Winners of the curriculum clean-out giveaway!

For give-away #1: Moving with Math curriculum level C, the winner is #6 Charity!

Charity commented: "Well, I have to tell you, I am not a real lover of math at all:) But I do enjoy simple addition and subtraction. Would love to get these for the kids. Thanks!"

For give-away #2: You Can Do the Rubiks Cube, the winner is #18

Misusedinnocence!

Misusedinnocence commented: "I like teaching math to my son because he gets so delighted when he understands a new concept. I think he would go nuts for this. :)"

Ladies, I will be contacting you by email today. You will have 48 hours to respond back and let me know your shipping address; otherwise, I'll redraw for another winner!

Starting PreK with a little assessment

Someone in one of my Yahoo groups posted a kindergarten assessment list, which I took the opportunity today to see where Aikman stood, and to assess what I'd like to work on for the next 3 months.

Here's his progress reports:

Overall... not bad! He knows all of his shapes and colors, knows all capitals, and missed 2 lowercase letters, knew almost all of the sounds (mixed them up with other letters), and knew all of the numbers between 0 and 9. On the 2nd sheet, he knows almost all of the basic skills (without any prompts), and is currently working on both reading readiness and math readiness skills.

So, what will our focus be for the next 3 months?
- review basic concepts such as phone number, address (including country), letters and their sounds.
- writing full name--first, middle, last.
- recite (without singing) months of the year, and continue working on yesterday, today, tomorrow.
- continue with Handwriting Without Tears.
- continue with word families (he made HUGE breakthroughs with this today!) in pursuit of reading.
- continue counting to 100, skip counting by 10's (and adding by 2's), identify the teens (he's pretty much mastered 20 - 99).

If you are interested in these files, please leave me a comment with your email address, and I will email these to you. The sweet teacher who made them, Shannon Muessmann, is allowing me to share them with you! THANK YOU, Shannon!

Curriculum clean-out giveaway #3

Well, I was planning on posting a third giveaway, but time has gotten away from me this week, and I haven't had time to post it. SORRY!

I will still offer it as a giveaway, but it probably won't be until this next week.

Curriculum clean-out giveaway -- You can do the Rubiks' Cube

This is the 2nd giveaway that I am offering for the Homeschool Creations curriculum clean-out.

For this giveaway, I am offering a licensed Rubiks' cube and solutions booklet (from Rubiks) that explains how to solve the Cube, no matter how mixed up it is.... and that doesn't mean that you take the stickers off and switch them around. (I know noooo one did that when they were younger!)

Seriously, this IS a legit activity that they sell at teaching conferences! It is really fun for kids 1st grade and up, and once they master it, its a REALLY cool trick for them to show off to their friends. Nothing is more intimidating than a 2nd or 3rd grader showing you up in solving this puzzle!

So, what does it teach?? Following directions for one, but more importantly, problem solving! Several of the gifted programs in the public schools around here were using this activity last year with the kids, and it was amazing how quickly some of them could solve the puzzle. Here's a video of a kid solving it.

I can just see this going into someone's workbox ... and your kids just thought that they were playing and not learning while doing this!

HOW TO ENTER:

Leave me a comment below stating something you like about math.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

- follow me via Google Friend Connect. Give yourself one extra entry.

- if you are hosting a giveaway, give yourself one extra entry.

The giveaway will be open until midnight CST on Saturday, August 28th. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and contacted on Sunday, August 29th. The winner will have 2 days to claim their prize. The giveaway is available to those in the US and Canada.

Curriculum clean-out giveaway -- Moving with Math level C

I am participating in the {Almost} Fall Curricullum Clean-Out, and one of three giveaways that I am offering.

For giveaway #1, I have a brand new Moving with Math curriculum for level C (grades 5-6 -- however, it is a bit easier than some curriculum and I've heard some say it is more grades 3-4).

It includes 3 workbooks:

1 (whole numbers and problem solving)

2 (fractions, decimals, and percents)

and 3 (geometry and measurement)

It also includes the teacher's manual, answer key, skill builders (extra practice worksheets), pre- and post-tests, and cumulative tests. From what I've read, MWM does use manipulatives, but those did not come with this kit. :-( However, it looks like all the manipulatives used with this kit are base 10 blocks, unifix cubes, and a geoboard, so those can be easily added.

MWM is on Kathy Duffy's Top 100 list! The worksheets are great, with each lesson having a fun puzzle to solve. So, even if you used a different curriculum, this would be great as a supplement.

Due to the weight, I can only offer it as a giveaway to US residents.

HOW TO ENTER:

Leave me a comment below stating something you like about math.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

- follow me via Google Friend Connect. Give yourself one extra entry.

- if you are hosting a giveaway, give yourself one extra entry.

The giveaway will be open until midnight CST on Saturday, August 28th. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and contacted on Sunday, August 29th.

Fabulous Finds Friday!

This time of year gets me SO excited! I can't say enough about how I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE school supplies. Many times when I'm in Walmart buying groceries, I'll repeatedly walk up and down the school supply aisles. It's really sad, but I seriously have to look over every single item and contemplate how I could possibly use this in my simple, little classroom.

