Montessori math organization using a tacklebox

 

For the past few weeks, I have been working hard on organizing our supplies and classroom.  After seeing this post on Making Montessori Ours, I knew that I wanted to change our old sound bins cabinet so that it would hold our math materials.

I use this hardware cabinet from Lowes, but I’d actually think this one would be much better, since it has 4 rows across the bottom – perfect for holding the operations work horizontally. 

 

 

 

To divide the drawers into compartments, I cut chipboard so that it fit into the boxes perfectly; however, you may prefer to purchase the small and large dividers that go with this set.  To the right, you can see where I’ve added additional pieces of chipboard, taped into position, to divide the static and dynamic operations.  I also added a piece of construction paper behind each section, as a visual divider for the different sections.

 

So what’s inside?

Row 1:  nothing mathematical… in fact, it’s storage until I purchase a new cabinet to store our language materials in!  However, it will eventually hold dice, positive and negative snake game, math related card games, and other math manipulatives.

Row 2: 

• shape sticks (popsicle sticks that create the different 2D shapes, similar to these, but ours go up to a decagon and the sticks are color coded)
• geometric shape sorting cards
• geometric solid sorting cards
• blank (it is labeled constructive triangle command cards, but they were too large for the slot and have been moved to the bottom right box)
• detective adjective command cards
• strips for addition and subtraction strip board

Row 3: 

• Stamp game (I have a set that I’ve made, but you can print a set and instructions on how to use it here)
  • box 1:  number cards
  • box 2:  plastic tokens
  • box 3:  wooden skittles
• measuring cup command cards
  • box 4:  amounts to 1 cup
  • box 5: amounts to 4 cups**
• measuring spoon command cards**

Row 4: 

• addition equation strips
• multiplication equation strips
• subtraction equation strips
• division equation strips
• fraction command cards (as seen in this post)
• rulers**

Row 5:

• addition finger chart cards  (finger charts are stored separately – that’s a future post!)
• multiplication finger chart cards
• subtraction finger chart cards
• division finger chart cards
• small number cards (can be found here, but I made my own)
• number command cards (I made mine, but you can use these place value cards)

Row 6: 

• addition command cards
• multiplication command cards
• subtraction command cards

Row 7: 

• addition booklet (sequential and random order)
• multiplication booklet (sequential and random order)
• subtraction booklet (sequential and random order)

Row 8: 

• division command cards
• division booklet (sequential and random order)
• blue constructive triangle cards from here and here

Note:  Items marked ** are files that I created that will be coming out in future posts.  As these are posted, I will update this post with the corresponding links.

 

Like our labels?  I added an image beside the text, so Aikman could easily see what was included in each box, without necessarily having to read the words.  The images came off of the MPS website.   Jennifer at MPS is allowing me to share my printable for the labels with her images included.  You can download the math cabinet labels here.

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If this is your first time visiting Montessori Tidbits, don’t miss the great activities and ideas that are shared on our Facebook page and G+ profile!

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

Disclosure:  Hardware cabinets and accessories above are linked to my Amazon affiliate code.  The very small amount of money that I make on Amazon is used to support our curriculum needs for each school year.  All other links are to the Montessori Print Shop store, to which I am not affiliated.

Wordless Wednesday: Graduation

Organizing your books with Library Thing

With school being officially “out”, I’ve been working hard to organize our classroom and resources.  After searching high and low, I’ve settled on organizing our books using Library Thing.

Library Thing is extremely useful, as it allows me to categorize and tag books.  I’ve removed most of the default categories, so that the only ones left are my library and wishlist. 

I search for a book, either by title/author or by ISBN.  If it is there, then I click on the thumbnail on the side of the page, and it adds it to my collection.  If not, then I manually add the book, which is quite painless, other than filling in a few database fields.

I also like that you can review the book, add a rating, add comments, list when the books was read, from it was was acquired, o even to whom it was loaned.  Library Thing even links to paperbackswap and Amazon, if you want to purchase this book.

I’m also tagging a lot of my books.  Some will have only 1 tag, but most will have 2-3 tags.  I love the flexibility to display tagged books on a subject, which will help me plan out supplemental books for studies.  Likewise, most of my books are already sorted by subject; by looking at the tags, I will have a good idea of which box each books is located.  For instance this is a sampling of the ancient civilizations book collection that I have, in preparation for our upcoming study of ancient civilizations and history.

