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Big Ideas of Early
Mathematics
What Teachers of Young
Children Need to Know
The Early Math Collaborative

Erikson Institute
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 10: 0-13-294697-1

ISBN 13: 978-0-13-294697-1
Brief Contents
About the Authors vii
Foreword ix
Preface x
INTRODUCTION 2
Chapter 1
SETS 12
Chapter 2
NUMBER SENSE 28
Chapter 3
COUNTING 46
Chapter 4
NUMBER OPERATIONS 64
Chapter 5
PATTERN 82
Chapter 6
MEASUREMENT 98
Chapter 7
DATA ANALYSIS 112
Chapter 8
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS 130
Chapter 9
SHAPE 146
CONCLUSION 168
Big Ideas Charts 174
Book Study Guide 184
Bibliography 190
Index 192
iii
Contents
About the Authors vii
Foreword ix
Preface x
INTRODUCTION 2
Chapter 1
SETS: Using Attributes to Make Collections 12
Big Idea: Attributes Can Be Used to Sort Collections into Sets 14
Big Idea: The Same Collection Can Be Sorted in Different Ways 17
Big Idea: Sets Can Be Compared and Ordered 19
Implications for Teaching 21
Chapter 2
NUMBER SENSE: Developing a Meaningful Sense
of Quantity 28
Big Idea: Numbers Are Used in Many Ways, Some More Mathematical
than Others 31
Big Idea: Quantity Is an Attribute of a Set of Objects, and We Use
Numbers to Name Specific Quantities 33
Big Idea: The Quantity of a Small Collection Can Be Intuitively
Perceived without Counting 36
Chapter 3
COUNTING: More than Just 1, 2, 3 46
Big Idea: Counting Can Be Used to Find Out “How Many” in a
Collection 48
Big Idea: Counting Has Rules That Apply to Any Collection 50
iv
Chapter 4
NUMBER OPERATIONS: Every Operation Tells a
Story 64
Big Idea: Sets Can Be Changed by Adding Items (Joining) or by Taking
Some Away (Separating) 68
Big Idea: Sets Can Be Compared Using the Attribute of Numerosity,
and Ordered by More than, Less than, and Equal To 70
Big Idea: A Quantity (Whole) Can Be Decomposed into Equal or
Unequal Parts; The Parts Can Be Composed to Form the Whole 73
Chapter 5
PATTERN: Recognizing Repetition and Regularity 82
Big Idea: Patterns Are Sequences Governed by a Rule; They Exist Both
in the World and in Mathematics 85
Big Idea: Identifying the Rule of a Pattern Brings Predictability and
Allows Us to Make Generalizations 88
Big Idea: The Same Pattern Structure Can Be Found in Many Different
Forms 90
Chapter 6
MEASUREMENT: Making Fair Comparisons 98
Big Idea: Many Different Attributes Can Be Measured, Even When
Measuring a Single Object 101
Big Idea: All Measurement Involves a “Fair” Comparison 102
Big Idea: Quantifying a Measurement Helps Us Describe and Compare
More Precisely 106
Chapter 7
DATA ANALYSIS: Asking Questions and Finding
Answers 112
Big Idea: The Purpose of Collecting Data Is to Answer Questions
When the Answers Are Not Immediately Obvious 115
Big Idea: Data Must Be Represented in Order to Be Interpreted,
and How Data Are Gathered and Organized Depends on the
Question 116
Contents v
Big Idea: It Is Useful to Compare Parts of the Data and to Draw
Conclusions about the Data as a Whole 121
Chapter 8
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS: Mapping the World
Around Us 130
Big Idea: Relationships between Objects and Places Can Be
Represented with Mathematical Precision 133
Big Idea: Our Own Experiences of Space and Two-Dimensional
Representations of Space Reflect a Specific Point of View 136
Big Idea: Spatial Relationships Can Be Visualized and Manipulated
Mentally 139
Chapter 9
SHAPE: Developing Definitions 146
Big Idea: Shapes Can Be Defined and Classified by Their
Attributes 149
Big Idea: The Flat Faces of Solid (Three-Dimensional) Shapes Are
Two-Dimensional Shapes 153
Big Idea: Shapes Can Be Combined and Separated (Composed and
Decomposed) to Make New Shapes 156
CONCLUSION 168
Big Ideas Charts 174
Book Study Guide 184
Bibliography 190
Index 192
vi CONTENTS
About the Authors
The author of this book is not an individual but a group of devoted early child-
hood specialists who are part of The Early Math Collaborative at Erikson Institute.
Brownell, Jeanine O’Nan, M.S., has extensive curriculum writing experience.
She worked at the Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education at
the University of Chicago. While there, she revised the first-grade component of
the Everyday Mathematics, Third edition curriculum and authored Pre-Kindergarten
Everyday Mathematics. Jeanine has many years of experience as a classroom teacher
of first, second, and third grades. She also has mentored new teachers and worked
as an instructional coach.
Chen, Jie-Qi, Ph.D., is the Principal Investigator of the Collaborative and Profes-
sor of Child Development at Erikson Institute. She has taught preschool, elemen-
tary, and middle schools in China and preschool and kindergarten in the United
States. She has contributed to teacher professional development efforts for more
than 20 years. Jie-Qi has published six books and numerous articles. She is the
2009 recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Educator’s Award from the National
Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, a Fulbright Senior Specialist in
Education, and a consultant to UNICEF and the Ministry of Education in China.
Ginet, Lisa, Ed.D., has spent more than two decades as a professional educa-
tor in various positions (classroom teacher, child care provider, parent educator,
home visitor, teacher trainer, adjunct faculty) in diverse settings (child care centers,
elementary and middle schools, family resource agency, family child care home,
community college, private university). In all her roles, Lisa has worked to engage
children in active and meaningful learning, to support families as their children’s
first and closest teachers, and to involve educators in reflective and practical
dialogue to help improve their teaching.
Hynes-Berry, Mary, Ph.D., is on the faculty at Erikson Institute. She has been
involved in preservice and in-service work with teachers and with young children
for over 30 years, with an emphasis on early literacy, mathematics, and science.
Her background includes many years of using oral storytelling as the basis of cur-
riculum in schools. Mary credits her work as the project director of Encyclopedia
Britannica’s Early Math project for deepening her understanding of foundational
mathematics. She is the author of two books and several articles.
vii
Itzkowich, Rebeca, M.A., is a senior instructor in the teacher education and
bilingual/ESL certification programs at Erikson Institute. She has taught pre-
school and elementary school in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. For the
past 10 years, Rebeca has provided professional development to teachers in the
areas of culturally and linguistically responsive teaching. As a member of The
Early Math Collaborative at Erikson, she has worked to help teachers discover
a love for foundational mathematics and collaborated with instructional math
coaches to inspire teachers to become more reflective about their mathematics
teaching.
Johnson, Donna, M.S., taught elementary math in a private school setting for
8 years. For 7 years, she served as co-director of an academic enrichment program
serving homeschool families, and provided instruction in math and science for
3rd–8th grade. For the past twelve years, Donna has conducted parent workshops
and provided professional development and coaching to teachers and child care
providers in literacy and math. As a coach and coach supervisor, Donna provides
support to coaches and teachers in The Early Math Collaborative, helping them to
deepen their understanding of foundational math and be more reflective in their
practice.
McCray, Jennifer, Ph.D., is the Director of The Early Math Collaborative and
an Assistant Research Scientist at Erikson Institute. She is a former preschool
teacher, with over 10 years experience in teacher training. Her dissertation, which
focused on preschool teachers’ knowledge of early mathematics, won two national
awards—one from Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education) of the American
Educational Research Association, and another from the National Association of
Early Childhood Teacher Educators.
viii ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Foreword
Aside from counting, number recognition, and naming two-dimensional shapes,
math is often given short shrift during the early school years. This is despite recent
findings from neuroscience that show the roots of later mathematical competence
are established long before middle school, confirming the importance of the link
between early experience and subsequent achievement. Because of this link, we
must be sure that children’s experience is sufficient to activate their potential and
prepare them for the challenges of the 21st century.
Even without organized curricula and instruction, young children develop
an informal knowledge of math concepts through their interactions with people
and things. Children have many opportunities to consider and compare numbers
of objects, to gain knowledge of spatial relationships, and to use these budding
understandings to solve simple problems (bringing two cookies to the table, one
for me, and one for a friend). The process of constructing math knowledge is
natural and well-established by the time children are 3 years old.
Although, all children have enough experience touching and observing
objects to learn that three crayons are more than two crayons, it takes an adult
or older child to help them learn the written numerals, much less algebra and
calculus. Children’s own actions and observations are not enough; they need
specific instruction to deepen and extend their knowledge and skills. Two kinds of
experience are necessary: one type is guided by the child and arises from his own
actions; the other occurs as teachers (parents, older children) give information that
challenges her current understanding. Mathematical knowledge is built on both
kinds of experience.
Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: What Teachers of Young Children Need to Know by
The Early Math Collaborative pays attention to both kinds of experiences: those
that children can engage in on their own, interacting with materials (ideas with a
nudge from a thoughtful teacher); and those that are planned and facilitated by the
teacher. This text also provides an incredibly rich set of activities for both teach-
ers and parents, and more importantly, points out why these are important. Given
the meager background in mathematical knowledge of many Americans and some
early childhood teachers this text is welcome. It will go a long way toward fill-
ing the gaps in teacher knowledge about mathematics and its teaching for young
children.
Barbara T. Bowman
Erikson Institute
ix
Preface
Once upon a time, Dr. Jie-Qi Chen conducted a survey of preschool teachers in
the Chicago Public Schools. She found that while they felt mathematical learning
was important for their young charges, they also felt ill-prepared to guide it. Many
preschool teachers reported that they did not enjoy math themselves and were
uncertain what math content they needed to teach.
Lucky for us, Jie-Qi is a Professor at Erikson Institute, a graduate school in
child development in Chicago. Erikson specializes in the training of leaders in
many fields that have anything to do with children between the ages of 0 and 8
and their families, so there were plenty of people there who had experience in and
thought about early childhood teaching.
Jie-Qi first turned to her doctoral student, Jennifer McCray, who was com-
pleting a dissertation on what preschool teachers know about early math; and
together they gathered a group of experienced teacher educators, including Mary
Hynes-Berry, Rebeca Itzkowich, and Jeanine O’Nan Brownell. With generous
funding from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and CME Group Foundation,
Erikson’s Early Mathematics Education Project was launched. From its inception,
the goal of the project has been to help teachers develop the mathematics compe-
tencies they need to provide quality mathematics education to children during the
critical years of early schooling.
Based on their conviction that early childhood teachers needed to understand
early math content better, they began to study it themselves. They read many
