Tidbit #12: Hands-On Learning

#1 · October 10, 2003, 9:11 am

Quote from Forum Archives on October 10, 2003, 9:11 am
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #12 on October 10, 2003

Hands-On Learning

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope Chest is a free e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

Contact information:

· Personal E-mail: [email protected]

· Subscription: [email protected]

· Unsubscription: [email protected]

· To change your subscription, just unsubscribe from your old address, and subscribe from the new one. This will save me a lot of time!

· My new web site (www.thehopechest.net) will be up soon! I am no longer on Homestead.

~*~*~

Hello Hope Chest readers!

As you know, in a large family, its easy for the younger ones to get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes I dont get to spend as much "educational" time with my first grader as I would like, because Im helping the older ones with biology or Latin or literature analysis. Andrew does well with reading and his math workbook, but he really enjoys hands-on activities, too. Last week, while was in Books-a-Million, I found a book called A+ Activities for First Grade (Hundreds of fun and creative activities that help kids advance in math, language, science and more) by Naomi E. Singer and Matthew J. Miller. Its filled with easy to do educational activities which use items you probably already have in your house. Its the kind of book you can open up and pick something to do on the spot without a lot of preparation. Thats my kind of book! (There is also one for second grade. The publisher is Adams Media at store.yahoo.com/adamsmedia/acforfirgrad.html or 1-800-872-5627. ) The list price is $12.95, but I got my 20% teacher discount by presenting my Florida Parent-Educators Association membership card. Our local public library also carries this title, but its a popular one that is often checked out, so I bought my own copy.

Here are several activities we did this past week, using ideas from that book and some I thought of in the course of daily life.

1. I cut 26 index cards in half, wrote out the numbers 0 - 25, and "hid" these all around the living room. (All of them were actually in plain sight if you walked around, but Andrew still had to look for them.) Then I called out math problems, and he had to find the cards with the answers. These were not all raw computation problems, but questions that required a little thinking, such as:

What is a half dozen?

What is 10 + 5?

How old are you?

How many sisters do you have?

How many days are in two weeks?

What is 20 - 3?

How many months are in a year?

What is 3 + 2 - 5?

How many toes do you have?

How many cents are in a nickel and a penny?

When Micah (4) and Naomi (2) wanted to play, I made the questions easier for them. For Micah, I asked him to find the number 8, or how many fingers were on his hand, or the number with a 2 and a 0 on the card (20). For Naomi, I asked her to find the card that her teddy bear was holding, or the one on top of the big green pillow. Then Micah would tell her what number it was.

After Andrew had gathered all the cards, he put them in order in a line on the living room floor. Then I had him shift the odd numbered cards down a few inches and recite the even numbers, which is the same as counting by 2s. He brought out the Cuisenaire snap cubes and counted out the correct number for each card. Then he paired up the snap cubes to show that odd numbers have an "extra" that doesnt pair up. Then I had him pick any three cards and add the numbers mentally. I connected the corresponding snap cubes, and he counted them up to see if he had added the numbers correctly.

Andrew loves this game, and BEGS for me to play it with him! Weve done it several times already, though we dont go through the whole sequence each time.

2. I purchased a whole bunch of baby food on sale, and wanted to organize the jars for quick selection. Andrew sorted 40 jars into three groups: meat based, vegetable only, and fruit only. With a permanent marker, he wrote M, V or F on the lids. For combination dinners, he wrote MV or MF. Then he counted the number of jars in each group, and told me if the number was odd or even. We had ten 4 ounce jars of fruit. I told him that having 10 groups of 4 was equivalent to 4 groups of 10. Since he has done some place value problems in his Horizons Math workbook, he figured out that we had 40 ounces of fruit.

3. After I mixed up baby formula for Ben in a quart jug, Andrew poured it into the bottles. One bottle had 6 ounces, two had 7 ounces, and one had 8 ounces. He told me which had the least, which had most, and which two were the same. Then he added up the total ounces.

4. We made snack mix to take on a car trip this weekend. Andrew opened the packages of raisins, unsalted peanuts, Cheerios, reduced fat Cheez-Its, honey nut wheat cereal and mini pretzels. We mixed them all up in two big bowls, and then he scooped about half of it into zip-style baggies. We weighed them to see that each contained about 4 ounces. With 10 bags (none for Ben), we knew that we had 40 ounces. Using a permanent marker he labeled the bags with the names of each family member. Andrew likes to read nutritional labels, so he checked to see how much saturated fat, sodium and sugar was in each product. (He often tells me if he thinks something would be too unhealthy to eat. This is not always welcome advice if I happen to be munching on it at the moment.) Later on, we talked about how the raisins were packed in a cylinder shaped package that was sealed with an inner plastic covering for freshness and safety.

5. My husband Thad brought home a turtle that he found in Grandmas back yard. The children had a chance to observe its markings and movements closely in a large plastic bin before we released it in our back yard. We attempted to identify it using a nature guide, but according to the range map, I dont think that Western box turtles are supposed to live in Florida! Hmmm...

~*~*~

Well, those are a few of the activities that Andrew has done this past week to enhance math, handwriting, critical thinking skills, nature study, basic household skills, and practical service to others. He uses regular curriculum and the computer too, and I think Ive even heard him and Micah chanting Latin phrases from their sisters choir songs. But hes still just a little boy who likes to get his hands on learning!

Were off to the Celebration South regional church conference in High Springs this weekend, in case youre wondering why Im sending this on Friday instead of Sunday. I know were going to have a blast, but you its sure going to be a juggle to keep all of the children clean, fed, and in the right place at the right time! Thank God for terrific teens who help me so much, but do say a prayer for me!

