Cup Stacking!

From sight word practice ....

to just plain fun!  :-)

 

Remember all the things you can reinforce with cup stacking...just write it on the bottom of the cup.  They can stack the ones they get correct.  The incorrect ones go back to the bottom of the stack of cups to try again. 

 

Here are some of the things that we've been working on that we could incorporate cup stacking with, if we desired.

 

*  alphabet/number recognition

* sight words/spelling words (read, then spell before stacking)

* math facts (+,-,x, /)

* noun vs. verb

* action/being verbs

* days of the week-months of the year words

* vocabulary words

* expanded form of large numbers

* reading large numbers

* greater than/less than

* and so much more!

When they were with a partner...wow!  Lots of cooperation needed! 
So fun to observe! :-)

Counting...quickly!

The children find out real quick that these big numbers they are working with take a long time to count...if counting by 1s.  So, early this year we started L., 1st grader, with skip counting.  10s/5s...and even 2s after a bit is pretty easy for him to count by.  Definitely makes large sets of items easier to count but one thing we are struggling with is this idea of organizing into sets of 2 and what do you do with the odd one out?  1st grader is finding it hard to skip, skip, skip, and then step.  :-P  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12...13. 

 

Here's are some activities that seem to be helping and I'm open to any other suggestions!

 

Number Lines

(If you are looking for visually appealing and free number lines check SparkleBox!  They have quite a selection.) 

 

As usual, I'm having difficulty with my camera and our lighting...so my pictures are definitely not awesome.  But it does give you an idea of what we were doing and a glimpse at one of several of the cute number lines that are available at SparkleBox. 

I gave L. a selection of odd numbers on slips of paper. We used one of SparkleBox's 0-30 number lines. He put his right finger on the number he was counting to, then his left finger skipped along with his counting until he got to the number prior and then he took a step. This was a pretty small number line to work with but it seemed to help with the concept.

We then moved to a larger number line.  This allowed him to skip/jump by twos and then take a step...with a marker, thus an additional visual and tactile approach. 

I included the one on the left because I love it.  :-)  A. is so intrigued with the different ways I put together to practice concepts.  :-)  Teacher in making?  I'm not sure.  He doesn't have a whole lot of patience...but then again, I don't either.  It was a learned behavior for me and I need to work on it constantly.

 

Another activity that has been helping, again visual, is to give him a set of objects that can be organized into sets of 2's, pairing colors up.  One day we we used links....

Another day we used counting bears...

 Another day we used circle blocks that came with our MVCA supplies...

These are visuals to show that there is an odd one out.  We're getting there but again, if anyone has any fresh ideas, I like to change about what we are doing so it's more interesting!

Side note:  I believe in doing something for short periods of time-every day vs. sitting down and working long periods of time on a concept...so how I do this is to have 3 "problems" to work on each day...less than a minute of practice.  It really does make a difference!  This next week we'll actually be moving on to multicolored sets to count vs. just two colors in a pattern.  This will reinforce organizing his set first in order to count it correctly.  We'll also move from skip counting by 2s and having an odd one out to counting by 5s and having a couple odd ones out :-).  Progress!

Ah!  Love first grade! Young enough to enjoy the early childhood teaching techniques but old enough to begin taking responsibility for their own learning.  There is such a growth in 1st graders...social-emotionally and academically!

Piet Mondrian

As mentioned before, art is usually a favorite around here.  Many times we do a lesson as a group...no matter whose assigned lesson it is.  But on occasion, L.-1st grade, does one separately from the others and how I handle that is to go through a lesson with him 1:1 and when he has time in his schedule in which falls under "independent work" we get the materials out for him to do the project.  Working out well, except for the fact that usually a couple of the children really want to do his project.  :-)  So, I always plan on more than him doing the actual project and when the others have free time they are more than welcome to explore with the materials.  Also, as a side note, I almost always allow for them to explore on their own with the materials with no set guidelines after their assigned lesson is done.  It's so neat to see what they do on their own!

 

Piet Mondrian

This picture was taken in 1899

Here is some of his work...

We learned that he first did representational work...cubism...

 

Then in later years he did some abstract work using mainly primary colors-white/black and worked in a grid shape.

 

This one above is  called Broadway Boogie Woogie...Mondrian's painting in reaction to New York.

 

The grid based art work is what the 1st grader was to respond to.  We used white cardstock, black cardstock strips, and primary colored markers.

He wanted to do this project again but with his own colors. I suggested he use paint this time and he readily agreed.  :-P

 

So, two of the other students wished to do this project also...and as mentioned, I do not require them to do the assigned lesson but just to explore with the materials they had available.

