Building Early Math Skills in the Classroom and at Home

August 21, 2026

Long-term research has found that early math skills predict students’ academic achievement into middle school and high school. Early math development is malleable, meaning that teachers and programs can influence students’ trajectory. Children from low-income backgrounds often have fewer opportunities to build these skills, and children who enter kindergarten unprepared for rigorous standards tend to fall further behind over time. 

Several factors contribute to this: gaps in preschool curricula, limited classroom minutes dedicated to math, and disparities in home environments and family practices. 

WestEd’s Leading Together webinar Advancing Math Instruction and Family Engagement in Early Childhood brought together Dr. Kylie Flynn and Dr. Ashli-Ann Douglas, members of WestEd’s Mathematics Education team, to share classroom strategies for early math education and ways to build stronger partnerships with families.

Strategies for Improving Math Instruction 

The webinar outlined five practices for the classroom: 

1. Know your standards. Concepts like one-to-one correspondence and cardinality appear across state pre-K standards and Head Start frameworks. These push children beyond rote counting. The goal isn’t just reciting numbers in order but rather understanding that after counting five items, the number five represents the total size of that set. 
2. Integrate practice throughout the day. Early childhood classrooms are full of natural counting opportunities: fingers, toes, snacks, napkins, leaves outside, blocks, or beads in an art area. Teachers can encourage one-to-one correspondence during counting and ask a cardinality question afterward, such as “How many rocks did you count?” Rotating objects to match classroom themes helps keep this practice fresh. 
3. Choose standards-aligned activities. A 10 frame, for example, is a simple tool made of a rectangle with 10 boxes arranged in two rows of 5, in which children place counters or dots in the boxes to count, add, and subtract. This structure helps children see numbers as parts of 10 while giving them a way to practice counting sequence, one-to-one correspondence, and cardinality all at once. Set sizes can grow as children develop. 
4. Implement small group instruction. Research on WestEd’s PreK Mathematics curriculum, developed and tested across seven large-scale studies and rated highly effective by the U.S. Department of Education, points to groups of up to six children meeting at least twice a week for 15 minutes as an effective structure. Smaller groups make materials and pacing easier to manage, allow teachers to document progress, and create room for scaffolding.
5. Build an engaging math center. Selecting high-interest materials and rotating them monthly or by theme keeps children coming back. Introducing new materials at the morning circle builds excitement, and having a teacher or instructional assistant regularly visit the center gives children the adult attention they’re often looking for. Related materials, like books with math content, can also be woven into other centers, such as the classroom library. 

Partnering With Families to Support Math Learning 

Preschoolers whose families engage them in math activities and discussions tend to have stronger skills than those who don’t receive this kind of support at home. The more teachers communicate with families about early math, the more often families practice it together. 

Drawing on NAEYC’s developmentally appropriate practice guidance, three principles can shape how programs approach family communication: 

• Take responsibility for establishing relationships with families that are built on cooperation, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for children’s learning. 
• Maintain regular, two-way communication using a variety of methods. Some families prefer conversations at pickup or drop-off, while others prefer a text, email, or note sent home. This exchange also gives teachers insight into a child’s interests and strengths at home, which teachers can then bring into the classroom. 
• Acknowledge families’ choices and goals for their children, responding with sensitivity and respect, especially when families share concerns. 

Family math support is tied to several factors: beliefs about the importance of preschool math, expectations for a child’s skills, knowledge about early development, and the strategies families use at home. All of these can shift with more communication from teachers. 

The resources that families want most fall into two categories: (a) materials, such as toys, games, books, and app recommendations, and (b) information, including knowledge of age-appropriate skills , ways to build math into everyday routines like mealtime or laundry, and updates on what’s happening in the classroom. 

One resource highlighted in the webinar, Count Play Explore, organizes books, games, and videos by age level, giving families of children at different ages materials they can use at home. 

Programs that share this kind of information with families tend to see them increase both the frequency and the complexity of their support. One parent who took part in a numeracy and patterning program described how it helped her weave math into daily routines rather than carve out separate structured time and her child was learning through play without realizing it. 

Learn More About Supporting Early Math Learning 

Watch the full webinar and view other webinars in the Leading Together series. 

Explore WestEd’s work in Mathematics Education, including the Early Math Workshops and Services.