Tidbits from Canada: Native American tale of Grand-Mère

Today I have another tidbit for you for your continent boxes!  This one is for Grand-Mère, Quebec, Canada, and from my dear friend Sandra.

We live in a small town called Grand-Mère, which means grandmother in French.   What’s interesting is how this town got a name. Well, it is named after one rock! 

Here is the story:

Once upon a time, the great Atikamekw people, a Native American sect of the Algonquins people, lived in our region. They had very brave and proud chief. One day, his only daughter fell in love with an adventurer in the tribe. The father was not happy about it, so he said they could marry on one condition: the young man had to bring him a canoe full of quality furs. Young warrior was aware how difficult and dangerous task it is, but he had no other choice then to accept it. On a rock in the middle of the waterfall, the lovers promised to be faithful to each other no matter what. Then the young brave set out on his big hunting trip. He never came back.

His fiancée waited her whole life for him to return. When she was an old woman, she begged the Great Spirit to leave her lover a sign of farewell. After she died, a huge bolt of lightning struck the rock in the middle of the falls, carving the face of an old Native American woman gazing forever into the distance.

This is why the Algonquins called this waterfall Kokomis, meaning “your grandmother”; hence the name of the town of Grand-Mère, founded in 1898.

Fifteen years ago, the complete rock was transported to a municipal park - stone by stone, to make way for a hydroelectric dam.

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Sandra is the mom to one and a web developer for Renaissance Creation.  She has been so generous to us in the past, providing some unique items to our continent boxes when she sent us a box of goodies from Bosnia.

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Do you have an interesting animal or landmark near you?  We’d love to learn about it!  Please feel free to email Aikman at:  montessoritidbits at gmail dot com.  I’d love to feature you on MT!  Please put in the subject line:  “Tidbits from…” and where you are from.

Top 10 books that teach fractions to kids

 

Since we’ve been studying fractions lately, I wanted to share my top 10 favorite books to teach fraction to kids.  If you’ve missed the other posts, check out the posts here, here, and here.

Most of these books are beginner level books, simply introducing the concept and terminology.  However, there are a few at the end that are really great, and begin to introduce equivalent fractions and even discuss the numerator and denominator.

Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan

I LOVE this simple book, especially for initially introducing fractions!  It is the story of 2 boys (and their dog) as they divide several food items from one whole into halves, thirds, and fourths.  There are few words in this book, which makes it ideal in discussing how each item was divided.  Besides showing the item as a whole, and then divided into the parts as a photograph, each page also includes a simple drawing of the item with it’s fractional equivalence.  (ie 1/3 of the item is labeled 1/3 in the illustration).  Simple. Realistic pictures. Perfect opportunity for dialog with your child to illustrate fractions!

Mighty Math:  Fractions by Sara Pistoia

One of the best ways to teach fractions is by using food!  This one shows pictures of food being divided, and it is actually the first one I’ve seen that addresses that the parts must be equal.  It covers 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4; however this one does a great job of showing them in real-life context… bakers use fractions when measuring ingredients, stoplights can be represented by fractions, and sharing among friends involves dividing items equally.  Short and simple; good for a quick review and/or introduction to fractions.

If you were a fraction by Trista Speed Saskan

What would your life would be like if you were a fraction?  Each page begins with answering this question with a fact about fractions.  For instance, on page 8, it says, “If you were a fraction, you could be divided into three equal parts.  You would be thirds.”  It then describes in words what thirds are and how it relates to the cartoon characters on the page.  The end includes a hands-on pizza activity that you can do at home.

Fraction Action by Loreen Leedy

This book is a comical fiction book that follows a class of animal characters as they study fractions.  many double page spreads consists of one page showing the class dialoging what a particular fraction looks like (very similar to the Magic School Bus books) and the other page demonstrates different images of what this fraction looks like.  Towards the end of the book, it does introduce equivalent fractions as well.

My Half Day by Doris Fisher

From the award-winning author Doris Fisher, My Half Day is sure to please all of the boys!  It chronicles the life of a boy as everything happens to him in fractions.  He awakens to find that half his head is shaved.  He plays soccer that afternoon, only to learn that each goal is worth five-eighths.  This quirky book will have your little ones (and you) amused as you read this story!  Plus, the end of the book includes a great section of supplemental activities!