books and articles about early math and cognitive development, struggling to
explain the mathematics to one another, and worked to create simple statements
about important math concepts. Along the way, they were joined by seasoned in-
structors Lisa Ginet and Donna Johnson; and eventually, this team developed the
Big Ideas of Early Mathematics, on which this book is based.
This team also created and implemented extensive teacher training along the
way, working with both pre-K and kindergarten teachers from schools all over the
city of Chicago and beyond. To make their training effective, they borrowed the
idea of the “whole child” to develop the “Whole Teacher Approach” to profes-
sional development. The idea was that, just as teachers of young children had to
think about child development in an integrated way, trainers of teachers had to
think about teacher development as an interaction among teachers’ knowledge for
teaching, their attitudes about teaching, and their teaching practices. Because of
x
this, their training focused explicitly on the Big Ideas (knowledge), had an empha-
sis on fun and confidence building (attitudes), and included research lessons that
teachers tried out with children between training sessions and classroom-based
individual coaching (practice). And guess what: it worked!
They studied the effects of the training, and found that children in the class-
rooms of teachers in their program learned more mathematics during a single
school year—almost three months more on average—than children in other class-
rooms. They were so excited by this that they applied for and won a large federal
grant that allowed them to expand their training to include first-, second-, and
third-grade teachers.
We don’t know how this story ends yet, because the Erikson Early Math
Project continues to grow. Now encompassing several projects, and collaborating
with teachers, teacher educators, and researchers nationwide, we are known as
The Early Math Collaborative. Nevertheless, we are still developing and provid-
ing training, trying to make sure that children everywhere get the excellent and
fun foundation in early mathematics that they deserve. We do know, however,
that the Big Ideas of Early Mathematics that apply especially well to preschool
and kindergarten are ready to be shared with more people, and that is the pur-
pose of this book.
We at The Early Math Collaborative hope that more people than just early
childhood teachers will read this text. Generally, teachers of older children, and
most adults do not have a solid understanding of the Big Ideas of Early Mathemat-
ics. Those first mental leaps we humans make as we explore quantities, shapes, and
sizes are enormous in their scope, highly abstract, and generally complex. Under-
standing this well can make it easer to teach math with children of all ages, creat-
ing profound appreciation for the flexibility and elegance of human thought, even
among our youngest children.
For all of our dear readers, we hope you enjoy this text. It is our sincere belief
that this book will inspire you to see mathematics in your daily life and to talk
about it with confidence and passion!
—The Early Math Collaborative
earlymath.erikson.edu
Acknowledgments
The work described here was supported by grants from the Robert R. McCormick
Foundation, CME Group Foundation, Motorola Solutions Foundation, the Office
of Early Childhood Education in the Chicago Public Schools, Exelon Foundation,
and The Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc. We are grateful to the generous
funders who make The Early Math Collaborative’s work possible.
Two Early Math Collaborative staff members in particular deserve mention:
Cody Meirick and Suzanne Budak use their considerable talents daily to enhance
the work of the entire team. Margaret Adams and Colleen Sims were instrumental
in reading early drafts of this book.
Preface xi
Our sincere thanks also go to hundreds of teachers who have participated
in the teacher professional development program of The Early Math Collabora-
tive. They tested our Big Ideas in the classroom, provided valuable feedback, and
informed us of the usefulness of these Big Ideas in helping them understand foun-
dational mathematics. It is their encouraging voice and improved practice that is
the driving force behind this text.
We would also like to thank the reviewers of the drafts of this book for their
constructive comments: Myrna Scott Amos, Duval County Public Schools; Connie
Casha, Tennessee Department of Education; Karen Crider, Middle Georgia RESA;
Pam Hibbs, Oklahoma City Public Schools; and Pamela L. Shue, University of
North Carolina at Charlotte.
xii PREFACE
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Introduction
2
Why Focus on Big Ideas?
Math Snapshot
Tracy loves coming up with great literacy activities in her preschool classroom. She
carefully picks out her daily read-aloud and knows the advantages of revisiting a
wonderful story. She sees the value in doing story dictation and dramatization as a
natural and playful way to help children develop phonemic awareness and a sense of
narrative.
As confident as Tracy is about her ability to address literacy, she worries about
what happens in her classroom when it comes to math. She has a daily calendar
routine and uses some recorded counting songs at least every other day. Still, she is
frustrated that she’s not really sure what her 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds ought to
understand about mathematics—much less how to assess and develop their under-
standing. Underlying everything else is a nagging feeling that she doesn’t really like
math and never has—she hopes she is not communicating this to the children.
Do you share some of Tracy’s concerns about math in your own classroom? If so,
you are by no means alone. There is strong evidence that American early child-
hood professionals spend significantly more time on literacy than on mathematics.
Most also feel more confident they can help produce lifelong readers than prepare
children to enjoy math. Recent research, however, has shown that early math com-
petence is one of the best predictors of school success across the curriculum. More-
over, as the world continues to move into an age where many jobs that require a
strong understanding of mathematics are at the heart of technological advance-
ment, it may be especially important that we get better at preparing young children
to excel mathematically.
The fact that you are reading this book suggests that you, like Tracy, are one
of the many dedicated early childhood professionals who is eager to learn how you
can do better when it comes to math. As teacher educators with years of experi-
ence, at the Early Math Collaborative, we are confident that early childhood teach-
ers like you can be terrific math advocates for young children—you simply need
better information about what early math is. This book is meant to help you fill
that void, since we believe that you have to understand what you are teaching to teach for
understanding.
This conviction is based on our experiences working with teachers like you
at Erikson Institute. It has been our privilege to provide training in foundational
3
mathematics to more than 400 Chicago Public School preschool, kindergarten,
and Head Start teachers. These teachers have been our partners in exploring the
Big Ideas that underlie all mathematical procedures; they worked with us to help
us understand how to make these basic ideas clear to young children. We found
that teachers in our program were able to make significant improvements in chil-
dren’s math learning—in fact, children who were behind at the beginning of the
school year began to catch up to their peers.
More importantly, we heard again and again how useful it was to teachers to
better understand early math content. Many teachers who “didn’t like math” be-
came inspired math teachers, seeing how mathematical situations are in children’s
literature and everyday routines, and communicating their own excitement to chil-
dren on a daily basis.
We are confident that a focus on the Big Ideas is a key element of their suc-
cess. This book is meant to help you deepen your own understanding, and as a
result, change your perspective on mathematics. We also hope that as you explore
the Big Ideas, your confidence will grow so that you, like the teachers with whom
we have worked, will find that teaching math is actually fun!
What Are Big Ideas?
Math Snapshot
After a day of training with the Early Math Collaborative, Tracy stopped the
instructor to share her excitement about an insight she had that day. “Up to now,”
Tracy said, “I hadn’t ever thought there were any ideas involved in counting—I
just considered it a skill. The children either could do it or they needed more
practice. But, all that changed when you showed the Big Ideas Chart and we talked
about children’s cardinal understanding: the idea of ‘three-ness.’ I can’t wait to get
back to class and find out which of my students really understands just how many
three is!”
Tracy’s realization that children must not only be able to say the counting
words in order, but that they also need to understand that three is an amount—
more than two, less than four—is just the kind of thinking we hope the Big Ideas
will inspire. In order to be a “Big Idea,” a concept must meet the three criteria
identified by Clements and Sarama (2009). A Big Idea is:
● Mathematically central and coherent. Big Ideas convey core mathematics con-
cepts and skills that can serve as organizing structures for teaching and
learning during early childhood years.
4 INTRODUCTION
● Consistent with children’s thinking. Big Ideas build on young children’s informal
or everyday mathematical knowledge and promote the scientific under-
standing of basic mathematical concepts and the development of logical
mathematical thinking.
● Generative of future learning. Big Ideas provide foundations for further math-
ematics learning and facilitate long-lasting mathematical understanding.
We have taken the most current research from the fields of cognitive science
and mathematics education to create a set of 26 Big Ideas: key mathematical
concepts that lay the foundation for lifelong mathematical learning and thinking.
While these concepts can be explored at an early age, they are powerful enough
that children can and should engage with them for years to come. Examples of
Big Ideas are presented in chart form in Table i.1.
We have also paid close attention to practical concerns about alignment with
standards and ease of implementation. For these reasons, our Big Ideas are:
● Comprehensive. The Big Ideas are closely aligned with the content of the Com-
mon Core State Standards (2010) and reflect the emphasis defined by the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) Curriculum Focal
TABLE i.1 Sample Big Ideas Chart
Topic Big Ideas Examples
Uses of Number • Numbers are used many ways, • Tommy has five books.
including: (cardinal)
• to indicate amount. (cardinal) • Ava is fifth in line today.
=5
• to specify position in a sequence. (ordinal)
(ordinal) • Numbers on basketball jerseys,
5th
• to provide names for members home addresses, telephone
of a set. (nominal) numbers (nominal)
• to act as shared reference points. • “Let’s meet at 5 p.m. on De-
(referential) cember 5.” (referential)
Counting • Counting can be used to find out • “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, you have five
how many in a collection. stars!”
• Counting has rules that apply to • “One, four, two” doesn’t give a
any collection. correct answer.
• Counting words have to be said • Children need strategies for
in the same order every time. keeping track, like touch-
• Each object in a set must be pointing or moving to another
counted once and only once. pile.
• It does not matter in what order • Mixing up objects and count-
the objects within a set are ing again is a good exercise; the
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . 5!” counted. third object counted is not the
• The last number word produced only one that can “be” three.
is the amount of the entire set. • Being able to count is not the
same as being able to answer
“how many?”
What Are Big Ideas? 5