What I’m most excited about is that it is an online service.  While I am out shopping for used books at our favorite used bookstores or yard sales, I can check to see if I already own this book, or I can pull up specific books that I know I want to look for.  In particular, I am DYING for field guides, so categorizing the field guides that I own and/or adding the ones that I want to our wishlist prevents me from buying a book I don’t particularly need.

Wanna see our library (so far… I’ve only used it for 2 days!)?  Here’s the link!

The best news – it’s free for the first 200 books (which I used up on our history books and 1/10 of our animal books).  After that it’s $10/year or $25 for a lifetime membership, which is a steal of a price for an online service.

Do you use Library Thing?  Please let me know what other features that I haven’t discovered yet!

Sun Scholars review and giveaway

A few weeks ago, Rachel at Sun Scholars offered me the chance to review her 2012 Sun Scholars program.  Man, was I impressed!  It is a flexible 12 week program that is fun, but educational at the same it.  Weekly, the program encompasses all major subjects – reading, writing, math, art, social studies, science, health, and life skills – with each week focusing on a different theme.  Each day includes four 15-minute lessons to complete.  One day’s lessons takes no more than 1-1.5 hours.  Then if your child is interested in the subject, you can take the time to explore more.  Each activity for the day is listed on a printable 1/2 sheet of paper, detailing directions, materials needed, extensions, and adaptations for younger and older children.

The weekly themes are:

• Getting started
• Mail Mania
• Animal Fun
• Mice, Cookies, and More
• The Great Outdoors
• Beach Party
• Secret Agents in Training
• Fun with Fairytales
• Space Explorers
• Back to School
• Hocus Pocus
• Incredible Me

I love how the program incorporates writing using a journal, calendar skills, and creating an address book – all great practical life activities that are then applied.  For instance, in week 1, you build an address book.  In week 2, the child writes a letter to someone.  Later, in week 6, the child creates a letter in a bottle, and uses the address book to write the address on the outside of the bottle.

This same idea of creating a useful finished product that is repeatedly used throughout the program – for the journal, calendar skills, and other aspects of the program.  Plus, an illustration of the final product as well as any printables needed are included within each task card!

We decided to explore week 9 – Space Explorers.  There were so many great activities in it.  I loved that it incorporated math, science, writing, and art all together in the unit!

Here’s a sample of what one of the 4 daily task cards looks like:

…. and here’s our finished result of it!  (Complements of my cute 4 year old nephew, who participated with us one day!)

Buy it:

You can purchase the full 12 week program on sale now for $30!  Believe me, it is WELL worth this value.  I am already planning on going back and starting at week 2, Mail Mania, and continuing through the rest of the summer, because Aikman has enjoyed this program so much!

Win in:

Wanna win a copy for FREE?

Leave me a comment below stating why you would be interested in this program.  Make sure you include your email address.  I will select a winner on May 31 via random.org.  This giveaway is open internationally.

Busting the boredom blues

Meaghan at The Tuckers Take Tennessee and one of the founders of Hip Homeschool Moms asked me to write a guest post for her blog about combatting boredom during the summer months.

Today, my post is live!  Hop on over and read the 7 Ways to Bust the Summer Boredom Blues.

5 Days of Making Math Fun: Apply it!

Thanks for stopping in today. If you are just now joining in, feel free to check the other posts in this series: top 25 math games and 10 must have manipulatives for teaching math.

Today, I’m sharing with you the importance of making math meaningful to kids. As I was completing my graduate research, I learned that many kids are growing up not realizing that math relates to their everyday lives. It’s in the everyday problem solving and number sense, which are not natural things for a child to pick up; they must be taught math!

So, why is math so critical?  It’s in the realization that 50% off means take half of the price.  It’s in the lack of knowledge that many cashiers cannot make change without the help of the cash register.  It’s used when the carpenter wants to determine what angle to cut the wood planks for the pitch of the house, and then again when he needs to calculate how many shingles are needed for the roof.  It’s in the thinking skills for a lawyer to make a convincing and logical argument to a jury.  Even the computer you are on and the video games the kids play are based upon math concepts.  Math is truly everywhere.

… but math is just a bunch of numbers.  Don’t the kids just need to memorize the times tables?  Isn’t that enough?

NO!  That isn’t enough!  It is crucial they understand the why and the how; they must understand how it works and how to apply it to their own lives.