Full House, an Invitation to Fractions by Dayle Ann Dodds

This is a cute rhyming story about the a house that is filling up with guests.  The rooms in the house represents the denominator (without specifically stating so), and as each guest occupies a room, the child will see how the numerator changes.  Delightful, and definitely a book that the kids will ask for over and over!

The Wishing Club, A Story about Fractions by Donna Jo Napoli

One evening, four friends make wishes, only to discover that only parts of their wishes are coming true.  One wishes for dollars but only receives a quarter.  Another wants cookies, but only receives half of one.  They all want to wish for a pet, but must figure out the connection (fractions!) in order to receive a whole one!  Beautifully illustrated with watercolors, and a delightful storyline.

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar Fractions Book by Jerry Pallotta

If there ever was a classic “teaching” book about fractions, this would be it!  What better way to learn about fractions than by eating chocolate.  It discusses topics such as illustrating parts of a whole, adding fractions, finding equivalent fractions, and even dealing with mixed fractions.  This books is no longer in print, but Jerry Pallotta has come out with similar book that is *almost* just as good --Apple Fractions – if not for the chocolate factor!

Working with Fractions by David Adler

This book explains to the older elementary child what fractions are and how they relate to life other than by dividing foods.  It illustrates that fractions can be used in any part of life.  It begins with explaining fractional parts, and ends with the child understanding how to add, subtract, and multiply fractions.

Discovering Math: Fractions by David Stienecker

This book is for the advanced child, who likes puzzles or explorations of topics. It is NOT an instructional book! Rather, it divides into activities and games that stimulate discussions about fractions. It includes problems that deal with looking at flags to determine what percentage of a flag is a specific color (some not too obvious, such as the blue in the letter D in the International code of signals is 1/2, even though it looks like it might be 1/3) Other games including dividing shapes into specified number of parts, Fraction War card game, fraction magic squares, tangrams, and other assorted puzzles that can be challenging while also supplementing instruction. Many of these can be turned into hands-on learning experiences!

Do you have a favorite book that teaches a math concept?

Photo credits to all images above:  Amazon

Note:  Most books above are linked to my Amazon store.   If you are interested in any of them, I’d love for you to support our small homeschooling family – a VERY small percentage of the sales comes back to us to help us purchase educational materials.

Studying fractions, part 3

If you are just joining us on our adventures, you can check out these other posts about how to teach fractions to kids using the Montessori method:  part 1 and part 2.

Aikman loves command cards.  In fact, it really doesn’t matter what is the subject of the command card, he LOVES the aspect of doing and completing the cards.  I was quite excited when I discovered that Montessori Print Shop has fraction cards and labels. 

Since we have already worked so much on naming the parts of a whole using just our fraction circle manipulatives, I did not print off the 3 part cards from the set above.  Instead, I printed the label cards, which we are using as command cards.

As you see, he sets out the fraction circles box as well as the command cards on the table.  Then he draws a card and builds it. 

As I walked past a bit later, I noticed that a new command card had been added…

I guess he had not found the the card he was wanting to build.    (Did you spot the addition to the set?)

 

 

At one point as he was exploring, I overheard him say, “Wow, Mom, 5/10 is the same as 1/2.” 

Oh my!  I guess I need to start looking into the equivalent fractions presentations… eek!  Later, he also discovered that 4/8 is also equivalent to 1/2, so he placed an extra 1/2 below it so that he could clearly see that they were the same.

 

Think I’m teaching fractions too young?  Well, it’s entirely possible to teach the basics to the primary age.  In fact, over the past few weeks at our co-op classes, I’ve been doing just that, and amazingly, every single kid “gets it,” including a 3 year old, AND a 4 year old!  Wow, were their parents’ surprised to hear them rattling off fractions!

So, have you introduced fractions yet?

 

 

I’m linking up to Montessori Monday and Math Monday.

Tidbits from Australia: the sound a koala makes

My friend Tracey from Australia, recently sent Aikman a note, telling us something interesting that she and her children learned while at the local zoo.  I thought it was so cute that I wanted to share it with you.

Here’s what the note said…

Dear Aikman,

On Friday we went to the zoo.  We were surprised when the male koala, who is normally sleeping, suddenly made this noise.

This is the sound a koala makes. 

We have learned that the sound is called a 'bellow'.