Points (NCTM, 2006). You can be confident that these Big Ideas provide a
complete framework for planning your early math teaching.
● Thoughtful about content. We have clustered our 26 Big Ideas into nine topic
areas, with a chapter devoted to each one. If you examine the table at the end
of this chapter, you will see that there are more chapters here about number
and operations than anything else. This is a conscious choice and reflects
our sense of what an early childhood classroom ought to emphasize.
● Developmentally organized. Within each chapter topic, we present the Big Ideas
in an order that makes clear how later ideas can be built upon and refer back
to those presented earlier. While we do not claim that math concepts develop
among all children in exactly the sequence presented here, the list is devel-
opmentally based. We believe this sequence will be helpful to your own un-
derstanding of the ideas and how they show up in the learning of children.
● Flexible. The Big Ideas are not meant to add a new set of activities to your
workload. Instead, we hope they complement your current math teaching,
enriching your understanding and allowing a more nuanced and powerful
implementation of curriculum. Understanding this set of ideas should be as
helpful to you during free play in the block corner as it is during circle time
when you are counting how many children are present today.
In short, the Big Ideas map the key math concepts young children should be
wrestling with between the ages of 3 and 6. The point is not to have the children
recite them, but for you to explore them and deepen your own mathematical
understanding. When you understand the Big Ideas well yourself, you can no-
tice and take advantage of the ways that math is all around us in early childhood
classrooms. This knowledge will also help you recognize the kinds of structured
activities that do the best job of making these ideas real for young children, which
means you will be able to make them fun without losing the important concepts
under the “glitter and glue.” And, once you know how these ideas develop in the
thinking of young children, you will be able to more easily determine what chil-
dren in your class do and do not understand and to know what types of math con-
cepts and experiences they ought to be exposed to next.
Building Your Approach to Early Math

Because the focus of this text is on deepening understanding of the Big Ideas, you
will see some—but not many—activity ideas; good curricula will provide plenty
more of those. However, in our discussion of the Big Ideas and what classrooms
that use them look like, we will return again and again to a few key strategic
teaching practices.
These practices are pedagogical methods we use repeatedly; in fact, they are
so deeply imbedded in our beliefs about the best ways to help children understand
6 INTRODUCTION
math that they can be called “habits of mind.” At the same time, these practices
should be used strategically; that is, when we decide which practice to focus on
in a particular case, we factor in what we know about the general developmental
trajectory of the Big Ideas as well as the needs and interests of young children. It’s
not always possible or appropriate to use all the practices at once, so we discuss
them throughout the text where they make the most sense to us. Below, we briefly
outline these five strategic teaching practices.
1. Mathematize the world around us. In recent years, the term mathematize has
emerged to express the importance of helping children engage with the math-
ematics that is all around us. Just as a photographer can use different lenses
to capture the world in different ways, we hope that early childhood teachers
will begin to look at the world through a “math lens.” Teachers who do so are
always working to “see” the math around them and to be alert to the way that
math and mathematical problem situations are built into the very fabric of
their lives. Mathematizing means that as adults, we offer feedback that helps
children see the math underlying these situations and that we are purposeful
in inviting the children to take an active role in problem solving. It also sug-
gests the usefulness of looking to meaningful situations to help children think
about math, rather than constructing “false” or arbitrary activities that have
no connection to their lives.
2. Make mathematics more than the manipulatives. Parents and early childhood
professionals know instinctively that young children need concrete learning
experiences. The younger they are, the more they need to move themselves
or objects around so that they explore and make sense of their environment.
Most preschool classrooms are well stocked with objects like unit blocks and
counters, but simply having them in the classroom does not guarantee learn-
ing. Children must be helped to use them for mathematical purposes. More-
over, math experiences must be more than just “hands on,” because math,
even from the start, is abstract. Mathematics can and should be represented
in multiple ways, as children must make connections between concrete expe-
riences, symbols, pictures, and language.
Four cars!
4
Children must mentally connect four cars with a drawing of four cars, the numeral 4,
and the word four before they can be said to have an adult version of four-ness.
Building Your Approach to Early Math 7

