she affixed the stamp to a large foam block (with some tape) so that it had a base that could easily be grasped.

She gently stamped her paper after wetting the stamp with an ink pad and....voila! Her own unique, recycled stamp!

My daughter spent much time creating many new designs and testing them out on her papers. Next I'm going to encourage her to use her new stamps to design stationary that can be used to write letters to her friends and family!

Recycled Puzzles

We love using found and natural materials in our learning experiences at home and school. Here is a wonderful way to recycle an old food box that I learned from my friends at the Parenting and Family Literacy Centres.

First cut the face off a food box. I like to use products my children are very familiar with.

Cut it into random puzzle-type pieces.

Encourage your child to fit the pieces back together just like he or she would with a commercially bought puzzle.

Celebrate and do it again!

This activity can be repeated with any product packaging and is a great way to infuse a little math into your daily activities! So easy!

Building on the Light Table

Light tables are a great surface for exploring many materials, including clear plastic cups in various sizes. We spent some time today building with cups we found around the house. It was interesting to see the natural math language emerge in our conversation.

"How many are you going to use?"

"Lots! I'm going to fill the whole table!"

"How many to fill the whole table?"

"1, 2, 3...." (counting and pointing to the cups)

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm building a tower. It's taller than me!"

"How tall is it?"

"Nine!" (counts each cup)