Teaching Preschoolers to Count: Effective Strategiesfor Achieving Early Mathematics Milestones

Attention to early childhood mathematicsinstructional strategies has sharpened due to the rela?tively poor mathematics performance of U.S. students incomparison to students from other countries and researchevidence that early mathematics skills impact laterachievement. Early Childhood counting skills form thefoundation for subsequent mathematics learning. In thisarticle, we discuss the milestones of counting develop?ment and examine preschool classroom mathematicsobservations through the lenses of two CLASS Dimen?sions, Concept Development and Instructional LearningFormats. Recommendations for effective instructionalstrategies around counting and suggestions for incorpo?rating mathematics instruction into storybook reading areprovided