While concrete representations of ideas are the most basic, written sym-
bols are the most abstract and advanced. Pictures of things can bridge this
divide since they are just one step removed from the real thing. For example,
a drawing of four cars has more in common with a real group of four cars
than the numeral “4” has. Adding four dots next to the numeral provides an
additional clue to help children make the abstraction. Because connections
between concrete, pictorial, and symbolic representations are neither auto-
matic nor static, we need to continually plan intentional activities that allow
children to move back and forth between concrete, pictorial, and symbolic
versions of ideas. Doing so provides them with many different ways to “get”
the idea, while building fluidity into their mathematical thinking and prepar-
ing them for more complex mathematics to come.
3. Recognize receptive understanding. Think about how a toddler who can manage
to speak only four or five words clearly understands many, many more. This
phenomenon holds true for learning a new language at any age, as well as
learning other skills, such as reading musical notes or programming comput-
ers. In terms of mathematical understanding, it’s often true that a child who
can compare two bowls and select the one that has four tiles in it may not be
able to count out a set of four tiles when presented with an entire bowlful.
While she can find the bowl with four tiles (receptive understanding), she can-
not yet create it (productive understanding).
As we will see again and again, the importance of recognizing receptive
understanding takes on special force when teachers work with young children
whose language skills are just developing. Teachers of the very young need
to be especially alert to nonverbal indications of what a child is thinking, includ-
ing gestures and actions. All children’s language development benefits greatly
from positive feedback that acknowledges, reinforces, or offers clarification of
what the child is attempting to communicate.
Mathematical language poses special challenges for young children be-
cause it often focuses on abstractions. Big, little, and even five all describe at-
tributes instead of things. That is, they focus on a quality shared by more than
one object, rather than an object itself—it is much harder to get the idea of
“round” than the idea of “chair.” Then, there are all the math words that are
about comparisons, like heavier, shorter, less, and more. Again, there is not an
object here—it is a relationship between objects that is being described. Devel-
opmentally, the more abstract an idea, the more time it takes for children to
make good sense of the word that signifies it in any language.
Many children arrive in early childhood classrooms with a home lan-
guage other than English. These English Language Learners, especially those
who are at the early stages of English language acquisition, may have a good
conceptual grasp of a Big Idea but may not be able to talk about it in English.
Or, they may be in need of specialized mathematical language to express
their ideas; their challenge is a linguistic one. For this reason, children whose
dominant language is not English should be encouraged to use their home
8 INTRODUCTION
language to talk about mathematical ideas. That will mean creating group-
ings where math investigations and discussions are occurring in the children’s
home language. Teachers can then use either bilingual adults or children who
are becoming more fluent in English to share what was said in the small group
discussion. In all cases, teachers who make a conscious effort to look for and
recognize evidence of receptive understanding of mathematical ideas have an
advantage in working with English Language Learners and all young children.
4. Get mathematics into children’s eyes, ears, hands, and feet. A day in the life of a pre-
schooler is filled with many opportunities for singing, jumping, dancing, and
storytelling. While these activities are no doubt engaging for the children,
they also offer opportunities for multimodal learning. In essence, multimodal
learning refers to a learning situation that engages multiple sensory and ac-
tion systems of the learner. Auditory inputs might include an activity like
singing a counting song to help children learn the number word sequence,
while kinesthetic activities might include marching to a drumbeat to get a feel
for one-to-one correspondence. Brain research confirms that, at all stages of
development, the more modes the learner accesses, the deeper the learning.
Anyone who works or lives with young children knows that nothing is
more delightful than returning to favorite routines and stories again and again
and again—and yet again. If the initial experience was positive, each revisit-
ing has a “value-added” effect. But if there are no new twists and no sense of
positive spirit and playfulness, no invitation to celebrate how you understand
a little more because you’ve done this before—well, then, drill will kill! There
is a place for memorization in math, since, for example, everyone has to even-
tually memorize the number words and be able to say them in the right order.
But, when the words are connected to real and interesting things, like how
many children are here today or how many days until our class party, they
become so much more meaningful and much easier to learn.
When new ideas are presented in many different ways, learners’ brains form
more connections between those new ideas and other things that they were al-
ready familiar with. For example, acting out a mathematical problem situation on
the rug accesses parts of the brain that govern movement, vision, hearing, and
social–emotional thinking; a worksheet could never accomplish this!
5. Scaffold children to construct their own understanding. The Early Math Collaborative
is deeply committed to a constructivist approach. We see classroom teachers as
experts who are more than capable of making instructional decisions, just like
a good chef doesn’t blindly follow a recipe. We also see young children as curi-
ous and competent problem solvers who not only can, but will, solve the many
mathematically based problems that abound in daily life. Spend an hour or less
in the company of preschoolers, and you will hear all kinds of debate about
Big Idea questions such as Who has more? What’s bigger?—and the corollaries—
How much bigger? Is it fair? Our role as teachers is to guide them—to frame and
orchestrate problem situations in ways that take into account the remarkable
developmental trajectory they can traverse.
Building Your Approach to Early Math 9

At the same time, those of us who work with young children know how
important it is to nurture their inborn instinct to question and problem
solve. Worksheets and standardized measures are efficient—they look for
right and wrong answers. Unfortunately, they also tend to bypass genuine
understanding. Discussion—or maybe we should say good conversation—
gives children opportunities to create and test theories, which is a powerful
mechanism for the kind of learning that lasts and sustains new ideas. The
Early Math Collaborative’s approach to Big Ideas recognizes that rich dis-
cussion not only helps us develop understanding, but it is good evidence of
what stage of understanding has been reached. Making your classroom a
place where children enjoy sharing their ideas, both with you and with one
another, takes time and a lot of patience, but the math-learning payoff can
be enormous.
How Does This Book Introduce Big Ideas?

Each of the nine chapters in this text focuses on a small set of topically related Big
Ideas. Table i.2 shows the relationship between the Common Core State Standards
(CCSS) for Mathematics in Kindergarten and the chapters by topic.
For each topic, chapters have two main sections: Big Ideas and Implications
for Teaching.
● Big Ideas. At the outset of each chapter is a box that lists the Big Ideas for that
chapter. Then, each Big Idea is presented and discussed one at a time, illus-
trated by examples from early childhood classrooms. Key words are high-
lighted to help you quickly get to the core understandings, and each Big Idea
builds on the concepts of the one before it, helping you develop a rich set of
connected ideas within the topic of the chapter.
TABLE i.2 Common Core State Standards for Mathematics in Kindergarten

and Chapter Topics
CCSS Content for Grade K Book Chapters
Counting and Cardinality Sets

Number Sense
Counting
Operations and Algebraic Thinking Number Operations

Pattern
Measurement and Data Measurement

Data Analysis
Geometry Spatial Relationships

Shapes
10 INTRODUCTION
● Implications for Teaching. This section focuses on planning classroom instruc-
tion to address the Big Ideas of the chapter. We compare and contrast differ-
ent types of activities, discuss considerations for choosing materials, describe
how to incorporate the Big Ideas into the routines of your classroom, and
help you think about important math language you will want to use. We
consider how young children’s understanding of these Big Ideas grows as
their capacity for generalizing matures, and we identify key points on the
developmental trajectory. We also include suggestions for Finding Great
Math in Great Books, as we believe that using a good book or story assures
that children will be engaged and creates a shared experience that can be
discussed and analyzed. Each chapter concludes with a Video Link—a con-
nection to the companion DVD that shows teachers and children engaged
in thinking about the Big Ideas. We include reflection questions to help you
think more deeply about what you see.
Throughout the entire text, we include glimpses into the early childhood
classrooms we know. Math Snapshots illustrate every Big Idea to provide a sense
of how they look in a real classroom. Teacher Talk comments are woven through-
out the chapters and share insights and discoveries from teachers the Early Math
Collaborative has worked with over the years. We hope hearing from other teach-
ers as they grapple with these new concepts will help you connect the Big Ideas to
your own teaching.
The complete set of Big Ideas is presented in chart form at the end of the
book and in an easy-to-print file on the companion DVD. We hope these ideas
come alive for you and for the children that you teach!
How Does This Book Introduce Big Ideas? 11

