Piwi Kids

Showing posts with label math. Show all posts

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Geometry unit for Preschool and Elementary age

Add caption

We use Math in Focus as our main curriculum. This does include some hands on activites and extensions but I am always open to adding more! I have been waiting for Miss K's geometry unit so we could do this Shape lap book from Hands of a child.

To align it with the Math in Focus lessons we added some extra mini books into it for:
Properties of Trapazoids & Hexagons
Line segments and curves
Area & Perimeter
I printed extra so Mini Piwi could make her own shape poster. Unfortunately i dont have a photo of this because she later took to it with her safety scissor.
She also enjoyed a lot of the Shape printables from 3 Dinosaurs.com

Online resources we used for practice:

Sorting Plane shapes and Solid Shapes
Identify the 3D shape game
Shape Inlay -Tetris crossed with a Tangram type of game
Triangle sort
Shape Lab
Polygon Playground

We also made shape biscuits. I got distracted with spelling and overcooked them a bit but they were still popular.

Including Mini Piwi in the Shape activities:

I had printed extra copies of some of basic shape mini books so Mini Piwi could make her own shape poster. Unfortunately i dont have a photo of this because she later took to it with her safety scissor.

She also enjoyed a lot of the Shape printables from 3 Dinosaurs.com

Online Pre School resources we used:

Umi Zoomi Shape building game @Nick Jr
Shape puzzle
Purpy's shape search
ABC Mouse

She spent a little bit of time making pictures with the plastic shape but wasn't as enthusastic about it as I thought she might be.

Our Fun Math books

This week we read Which is round, Which is bigger by Mineko Mamada.
It was a great way to prompt Mini Piwi to make comparisons between shapes and objects. The cute and funny title is an English translation from the original Japanese book. Toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy answering questions about objects, the answers at first seem obvious until the next page reveals a twist.

Another point and giggle book with a Math theme we read was 100 Animals on Parade by Masayuki Sebe. We all spent a long time with this book counting animals and spotting all the objects the author asks you to find. The kids loved the busy illustrations and the I spy concept.

*Disclosure: I received a free digital copy of these books through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Math with Apples Project

This week we read 'An Apple pie for Dinner' and practiced our measuring skills with an apple Math investigation.

This book is very cute! Granny Smith (pun intended) wants to bake an apple pie but she doesnt have any apples. All she has is a basket of plums and sets off in the hope that she can trade them. The illustrations are very fairy tale like and reminded me of the amazing shadow applique my grandma used to create.

Apple Math:

Earlier in the day we had compared raisins and grapes and talked about how drying removes the water.
The goal for apple investigation was to find out how much weight an apple looses when it is dried. Mini Piwi was chief fruit weigh-person, Miss K was the data recorder and self proclaimed 'calculator of the important stuff'.

Here's the method I wrote for the Piwis to follow

1. Have a grown-up peel, core and slice 2 apples into thin pieces.

2. Line a baking pan with baking paper and ask Mama to turn the oven on to 200 degrees

3. Weigh the slices from each apple and record the measurement for each one

4. Lay the apple slices on the pan

5. Ask a grownup to put the pan into the oven

6. Wait patiently :-) for about 1 hour until the apple slices are dry.

7. Ask a grown up to remove the pan from the oven at let tthe apples cool

8. Weigh all the dried apples to find their new total mass.

9. Eat the apples!

There are so many things you could have kids calculate from this activity. We kept it fairly simple and I asked Miss K to find:

1. The total mass of the apples before they went into the oven
2. How much mass the apples had lost from the drying

Another calculation that occured to me (after we were done) was the mass of the core and/or peel we had removed.

The Piwi's really enjoyed their snack and even Miss K declared that this kind of math was actually fun.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Getting ready for Valentines day-gifts and decs

The Piwi's have been busy getting ready for Valentines Day this week. Miss K is a natural party planner and it looks like Mini Piwi is now her apprentice.

I made these multiplication 'broken hearts to practice her times tables. She matched them up and then decided to tape them together so she could turn them into a Heart banner for Valentines day.

Mini Piwi made a basket of flowers for Miss K from the dyed coffee filters she made when we were tracing marker letters with water. She has them hidden in her 'stash' to give Big sis. Mini Piwi has taken over a cupboard and stores all her treasures there. It is known as her 'stash'. If you can't find something it is most likely there.

Mini Piwi made some paper plate valentines cards which were later used to decorate the fridge after Miss K put her copy work there.

The kids made felt toys for Perry the cat. I had previously punch holes in the edge of Mini piwi's felt so she could use a plastic needle and yarn to stitch around her one.

Miss K blanket stitched her one....I'm pretty sure Mr Perry will be happy with his gifts!

Mr Perry had decided not to eat the wet food Piwi Daddy had purchased in a case of 24 last week. I was going to take it down to the local Petco and donate it. Miss K had a better idea and to wrap them up individually for the cats at the local rescue center we visit frequently. The Piwi's aren;t old enough to volunteer but they are allowed to the adoption events and hang out with the kitties. We are going to take the gifts down over the weekend and give them their valentines gift.

Tonight we made decorated chocolates. This time it was just melted chocolate. The food processor didnt come out like last week's recipe for 'old school chocolate'. Last week's cacoa nibs are probably preferable though as this red colored chocolate was near flourescent!

They were supposed to be for Valentines dessert but this plateful disappeared pretty much as soon as I took the picture. Thankfully there are still plenty!

