I was recently talking to a group about developmentally appropriate math skills for early childhood children (see 'Conference Handouts' below right). I remember discovering the developmental order of math skills a number of years ago when I was teaching kindergarten. When I patiently worked through the developmental order (and didn't rush to talk about numbers, shapes, etc.), the most amazing thing happened. ALL of the children in my class acquired all the skills when they were introduced. I no longer was playing the 'catch-up' game with children that didn't seem to wrap their minds around the skill. It gave me the understanding of how important it is to built the foundation for every skill that is taught. Children that don't seem to understand a concept usually do not have the background knowledge to support that skill. For other developmental lists, check out: http://www.teacherquicksource.com/