By Laura Raphael, Children's Services Coordinator, Tulsa City-County Library
If reading to your kids before they go to sleep at night is part of your family routine, congratulations! You are doing something wonderful for their little brains as well as establishing a deep family bond that your kids will fondly remember their entire lives.
I'd like to suggest a small but powerful change in your routine: for every five or six "regular" bedtime stories, consider reading one "math" story. The concept is something called Bedtime Math (www.bedtimemath.org), and it's an easy way to support your child's book literacy while strengthening their number literacy.
There are several "Bedtime Math" books available in the library:
- Bedtime Math
- Bedtime Math 2: This Time It's Personal
- Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out
- How Many Guinea Pigs Can Fit on a Plane?
But you can also turn any "regular" book into a math lesson by counting and talking about other math concepts like size and distance.
Have fun on your math journey!