Mini Piwi chilled out after the chocolate with Splat the Cat new Valentine book

Happy Valentine's Day from the Piwi's!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

What works for us...Math

2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair @Homeschooling Hearts and Minds.

Week 2 topic: Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science

Shortly after Miss K began soaring ahead in Reading , she became aware that Math did not come to her so easily. The novelty of the new curriculum in first grade wore off very quickly. We knew she needed something else but we were locked into the schedule of the virtual curriculum. In the end we supplemented with Saxon and vowed to find something better this year.

After some research we settled on Math in Focus (MIF) by Singapore math. Each lesson has a guided practice section we do together and a lesson in the workbook. Our only issue was that it does introduce Multiplication and division fairly early on. Sensing we would need to revise a bit on skip counting and addition facts. I decided to bypass it and come back to it later in the year.

To be honest, I am a bit sneaky with Math. I discovered that as long as it doesn't 'look' like math, Miss K does not consider it an additional math lesson. Today was a good example. We use workboxes. The picture is from the first week of school in June (two apartments ago...did I mention we move a lot?)

Box 1: LA book
Box 2: Math lesson from the MIF text.
Box 3:Spelling.
Box 4:MIF workbook pages for today's lesson
Box 5:Test prep practice (3 questions LA, 3 questions Math)
Box 6: Science Unit study (Currently Ocean)
Box 7: Time/clock activity
Box 8: Call to faith
Box 9: Color by number +/- facts pages (From enchanted homeschooling -awesome!)
Box 10: Reading
Box 11 IXL.com math
Box 12: Boggle

Miss K had 5 'Math' workboxes, but the only groans about Math were when she was about to start with MIF. The groans on the Miss K scale were also only about a 2 (compared to 9 or 10s we were getting last year with the virtual curriculum). If we did 5 lessons of math from the textbook I could only imagine the response.

I have also tried to incorporate a Hands on Math activity each day that Miss K and Mini Piwi (3) can both work on.

Math happens all around us and I wanted Miss K to understand the importance of knowing how it works. She also needed to be able to see that it could be fun. If there isn't a project we can do to explain something then I usually end up doing an impromptu 'puppet show' using what ever toys I reach first. Yesterday, I had a (plastic) crab and a lobster explaining to Miss K about a mental math technique. If she's laughing, she's not getting frustrated and wanting to give up. It also kept Mini Piwi entertained.

I might sound relaxed about math. However, it is something that has had me praying for help and guidance. It is hard for any Mama to watch their child struggle with something. The 'I hate Math' comment still happens but we hear it less. When it does, I consider it a sign that we need to slow down and get ready to bring out the talking lobsters.

Check out all the other VCF posts on this week's topic: Math & Science

HTML:
Delight Directed Middle School Science? by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
The Hardest Part of Math by Kristi @ The Potter's Hand Academy
A Tour Through Our Math and Science Life by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool What Works for Us…Math by Piwi Mum @ Learning & Growing the Piwi Way Math Art – Geometry by Julie @ Highhill Education It's Math-magical by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings Virtual Curriculum Fair: Fun and Games with Math by Tonia @ The Sunny Patch Discovering Patterns by Lisa @ The Golden Grasses Math for the Natural by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness Virtual Curriculum Fair~ Discovering Patterns by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me Too Many Math Programs or Not by Linda B @ Homeschooling6 Virtual Curriculum Fair: Math and More! by April @ Coffee, Cobwebs, and Curriculum The post where I admit I was wrong by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset High School Math - Beyond the Textbook by TechWife @ A Playground of Words Discovering a World of Logic and Order by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair- Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science by Leah C @ As We Walk Along the Road
The Plans of Mice and Math (My Math in Focus review) by Chelli @ The Planted Trees
Rightstart Math is right for us! by Leann @ Montessori Tidbits
Our Favorite Homeschool Math Curriculums by Wendy @ Homeschooling Blessings

Shared with the new linky party....

Monday kid corner

Friday, December 21, 2012

10 little ladybugs

I asked Mini Piwi to choose a book she wanted to do some 'arts' (Mini piwi's word to describe her tot school) with. I had been doing the choosing so I was interested to see what she would come up with. She disappeared into Miss K's room and came back with '10 little ladybugs' by Melanie Gerth

This has been one book that both kids have yet to grow tired of after years of reading it. I think it is the catchy rhyme and the 2D ladybugs that 'disappear' that makes it more fun. We read the book and pulled out her C is for Caterpillar folder and did this activity from 1+1+1=1

After 'night night', I worked on making up some bugs and critters. At this point I wasn't too sure what we were going to make with them. Thankfully I woke up with an idea to turn it into a felt board/puppet show activity. Mini Piwi glued all of the critters onto cardstock squares.

We attached popsicle to all the animals except the ladybugs.

I draw a background for the ladybugs to rest on.

piwi kids 2012

As I read the book, Mini Piwi would hold up the animal on the page that was taking a ladybug away and pop one ladybug under the flower flap. We counted down until they were all gone, just like in the book...and then Mini Piwi got to open the flap for the surprise ending...

Piwi kids 2012

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Mini Piwi & the Scales

There are so many nice printables for Christmas! Mini Piwi had fun with the tracing ones -she wanted to do all the ones I had printed in one go..

Every day this week we had at least one set of scales out for Big Sis's Math. Mini Piwi usually claimed it after our lesson and weighed everything from Christmas decorations to toys.

I really thought this decorating activity would be a hit but Mini Piwi is started to frustrated if a star wasn't perfectly placed....We moved onto something else.