So, how do you teach applications?

1.  Those dreaded word problems.  Yes, I said it… WORD PROBLEMS.  However, instead of using fixed word problems that the kids can’t relate to, transform it into situations as they arise.  (So, I guess technically, I need to take out the term ‘word’, since it’s really just a real-life problem.)  Here’s an example:

Hey, Aikman, I have 3 apples.  Can you go get me 6 more?

Thanks, buddy. 

So, if I had 3 apples, and you just brought me some more, how many do I have now? 

Let’s see who can answer the fastest – me by counting them or you by thinking about it…

2.  Get out and use it.  The more kids see that math is out in the world, the more they will see value in learning it.  This website has great 1 page summaries of 24 different real-world examples that use mathematics – from earthquakes to facial recognition software to social networking.

… but my kids are small; they’ll eventually learn the math. 

There are so many ways to apply math to kids own lives, even as young as 2 or 3. 

• Play grocery story or restaurant.  Buy items, and then have the child tally up totals or make change.  Use real money.  Or, for a great real-life activity, set up a lemonade stand in your front yard – the little one gets practice with math and communication skills.
• Measure! Measure! Measure!  Measure the sofa, your height, or a blade of grass with a ruler.  Then pretend to lose the ruler and use legos, bananas, or shoes to measure items.  How many legos is the same height as the Barbie?  How many books tall is the doorway?  Lay down on the floor and let your child measure your height in footsteps rather than with a ruler.
• Cook with your kiddos. There is very little that is more interactive and mathematical than cooking!  You can double and half recipes.  It takes a lot of skill to understand and measure ingredients, especially if they are labeled with fractions.  If you miscalculate, your result may not look nor taste as you intended it.  Two of my favorite math and cooking books are Eat Your Math Homework: Recipes for Hungry Minds by Ann McCallum and The Math Chef by Joan D’Amico

Need more ideas? Check out the Everyday Math project, which has ideas and links for incorporating math in your everyday life. Also, here are some links from Canada’s Adult Literacy website that has some great math connections that can be used with kids: Kitchen Math, Home Math, and Money Math. (Make sure you preview all links first, in case there is content that you may not agree with… I didn’t see anything, but it is always better to be safe!)

3.  Learn to think.  Many kids find logic puzzles challenging, but fun.  They significantly build critical thinking skills that will be used later in life to build strong arguments. There are tons of websites where you can print free logic puzzles, such as this one, this one, and this one.  However, I prefer the Mind Bender books, and especially the “Can You Find Me?” books, as they systematically build from a very basic level up (preK) to advanced logical thinking (high school).

What other ideas do you use to incorporate math and life?

Note: Thank you for clicking on the links above. Items are linked to the Montessori Tidbits Amazon affiliate account. The very small amount of money that is made on Amazon is used to support our homeschool curriculum needs. Photos are personal photos. Can You Find Me? image is from criticalthinking.com and is not affiliate linked.

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5 Days of Making Math Fun: Must Have Manipulatives

Welcome back to Day 2 of the Making Math Fun series.  If you are just joining me, please check out the first post about the best games that teach elementary math concepts.

Today, I’m sharing with you what I consider to be the core manipulatives for any classroom or homeschool.  I use many of these manipulatives weekly, if not daily!  Through my experience teaching, I’ve learned that by using manipulatives, kids can visually see the concept.  It also appeals to multiple ways of learning – for the visual learner as well as to the kinesthetic learner.  Likewise, research has shown that if you can engage a child with multiple senses, the child is more likely to remember the information – and to apply it.

Here’s my list of 10 MUST HAVE manipulatives for teaching math:

1.  Hundred number board.  This is my go-to manipulative.  It is SO versatile.  Most educators use it to teach counting to 100 and to identify 1 more/less and 10 more/less, but it can be used for so much more!  Patterns? Yep.  Working on addition and subtraction?  You can use it.  Skipcounting?  Oh yeah!  Factors of a number?  Definitely.  There’s not a lot that you can’t use this little gem for!