... anyways, back on to the finds of the week! I feel like I've found SO many!

At Target's dollar bins.... Asian themed items that are perfect for continent boxes! Items include: Oriental fabric covering a take-out box and a small pad of paper (they are MUCH cuter than what I've described!), a Chinese cat, a golden dragon, and a jade bracelets.

At Ross... MEGA TOOBS for $8! Wow! These normally sell for $7 for a normal toob, and now they have double the amount for $1 more?!?!??! My store had Aquatic, Dinos, Horses, and Jungle. We picked up the Aquatic one, as we already are overrun with dinos and exotic animals, and well.... I have a boy; he doesn't really care about horses.

Finally, Dollar Tree.... They have some awesome file folder games right now!!! I picked up 4 of them--States, blends, money, and place value. The only negative is that I don't like how the place value one is designed, so I will most likely be redoing the cards so that they match with our Math U See blocks. I also picked up North America/South America posters, which will become our pin maps within the week. I can't wait to share these with you! I am SO excited about them!

Happy educational bargain hunting!

Color Mixing

I've been eying color mixing charts for a while, and I finally decided to make them for myself. I've seen color mixing on a number of blogs, especially back in April and June... such as here, here, and here. Then I saw these AWESOME "shades of..." color mixing pages here! I immediately knew that I wanted to make something like them. So, I've created my version of shades of orange, green, and purple. The "shades of..." go from lightest to darkest around each circle, starting at the top.

Mama Jenn made an awesome (and FREE) primary and secondary color mixing chart, which you can find here. To go along with that, I created a tertiary color wheel, which I don't recall seeing on anyone's blog. There are 2 versions of it... first, as a color mixing activity, and then as a montessori-style matching activity (one page has labels at the bottom to be cut apart; the second page is the control).

Dropper activities made a comeback recently, with a posting here, but with a new twist of adding a grid for the kiddos to make their own designs, which was inspired by one of the Activity Mom's posts. I added to this download a grid of circles, so the kids can make their own designs. When cut in half, it is the size of the smaller tear-apart paper towels. I also added a couple of designs, in case the child needs a couple of ideas to get them inspired/started, similar to Little Hands, Big Work's example. (Sorry, I'm not very crafty, and I had trouble figuring out more patterns, other than a simple rectangle or star shape!)

You can download ALL of them HERE!

Hope you can use these! Lemme know what you think!

A BIG thank you to some sweet friends of ours!

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to two people who have tremendously helped out our continent boxes.

First, I'd like to thank my dear friend Amanda, who is a missionary in Mexico.... I had the privilege of eating lunch with her earlier this week, and she brought us back some wonderful items from where she lives in Puebla, Mexico. She brought us some mini marachas and a hand-painted cat(I think... Amanda, what is it called again???), a coin purse with several different pesos inside, postcards from where they live, a mini sombrero, and a handpainted bookmark. I can't say enough about how this is perfect timing for us, as we are gearing up to study Mexico in geography. This weekend while we were eating at a Mexican restaurant, he kept stopping our waiter and asking what the Spanish names for different colors were. Then he had a HAY DAY when he saw the Mexican flag... oh, goodness, I just know that the obsession with flags is about to make a come-back!

Second, I'd like to thank my cousin Jason, who has spend the past 2 years teaching English in Korea, and during his off months, he travels the world. I cannot believe how wonderfully generous he's been about sharing things with us!!! In the spring he brought us back quite a few items from southeast Asia, and yesterday, he gave us a mini Eiffel Tower, an eraser "stone" from Stonehenge, a carved zebra from Africa, and some money from Zambia.

Aikman's favorite so far? The EIFFEL TOWER!!! Yes, my son is obsessed with the Eiffel Tower. As soon as he saw it, his jaw dropped and his eyes grew as large as quarters! He was so excited to get it. Today, he has had it with him non-stop.... first he pulled out the coral reef fish and mixed the Eiffel Tower in with them. At one point, I overheard him saying (a fish to the Eiffel Tower), "Are you a coral reef?", with the Tower saying back, "No, I'm THE EIFFEL TOWER!" Then, at another point during the day, he had the desert toob animals out, and the scuba diver was stuck in quicksand in the desert... only to be rescued by the Eiffel Tower.

Again, THANK YOU Amanda and Jason! We are loving your contributions to our continent boxes!

First Day of MDO and great finds!

Today has been a VERY exciting day in our household!

First, it was the first day in a new Mother's Day Out class. Since Aikman is an only child, he doesn't get the chance to play with many children his age unless we are at church. Likewise, we also would like him to be exposed to and be able to follow directions from other adults and authority figures. He is typically obedient, but we just felt like this experience is a great one, both for me and for him. (The preschool he attends is awesome, following closely to our beliefs in a strong Christian background, with great teachers, as well as offering Spanish and computer classes for enrichment.) It is only a 2 day a week program, so during his off-days, we will be doing school at home.

Here he is heading into school!

When I picked him up, he told me he had a great day at school, and that the only bad thing was that he dropped all of his cantaloupe on the floor at lunchtime, so he slid it under the table! (Oops! Sorry, Ms. Rachel!!)