2nd grader's work  :-)  This was the work of a child who balked at any sort of "art" but definitely showing his creative side here!

 

4th grader's work- very precise :-)

 

Ah, art!

 

Warm and Cool Colors

One challenge with Schooling at Home with 3 of the kiddos not being yours and thus being on a time schedule, is how do we fit in all the subjects that require 1:1 instruction for most of the lesson?  Well, we're figuring it out...slowly but surely.  :-)

 

One way we have success is that we have a group lesson each morning and one afternoon a week.  Typically it's art, history, or social studies.  The really nice thing is that the kiddos get to touch on a lot that they might not get a chance to if they were just doing what was assigned to them!

 

Art is a favorite, of course.  It's one of several aspects that I like about this program vs. our local public school.  The children start "art" in elementary instead of middle school and high school.  Another aspect is that after the basics of art have been taught/reviewed, they begin to correlate their art project with what they are learning in History!  I've seen a BIG difference with my own 2nd grade kiddo who did NOT like 'art' (mainly because language arts had the word 'art' in it! tee hee).  Between our art lessons and our Draw.Write.Now, he's really starting to take a liking to drawing and art in general.  So neat to see!  The mother of the 1st grader has also mentioned that her child's attitude toward creating art has changed also.  :-) 

 This was actually an afternoon group lesson...art-around the kitchen table...but on a side note, we did try our less mess group lessons in the living room in a more relaxed state but it wasn't working out for us so almost all our group sessions take place around the table. :-) 

Here we were "introducing" the color wheel.  Why I say "introducing" is because it was an introduction lesson for 3 grade art but anyone that has been with me during preschool years (which all of these kiddos have) has already been "introduced" to the color wheel. 

 

I first gave them a cardstock copy of the color wheel.  I can not share the color wheel document since it's copyrighted, I'm sure, but there are many options on the Internet...here's one.

 

http://www.mrprintables.com/printable-color-wheel.html

 

We actually talked about the primary colors and secondary colors first and traced around the triangles first with crayon and wrote them down on a simple chart...you can download the chart here.  It was very handy to have a cup full of crayons with the colors they needed right at their space and to also have a crayon sharpener handy.  :-P  Then we moved onto intermediate and complementary colors.  As you can see, cool and warm colors had not been completed.  We actually broke this activity up into 2 sessions.  The chart will be cut and glued to the back of their color wheel.  The children then used red, blue, and yellow to paint their color wheel.  Actually, that was the initial decision but time was flying and the younger ones were having a difficult time mixing the colors to get 'true' colors (or at least relatively 'true' colors) so we did bring out some additional secondary paints to mix for intermediate colors.  A., the 4th grader was the only one that didn't "cheat" a little bit! 

The second session we focused on cool and warm colors.  We noticed that we can pretty much split the color wheel in half and see the warm colors on one side and the cool colors on the other side.  Children chose a shape and created a collage with either cool or warm colors.

Left to right and top to bottom...

9 yrs, 8 yrs, 7 yrs, 7 yrs, 6 yrs, 3 yrs 

 

Simple and fun! 

 

 

 

 

 

Pen Pal Packages

There are three of us homeschooling families that are exchanging letters...hoping for about a package once a month.  Very exciting!  We got our first package Friday afternoon so this morning for morning group we had a very brief lesson about what a "friendly letter" actually is and the format.  Then I let them go with writing a letter about themselves. 

The three oldest kiddos...T. in the background, he had already "written" his letter while we were talking about what a letter was.  :-)  So since the table wasn't ready for him to work at yet, he went and made himelf busy in the living room.

The results weren't surprising, for the most part, and it definitely confirmed what we need to spend some time on!  With the pen pal package, we will actually be removing our own letters and so this is going to end up a keepsake also!  It'll be so neat to see just how far they come from the beginning of the school year to the end.

 

Anyway, we had a little goofy visual for the format of the letter...if you are interested in it for yourself, click here.   

 

Hope you all had a lovely Monday! 

Addition with Regrouping

Math now a days is taught so differently than it was when I was a kid.  That sometimes is difficult for this brain of mine but when I really get into it, it makes so much more sense!  Here is one process that was different but "made so much more sense!"

Using base-10 blocks for adding large numbers.

First off, USE the base 10 blocks!  Visual/physical---perfect for those hands-on kids!

 

Step 1:  Use the base ten blocks to form the numbers.

     100+40+3

+   300+40+9

(Teach place value and expanded form first!)

 

Step 2:  Teach to add from the ones place (right to left).

Combine the cubes in the ones place.

 

Step 3:  Can you regroup?  If yes, do so. 

These pictures showed the process in which I had the kids do it. 

