Ivy and Ella are both working on their times tables. With a few moments to think, Ivy knows them up to 11x 9. We're continuing to practice them so that they come automatically. We are also working on division up to the same level. Again, Ivy can almost always figure them out but they take more time than the multiplication because we haven't spent as much time on them yet.
Ella can fairly consistently answer correctly up to the end of her 4x tables, and is planning to finish to the end of the 5's before summer. The concept of division has been introduced but not emphasized yet.
Here are some of the games the girls enjoy using for practice.
http://www.multiplication.com/flashgames/ConeCrazy.htm
http://www.multiplication.com/flashgames/windows/washup.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Health Fair
We participated in the Trout Creek Health Fair last week. I ran a session about nutrition, based on a website I found about "Breakfast Superheroes". Ella helped with my research about calcium and non-dairy sources while Ivy independently made a fact sheet on why protein is important and how to get non-animal forms of it. We are not militant vegetarians but I feel that "alternatives" are not generally well publicized in the Canada Food Guide education that's usually taught. The girls attended my session and helped set up, organize and take down.
During the half hour that I had each class we spent a bit of time on each food group and had an activity to go with each. Of particular interest to me was the "breads and cereals". We chose to focus on the sugar content of various breakfast (mostly) foods. A volunteer came to the front to match the food with the corresponding package of sugar. A can of pop was 11tsp and a commercial bran muffin was a whopping 10tsp - almost as much! The daily recommended maximum (American Heart Association) is 7 tsp. It's not in the Canada Food Guide of course because we can live just fine without added sugar. The basic calculation to figure out tsp of sugar is grams per serving divided by 4 (technically 4.2). We discussed this in detail only with the oldest kids, who were in grades 4 & 5.
During the half hour that I had each class we spent a bit of time on each food group and had an activity to go with each. Of particular interest to me was the "breads and cereals". We chose to focus on the sugar content of various breakfast (mostly) foods. A volunteer came to the front to match the food with the corresponding package of sugar. A can of pop was 11tsp and a commercial bran muffin was a whopping 10tsp - almost as much! The daily recommended maximum (American Heart Association) is 7 tsp. It's not in the Canada Food Guide of course because we can live just fine without added sugar. The basic calculation to figure out tsp of sugar is grams per serving divided by 4 (technically 4.2). We discussed this in detail only with the oldest kids, who were in grades 4 & 5.
Winnipeg Trip
During the first two weeks of April the kids & I took a road trip to Winnipeg. It reinforced for me how much learning really takes place while we're experiencing things, not necessarily reading and writing them down. Here's a list of the topics that come to mind.
Socials
Obviously geography is huge when you drive from the Okanagan, through the mountains and out onto the plains. Changes in terrain, altitude and weather were duly noted. While we were in Winnipeg there was a critical focus on the impending flooding. We saw the Red River rise over the week we were there and we spent a fair bit of time trying to explain how river diversions and flood gates work to protect the houses within them (and what it means down and upstream). On the way home through SK we ended up taking a 65km+ detour due to flooding on the trans Canada highway. Not what we had been planning!
One morning we took a trip to the historic Forks area and had a lovely breakfast in the market, which Ivy wrote about in her blog. We briefly talked about the value of the forks to the First Nations of the area and how it was the heart of Winnipeg. It was neat to see the 2 rivers converge and note how much more quickly one was moving (the Red River) than the other (Assiniboine). We were disappointed that the Manitoba Children's Museum was under construction, since we've enjoyed it in the past, but look forward to returning again a different year!
The girls probably wouldn't count this as learning, but I toured them through many of my childhood haunts, houses and schools. I love the idea of helping them establish a sense of roots and family history. Whether or not it succeeded I may never know!
While we were in Winnipeg we made a visit to see the kids' great grandma in the hospital. They have met her a few times but hadn't seen her in over a year. It was the first time they had visited someone quite ill in a hospital and it was a bit shocking for all of us. They slowly absorbed what they were seeing in the hallways, in her shared room and in conversation with her. She was conscious and her memory is amazing, but physically she was very weak. We took half an hour in the lobby afterwards (over snacks) to talk about what we had seen and how we felt. This isn't in the curriculum anywhere but was a major learning time.
Ivy may not recall this as it was late evening after 12 hours of driving, but we had a reasonably long discussion about Canada's political parties and how our voting system works (based on all the election signs we were seeing). We touched on the concepts of "left" and "right" wings and how we might compare to some other countries in general.