Chapter 1
SETS
Using Attributes
to Make Collections
12
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magnificence of central Africa. She came out to meet the kafila,
along with several of her countrywomen, from whom she was nowise
distinguished in attire. The dress of Bornouese women consists of
one or two turkadees, blue, white, or striped, as before described.
The turkadee is wrapped rather tightly round the body, and hangs
down from the bosom, below the knees. If a second is worn, as by
women of some consideration, it is commonly flung over the head
and shoulders. Their sandals are the same as those of men, of
tanned leather, or of the undressed hide, according to their
circumstances. The hair is plaited in five close tresses,—one like a
crest along the crown, and two at each side, and thickly bedaubed
with indigo. They dye their eyebrows, hands, arms, feet, and legs of
the same colour, except the nails of the fingers and toes and the
palms of the hands, which are stained red with henna. They blacken
the eyelashes with crude antimony in powder. The ornaments for the
ear are not pendent like ours, but little green studs, or buttons, fixed
in the lobe. The very poorest wear strings of glass beads round the
neck, and the wealthy are adorned with armlets and anklets of horn
or brass. Ornaments of silver are very rare, and of gold hardly ever
seen.
Dec. 31.—At sunrise the thermometer was 42°. Being market day,
I took a stroll to see what was going on. The market-place was on a
rising ground, a little to the south of Sansan Birnee. The place of
itself is a little village. The goods were exposed for sale in booths, or
houses, open at the side next the street. The different wares were
arranged each in its particular quarter,—knives, scissors, needles,
and beads; silken cords and pieces of silk; sword slings and koghel
cases; gubga tobes and turkadoes; beef, mutton, and fowls; gussub,
beans, Indian corn, &c. They have four different kinds of Indian corn,
—the yellow, the red, the white, and the Egyptian. The last is
reckoned the best. There were stalls, besides, for making and
mending every thing in common use. Bands of music, composed of
drums, flutes, and a kind of guitar, with strings of horsehair, called
the Erbale, each after its own rude fashion, were parading from
booth to booth, to attract the attention of customers.
Jan. 1, 1824.—Dr. Oudney was now very unwell. This morning we
had a visit from an ex-governor, of the name of Jesus, who had left
the army last night. He told us the commanders would to-day
commence their return to their different governments, as they were
unable to penetrate into the Bede territory. This person gave us
several broad hints to make him a present; but we found ourselves
too poor to understand him. At eight o’clock in the morning we
resumed our journey, over a level country. The winding road was
little broader than a footpath. We passed numerous small towns and
villages, with plantations of cotton, gussub, and Indian corn. There
was more wood as we re-approached the Yow, and the villages and
cotton plantations were also more numerous. We halted at a village
called Obenda, not above a quarter of a mile distant from the Yow.
We could procure no milk for Dr. Oudney, and his appetite was much
worse. We had nothing but kouskasoo and dweeda. The former is a
well known preparation of wheaten flour steamed over meat, and in
very general use among the Moors and Arabs. The dweeda is also
of wheaten flour, and a kind of coarse macaroni.
Jan. 2.—Dr. Oudney was this morning in a very weak state. I
bought a pound of coffee for three dollars from one of the merchants
of our kafila, as a cup of coffee was all that he could take. To-day we
followed a very troublesome zigzag track, for regular road there was
none. We passed many villages, adjoining to which were long double
rows of granaries. At first we were much puzzled with the novelty of
their appearance; but on a closer examination we found they were
constructed of matting in the usual way, and raised on poles to
prevent white ants and grubs from getting at the grain. Near the Yow
there were large fields of wheat, and plantations of cotton. The
people were then raising the second crop of wheat, by means of
irrigation.
A little before mid-day we crossed the Yow. Its channel is here
about 150 yards in breadth; but the stream of water was almost dry.
In order to take fish, the river was barricadoed by a row of fish-pots,
made of split bamboos. They are of a conical shape, about five feet
in diameter at the mouth, and secured by poles and spars at the
distance of three feet from one another, the interval being filled up
with reeds to prevent the escape of fish. At this period not more than
a third of the aperture was covered with water. The city of Katagum
stands about half a mile from the river, which we had no sooner
crossed than we were met by a servant of the governor on
horseback. He presented us with a small basket of Goora nuts,
called, by the Arabs, the coffee of Soudan. After delivering the
present, the servant returned at full speed to a party of horsemen at
a little distance, who appeared to be the attendants of some great
personage. The party then came to us at a gallop, brandishing their
spears. Their leader remained behind, as well as their band of
music. The horsemen, after saluting us, wheeled round, and rode on
before us, the drummers beating their drums, and two bards singing
the praises of their master in the following ditty, which I took down in
writing; one responding in a clear shrill voice the words of the
chorus, while the other sang, or rather bawled aloud:—
Bi, kora, nama, da birkin safay:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Bokri mi tugiamasso:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Manoganinka wykigani:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
My daikee ya fruss undunga:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Fuda da goma baka soranko.
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Kazibda goma bindiga da bia:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Gewa nagege avana do dona:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Camaraka hamen sirkino:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Girtho magaje wali:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Allahu Akber you do dona:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Allahu Akber you Zaramina:
Ah! mi tuga yumma.
Which may be thus translated:—

Give flesh to the hyenas at day-break:
Oh! the broad spears.
The spear of the sultan is the broadest:
I behold thee now—I desire to see none other.
My horse is as tall as a high wall:
He will fight against ten, he fears nothing:
He has slain ten—the guns are yet behind:
The elephant of the forest brings me what I want:
Like unto thee—so is the sultan:
Be brave! be brave! my friends and kinsmen:
God is great!—I wax fierce as a beast of prey:
God is great!—To-day those I wished for are come:
Meanwhile, the leader with his horsemen proceeded before us to

