A Little Math Lesson

This week in Math we are working on place value and subtracting larger numbers.

More On Top

No Need To Stop

    25
-    5
----------
   20

More On The Floor

Go Next Door And Get 10 More

   32
-  28
--------
     4

Numbers The Same

Zero's The Game
   60
-  60
---------
   0

Graphing With Goldfish

Jem had fun the other day graphing with goldfish.  I handed her a handful of fish and she placed them on her graph by color.  She counted how many of each color she had and we talked about "more than" and "less than."  Her favorite part was eating them all up!

You can find a variety of goldfish graphs by googling it by name.

Shamrock Math Game

 

We had a good time playing this Shamrock Math Game.  Olive would grad a hand full of pennies and drop them on the table.  She then separates the heads from the tails and starts her math problem.  This picture is showing 10+10....we would also switch it up with subtraction.  Olive thought that this was a fun way to work on her math.  I like that "heads and tails" can be adapted for just about any holiday.
Linking To:
No Time For Flashcards

It's in the Box

We had a really great school day. Here are some activities that were placed in Jem and Olive's workbox this week.

 This was are first time using Geo Boards, Jem really enjoyed this activity.

 Kumon cut and paste workbook.

 Linking cubes for Math.

 Egg carton counting with beans.

 100 easy lesson in reading for Olive.

 Chopsticks and pom-poms.

 Color matching with buttons and pom-poms.

 Word color matching.

 Olive's pipe cleaner and bead party mask.

A little blue paint goes a long way....have a great week.

Getting ready to start fresh...again

Today we'll be cleaning, mopping, and getting a little organized since we are still basking in the after Christmas glow. Daddy has been off work and we've been spending quality family time together. We went on a lovely zoo trip yesterday and saw a baby giraffe and koala.

We have doing just a little homeschool these past few weeks. We have enjoyed crafting, advent activities, reading, and building. Olive really enjoyed putting this Lego camper together with her Dad...it's really cute.

Today the girls are playing store. Olive made these really pretty construction paper fruits. Each fruit is worth five cents and Jem has to count out five pennies. They are really playing nicely together, it makes my heart happy.

It's been a year with big highs and a few big dips, but we are so blessed. I know 2011 will have more surprises in store for all of us. I am keeping my eyes wide open so I don't miss a thing! May you have a peaceful and healthy New Year and thank-you for coming along on my journey.

CSN Giveaway and Apple Activities

I have another surprise for you all! To show my THANKS to all my followers The CSN Store has offered one lucky reader a $35 gift certificate. This is a store that sells everything from Corelle to Mellisa and Doug to apple peelers. Just leave a comment below and join me on Facebook. This giveaway will be open until 10/2.

We have been using our apple peeler like crazy this year. The girls really enjoy using it too. We purchased a huge crate of seconds at the farmer's market to make applesauce, and freeze. The peppers were also included.

Olive enjoyed adding 100 apples to the tree in this math activity found here and here.

 Jem sorted apples by color, found here.

Homeschool Photos

Olive reads a book to her sister...little sis says, "read me more!"

Jem measures herself with blocks.

Olive building steps for her castle.

These are just a few reasons why I'm glad that Olive is not in Kindergarten from 8-4pm, five days a week.

What's In The Box?

We have started back with workboxes for both Jem and Olive, shown here in our homeschool room. I like the fact that I heard Olive say, "good, I only have one more box left to do".  

 

For Jem it was more the sound in her voice like, "ahhh, and wow"! The lowercase letter "a," activities and apple lacing came from here.

                                             Cutting and pasting Fall items came from here.

                            This fun Noah's arc animal sorting file folder game came from here.

                                           Matching money is always a hit with Jem.

Olive enjoyed these trap door readers from Evanspor designs who generously sent us the PDF to download a few months ago. These trap door readers help children decode words one letter at time. Olive liked sliding the piece of paper across the letters and knowing she said the right word by the picture it revealed. They are easy to put together, just print, cut, and paste. The words can be printed in cursive, print, and lowercase.

Here is a photo from her Etsy site showing how nice they look when you use a bone folder. I wish I would have found these first before I went to the troubled of making my word sliders.
Happy Learning!

Importance of BLOCKS

Jem and Olive love playing with building blocks, not just square ones, but all sizes. Blocks are great educational toys because they allow your child to develop several important skills.

• Creative thinking
• Fine motor skills
• Reading and math skills
• Strategy development
• Social skills 
• Problem Solving

My girls love making patterns with their blocks.  Little did I know that this will help with reading and math skills.  In fact, a study in the October 2007 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reported that children who play with blocks average 15% higher on reading scores later in life.