Easy as 1, 2, 3, ABC: Integrating Number Sense and Shared Storybook Readings

88 YOUNG EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN Vol. 25, No. 2, June 2022 https://doi.org/10.1177/1096250620959660 DOI: 10.1177/1096250620959660 journals.sagepub.com/home/yec Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions © 2020 Division for Early Childhood Inclusive preschool teacher, Ms. Abarca, was excited to start the new school year. She had 14 children in her class, with four children who had individualized education programs (IEPs): Charles, Jasmine, Molly, and Dylan. In preparing the first weeks of lesson plans, Ms. Abarca reviewed the classroom curriculum, practitioner journals, and state preschool standards. In past years, she had difficulty fitting in content from all academic areas each day, given the other various requirements of the school day. She set a goal to incorporate daily mathematics activities while engaging all learners. Ms. Abarca specifically had difficulty engaging Charles and Jasmine during storytime and small group activities, as both children resisted storytime and small group instructional work. In addition, she was concerned that both children exhibited signs of difficulties with mathematical concepts. For example, Jasmine only counted to 4 and did not recognize many numerals, while Charles could orally count to 25, yet he did not understand other mathematics concepts such as quantity comparison (e.g., more, less, and same). She searched for solutions for how to integrate mathematics within her daily classroom routine. Preschoolers have the ability to learn complex mathematical concepts (Horn et al., 2016; Sarama & 959660 YECXXX10.1177/1096250620959660YOUNG EXCEPTIONALShort Title / Green and Towson research-article2020