Hugs from Canberra, Australia

Does you child like koalas?  Or do you need additional resources for your Australia continent boxes?  Well, I made some nomenclature cards for koalas.  You can get them here!

   

Tracey, who wrote this post about creating a felt map and development of handwriting, has created a blog!  Make sure you check her out at Dream Before You!

Do you have an interesting animal or landmark near you?  We’d love to learn about it!  Please feel free to email Aikman at:  montessoritidbits at gmail dot com.  I’d love to feature you on MT!  Please put in the subject line:  “Tidbits from…” and where you are from.

TOS Review: Bright Idea Press

Oh how I love science curriculum, especially ones that not only incorporate experiments but also make it easy for me to use!  That’s where Bright Ideas Press comes in…

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been using their Christian Kids Explore Biology curriculum from Stephanie Redmond.  This series was designed by a homeschooling mother who was seeking Christian-based interactive lessons for her active kids. 

This book is a complete 1 year curriculum, primarily for grades 3rd – 6th, but can easily be adapted for younger children.  It includes 35 lessons, divided into 8 units – Biology basics, plants, birds, mammals, humans, reptiles, insects, and water creatures (including sharks, crustaceans, amphibians, and others).  Each unit contains a vocabulary list, materials list, coloring pages, 4-5 lessons, and a wrap-up lesson/activity.  There’s even a writing prompt over the topic, if you are also doing a science journal.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been using unit 2, Plants, for additional ideas and activities for the co-op classes (grades K-1) that Aikman is in.  This unit is divided into 5 lessons – introduction, photosynthesis, plant reproduction (which, we called pollination), fruits and veggies, and trees. Each lesson contains a reading section, questions to think about, typically a labeled diagram illustrating what is being studied, a hands-on activity, and a follow-up/extension activity.  Since my class is younger and most are not fluently reading, I teach the lesson using the information from the book. I use the questions as a basis for discussion.  Then we complete an activity (or three!) that is based upon this information.  So far, we’ve cut open a variety of fruits and veggies to find their seeds, dissected a plant, and this week, we’ll be checking out conifers!

What did we think?

I think Christian Kids Exploring Biology is a very thorough curriculum, as it focuses very heavily on vocabulary.  Since this curriculum is designed for older children, it really doesn’t fit perfectly for Kindergarteners, but I’d highly recommend it for advanced first graders or even second graders.  I do plan on keeping this book until Aikman is a little older; it has a lot of great information that could easily be transferred to independent study time when he gets older.

I must say, the greatest treasure in this book is the appendices in the back!  It includes reproducible forms and maps, quick reference lists for each lesson (ie components of a biosphere, types of vertebrates – these lists are GREAT for reviewing key facts), scripture memory cards, pictures to make an ABC animal book, supplemental activities, and a resource list of videos and books that supplement each chapter!

You can purchase Christian Kida Exploring Biology through Bright Ideas Press for $34.95.  An additional pdf of just the student pages can be purchased for $7.95, if you do not want your child to write in the book.

Read what other crew members had to say about this book and others offered by Bright Ideas Press here.

Disclosure:  I received a printed copy of Christian Kids Explore Biology in exchange for a honest review.  I did not receive any additional compensation.

TOS Review: AIMS

Aikman loves experiments, and I look for opportunities to incorporate math and science into those experiments.  However, I am not the best at figuring out ideas on my own.  That’s where AIMS has come in handy for the past few weeks! 

AIMS -- Activities Integrating Math and Science – is a non-profit foundation based out of Fresno Pacific University that creates activity books designed to give kids a conceptual understanding of these two subjects.

AIMS’ Promises to You:

• We'll make learning engaging.
• We'll make our activities affordable, and the required materials will be readily available.
• We'll make our activities easy to use, without compromising their conceptual development or effectiveness.

The first AIMS book was developed in 1981 from a grant from the National Science Foundation.  The main focus is on math and science, but has since expanded to include books on language arts and social studies.

I was given the chance to review AIMS activity book What on Earth? for grades K-1.  The book is primarily based upon earth science, but it also includes a section on the sun and moon.  Topics include conservation/natural resources, rocks and soil, water, earth changes, sun and moon, and the seasons.  Thirty different experiments and activities are included.  A CD also comes with the book that includes pdf versions of the student activities.

