Becoming a Math Person
Text on screen: Becoming a Math Person.
Logo: Count, play, explore – for early education.
On screen: In a classroom, preschool educator Maritza Ceballos and a child sit at a table. On the table in front of them is a basket of Unifix cubes, or small stackable plastic cubes which connect to each other on two opposing sides. There are also Unifix cubes that have been stacked to be different heights. The child points to a stack.
Child: … this tall.
Maritza: Your daddy is this tall, your mommy is this tall.
On screen: Maritza points to a stack of Unifix cubes composed of 13 cubes, and then a stack of Unifix cubes composed of 9 cubes. Then the child points to a stack of Unifix cubes composed of 4 cubes. Maritza then points to the same stack of Unifix cubes.
Child: I am this tall.
Maritza: And you are this tall.
On screen: Maritza Ceballos speaks to camera.
Maritza: I always thought, “Okay, I’m not very good in math. I don’t know how I feel about teaching math to the preschoolers if I’m not confident in math.”
On screen: Maritza and the child are at the table. Maritza points to a single Unifix cube.
Maritza: Your cousin Alexa’s baby could be the smallest one.
Child: Yeah.
Maritza: But just going to the institute and really realizing, “Okay, everybody can be a math person. Everybody can be good at math,” just kind of opened my eyes. Like, okay, I can do math. It doesn’t have to be just addition or geometry. It can be anything else.
On screen: At the table with the child, Maritza points to a short stack of Unifix cubes, and holds her thumb and pointer finger several inches apart to demonstrate what she means by “shortest.”
Maritza: This one is the shortest. Shortest is the small. Shortest means small. Longest means the tallest one.
On screen: Maritza then places one hand palm up on the table and holds the other hand palm down about twelve inches above the lower hand to demonstrate what she means by “longest.”
Text on screen: A special thanks to the children, families, and staff of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools’ Lighthouse Development Center without whose help these videos would not have been possible.
Logo: Count, play, explore – for early education.