2.  Deck of cards.  To me, this is another no-brainer.  Cards can be used to play battle games like traditional War (the larger card wins the war and the cardholder wins both cards) or addition/multiplication War (add/multiply the top 2 cards together; the largest number wins).  Here’s a great link that lists tons of alternatives of playing war with a deck of cards, as well as this one that lists games by age.  You can use cards for matching, sorting and grouping, ordering, and discussing odd/even – and that’s just for the lower elementary or younger kids!  You can also talk about reading multi-digit numbers, probability and statistics, sets, permutations, combination, and SO much more.  We keep a variety of cards – from several traditional decks to Phase 10.

3.  Dice (or should I say “random number generators” as I had to refer to them when I was teaching).  I keep a variety of dice around, from the standard 6 sided to multi-sided, blank to labeled in various way.  I can’t lie… I LOVE dice!  There’s just something about the physical movement of rolling the dice that is enticing to kids.  Most activities can be changed so that some form of dice can be used with them – to just make it more fun, or for the uninterested child, more of a challenge.  Here’s some blog posts where we used dice:  advanced counting, with tally marks, a pilgrim’s add/subtract game, letters and dice, and mapping the Iditarod game.

4.  Base 10 blocks.  I cannot imagine teaching math without base 10 blocks.  Kids can visually see what ten looks like, or a hundred… or a thousand.  They can visually determine which is bigger 10 or 100; 300 or 460; 7010 or 7000.  They can even be used to talk about fractions and parts of a whole, decimals, and percents.  So visual.  So simple.  So necessary in order to build a strong number sense.

5.  Pattern blocks.  From preschool through middle school, patterns blocks can be used to teach math.  Besides identifying shapes, sorting, and making patterns, they can also be used to study fractions, tessellations, and plane geometry.  Learning how to multiply 2 fractions couldn’t be easier after you study it with pattern blocks – and it makes sense, not just rote memorization  … and that’s just the beginning!

6.  Geoboard.  If you spend any time at all studying perimeter and area, you MUST have a geoboard!  It couldn’t be easier than counting squares.  Geometric shapes can be studied – from concave/convex to diagonals within a polygon.  Plus, for little hands, it’s perfect for working on pincher grasps and making free-form designs.  A tool for just about any age!  I ‘d recommend getting a double-sided one that has a circular pattern on the back.  This way you can also include learning about circles, angle measures, percentages.

7.  Tangrams.  No list could be complete with tangrams!  Tangrams combine the study of geometry with problem solving.  I mentioned yesterday that we LOVE Tangoes.  It’s such a challenge to try to complete each card, but the satisfaction of doing so is rewarding.  Plus, it typically leads into making one’s own creations – a math AND creative manipulative.  I love this wooden set, which includes a booklet of ideas.  Have a set of tangrams?  Well, you can go here to see ideas of people, animals, and things to create with a set of tangrams, or you can complete a puzzle a day with this calendar.

8.  Clock with geared hands.  We use a multitude of clocks to teach with – ones with moveable hands, ones with fold down flaps, dry-erase flat boards, and one with a geared hand.  My favorite is the geared hand, as it allows the child to see the progression on time as it occurs, hour by hour.  You can use a real clock and turn the knobs on the back, or this is a nice one that is kid-friendly.

9.  Geometric solids.  This is something that I think a lot of people overlook.  Many kids study geometry, but, outside of a Montessori setting, few study the geometric solids.  There are many different types, and depending upon the age of your children will determine what kind is suitable for you.  For the preschool to lower elementary kids, I prefer the traditional Montessori wooden ones. However, as the kids get older, from ages 9 through high school, I prefer ones that you can use for volume measurements (or to discover the formulas for surface and volume) or for 2-D study of the nets.

10. Scale and weights set.  This is another subject that a lot of people skim over, but I think it is critical.  This reinforces number sense in a real-life setting.  It can be used in the grocery store, at home, or in a business setting.  Scales can be used for problems solving, addition facts, and even algebraic equations. Personally, I’m fond of this one as a beginning balance for small children.  It comes with weighted bears that can be later used for problem solving (ie how many blue bears are needed to equal a red and a yellow?) or liquid measurements.  We own this beginner metric weight set.   We also use this number balance, which is nice for addition facts, but is limited to only that purpose.

There are so many other great manipulatives, but this is my MUST HAVE list!  Most are versatile, and can be used to teach multiple math concepts.

Do you have a favorite manipulative to use to help teach math?  Tell me about it!

If this is your first time visiting Montessori Tidbits, don’t miss the great activities and ideas that are shared on our Facebook page and G+ profile!