Since we have been discussing space and the moon here at our house, this is where we started!  We decided to try “Moon Go Round” which discusses the different phases of the moon.  The lesson within the book includes learning objectives, a list of materials used, background information, management tips on making the lesson successful, steps to complete the craft/lesson, and follow-up questions to ask.  I really like that the lesson included a literature connection, “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” by Eric Carle.  Likewise, this lesson also included a song that talks about the changing appearance of the moon.

Here’s our craft for the phases of the moon.  The goal is to go out and look at the moon and mark which phase you are on with a clothespin.  Over time, the child discovers that the phases of the moon cycle back around to the first phase that you started on. 

We have enjoyed using this book so much that I truly cannot wait to start the “Changes” unit, which discusses changes to the environment due to hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, ocean waves, and fault lines.  What I really love about this book, compared to the many, MANY other resources that we own is that the ideas in here are not the same ‘ole experiments that you’ve seen a hundred times before.  For example, in the hurricane lesson, it has the child examining images of the aftermath of hurricanes, and then has the child to try to construct a hurricane-proof house.  I also love the ocean waves lesson, where the child discovers that water, air, and ice cause erosion.

You can purchase What on Earth? for $21.95 in pdf or print formats through their online store.  We have loved this book so much that I’m contemplating purchasing others books from AIMS, such as Earth’s Explorations and It’s about Time.  Read what other crew members think about AIMS here.

Disclosure:  I received a copy of What on Earth? in exchange for a review.  I received no other compensation.  The book Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me is linked to my amazon astore.

TOS Review: TruthQuest History

I’m a math geek, not a history buff.  In fact, I fail miserably at teaching Aikman about history.  Luckily, TruthQuest came to save me!

TruthQuest History is a literature-based approach to learning history with an emphasis on a Christian perspective of each event.  For the past few weeks, we’ve been reviewing TruthQuest History’s American History II for the Young Students, which covers the history of the US from 1800 – 1865 and designed for grades 1-5.  The basis of the program is that the parent reads the short background information on the topic being studied (provided in the guide), books are read on this topic, and then where appropriate, a “ThinkQuest” writing prompt is used to then bring in the idea of how God is involved in this.

The American History guide we reviewed contains a very detailed list of topics to study, including:

• building Washington DC
• Lewis and Clark
• War of 1812
• inventions and science discoveries
• Pioneers
• Native American tribes and the wars that involved them
• Mountain Men
• Slavery
• American writers
• Progress out west – from the battle of the Alamo, California, Oregon Trail, and the Gold Rush
• High Seas adventures and whaling
• Underground Railroad
• Civil War – over 60 pages detailing nearly every aspect of this war!

I choose this product because this spring is a monumental time in Tennessee – the 150th anniversary of many Civil War battles in Tennessee.  In fact, the first week in April, a local battlefield – Shiloh – held one of the largest re-enactments ever in the country.  I wanted to use this product to help me explain the civil war to Aikman.

Instead of focusing on the physical damages of war, I wanted to expose him to slavery and how brave many of them were.  I started with explaining how the plantation owners owned slaves and how they were not very kind to them.  We choose several books from the list – Nettie’s Trip South by Ann Turner and Who Owns the Sun by Stacy Chbosky (out of print).  We also read several Brer Rabbit tales, which are based upon slave folklore.

 

Since we live in Tennessee, which was a Confederate State, I also wanted to read several books off of the guide based around this.  However, the closest thing I could find at our library was this book (out of print) on Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States.  We then created one of the confederate flags out of construction paper.

As a final reminder about the Civil War, I reminded him of our field trip to the TN State Museum, where we saw weapons used in the Civil War, and discussed how the soldiers lived and what they would have carried with them.

What did we think?

I liked that the guide was extremely thorough in finding books for each subject.  In fact, it includes TONS of books on each subject.  I don’t think I saw a single topic have less than 3 or 4 books – and that was for the lesser topics.  It also listed general guidelines for books and even if the books were out of print at the time of publication.  However, it is strictly that – a list of books on each topic.  It does include 3 “ThinkWrites” which brings in a writing and analysis component and adds in the Christian perspective.  For the number of topics studied, I don’t believe three writing prompts connecting a God and the Bible is enough to classify it as a Christian product.  The products for grades 5-12 may have more detailed studies with Christian views intertwined; it just wasn’t as involved as I would like in the product we reviewed.