the city. We halted at a place allotted to us and the Arabs, the
Bornouese having left us to pursue their journey, as the dangers of
the road were past. About three in the afternoon, we saw the
governor, with all his attendants, coming to visit us. Mohamoud El
Wordee had mats spread under a tree for his reception, and
requested us to remain a few minutes in our tents. When sent for, we
found the governor sitting on the mats, surrounded by the Arab
merchants and his armed attendants. He received us in the kindest
manner, and said it was quite an ayd, or feast, for him to see us, and
would also prove highly gratifying to his master, the Sultan of the
Felatahs, who had never seen an Englishman before. He assured
us, we should find every thing here the same as at Kouka, with the
sheikh of Bornou. Dr. Oudney now presented the sheikh’s letter,
which he handed to one of his attendants. The Arab merchants were
loud in our praises, and particularly expatiated on the circumstance
of our nation being ever in strict alliance with the Sublime Porte, and
of having frequently assisted the Grand Signor. The governor, who
was named Duncowa, was a stout, tall fellow, blunt and good
natured, and lavish in his promises. We shook hands at parting,
which is the custom of the Felatahs, or Felanees, as they call
themselves. On his return home he sent us some wheat, of which we
were in great want, with honey, and Goora nuts. By the advice of
Mohamoud El Wordee, we sent a present of a few cloves, and a little
cinnamon, in return; which, however small, is every where the proper
acknowledgment on such occasions. On account of the scantiness
of our own stock of every thing, we now heartily wished for no more
presents.
After the governor left us, we were waited upon by a Tripoline
merchant, of the name of Hameda, a good-looking, civil sort of man,
and extremely rich. He possessed no less than five hundred slaves,
and had a great number of horses. He was second only to the
governor in all Katagum, and had served with the Felatahs in most of
their wars. Referring to the result of the recent expedition, I remarked
it would have been better if the Felatahs had not gone at all against
the Bedites, who would now be emboldened in their depredations.
He replied, the Felatahs had become rich, and were now afraid of
blows: it was otherwise with them when poor; their head men then
led them to battle, dauntlessly braving danger and death, whereas
now-a-days their chiefs lagged behind, and sent their people forward
to the combat, who, in turn, dreaded a broken head as much as their
superiors, and would no longer fight, if it might anywise be avoided.
—Hameda had occasion to consult Dr. Oudney, who strongly
recommended his immediate return to Tripoli, to undergo a surgical
operation. He seemed very grateful, and offered us his house, and
whatever the country afforded. He sent milk for Dr. Oudney, and
bazeen, or flour-pudding, for me. Bazeen is made of wheat, barley,
or Guinea corn, and eaten with butter or sauce.
Dr. Oudney underwent here, as usual, much fatigue,—more,
indeed, than his strength was equal to; for the news of our arrival
spread before us, and at the different towns and villages through
which we passed, they brought to us all the sick to be cured. Nor
was it the sick alone who sought advice, but men and women, of all
descriptions; the former for some remedy against impotency, and the
latter to remove sterility. Many came for preventives against
apprehended or barely possible calamities; and, in anticipation of all
the imaginable ills of life, resorted to us in full hope and confidence
of our being able to ward them off. The women were particularly
fanciful in these matters, and were frequently importunate to receive
medicines that would preserve the affections of their gallants, ensure
them husbands, or, what was highly criminal, effect the death of
some favoured rival. The governor made us a present of three
sheep, and sent the Arab merchants eight bullocks.
Jan. 3.—Dr. Oudney was a little better, but still very weak. Having
early prepared our presents, which consisted of one of our tea-trays,
ten yards of red silk, an Indian palempore, or bed coverlet, a piece of
white linen cloth, with gold stripes, of Egyptian manufacture, a pound
of cinnamon, and a pound of cloves, we waited on the governor at
eight o’clock in the morning, accompanied by Mohamoud El Wordee.
We stopped about a quarter of an hour in the house of Hameda, till
the governor was ready to receive us. When introduced, we found no
parade of armed men, as at Kouka, and the other towns in Bornou.
Duncowa was sitting under a rude canopy, on a low bank of earth
about six feet square. There were only three old men with him. We
shook hands, and sat down on the floor before him. He
importunately laid hold of me, and wished me to sit by his side. I,
however, declined so high an honour. We were presented with
Goora nuts, and he repeated the promises he had made yesterday.
When we displayed our presents, and explained the use of the tray,
and what it was made of, he was highly delighted; and asked us if
we wanted slaves, or what else, for every thing he had or could
procure was at our disposal. With regard to slaves, we told him a
slave was unknown in England, and the moment one set foot on our
shores, he was instantly free. We also explained our great
endeavours to put a stop to the slave trade on the seacoast, and that
our king and master (to use the African idiom) had given immense
sums to have it abolished; besides sending, every year, several large
ships to capture vessels engaged in that traffic, and to set the slaves
at liberty. “What, then, do you want?” he asked, with some surprise.
We answered, we only desired his friendship, and condescending
permission to collect the flowers and plants of the country, and to
visit its rivers. “Wonderful!” he exclaimed, “you do not want slaves,
you do not want horses, you do not want money, but wish only to see
the world? You must go to the sultan Bello, who is a learned and
pious man, and will be glad to see men who have seen so much.
You shall have all, and see all, that is in my province; and I am sure
my master will grant every thing you wish.” He then descended from
the seat of honour, sat down on the floor by our side, and shook
hands with us. This is the greatest compliment one man of rank can
pay to another in this country.
One of their lucky omens took place at the moment. My servant,
who had assisted in bringing the presents, got up to receive the
Goora nuts presented to me by the governor’s orders, and in rising
he overturned a pot of honey which had also been given to us, but
without breaking it, the honey running out on the floor. Had the pot
been broken, the omen would have been unfortunate. As it was, the
governor was highly elated, and graciously ordered the poor to be
called in to lick up the honey. They immediately made their
appearance, equally rejoiced at the lucky omen, and upon their
knees quickly despatched the honey, not without much strife and
squabbling. One man came off with a double allowance, happening
to have a long beard, which he carefully cleaned into his hand for a
bonne bouche, after the repast on the ground was finished.
We took leave of the governor and returned to our tents, where a
great concourse of men and women flocked to Dr. Oudney for
medicines. In the evening we had boiled dried meat, with bazeen,
and excellent bread, sent us by our friend Hameda; also milk from
the governor, and a live sheep from a black shreef, who had applied
to Dr. Oudney for advice. To-day the Doctor felt himself very weak, in
consequence of a diarrhœa, and the want of proper comforts in his
infirm condition. At noon I took an observation of the sun. At first the
natives eagerly crowded round me, but sat down very quietly at a
little distance, on telling them they were in my way. I was asked the
old question every where repeatedly, if I was looking at my country. I
explained to them, as well as I was able, that I merely ascertained in
this manner how far south I had come from home.
Jan. 4th.—The weather cold and hazy,—thermometer 48°.
Mohamoud El Wordee having gone to a city called Hadeeja, one
day’s journey to the northward, where he was to remain a day or
two, it was agreed beforehand we should go into the town and live in
Hameda’s house until El Wordee’s return, as the kafila was to
proceed to Kano the following day. At sunrise the governor sent to us
to come into town, but on account of Dr. Oudney’s illness, we waited
till the heat of the day. About noon we had the camels loaded, and
Dr. Oudney and I rode forward, accompanied by the governor’s
people and Hadje ben Hamed, the sheikh of the kafila, or chief who
regulates its march, stage, and route. On entering the town, we were
conducted to a house that adjoined Hameda’s, which we supposed
to be his. The people around us, after consulting together, told us we
had better go and see the governor. Dr. Oudney assented, but
wished first to wait for our baggage. The people, however, urged us
to go without further delay; and we complied with their entreaties.
The governor met us at the gate of his residence, took us by the
hand, and led us first to one coozee, then to another, saying, “This is
for you,—that is for the Doctor,—there is a place for your horses.”
Seating himself on a mat, he bade us sit down. Our baggage was
brought to us in a few minutes. “Abdullah,” said he, addressing me
by my travelling name, “show me the glass with which you look at
the sun.” It seemed the people had told him what they saw me doing
yesterday. I had now to explain to him the use of my compass,
sextant, spy-glass, and other instruments. He begged of me a little of
the quicksilver used for an artificial horizon in taking observations.
This was like asking me to part with my heart’s blood; but as he was
a governor, and evidently a man of considerable influence, I could
not refuse him. I took much pains to make him understand the use of
the watch and sextant. I easily made him comprehend the latter, by
telling him it was to enable me to find out the distance north or south,
from any other place: illustrating the matter, by telling him the north
star was higher in the heavens at Mourzuk than here, and still higher
at Tripoli; a circumstance the natives of these countries all
confirmed, to whom I shifted the trouble of making further
explanations. The telescope next was an object of surprise. He said
all the places he saw were brought near to him, and ascended the
walls and house tops to have a better view. Each of his attendants
also had a peep; but an old shreef would on no account look through
it, but ran away as if from a serpent ready to sting him. As to these
shreefs, or alleged descendants of the Prophet, some of whom are
as black as jet, I wonder what Mahomet, were he to rise from the
dead, would say to his sable progeny, not merely black in colour, but
with the true Negro features! The phenomenon, however, is less
wonderful, when we consider how soon an intermixture, whether
black or white, is lost in the course of a few generations, although
the lineal descent continue uninterrupted.
We received a plentiful supply of provisions from Hameda. The
governor also sent us fish and ficcory. The latter consists of pounded
Guinea corn dried in the sun, mixed with water or milk, and
seasoned with pepper, but has a sour, disagreeable taste.
Katagum, the capital of a province of the same name, is in lat. 12°
17′ 11″ north, and in long. about 11° east. This province formed the
frontier of Bornou before the Felatah conquest. At present it includes
the subject provinces of Sansan and Bedeguna. It extends nearly
one day’s journey to the northward, and five days’ journey to the
southward, where it is bounded by an independent territory, called
after the inhabitants Kurry-kurry. On the east it is bounded by the
kingdom of Bornou, and on the west by the neighbouring province of
Kano. From the best information I could obtain, the whole province
can send into the field about 4,000 horse and 20,000 foot, armed
with bows, swords, and spears. The principal productions are grain
and bullocks, which, with slaves brought from the adjoining territories
of the Kafirs, are the staple articles of trade. Here we found, for the
first time, kowrie shells in circulation as money; for hitherto native
cloth, or some other commodity of standard price, had been the
common medium of exchange. This city was the strongest we had