Note:  Manipulatives above are linked to my Amazon affiliate code.  The very small amount of money that I make on Amazon is used to support our curriculum needs for each school year.  Photos are either personal photos or taken from Amazon.

5 Days of Making Math Fun: Games

Math is a crucial skill for kids to learn. It’s used everyday, from problem solving to computations.  However, many parents believe that math is dry, dull, boring.  What many people (and some curriculums!) don’t realize is that math can be fun – and I’m not talking about just for those kids that enjoy doing math problems just to see if they can get the correct answer!

Over the past few years, I’ve learned that my son learns best by playing games.  In fact, the way he learned how to recognize those dreadful teen numbers was by playing a game.  Games provide a fun environment that allows the child to work on social skills, communication skills, and problem solving.  An added bonus is if the game is educational (and especially if it helps with math skills. *wink *wink)

There is something about playing games that makes kids learn the material – and quickly.  We recently changed curriculums to RightStart math for the sole fact that almost all of the computation tables are learned via games (and the abacus, but that’s a different matter!).  Within the past 2 weeks, Aikman has gone from not wanting to talk about addition to begging to play another round of “Sum to 10.”  (We use this kit for the games.)

You don’t have to buy an expensive kit, like RightStart.  In fact, we have made games ourselves from a standard deck of cards, and even using Uno and Phase 10 cards.  We’ve even used a simple box and 5 little items/counters to practice learning the addition facts to 5.

Games are so versatile that many can be used for different subjects.  I’ve seen all over the Internet where teachers have changed Candyland into a sight word game.  Oftentimes, I’ll take a game and tweak it so that it fits our needs, which includes games Aikman seemingly has outgrown. For instance, when I wanted to teach him how to read the number words (one, two, etc.), I made some cards that had the number words on them from 1 to 10, and played Chutes and Ladders with our new cards rather than using the spinner. (See post for free printable.)

So, what games do we recommend for teaching math?

Here’s our list of the top 25 math games for kids!

Colors, numbers, counting:
Chutes and Ladders
Candyland
Hi Ho Cherry O
The Ladybug Game
Bingo  -- there’s no better way to practice reading 2 digit numbers!

Problem solving
Sequence
Jenga, Don’t Break the Ice, Kerplunk, and other balancing/topping games
Blokus and Tetris Link
Set  -- PERFECT for kids ages 8+, especially for middle school and high schoolers!
Connect 4
Mancala

 

Geometry:
Tangoes and Tangoes Jr.
Geometry dominoes

 

Computation games:
Dominoes (I prefer double nines for practicing addition and multiplication)
Speed!  (the BEST skipcounting game!)
7 ATE 9
99 or Bust

Money:
Money Bags
Bankrupt -- from Growing Kinders blog
Pay Day
Monopoly

Do you have a favorite math game?  Please tell me about it!  We are always on the look out for more great games!

If this is your first time visiting Montessori Tidbits, don’t miss the great activities and ideas that are shared on our Facebook page and G+ profile!

Note:  Games above are linked to my Amazon affiliate code.  The very small amount of money that I make on Amazon is used to support our curriculum needs.  Photos are taken from Amazon.

5 Days of Making Math Fun!

Hi everyone.  If you are stopping by from the TOS blog hop, please check back tomorrow.  I’ve been out with a really bad cold since Saturday, but plan on having both days 1 and 2 up tomorrow.

Looking forward to reading your comments as I talk about how you can make make fun for your kids!

Leann

Mother’s Day Blog Hop: My Childbirth Story

As many of you know, I have an only child. 

To my husband and I, he’s the perfect only child for us.

Being Mother’s Day, I want to share with you his birth story….

My husband and I married when I was 28 and he was 24.  We both felt that we needed to wait 2 years before we ever tried to have kids.  To the date, on our 2 year anniversary, our little one was conceived.

My pregnancy was probably one of the easiest pregnancies ever – one day of morning sickness.  Besides the normal growing pains, I had no other qualms with my pregnancy.  Truly it was easy.  But I hated every minute of it.  I would later regret that I even thought it difficult.

Even in utero, Aikman was an easy, but very active child.  The entire pregnancy, he stayed head down, and those ultra long legs pointed straight at my ribs.  In fact, he kicked so much and so hard that I was internally bruised for weeks after he was born.