Language Arts
In the car the girls listened to books on tape to help pass the time. They also got a new DSi game called "Scribblenauts" that I love. You face obstacles and can type in the name of any tool you want to help you overcome it (eg. you reach a deep river and need to cross - you could type in "bridge", "jet pack", "trampoline" or whatever you can come up with). It's very creative and requires correct spelling! One rainy day we walked the 2 blocks over to the library near my parent's place and spent some happy, mellow time choosing books to read over the next days.
Active Living
The kids' only 2 cousins live in Winnipeg and they're active! We met them at the pool one evening and followed it up with pizza. We also took the time to watch Marissa (11years old) do some gymnastics training. Since Ella has just gotten back into this it was neat to see her facility and what level she's working at. On a few of the sunny afternoons we took advantage of the selection of outdoor toys available. Frisbee, skipping, football, catch, lawn "darts" and shovelling leftover snow were popular activities. We only made it to a playground one day but it was good for over an hour of exploring! On the road trip itself we had a few stops at motels with pools, which was good for blowing off some accumulated energy.
Science
On the way home we spent 2 nights in Calgary, with the dual purposes of hanging out with my brother and his partner (Uncle Mark and Roel) and seeing the Calgary Zoo. Ella blogged about it on her new site (we're hoping to add updates most Mondays). Although it was chilly the kids hadn't remembered ever being at a zoo and were blown away. I had never been to one like that either! They fell in love with the Red Pandas but enjoyed seeing almost everything there. Ella especially liked the elephants and Ezra was thrilled with the zebras, tigers and monkeys. Mom was most enamoured with the (warm) tropical & butterfly gardens. There were some neat science displays there that were related to solar heat/light.
Our last night on the return road trip was in Vernon, an unusual stopping point for us. We slid into town with 15min to spare to watch some of Ivy's friends in their dance performance. Afterwards, we checked into our lovely hotel and had a long swim. The next morning we visited the Okanagan Science Centre for the first time. As it was very quiet, Ivy pronounced it "much better" than the one in Vancouver. I could not tear the girls away from the flight simulator!
Math
There was a LOT of discussion about how many hours/kms there were until the next stop, and how many left in the day. It lead to a lot of talk about how fast I may have been driving to get those results...
Not bad for two weeks without textbooks!
Socials
Obviously geography is huge when you drive from the Okanagan, through the mountains and out onto the plains. Changes in terrain, altitude and weather were duly noted. While we were in Winnipeg there was a critical focus on the impending flooding. We saw the Red River rise over the week we were there and we spent a fair bit of time trying to explain how river diversions and flood gates work to protect the houses within them (and what it means down and upstream). On the way home through SK we ended up taking a 65km+ detour due to flooding on the trans Canada highway. Not what we had been planning!
One morning we took a trip to the historic Forks area and had a lovely breakfast in the market, which Ivy wrote about in her blog. We briefly talked about the value of the forks to the First Nations of the area and how it was the heart of Winnipeg. It was neat to see the 2 rivers converge and note how much more quickly one was moving (the Red River) than the other (Assiniboine). We were disappointed that the Manitoba Children's Museum was under construction, since we've enjoyed it in the past, but look forward to returning again a different year!
The girls probably wouldn't count this as learning, but I toured them through many of my childhood haunts, houses and schools. I love the idea of helping them establish a sense of roots and family history. Whether or not it succeeded I may never know!
While we were in Winnipeg we made a visit to see the kids' great grandma in the hospital. They have met her a few times but hadn't seen her in over a year. It was the first time they had visited someone quite ill in a hospital and it was a bit shocking for all of us. They slowly absorbed what they were seeing in the hallways, in her shared room and in conversation with her. She was conscious and her memory is amazing, but physically she was very weak. We took half an hour in the lobby afterwards (over snacks) to talk about what we had seen and how we felt. This isn't in the curriculum anywhere but was a major learning time.
Ivy may not recall this as it was late evening after 12 hours of driving, but we had a reasonably long discussion about Canada's political parties and how our voting system works (based on all the election signs we were seeing). We touched on the concepts of "left" and "right" wings and how we might compare to some other countries in general.
Language Arts
In the car the girls listened to books on tape to help pass the time. They also got a new DSi game called "Scribblenauts" that I love. You face obstacles and can type in the name of any tool you want to help you overcome it (eg. you reach a deep river and need to cross - you could type in "bridge", "jet pack", "trampoline" or whatever you can come up with). It's very creative and requires correct spelling! One rainy day we walked the 2 blocks over to the library near my parent's place and spent some happy, mellow time choosing books to read over the next days.
