Reference request: Textbooks in mathematics for future kindergarten teachers

Question

The title says it all, but some more details. We need good textbooks for a mathematics course for future kindergarten teachers. The actual course is titled (my translation) "Text, language and mathematics" and is the only course in which these students meet mathematics.

It is required that the subjects should be "integrated", but still they are taught separately by teacher specialists in their own discipline with limited knowledge of the others. (In the exam all questions are integrated, so there is no specific math question, and no calculation required. This is not a course in arithmetic.)

We have some good textbooks in Norwegian (I think they are good, the students do not agree). They are really written with primary school, not kindergarten, in mind, but starts from the children and situations with interaction children/teacher from school (and maybe a very few from earlier age), they do not start from the mathematics. So the question is for books/teaching material in English (or Spanish, my other foreign language ...) with this sort of aim, but specifically directed at future kindergarten teachers.

Answer 1

My book is not a textbook, but I think the future teachers would like it. Playing with Math: Stories from Math Circles, Homeschoolers, and Passionate Teachers, edited by Sue VanHattum. There is a story from a Montessori teacher (Trust, Montessori Style) and some of the math circles are groups of very young kids. The whole book will give future teachers a very different look at math.

A few more recommendations...

Little Kids—Powerful Problem Solvers: Math Stories from a Kindergarten Classroom, by Angela Andrews and Paul Trafton. One story for each of the ten months of the school year.

Show and Tell, by Linda Dacy and Rebeka Eston. Another good book about communicating mathematical thinking in the classroom, this one is focused on kindergarten to second grade.

Talking Mathematics: Supporting Children’s Voices, by Rebecca Corwin. It takes some real skill to get students talking about their mathematical thinking. Although this one isn't directed primarily at kindergarten, I think it will be very helpful.

Moebius Noodles, from my publisher, is another great collection of ideas for getting kids playing with mathematical ideas.