I finally went into labor the day after his due date – and the day before Father’s Day.  Upon arriving at the hospital and contacting the midwives who would be helping me through this entire process, I was told I was not far enough along to be admitted (only at 4 cm), and needed to walk the grounds of the local university until I progressed farther.  That was at 7am.

By 11am, I was dilated to 9, and just couldn’t take much more.  I was tired. hungry. scared.  I received an epidural, which entirely stopped the progress.  I was disappointed in myself because I wanted to try to deliver without receiving medication; however, his head was turned sideways and they could not get him to turn.  Little did I know that this was the beginning of one of the scariest moments of my life.

I had also caught an infection, and was running a very high fever.  They had no choice but to administer medication to me – for both mine and Aikman’s sake.  Little did I know that the midwives and nurses were beginning to panic behind the scenes.

The epidural I was given stopped the labor process.  I was then given medications to start it back up.  My poor body was stuck at a 9 for nearly 6 hours.  They turned off the epidural drip and waited an hour of pushing.  Two hours past.  The epidural wore off, and still no progression with the baby.  I remember still being excessively hot and repeatedly asking to turn the AC down.  Later, I was told that the air conditioning was set at 60 degrees, but I could have sworn it was at least 80 in the room. 

Still no baby.

Around 7pm, the midwives and supervising doctor came into the room.  Aikman’s blood pressure and heartbeat were dropping.  He was stuck for so long that his vitals were dropping.  He had to come out. NOW!

Off I was whisked to the operating room to have a cesarean.

A little before 9pm, our little bundle of joy was born.  Our 8 lb. 9 oz. baby was still in a critical state.  My husband was allowed to proudly walk him down the hall to the nursery, past the family members who lined both sides of the hallway.  They cheered for the proud father and newborn son.  But, my husband couldn’t stop for them to admire the babe.  Aikman blood pressure and temperature still wasn’t stabilizing.

Minutes old and sticking out his tongue

It wasn’t until midnight until our little son was out of the critical zone and I was permitted to hold him for the first time.  The medicine that was initially given to me in order to fight the infection that I had caught just a few hours earlier had made his body temperature drop, just like mine. 

After that, it was much smoother sailing.  I was still clueless and afraid, but together, we figured became the family that God intended for us to be.

 

That was nearly 6 years ago.  Aikman is a blessing beyond belief.

Our special miracle child.

Our hope.

Our gift from God.

Our son.

 

 

 

Head over to Critters and Crayons to read other bloggin’ mamas birth stories!

Using measuring cups to teach fractions

We’ve been working our way through the list of practical life skills that I thought were beneficial for Aikman to learn this year. Lately, I pulled out the measuring spoons, as an extension to our fractions study and in conjunction with our practical life skills.

If you’ve missed our previous fraction activities, then please check these posts:  1, 2, 3, 4, and books.

Supplies needed:

• bowls of varying shape and material
• measuring spoons -- 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup
• large bowl containing 4+ cups of beans, rice, or water
• command cards (download below)

First presentation:  introducing 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup

** Note: for this first presentation, you will only need 2 1/12 cups of beans/rice – that’s 1 3/4 cups plus an additional 1/3 cup.

 

(Recall that Aikman has already been introduced to fractions, so he is aware of what 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 look like.)  I first started with showing him where on the measuring spoon he can look to determine the quantity for the spoon.  Then I gave him a 3 period lesson on these spoons.

 

 

 

 

Using ONLY the command cards for 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup, I had him measure out each quantity shown on the card.  I showed him how to carefully level each spoon with his hand, and then pour it into one of the empty bowls. 

 

 

 

Second presentation:  using the spoons more than once to measure a capacity

 

This time, I laid out all of the cards, and I let him read aloud the fractions.  He noticed that there were additional cards this time – in particular the 2/3 and 3/4 cards.  I pulled out the 2/3 command card and our set of fraction circles from Alison’s Montessori.  I reminded him that 2/3 is the same as 2 of the 1/3 pieces.  I pointed out to him that both the 1/3 spoon and the 1/3 of the circle are similar, and then I asked him how he could find 2/3 cup like was needed on the card.  He proudly announced that 2/3 is 2 of the 1/3 cup!

 

Want a set of the command cards?  Click here to download them! The cards were designed to be printed front/back.

I’ve found very little online about teaching kids how to read and use measuring spoons and cups.  Because there is so little, I’ve added a pinterest board about measurement ideas – for capacity, temperature, length, weight, and area.