Afterward school, we headed to Goodwill to burn some time. In the process, I found some discarded library books marked down to $0.50 each that were perfect for our continent boxes! We picked up Fiesta Femenina: Celebrating Women in Mexican Folktale (North America/Mexico), The King and the Tortoise (Africa/Cameroon), and Wallaby Creek(Australia).

(Side note: WOW! I had no idea that Wallaby Creek was out of print, and therefore, I can't find a stock photo of it ANYWHERE on the internet! However, I now have an new respect for the book, as all of the watercolor artwork were done by the author during a visit to Wallaby Creek!)

We also received some other awesome treasures from several very special friends, which I'll talk about tomorrow!

Until then....!

Not Back to School Blog Hop -- Student Photo Week

Here he is! My little munchkin, Aikman!

... at a local homeschool group's field trip to see the Clay Lady

... and at Murfreesboro's Discovery Center

I LOVE this picture! He decided to draw Jesus on the cross, followed by "3 bad men who put him there."

... and another goofy shot at the Discovery Center

For Student Photo Week, I thought it would be cool if I interviewed my son, at the start of the school year, and then re-interview him at the beginning of every school year, as he grows...

1. What is your name? Aikman
2. How old are you? 4
3. When is your birthday? June seventeen
4. Who is your mommy? you are
5. Where does mommy work? I don't know
6. Who is your daddy? Mike
7. Where does daddy work? At work
8. What is your favorite color? blue
9. What do you want to be when you get big? a policeman
10. What is your favorite food? Chicken nuggets
11. What food do you not like? I don't like bugs. I do NOT like to eat celery. (hmmm... not sure about this one, because eats celery all the time!)
12. What is your favorite animal? a camel
13. Where do you want to live when you get big? I wanna live at work.
14. What does daddy say? I don’t know.
15. What does daddy like to do? He likes to work.
16. What does mommy say? I don't know
17.What does mommy like to do? She likes to do her homework.
18. What is your favorite song? Hmmmm… my song is a dinosaur song.
19. What is your favorite movie? Alvin and the Chipmunks, the squeakquel
20. What is your favorite type of ice cream? chocolate
21. Where is your favorite place to eat? McDonalds

22. Who is your favorite person? Carter (his cousin, who is only a couple of weeks younger than him)
23. Who is your best friend? Carter
24. Favorite toy? Buzz.
25. Favorite TV show? Caillou
26. Do you have any brothers or sisters? (shakes head yes.) Violet. <-- that's his invisible sister.

I'm sure I'll be adding more photos up after we have his 4 year old and family pictures made on Friday.

Until then... have a great week!

Not Back to School Blog Hop -- Curriculum

The Heart of the Matter wants to know what curriculum we are using this year!

I am doing K4 this year with Aikman, and here's our list of things to study...

Our subjects:

math - Math U See Primer, Montessori math materials, and whatever else I come up with (being a former math teacher, that isn't very hard to do!)

reading - we're still working on the Montessori pink materials, but I'm beginning to wonder if word families would be a better plan for him, as he struggles to sound out words, but can tell you the sounds of all of the letters. We have several times a day that are designated "book reading" times.

writing - we use several different things for handwriting. I use the writing printables for numbers and pre-writing practice at Erica's blog and the writing practice at Carisa's blog. We also have some writing mats that Aikman likes to use, a "name journal" where he practices writing his name daily, and I'm adding a writing component into our morning calendar time.

science/geography/history - I go with the flow, and let Aikman lead me in these subjects. If he asks about something I follow the lead, and see where it goes! However, he has asked to be more like a scientist recently, so I'm not exactly sure where that's going to lead us next, other than with more experiments!

Bible - I use a mixture of books I've picked up, Bible stories for church, and Carisa's RRSP curriculum, mentioned above.

Spanish -- We are taking a family adventure to learn Spanish together this next year, thanks to Rosetta Stone. I am quite interested to see how this works out, and I'm sure I'll be blogging about how well a 4 year old can interact with this software.

In addition, Aikman also goes to a local church's Mother's Day Out program, just to get out of the house and to be around other little ones his age.

Making New Friends

Don't you just love the beginning of a new school year.... meeting your new teacher, making new friends! Well, it's a little hard meet a new teacher when you ARE the teacher, but it sure is nice making new friends in the bloggy world, which is why I am SO happy to join in on this blog hop!

Kylie at Our Worldwide Classroom is hosting this blog hop, just so we can make some new friends! This is my first time to join the blog hop, and I'm quite excited that some new faces may be reading my blog.

Just to introduce myself to you.... I'm a SAHM of a 4 year old, a former high school math teacher, and now a blogger. My little guy is very inquisitive, so I try to roll with the punches with whatever interests him, and then pass along to you what we're doing and "activities" (as my son calls them) that I've made. I don't have a lot of stuff up yet, as this is a fairly new blog, but I'll be adding new freebies on a regular basis. Right now, if you couldn't already tell, his latest passion is deserts and cacti!

So, come along with us on our journey!

:-) Leann