seen since we left Tripoli. It is in the form of a square, the sides
facing the cardinal points of the compass, with four corresponding
gates, which are regularly opened and shut at sunrise and sunset. It
is defended by two parallel walls of red clay, and three dry ditches,
one without, one within, and the third between the two walls, which
are about twenty feet high and ten feet broad at the base, gradually
decreasing upwards to a breadth just sufficient for a narrow footpath.
This is protected by a low parapet, and is ascended by flights of
steps at convenient distances. Both walls are of the same height,
without loopholes or towers, and, instead of being crenelated,
terminate in a waving line. The gates are defended by a platform
inside over the entrance, where a body of townsmen take their
station to repel assailants. The three ditches are of equal
dimensions, each about fifteen feet deep and twenty feet wide.
There is only one mosque, and this almost in ruins. The governor’s
residence is in the centre of the city, and occupies a space of about
500 yards square. The governor and principal inhabitants have
houses made entirely of clay, besides the coozees already
described. They are flat-roofed, in the Turkish style, and sometimes
of two stories, with square or semicircular openings for windows. The
city may contain from 7,000 to 8,000 inhabitants; including all
merchants and tradesmen, together with the servants or slaves of
the governor.
Not far to the southward of Katagum is the country of Yacoba, of
which I shall mention a few particulars, collected from natives who
were here in slavery, as well as from Hameda. It is called by the
Mahometan nations Boushy, or country of infidels. It is extremely
hilly: the hills, consisting of limestone, are said to yield antimony and
silver. The inhabitants have received the name of Yemyems, or
cannibals; but with what justice I know not. Most probably the
imputation is an idle Arab tale, and undoubtedly the more suspicious,
from the well known Moslem abhorrence of Kafirs. On interrogating
the Arabs more strictly, they allowed they had never witnessed the
fact; but affirmed they had seen human heads and limbs hung up in
the dwellings of the inhabitants. At Mourzuk, when we first arrived, a
similar report was circulated to our defamation; whether in jest or
earnest, I could not ascertain; but the prejudice soon wore off when
we were better known.
The river Yow, which is within a quarter of a mile of Katagum, is
said to take its rise to the southward among the hills of Boushy,
between Adamowa and Jacoba, and after passing Katagum, to turn
abruptly to the eastward; it finally empties itself into the Tshad. Its
waters were dull and sluggish, as far as we observed; and during the
middle of the dry season the naked channel and a few pools of
water, sometimes far apart, are all that remain of the river. The
breadth of the channel, at the place where we last crossed, was, as
above mentioned, about 150 yards; and this may be taken as a fair
average breadth from that spot downwards as far as the lake, where,
however, the depth seemed considerably increased. There is a
prevalent opinion among the inhabitants and Arab merchants that,
during the rainy season, the waters of this river rise and fall
alternately every seven days; which notion, perhaps, originates in a
kind of vicissitude in the fall of rain that I have remarked myself
during my residence in Bornou.
Jan. 5.—Dr. Oudney thought himself a little better, but the
diarrhœa still continued. The kafila left us this morning for Kano. We
had a visit from the governor; I happened to be from home, and was
sent for. On my return the governor was gone, and had left a
message for me to follow him with the compass, spy-glass, &c. as he
wished me to show them to some men of rank: I followed, and found
him seated in the company of two or three Felatahs, to whom I had
to explain the use of the instruments over again; but a good deal of
trouble was taken off my hands by the governor himself, and his
Fezzanee servants. I was then taken to visit his favourite wife, who
pretended, of course, to be much frightened at the sight of a
Christian; she was a jolly, good looking, black wench. The governor
had a great number of other women besides, whose dwellings were
all very clean and neat. I was next conducted through other quarters
of the residence; and, on reaching the stables, we all sat down in an
open court, where the cadi and another learned Felatah joined us.
The same explanations had again to be repeated. The cadi, who had
made the pilgrimage of Mecca, and was acquainted with Arabic
learning, appeared to be a man of sense and discernment, and
explained the use of the watch to his countrymen with much
perspicuity; he was a Felatah, about fifty years of age,—his
complexion coal black,—with a hook nose, large eyes, and a full
bushy beard. The office of cadi or judge, I may remark, is frequently
hereditary, and there is one in every town to administer justice: his
sole qualification is a competent knowledge of the Koran, although
his decisions can be reversed only by the governor of the province,
or the sultan of the country.
The governor resides in a large square, surrounded by a wall of
red clay, at least thirty feet high, and divided by lower walls into four
principal quarters: besides several flat-roofed houses of clay, it
contained a number of coozees, for the most part ranged in a single
row, just within the great walls. These are principally for the slaves
and guards attached to the governor’s establishment; it was here we
were lodged, the entrance being guarded night and day. Near the
eastern gate there was a sort of council or audience hall, from which
a passage led to the women’s apartments, on the north side of the
square. The stables occupied one quarter, each horse having a hut
to itself. The pillars that supported a room over the western gate
were superior to any I had seen in central Africa; they were formed of
the trunks of the palm tree, fashioned into columns, with rude
pedestals and capitals of no inelegant appearance, all incrusted with
clay.
Jan. 6.—Dr. Oudney was much better to-day. In the afternoon we
had a visit from the governor: I had again to show him the sextant
and other instruments. He was particularly inquisitive about the
rockets we had given to the sheikh of Bornou; he persisted we had
still some of them remaining, and when convinced of the contrary,
seemed exceedingly desirous I should make him a few. I assured
him, with regret, of my inability; while I professed it to be an express
duty imposed on me by the king my master, to instruct him and his
countrymen in every thing useful and curious. Among many other
questions, he asked me if I ever prayed; I said, I should not be a
good man if I did not pray, but that we usually prayed alone: at which
answer he was highly amused.
Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom (the brother of the late commander of our
escort from Mourzuk) arrived here to-day, with a kafila from Kouka:
they left that place seven days after us. I heartily wished never to
see the face of this arrant rogue.
Jan. 7.—The governor paid us an early visit this morning; he
came at once into my tent, while I was writing, and I was again
obliged to show him my instruments. On opening my chest, there
was a small box of powder I had brought from England, still
untouched; I was very loth to tell him what it was, but it attracted his
attention, and I was compelled to yield to his solicitations for a small
supply. To humour him further, I attended him to fire at a mark; I fired
twice with my rifle, and happened to hit the mark both times, at a
distance of sixty or seventy yards, when he called out “Ouda billa
min Sheateen a rajeem,”—“The Lord preserve me from devils!” yet,
in token of his approbation, he threw over my shoulders, with his
own hands, a very handsome tobe.
Jan. 8.—I was indisposed all day, having caught cold.
Jan. 9.—This morning Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom left us for Kano. He
tried all in his power to induce us to accompany him, but we knew
him too well of old: he even asked the governor to send one of his
people with him, but was only laughed at for his assurance.
Our servants caught a female rat, or bandicoot, as it is called in
the East Indies, which measured two feet seven inches from the
nose to the tip of the tail. The colour of the body was light grey, the
tail black, and covered with long hairs, and the head much rounder
than that of the common rat.
The diarrhœa of Dr. Oudney had ceased, but the cough was no
better, and he was otherwise extremely ill: he had himself cupped on
the left side of the chest by one of the natives. This operation is
dexterously performed by them; they make the scarifications with a
razor, and afterwards apply a perforated horn, from which they first
extract the air by suction, and then stop the aperture with the thumb.
We had a visit from the wife of the cadi, a sister of Duncowa, I
gave her a brass ring, a pair of scissors, and some beads.
In the afternoon, I was not a little astonished at a message from
the governor, brought us by El Wordee, acquainting us that Hadje Ali
had told him we were spies and bad people, and wishing to know
from us if it was true. I did not think proper to disturb Dr. Oudney by
relating to him this calumny, and merely desired El Wordee to say to
the governor, that as we were in his power he could do with us as he
pleased; at the same time referring him particularly to the letter of the
sheikh of Bornou. El Wordee came back almost immediately, and
assured me the governor was satisfied.
Jan. 10.—To-day we left Katagum; the governor having furnished
us with a guide. We had a bassoor, or frame of wood, put on a
camel, and spread Dr. Oudney’s bed upon it, as he was now too
weak to ride on horseback; I also felt myself unwell. The governor
accompanied us four miles out of town. At half past three o’clock in
the afternoon we were obliged to halt, on account of Dr. Oudney’s
weakness; he was quite worn out, and could proceed no further; the
road, too, being crooked and entangled, and lying along a large
swamp to the south. We passed a number of villages.
Jan. 11.—At eight o’clock in the morning we proceeded on our
journey; but, at noon, were obliged to stop at the town of Murmur, on
account of the alarming situation of Dr. Oudney, who had now
become so feeble and exhausted, that I scarcely expected him to
survive another day. He had been wasting away in a slow
consumption, ever since we left the hills of Obarree, in Fezzan;
where he was seized with inflammation of the chest, in consequence
of sitting down in a current of cold air after being overheated.
Jan. 12.—Dr. Oudney drank a cup of coffee at day-break, and, by
his desire, I ordered the camels to be loaded. I then assisted him to
dress, and, with the support of his servant, he came out of the tent;
but, before he could be lifted on the camel, I observed the
ghastliness of death in his countenance, and had him immediately
replaced in the tent. I sat down by his side, and, with unspeakable
grief, witnessed his last breath, which was without a struggle or a
groan. I now sent to the governor of the town to request his
permission to bury the deceased, which he readily granted; and I
had a grave made about five yards to the north of an old mimosa
tree, a little beyond the southern gate of the town. The body being
first washed, after the custom of the country, was dressed by my
directions, in clothes made of turban shawls, which we were carrying
with us as presents. The corpse was borne to the grave by our
servants, and I read over it the funeral service of the church of
England, before it was consigned to the earth; I afterwards caused
the grave to be enclosed with a wall of clay, to keep off beasts of
prey, and had two sheep killed and distributed among the poor.
Thus died, at the age of 32 years, Walter Oudney, M. D., a man of
unassuming deportment, pleasing manners, stedfast perseverance,
and undaunted enterprise; while his mind was fraught at once with
knowledge, virtue, and religion. At any time, and in any place, to be
bereaved of such a friend, had proved a severe trial; but to me, his
friend and fellow traveller, labouring also under disease, and now left
alone amid a strange people, and proceeding through a country
which had hitherto never been trod by European foot, the loss was
severe and afflicting in the extreme.
FOOTNOTES:
[65]It is much to be regretted that the state of the thermometer