Do you know of any additional measurement ideas, or have you used an interesting way to teach measurements?  Please leave me a comment and let me know!

 

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

Favorite finds at the homeschool convention {and a reader discount code!}

Last weekend, I went to the Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati, OH.  There were some wonderful workshops – so many workshops that you had to choose between great speakers like Amanda Bennett and Susan Wise Bauer during the same time slot.  Oh, how I learned so much from the sessions!

I also had the chance to meet up with a few new friends, including author/bloggers Colleen Kessler and Cindy West.  If you ever get the chance to hear Cindy speak, do NOT miss the opportunity!  She has some amazingly creative ideas that are sure to inspire you and to get your kids learning.

However, it was the vendor hall, with ~500 vendors, I was excited about.  Here are my top 3 “new-to-me” products that I must share with you!  (I’ll guarantee that you are going to see LOTS more on my blog from all 3 of these, because I honestly cannot wait to use these products with Aikman!)

1.  NaturExplorers nature study ebooks. by Shining Dawn Books

I’ve always wanted to do more nature studies with Aikman.  I’m not knowledgeable about the outdoors, and our previous nature walks consisted of walking down a creek bed with no true purpose other than walking.  The NaturExplorer series are the perfect complement to my cluelessness!  Each ebook is 55-70 pages long, filled with 25-50 nature walk ideas; research ideas; writing prompts; artist, composer, poet, and book suggestions; projects to complete afterwards; notebooking pages; record sheets; and Bible Study/devotionals.  Clueless as I am?  It also includes general background information so you will have some understanding of the topic before you venture out.  Seriously, you cannot ask for more – in simplicity of understanding or completeness of a product!

I’ve contacted Cindy, and she has graciously agreed to a readers’ discount – $6.00 for the first unit study that you order!  Retail value is $8.95, so $6.00 is 33% off the retail price!  Click here and use the coupon code nature to get your discount! (Code good through 5/31/2012)

2.  Ring Of Fire science and rock kits

Growing up, I learned very little about earth science, and especially rocks and minerals.  Since boys love to learn about rocks, I honestly thought I would spend time studying up on this subject.  When I ran into Ring of Fire science by Myrna Martin, I immediately knew where our earth science curriculum was going to come from!  I truly believe that the best way to learn science is by discovering it, and that is exactly what this curriculum does!  In addition to the content for each lesson, she includes a hands-on activity.  One lesson she demonstrated at the convention was for sedimentary rocks.  You cut the crust off of light and dark slices of bread, stack them, and then compress.  Just like the layers of earth, the bread forms striations within the layers.  It was amazing how simple yet effective this lesson was!

Besides the lesson book, you also get a rock set that goes with the lessons.  A hand magnifier is also included, so that you can see the rocks at a 20x magnification, which really lets you see the details.  Wish you had an expert to teach you?  She offers her lessons on DVD too!  Learning about earth science could not be more hands-on nor easier in terms of preparing!  From PreK through your high school seniors, she has curriculum for all ages.

3.  The Classical Historian

The last great find that I discovered at the homeschool convention is from a brand new company.  The Classical Historian has created an amazing set of history games that can be played with kids from ages 3+, and with only one child or many!  Currently, there are 2 types of games – Memory and “Go Fish” cards – for the topics of Ancient History, Medieval History, and US History.  The “Go Fish” cards include directions on how to play 4 separate games with the cards, so they can be used to study topics in different ways.  One of my favorite games with these cards involves the kids using the hints (found in the middle of the card) to guess the card.

I love the pictures found on these products, as they are realistic and engaging to kids.  At the convention, I got to see them in action, and they were selling like hot cakes!  The kids (and their parents) were loving them!  I am not a history person, and these games made me SO excited to learn more.  Plus, they remind me of traditional Montessori nomenclature cards.

Which product are you most interested in?  Don’t they all look so exciting!

Note:  This is NOT a sponsored post!  I am just passing on these great resources that I’ve discovered, in hopes that you too will find them just as useful and awesome as I did!

All photos are taken from their respective websites.

Disclaimer:  I signed up to be an affiliate for Shining Dawn Books, and the link above is connected to my affiliate account.  I make a very small percentage of money off of the affiliate links, to help provide our one-income family with the best homeschooling materials available.  The Classical Historian and Ring of Fire products are not linked to affiliate programs.