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This activity was made by a teacher named Debbie. It’s called Feed the Dog and has problems such as 10-7, 12-8, 2+5 and 3+2. I saw it at Oceans of First Grade Fun. You’ll find the link to print out the game there. You might be interested in this related post: Kindergarten Math (addition games/place value activities) You might also be interested in: Free Montessori Style Addition Sheets (No Regrouping):...
The past few weeks, we’ve been reading through many of Patricia Polacco’s books. I know as an adult, I get fixated on one or two authors (Paullina Simons–The Bronze Horsemen series, Jodi Picoult, Philippa Gregory, Rick Riordan). And LD has his favorite series too reading through all the Magic Tree House books, Beast Quest series (he’s on number 36), Andrew Lost and the A-to-Z Mysteries. We have all really enjoyed...
There’s a giveaway over at Living Montessori Now. She is giving away a complete Montessori (3-6) training course by Karen Tyler! I’ve heard about Karen’s courses for years now and everyone absolutely raves about them. Check out the details by clicking here.
I saw these ten-dot cards over at Oceans of First Grade Fun and thought I’d give them a try for DD. The object is to flash the card quickly, put it away and have them mentally figure out how many dots there were (2+2 or 4+4). It’s just another way of helping kids to become automatic with their number sense and basic addition facts. DD actually likes these and we...
What inspired me to train again: My kids are such an inspiration. They have boundless energy. I have been amazed and proud at how much they have grown this year as individuals. LD has such amazing strength — I find it astonishing for a seven year old. (That’s LD at the top of the rope. He went zipping up really fast! He has more arm strength than I have ever...
We loved this book! It was about a farmer who winds up running a long race from Melbourne to Sydney. Wonderful pictures. Below are two other Australian books we really love. Both books below highlight a lot of the native Australian animals.
DD has been working a lot with coins and counting change recently. Coin Toss and Change Counting There’s nothing wildly original about his idea, but boy did the kids like this activity! I just took a big handful of coins (the same for each of the kids). They took turns throwing the coins into the heart cups and then had to count their change when they had tossed all of...
The kids decided Dad should have a dragon-themed party (in honor of Ferno from LD’s Beast Quest books). I’m no cake-maker (my friend M is amazing!!!), but the kids were happy with the results! The kids enjoyed Dad’s scavenger hunt — it took them around the house, out to the tire swing in the woods, up our rope ladder and back all around the house!
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we started using First Language Lessons. DD really, really loves the memory work. So much so, that we’ve added in some other poems from this poetry book to the left. It has cute, short poems just perfect in length and in subject matter for DD. She really likes the Ladybug by Joan Walsh Anglund and memorized it within a day or so:...
Well, I finished my first official training week. I’m planning to run a half-marathon in September. I feel great and my “long run” which was just 6 miles was a breeze. I’m watching the movie, Running the Sahara, for a bit of inspiration. Three men set off to run across the Sahara Desert in 2007. They often ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for over 100 days. What...
We are using the Five in a Row book list and some recommended children’s authors to add some spice to our children’s literature readings. WOW! Have we had a wonderful time so far on this adventure! Here is our children’s literature book list, a collection of authors and titles we are making our way through (though I liberally add in my own books/findings as you see!). These books have a...
We’re enjoying lots of playdates and time with friends this summer. What a beautiful park! On another note, I think I’m going to train for a half-marathon in September. I’m excited to have a big goal — just for ME! 🙂 It has been years since I last trained for anything. My last marathon was on the Sydney Olympic marathon coarse… and I finished in the Sydney Olympic stadium with...
Someone mentioned this math website on one of the blogs I frequent now and then. I decided to check it out and wanted to mention it for those with kids in 5th or 6th grade. I think even LD will learn something from these short math videos. I watched two of them. They were easy to follow (from my perspective, though haven’t shown LD to get his opinion). The ones...
We had this ever-growing yellow-jacket’s nest on our front porch. Dad sprayed this nest twice without luck, so we finally called in exterminators. But in the meantime, we did some reading about wasps from a free download by Homeschool Bits. We learned that wasps are extremely beneficial. Nearly every pest insect on Earth is preyed upon by a wasp species. Unfortunately, this nest was right next to our front door...