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #12 on October 10, 2003

Hands-On Learning

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope Chest is a free e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

Contact information:

· Personal E-mail: [email protected]

· Subscription: [email protected]

· Unsubscription: [email protected]

· To change your subscription, just unsubscribe from your old address, and subscribe from the new one. This will save me a lot of time!

· My new web site (http://www.thehopechest.net) will be up soon! I am no longer on Homestead.

~*~*~

Hello Hope Chest readers!

As you know, in a large family, its easy for the younger ones to get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes I dont get to spend as much "educational" time with my first grader as I would like, because Im helping the older ones with biology or Latin or literature analysis. Andrew does well with reading and his math workbook, but he really enjoys hands-on activities, too. Last week, while was in Books-a-Million, I found a book called A+ Activities for First Grade (Hundreds of fun and creative activities that help kids advance in math, language, science and more) by Naomi E. Singer and Matthew J. Miller. Its filled with easy to do educational activities which use items you probably already have in your house. Its the kind of book you can open up and pick something to do on the spot without a lot of preparation. Thats my kind of book! (There is also one for second grade. The publisher is Adams Media at store.yahoo.com/adamsmedia/acforfirgrad.html or 1-800-872-5627. ) The list price is $12.95, but I got my 20% teacher discount by presenting my Florida Parent-Educators Association membership card. Our local public library also carries this title, but its a popular one that is often checked out, so I bought my own copy.

Here are several activities we did this past week, using ideas from that book and some I thought of in the course of daily life.

1. I cut 26 index cards in half, wrote out the numbers 0 - 25, and "hid" these all around the living room. (All of them were actually in plain sight if you walked around, but Andrew still had to look for them.) Then I called out math problems, and he had to find the cards with the answers. These were not all raw computation problems, but questions that required a little thinking, such as:

What is a half dozen?
What is 10 + 5?
How old are you?
How many sisters do you have?
How many days are in two weeks?
What is 20 - 3?
How many months are in a year?
What is 3 + 2 - 5?
How many toes do you have?
How many cents are in a nickel and a penny?

When Micah (4) and Naomi (2) wanted to play, I made the questions easier for them. For Micah, I asked him to find the number 8, or how many fingers were on his hand, or the number with a 2 and a 0 on the card (20). For Naomi, I asked her to find the card that her teddy bear was holding, or the one on top of the big green pillow. Then Micah would tell her what number it was.

After Andrew had gathered all the cards, he put them in order in a line on the living room floor. Then I had him shift the odd numbered cards down a few inches and recite the even numbers, which is the same as counting by 2s. He brought out the Cuisenaire snap cubes and counted out the correct number for each card. Then he paired up the snap cubes to show that odd numbers have an "extra" that doesnt pair up. Then I had him pick any three cards and add the numbers mentally. I connected the corresponding snap cubes, and he counted them up to see if he had added the numbers correctly.

Andrew loves this game, and BEGS for me to play it with him! Weve done it several times already, though we dont go through the whole sequence each time.

2. I purchased a whole bunch of baby food on sale, and wanted to organize the jars for quick selection. Andrew sorted 40 jars into three groups: meat based, vegetable only, and fruit only. With a permanent marker, he wrote M, V or F on the lids. For combination dinners, he wrote MV or MF. Then he counted the number of jars in each group, and told me if the number was odd or even. We had ten 4 ounce jars of fruit. I told him that having 10 groups of 4 was equivalent to 4 groups of 10. Since he has done some place value problems in his Horizons Math workbook, he figured out that we had 40 ounces of fruit.

3. After I mixed up baby formula for Ben in a quart jug, Andrew poured it into the bottles. One bottle had 6 ounces, two had 7 ounces, and one had 8 ounces. He told me which had the least, which had most, and which two were the same. Then he added up the total ounces.

4. We made snack mix to take on a car trip this weekend. Andrew opened the packages of raisins, unsalted peanuts, Cheerios, reduced fat Cheez-Its, honey nut wheat cereal and mini pretzels. We mixed them all up in two big bowls, and then he scooped about half of it into zip-style baggies. We weighed them to see that each contained about 4 ounces. With 10 bags (none for Ben), we knew that we had 40 ounces. Using a permanent marker he labeled the bags with the names of each family member. Andrew likes to read nutritional labels, so he checked to see how much saturated fat, sodium and sugar was in each product. (He often tells me if he thinks something would be too unhealthy to eat. This is not always welcome advice if I happen to be munching on it at the moment.) Later on, we talked about how the raisins were packed in a cylinder shaped package that was sealed with an inner plastic covering for freshness and safety.

5. My husband Thad brought home a turtle that he found in Grandmas back yard. The children had a chance to observe its markings and movements closely in a large plastic bin before we released it in our back yard. We attempted to identify it using a nature guide, but according to the range map, I dont think that Western box turtles are supposed to live in Florida! Hmmm...

~*~*~

Well, those are a few of the activities that Andrew has done this past week to enhance math, handwriting, critical thinking skills, nature study, basic household skills, and practical service to others. He uses regular curriculum and the computer too, and I think Ive even heard him and Micah chanting Latin phrases from their sisters choir songs. But hes still just a little boy who likes to get his hands on learning!

Were off to the Celebration South regional church conference in High Springs this weekend, in case youre wondering why Im sending this on Friday instead of Sunday. I know were going to have a blast, but you its sure going to be a juggle to keep all of the children clean, fed, and in the right place at the right time! Thank God for terrific teens who help me so much, but do say a prayer for me!

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles