ABSTRACT
When children decide to make a treasure map, invent a game, or pretend to work in a grocery store, they draw upon their many understandings about how the world works. We can meet students where they are in their understanding and use both planned and spontaneous moments to help them develop important literacy and math understandings through play. Children can become the characters themselves, playing inside large structures they have created, or they can create characters using small toys and items from around the room for smaller-scale play. The T-chart is just one of many graphic organizing tools that children can use to support their mathematical thinking. Writing and drawing are important parts of math, both for communicating our thinking to others and for processing our own ideas. Illustrations and photographs are accessible and provide an opportunity for all students to notice, name, and wonder mathematically.