Active Living
The kids' only 2 cousins live in Winnipeg and they're active! We met them at the pool one evening and followed it up with pizza. We also took the time to watch Marissa (11years old) do some gymnastics training. Since Ella has just gotten back into this it was neat to see her facility and what level she's working at. On a few of the sunny afternoons we took advantage of the selection of outdoor toys available. Frisbee, skipping, football, catch, lawn "darts" and shovelling leftover snow were popular activities. We only made it to a playground one day but it was good for over an hour of exploring! On the road trip itself we had a few stops at motels with pools, which was good for blowing off some accumulated energy.
Science
On the way home we spent 2 nights in Calgary, with the dual purposes of hanging out with my brother and his partner (Uncle Mark and Roel) and seeing the Calgary Zoo. Ella blogged about it on her new site (we're hoping to add updates most Mondays). Although it was chilly the kids hadn't remembered ever being at a zoo and were blown away. I had never been to one like that either! They fell in love with the Red Pandas but enjoyed seeing almost everything there. Ella especially liked the elephants and Ezra was thrilled with the zebras, tigers and monkeys. Mom was most enamoured with the (warm) tropical & butterfly gardens. There were some neat science displays there that were related to solar heat/light.
Our last night on the return road trip was in Vernon, an unusual stopping point for us. We slid into town with 15min to spare to watch some of Ivy's friends in their dance performance. Afterwards, we checked into our lovely hotel and had a long swim. The next morning we visited the Okanagan Science Centre for the first time. As it was very quiet, Ivy pronounced it "much better" than the one in Vancouver. I could not tear the girls away from the flight simulator!
Math
There was a LOT of discussion about how many hours/kms there were until the next stop, and how many left in the day. It lead to a lot of talk about how fast I may have been driving to get those results...
Not bad for two weeks without textbooks!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Daily Math
We've been trying to integrate our math into daily activities to put it into context (and to provide a reason for learning it!). Ella and Vanessa went out on an errand to buy us some apples from the "Apple Barn" down the road. They knew that apples would cost 50 cents per pound, and that we had $6. They set off and came back with the perfect amount of apples and big smiles. It was a great snack, thanks!
Ivy and her friends have also done this errand for me with fabulous results but sadly, I didn't take photos!
Ivy and her friends have also done this errand for me with fabulous results but sadly, I didn't take photos!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Socials & Science With Friends
Seasons
As today was the first day of fall we reviewed the position of the earth and how the angles mark the changing seasons. Ella, Vanessa and Leigha also completed a fall crossword puzzle.
Animals
Ella and Vanessa finished their project on beavers. They made a posters showing what kind of homes they live in, their life cycle, what they eat and what is unique about them.
Fur Trade
Ivy, Cassandra and Jessica did some research for our fur trade party next week. They looked at authentic foods and how we might adapt those to suit our current tastes. So far we're thinking about beef jerky, dried fruit and bannock. That may not be exactly authentic but it will be fun over a fire.
The girls decided what role they wanted to play and started to consider what they would wear. Using a measuring tape, ribbon and stakes they marked off the size of a northern canoe to get an idea what it would have been like (sneaky math...). The biggest challenge now is deciding what we will trade next week and how the system will work!
Last week the focus was on the First Peoples and what their lives looked like before contact.
As today was the first day of fall we reviewed the position of the earth and how the angles mark the changing seasons. Ella, Vanessa and Leigha also completed a fall crossword puzzle.
Animals
Ella and Vanessa finished their project on beavers. They made a posters showing what kind of homes they live in, their life cycle, what they eat and what is unique about them.
Fur Trade
Ivy, Cassandra and Jessica did some research for our fur trade party next week. They looked at authentic foods and how we might adapt those to suit our current tastes. So far we're thinking about beef jerky, dried fruit and bannock. That may not be exactly authentic but it will be fun over a fire.
The girls decided what role they wanted to play and started to consider what they would wear. Using a measuring tape, ribbon and stakes they marked off the size of a northern canoe to get an idea what it would have been like (sneaky math...). The biggest challenge now is deciding what we will trade next week and how the system will work!
Last week the focus was on the First Peoples and what their lives looked like before contact.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Money Math
It was girl guide cookie time again over the last month so we've been doing some extra work with "money math".
Ivy used the $4 boxes to practice the 4x tables and did a great job of using subtraction to figure out change. Midway through the selling we reconciled the number of boxes left with the amount of money taken in. It introduced the concept of balancing and we used addition, subtraction, multiplication and money counting to figure it out.
Ella worked on adding 4's to find out how much multiple boxes would cost. She also learned how to write the amounts down and add and subtract it on paper. Today we pulled out a pile of change and made equations with coins. One example was a loonie on one side equals 20 nickels on the other. She counted by 1's, 5's, and 10's. When that project was over she created this wonderful scene with the coins!