The other aspect of this product that I would like to see improved upon is the “Activities” that are included with many of the topics.  The nook recommendations are almost entirely Dover books that are coloring books and/or paper dolls.  With an overactive child who needs physical activities to relate, he needs more than coloring pages.  I would have liked to see a list of additional activities that a parent could do with the child to supplement the reading.

Products from TruthQuest History range from Beginnings (Creation to Ancient Egypt), Ancient Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, Revolution, and American History. Each guide is priced between $19.99 and $29.99 as a pdf or $24.95 – $34.95 in printed form. Additional resources – mini-books/lapbooks, notebooking pages, and maps/timeslines -- are available for each product for $18, $13, and $13 respectively or as a bundle for $39.

You can read what other crew members think here.

Disclaimer:  I received a free pdf of American History II for Young Students free of charge, in exchange for an honest review of the product.  I did not receive any additional compensation.

TOS Review: Amazing Animals

Today is Good Friday, and it is with pleasure that I’m telling you about a new book that I was recently shown and given the chance to review! It’s called Amazing Animals by Design by Debra Haagen. Debra, a military wife and homeschooling mom of four, recently published this book, and offered it to the TOS crew via pdf format.

Why is a giraffe’s neck so tall? Why do zebras have stripes? Did all of these things happen by accident? When John and Sarah visit the zoo, they ask these questions and many more. Their parents and the zookeepers keep using the word design, but what does that mean? With its relevant message and exciting presentation, this is the perfect book to help introduce children to intelligent design.

sample of images from the book

Being a creationist, it is sometimes hard finding a book that addresses this in a fun, educational, and engaging way. Amazing Animals by Design does a great job of pointing out that many animals found at local zoos are incredibly designed for their own unique purposes – from needing reaching capabilities in order to eat to jumping backwards to kill its prey. These common zoo animals are often overlooked for the unique design God gave them, but this book points out the special “gifts” that each possesses. The storyline then explains what “design” means in simple, kid-friendly terms so that even a young child could understand it.

We have enjoyed reading this book, and it is always a great reminder that God’s design is everywhere, in all of His creations, and especially for our own lives.

You can buy the book here through Tate Publishing. for $8.99 in a printed format or for $7.99 in pdf,  See what others are saying about this book here.

Disclosure:  I was given a free pdf cope of Amazing Animals in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way.

Studying fractions, part 2

As I mentioned in this post, we are working our way through fractions, in a hands-on method – primarily using our Alison’s Montessori fraction circles.

Third presentation:  naming parts of a whole precisely

For this presentation, I took out two 1/2 pieces, and laid them in a circle.  Then I pointed out that we have 2 pieces which makes a whole, so each piece is called one-half.  I then separated the pieces, and slowly pulled each one into the center of the mat.  As I brought the first piece in, I said, “One-half.”  I brought the second piece so that it completed the circle, pointed to each piece, and said, “One-half. Two-halves.”

I then removed three 1/3 pieces from the box and laid them in a circle.  I pointed out that there were 3 pieces and each piece is individually called 1/3 because there are 3 pieces.  Then I slightly pulled the pieces out so that they were no longer a circle.  I then moved one 1/3 piece back to the center and said 1/3.  I moved the second piece to the center.  I then pointed to the first piece and said one-third and then pointed to the second and said two-thirds. I repeated this process to add in the last one-third, and then slowly pointed from one to the other stating, “One-third. Two-thirds. Three-thirds.”

We repeated this same process for as many circles as he choose to create.

Fourth presentation:  correctly labeling the parts of whole

As Aikman was creating circles one day and tracing them, I asked him if he would like to learn how to write some of these fractions.  He agreed.  I asked him to trace each circle, piece by piece.  After he finished each piece, I showed him how to write each fraction, and then asked him to label each piece as he wrote it.

This is his final work, using the halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and beginning of the sevenths, before he lost interest in doing this work.

On a side note, I know a lot of people are intimidated by teaching math to kids, and was wondering if you’ve taught fractions to your kids?  Is this an intimidating topic for you to teach?  I wanna know, and definitely will post more information about it, if others are interested in reading about how to teach fractions to kids!

I’m linking up to Montessori Monday and Math Monday.