We veered off course this week and did some activities involving meaurements. This week was an unusual week, because we had a conference we attended starting on Thursday.  That really threw us off, but we were still able to get a  lot done.

We read Millions to Measure and How Long or How Wide. We used a yard stick and a tape measure to measure our favorite stuffed animals and compare their sizes.  Later in the week when my nephew was over I had each child pick something from the house that they wanted to measure and we used linking cubes to measure each item.  Then, of course, they spent lots of time just building with the linking cubes.  

We had fun with a book called Gobble Up Math.  1 of the exercises included measuing popcorn before and after it was popped.

We also measured things around our house.  At this point, I'm not trying to get the kids to remember all of the right terminology.  I'm just introducing them to measuring in general.

This weekend we are having fun with Pattern Play.  What a fun way to engage our children's minds!

New blog design

Yea!  Look a my pretty new blog!  Isn't it gorgeous?  I wish that I could take credit for it, but my peeps over at thecutestblogontheblock.com  did an awesome job!

The very hungry caterpillar graphing activity

Here is a wonderful and very fun graphing activity based on the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Spring Break!

I officially deemed this week Spring Break.  We weren't going to take a Spring Break, because our school year starts in Jan., so we haven't been at this very long.  However, the weather was just too good to pass up.  We did do 2 things this week.  We read the Gummi Bear Counting book and followed this lesson plan. 

Now, I have to warn you that this book is very simple.  It would be a good activity for children that need some extra practice with number recognition.  How I used it was that I would read the page and when it got to the part where I was supposed to say a number I would point to the large number on the page and have the children call out the name of the number.  This worked really well.  They thought it was fun, and it helped me to know which numbers they still need help on.

When we were done with the lesson plan I had the kids take their numbers and put them in order.  That was such a good reinforcement.  I definately suggest it.

The other activity that we will be doing today is a number hunt.  We are going to put on our "spying glasses" and go hunt for numbers around our house.  It should be fun.

For some reason my children are still struggling with number recognition.  So, I will be working on that, but I also want to ease up and do some other things, and just let all of the stuff that we've been doing sink in.

In other news, my oldest can officially count to "30"!!!  WoooHooo!  My son is this close, but not quite there.  Yea!

Mid-Week Encouragement

Here is a great article on getting started with Living Math.  Livingmath.net is an awesome resource!  It was a little overwhelming to me when I started, but now I'm starting to be able to gain some insight from it.

Check this out!

Check out the DVD!  Sid the Science Kid:  The Ruler of Thumb.  What an awesome introduction to graphing. measuing, and more!  WOW!  I definately recommend this one.

Sunday Somethin' Special

Here is a link to a great FREE game that someone on the WTM foruns suggested.  It looks really cool. Check it out and let me know what you think!