Combine all the cubes, move the set of ten above the tens place and then exchange it for a ten rod.  This helps them to understand "carrying".

 

Step 4:  Add/combine the tens place, can you regroup?  Add/combine the hundreds place, can you regroup?

 

Then the children went on to use the place value "chart" along with their base 10 blocks and then without their base ten blocks.  Note that grayed area where they write their "carrying" number.  Awesome!  Perfect for visual learners!  (I'm sure you could create this chart pretty easy...I can't really share a copy of it since it's not my own original idea...just too good not to share!)

 

They moved on to...

no boxes.  Actually, by the time C. got to the checkpoint, he wasn't even writing the carrying down...he just did it all in his head.  Why?  Because that's what hands-on learning does for a kid!  :-)  They truly understand it vs. someone just telling them to carry one over and showing that if 7+3=10, there is only room for one digit so the 0 stays down and the 1 goes up.  LOL  Yeah, they may get the right answer doing that but do they really understand why they are doing that?

 

Anyway...I'm sure that this is something that some people have already done but this is the first time I've seen it taught this way...a definite improvement on how I learned.  :-)

 

 Happy days to you all!

 

 

 

 

 

Nile River Explorations

Well, I've thought I'd have at least Tuesday afternoons to make a post on the two blogs, but...hmmm...time is precious lately and blogging gets put at the bottom of the priority list. 

 

We are into our 4th week of school.  Update on statuses... the two school-agers that were on the waitlist for MVCA were accepted.  We just got the 3rd grade materials Monday evening and we are now waiting for the 4th grade materials.  I'm very excited for my 4th grader...for all the kids for that matter.  They are challenged, they cover a LOT of material and history, science and art is very exciting to them.  A lot different than their past experience at the brick and mortar school.  That being said...there is one downfall.  Yes, we are home and we are schooling but...we aren't technically homeschooling.  So something to consider along the way...if you are making a choice between an online school vs. homeschooling.  So because we have to follow the curriculum set for us...and yes, stay somewhat on the time frame---and we need to include time for MEAP practices and class connect sections...there isn't much time for side trips and let me tell you...there are a lot of opportunities for side trips.  However, we'll also keep in mind that I have a few more children than my own kids and if it was just my own children, perhaps we would have time take all those side trips.  So, right now, we'll keep as we are until I can get a good feel of just how much time we have. 

 

My boys have been LOVING sitting in on the first grade history lessons.  We have a bit more time to explore with that because we do first grade history in the afternoons that L. stays later.  This is lovely because they didn't learn any of this before so it gives a nice foundation to their own learning.  With L., 1st grade, they are starting with Nomads, the Fertile Crescent/Mesopotamia and now moving to the Egyptian Empire along the Nile River...which a portion of it is in Fertile Crescent.

 

Today we explored with this idea that in Ancient Egypt, the Nile River would overflow every year and this was a GOOD thing.  This allowed for them to have very fertile land for crops.  The flooding each year would cause the rich soil from the bottom of the river (silt) to overflow onto the areas on either side of the Nile. 

 

Hands-On History:  Nile River Overflows

(Never thought I'd hear that!  History was always blah and boring when I was in school.  :-0)

 

 Materials: 

Old cake pan (or dollar store aluminum pan)

sand

potting soil

water

 

We filled up the pans about half full with sand.  Then they added water so make it damp and moldable.  After they were satisfied, they created the river, also being encouraged to create a delta.  (Delta- Greek letter D, shaped like a triangle...that's how it got it's name.)  Then they filled their river with garden soil.  Then they started to gently pour water at one end until it "flooded". 

 

Then of course they played with the mixture for quite awhile after the fact.  LOL

 

FYI:  we used garden soil instead of potting soil and...well, it floated.  The water went under the soil and lifted it up.  They had to use a LOT of water to get it to actually flood.  We might try it again with different soil.  It's a neat concept.

 

And it just happened that I found a book at the library called...

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt

Very cool book...that covers a lot more than the Nile River...but we did learn that the Nile River does not flood every year now because they have built a dam.  :-)  It was neat to hear my kids telling L. about that.

 

In the 2nd grade history we are learning about Rome and the Romans and a section was about how the Romans borrowed many ideas from the Greek...one being gods.  Well it just happens that the Egyptians believed in gods also.  And in the next lesson they will learn that these Ancient Egyptians did not know why the river flooded every year.  They thought it was a god smiling down on them but in reality it was the rain hundreds of miles away causing water to flow down mountains and flood the river all the way to the Meditarraen Sea.  This has also been a good "in" to talk about gods vs. God. 

 

We are definitely enjoying our journey with schooling at home!