Ivy used the $4 boxes to practice the 4x tables and did a great job of using subtraction to figure out change. Midway through the selling we reconciled the number of boxes left with the amount of money taken in. It introduced the concept of balancing and we used addition, subtraction, multiplication and money counting to figure it out.
Ella worked on adding 4's to find out how much multiple boxes would cost. She also learned how to write the amounts down and add and subtract it on paper. Today we pulled out a pile of change and made equations with coins. One example was a loonie on one side equals 20 nickels on the other. She counted by 1's, 5's, and 10's. When that project was over she created this wonderful scene with the coins!
Baker
Ivy's first fougasse!
This term Ivy has decided to focus some of her energy on baking. She and Ella experimented with making up their own recipes and came up with "Butterfly Biscuits" and "Caramel Whizbangs"! They based their ideas on recipes they were familiar with and baked them independently in the toaster oven. The Caramel Whizbangs were particularly good and got great reviews! Their ability to adapt recipes and achieve not only usable but tasty results was amazing. The ratios they came up with were excellent and they made subtle adjustments in subsequent batches. A third recipe didn't turn out nearly as well but lessons were learned from that too.
The most recent goal has been to bake some good artisan bread. We took a few books out from the library and were most impressed with Richard Bertinet's "Dough". This afternoon we watched the accompanying DVD and made a batch of Fougasse. Ivy was frustrated that her dough was stickier than shown in the video but we talked about the fact that the baker had been doing it for years and this was a first attempt.
These cookies were made to take to a Valentines violin recital. A friend of ours makes the little flowers but the girls baked, iced and decorated the cookies. I help take them out of the oven but that's my main role!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sketch-Up
In addition to playing with Google Earth we've been learning to use Google Sketch-Up to design buildings. We are all starting from scratch but the girls are catching on quickly to the various tools. The biggest challenge has been learning to think in 3D rather than the 2D we're used to on the computer screen. Ivy has had the most persistence in muddling her way through. Mrs. Stewart-Heale (gifted program teacher) has been encouraging and is planning to send us some notes she's made on the program to simplify our learning process!
Here are a couple of screenshots of works in progress.
Ella's Yellow House
Ivy's House #1
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
trading post
Ivy and Ella independently set up their own trading post one afternoon after covering some fur trade history and reading the Birchbark House novel. They were careful to initially only trade supplies that they had found or made themselves. The early offerings included hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, carrots and windfall apples. The girls had to consider the relative value of each item and decide how to trade it. They also figured out how long their supplies could last, depending on how much they would eat or drink each day.
As they began trading with various family members the options became more colourful. Their grandma heard about it and brought some true treasures to trade with. She has worked extesively with the Mishkegogamang First Nation in Northern Ontario (Ojibway) helping them to record some of their history in writing. She brought two small booklets, one contains stories from an elderly man who used to be a fur trader and the other is a book of traditional legends for the area. She also gave the girls a carved bone pendant made by the fur trader.
As they began trading with various family members the options became more colourful. Their grandma heard about it and brought some true treasures to trade with. She has worked extesively with the Mishkegogamang First Nation in Northern Ontario (Ojibway) helping them to record some of their history in writing. She brought two small booklets, one contains stories from an elderly man who used to be a fur trader and the other is a book of traditional legends for the area. She also gave the girls a carved bone pendant made by the fur trader.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
web games
Several times a week we spend about half an hour on the computer playing games that we feel are both fun and educational. Here are some of the most recent favorites.
Science - Matter
or link to game
Typing practise
Story making (mostly Ivy)
Math patterning(Ella)
Science - Matter
or link to game
Typing practise
Story making (mostly Ivy)
Math patterning(Ella)
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Girl Guides
Ivy is a Brownie. Last week she researched a project called "Symbols of Canada" which was presented to visiting Guiders from England. Ivy had an opportunity to go camping with her group and learned new games, practiced a skit and participated in chores.
Ivy sold cookies as part of her membership responsibilities and worked hard on her math so she could give correct change. She learned the relative values of coins and small bills. She used addition to find out how much multiple boxes would cost and subtraction to figure out change. We counted the money several times during the sales period to make sure the sold boxes balanced with the cash.
Ella is a Spark and the focus has been on learning to be a good friend. She has enjoyed playing new games and is beginning to make friends with the other girls.
Baking
The girls have been helping me out with baking and they especially enjoy being in charge of pancakes in the mornings. They are both reading recipes, finding ingredients, measuring, mixing and frying the pancakes. Ella needs some assistance but Ivy can do this almost independently (with supervision!).
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