was not here noted; more particularly as a question has arisen as
to the correctness of this statement, which is however repeated
by Dr. Oudney almost in the same words.
SECTION II.
FROM MURMUR TO KANO.
At day-break, on the following morning, I resumed my journey,

trusting to the salutary effects of change of air and abstinence, as
the best remedies both for mind and body. The road was swampy,
and we crossed a narrow stream called Shashum, that falls into the
Yow, near the town. There were numerous villages on all sides.
Jan. 14.—Thermometer 52°. Our road lay through a well
cultivated country; at nine o’clock, A.M., we came to the town of
Digoo, having an indifferent double wall, and a triple ditch nearly
filled up. The town contained very few houses, but date trees were in
great abundance; outside the walls, however, there were several
villages, or rather detached clusters of houses. The country
afterwards began to rise into ridges, running nearly east and west;
our road lying along one of them, gave me an excellent view of
beautiful villages all around, and herds of cattle grazing in the open
country. In the evening we halted under the walls of a town called
Boogawa; this is the last town in the province of Katagum: I did not
enter it.
Jan. 15.—The road to-day was through a thickly wooded country.
Before mid-day, we again crossed the Shashum, which here runs
nearly due north. The camel-drivers brought me a quantity of wild
figs, which they found on the trees by the road side, near the river.
We next entered an open, well cultivated country, and in the evening
halted at a town called Katungwa, which is surrounded by a wall, and
has a number of fine date trees. This was the first town I entered in
the kingdom of Haussa Proper. I was visited by a Felatah, who had
been at Bagdad, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Mecca, and
belonged to the order of Dervishes. He was a chattering little fellow,
and told me he had seen the Wahabees at Mecca, who, he said,
were the same people and spoke the same language as the
Felatahs. I made him a present of a pair of scissors and a snuff-box,
of which he seemed very proud, and sent me a bowl of bazeen in the
evening. I here saw a range of low rocky hills, stretching nearly
south-west. They are called, in the language of Haussa, Dooshee, or
The Rocks, from which a large town on one of the roads leading
from Katagum to Kano takes its name. Since we left the Wells of
Bellkashiffra, on the southern borders of the great desert, we had not
met with rocks, or even pebbles, till now, the very channels of the
rivers being destitute of stones, and the whole country consisting of
soft alluvial clay. The camels were missing, and I sent all the
servants after them; they were not brought back before midnight,
being found on their return to Bornou.
Jan. 16.—The country still open and well cultivated, and the
villages numerous. We met crowds of people coming from Kano with
goods. Some carried them on their heads, others had asses or
bullocks, according to their wealth. All were armed with bows and
arrows, and several with swords; the Bornouese are known by
carrying spears.
El Wordee and I having advanced before the cavalcade were
waiting for it under a tree, near a town called Zangeia, when a man
from Katagum went, of his own accord, and told the governor of
Zangeia that a friend of the governor of Katagum was close at hand.
The governor of Zangeia sent the man to tell us he would come and
meet us on horseback, and show us a proper place to pitch our
tents. We mounted our horses, and, led by the Katagumite who was
so anxious for the honour of the friend of his master, we met the
governor, about a quarter of a mile from the tree under which we had
reposed ourselves. He was mounted on a very fine white horse, gaily
caparisoned, and had seven attendants behind him, also on
horseback, besides being accompanied by several men on foot,
armed with bows and arrows. He advanced to us at full gallop, and,
after many courteous welcomes, placed himself at our head, and
rode before us into the town. On reaching his own house, he desired
us to pitch our tents before his door, observing, “Here is a place of
great safety.” The camels arriving with the baggage, I presented him
with a razor, a knife, a pair of scissors, and some spices. He sent
me, in return, some milk and bazeen, with grass and gussub for the
horses. Although a governor, I found out he was only a eunuch,
belonging to the governor of Kano. He was in person fat, coarse, and
ugly, with a shrill squeaking voice, and kept me awake half the night,
laughing and talking among his people.
Zangeia is situate near the extremity of the Dooshee range of
hills, and must have been once a very large town, from the extensive
walls which still remain. The inhabitants were slaughtered or sold by
the Felatahs, and plantations of cotton, tobacco, and indigo now
occupy the place where houses formerly stood. Indeed the town may
be said to consist of a number of thinly scattered villages. Within the
walls there is a ridge of loose blocks of stone, connected with the
range of hills in the neighbourhood. These masses of rock may be
about two hundred feet high, and give a romantic appearance to the
neat huts clustering round the base, and to the fine plantations of
cotton, tobacco, and indigo, which are separated from one another
by rows of date trees, and are shaded by other large umbrageous
trees, of whose names I am ignorant. The prospect to the south was
bounded by high blue mountains. It was market day; plenty of beef,
yams, sweet potatoes, &c. for sale.
Drawn by Captn. Clapperton. Engraved by E. Finden.
VIEW INSIDE THE TOWN OF SANGIA.

IN HOUSSA.
Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London.
Jan. 17.—The country still highly cultivated, and now diversified

by hill and dale. We passed a remarkable range of little hillocks of
grey granite; they were naked rocks, flattened or rounded at top, and
appeared like detached masses of stone rising singly out of the
earth. We also passed several walled towns quite deserted, the
inhabitants having been sold by their conquerors, the Felatahs.
Women sat spinning cotton by the road side, offering for sale, to the
passing caravans, gussub water, roast meat, sweet potatoes,
cashew nuts, &c. In the afternoon, we halted in a hollow, to the west
of a town, or rather a collection of villages, called Nansarina, where it

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(eBook PDF) Big Ideas of Early

Mathematics: What Teachers of Young

The Early Math Collaborative

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 10: 0-13-294697-1

viii ABOUT THE AUTHORS

What Are Big Ideas?

TABLE i.1 Sample Big Ideas Chart

Topic Big Ideas Examples

What Are Big Ideas? 5

Building Your Approach to Early Math

Building Your Approach to Early Math 7

Building Your Approach to Early Math 9

How Does This Book Introduce Big Ideas?

TABLE i.2 Common Core State Standards for Mathematics in Kindergarten

CCSS Content for Grade K Book Chapters

Counting and Cardinality Sets

Operations and Algebraic Thinking Number Operations

Measurement and Data Measurement

Geometry Spatial Relationships

How Does This Book Introduce Big Ideas? 11

Which may be thus translated:—

Meanwhile, the leader with his horsemen proceeded before us to

[65]It is much to be regretted that the state of the thermometer

At day-break, on the following morning, I resumed my journey,

VIEW INSIDE THE TOWN OF SANGIA.

Jan. 17.—The country still highly cultivated, and now diversified

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