Pass the Plate....

A fun, easy and cheap game.

This is a timed game where a group of children (or just you and your child) sit in a circle with a paper plate. Give them (or your child) an allotted time to write as many words as they can in a certain category as they pass the plate. Your child or the group of children can receive points for the amount of words they write. To make it fun, play a song and when it stops or when you pause it,  your child or the group will know they need to stop. I played this with my students and had them put their marker or pencil up in the air when the song stopped so I would know they weren't writing still. 

Ideas for categories: 

Word Families.....If you have a first or second grade child you know what they are. A word family is a group of words that all have something in common. An example of a word family is "ate" found in plate, skate, fate, slate, etc. All of these words have the ending "ate" thus making them a word family. If this is the family you're working on then write "ate" in the middle of the plate with large letters. To play the game your child will write one word that ends in "ate" somewhere on the plate, then he will pass it to you and it will be your turn. OR he will continue to write as many words as possible until you stop the music or say times up! Either way provides great vocabulary practice as well as spelling, reading and writing practice.

Grammar: Write the word "noun" in the middle of the plate and have your child write words that are nouns: person, place, thing or an animal around the word. Of course this can be done with adjective, verb, pronoun, adverb and so on. 

Math: Write "+2 for #'s 1-10" your child will then take all the numbers, 1 through 10, and add 2 to them. He will write his addition sentence like so: 1+2=3 another one would be 2+2=4 and 3+2=4...and so on. Of course you can do this with any math fact: -5 for #'s 10 through 20 OR X's 5 for # 1 through 5. Anything can work!

I'm sure as you think about this game more and more ideas will pop into your mind that can individually help YOUR child with skills she's working on in school at home.

Make it FUN. Give "skittle" points for correct answers or stickers to tell her she's done a great job. This will be a fun way to practice at home and make your child WANT TO LEARN. Just another trick to pull out of your bag! This handy game can be taken ANYWHERE, in the car, on vacation or to grandma's house. 

Have fun with it!

In order for any one to master MATH they must first master NUMBER SENSE.

Number sense seems so basic, but really it is the core to which ALL mathematics is based. 

So what is number sense exactly? 

Number Sense
A person's ability to use and understand numbers: · knowing their relative values, · how to use them to make judgments, · how to use them in flexible ways when adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing · how to develop useful strategies when counting, measuring or estimating.

(taken from: http://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/number-sense.html)

In order to better help you teach your children this basic, but most important skill I have posted some ideas below. The most important element to this learning process is to HAVE FUN while doing it and make sure your child knows that they are learning MATH at the same time!

1. Celebrate the Date!

For example: Today's date is 2-15-2011. 

Use these numbers in ALL different ways! Starting with the number 2. Write the number, create the number, count the number on your body (find everything on your body that you have 2 of), look for the number, eat the number, etc. Use ALL the 5 senses and be creative! Be careful not to cover too much material at once. Start with baby steps. Remember MASTERY is KEY! Maybe just focus on the day of the week or the month. Be sure and review what you have taught each day before going on to teaching a new number. 

2. Use a TEN's FRAME!!!

This is one of my favorite tools when teaching math! My 2nd graders had one in their desk and we used it ALL the time. It looks simple and it is. The POWER of the TEN's frame is something that I will refer to often when talking about teaching the basics of math. The POWER of TEN is something that is critical for our mathematical minds to understand. More on this topic later.

1. It is easy to create a ten's frame. Using a piece of paper draw a rectangle and divide it into 10 squares, 5 on top and 5 on the bottom.

2. Next give your child something fun to use as counters: cheerios, pennies, marbles. Then explain to your child that there are 10 squares on this paper. Count them together. 

3. Place one cheerio in the first square and ask your child, "How many cheerios do you see on this paper?" (Depending on the ability level of your child you can proceed to ask more difficult questions about number sense.)

4. Next bring to the table the written number on cards and explain that you are going to play a game. You will show your child the number card and have them represent that number on their Ten's Frame using their cheerios.

Let your imagination run wild with this one. The ten's frame is the best! I will be showing 

several other ideas using this awesome too!

3. Number Sense Treasure Hunt

This is a great game to play with kids! 

1. Explain to your kids that it is time to go on a Number Treasure Hunt around the house, at the park, in the car, really wherever you are!

2. The rules of the game include:

- I will tell you a number and you must find something that represents that number.

-For example if I say the number 4 and we are in the car then I want you to see if you can find something that is represents that number.  Like a STOP sign that has 4 letters in it, or the number 4 setting on the radio dial in the car, or 4 crackers on the back seat of the car. 

- Encourage your children to think outside the box and make sure that they can explain their reason for choosing that object.

3. It is important for your children to learn that numbers are EVERYWHERE they just have to recognize them. 

Have fun teaching NUMBER SENSE!

Please post any other ideas that you might have to teach your kids number sense at home or on the road!  

Valentine Dinner Conversation

Day 13

Only one more day left of our 14 Days of Love and Crafts series! This also means there is only one more day left to enter into the GIVEAWAY!! If you haven't entered yet, go to the right sidebar and click on GIVEAWAYS and enter!!

What are you doing for Valentine's Day for your kiddos??

We love quick and easy ideas that are fun and engaging and here's another one for you.

Having a fun Valentine's Day dinner with the family? 

Make your own conversation hearts! These conversation hearts can be made on festive paper cut into hearts, folded in half and placed in a jar or some sort of container. Make up fun questions and write them on the hearts. Your kids can help out with this too! Pass around the jar during dinner (or any other time during the day) and have each family member pull out a heart and read a question. You can then go around the table and have everyone answer the question. Don't be afraid to make up silly questions! We played this game in my classroom during our Community Circle. My students LOVED creating the hearts/questions and had even more fun answering them. Sometimes we found ourselves laughing and sometimes their answers just melted my heart. It's a fun way to bring conversation to the table, while enjoying each others company and celebrating V-Day.

Friday Night = Game Night

~Day 4~

Valentine Themed Game Night

Friday night is the perfect night for a family game night! So today after school gets out have your kids help you make BINGO or "HEART" cards for tonight's game night:) 

This website is the BEST! You can make your very own themed bingo cards FOR FREE!

check it out: 

http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/bingo1.asp

The best part is that you can choose what you want your children to learn as you create your very own Bingo cards. The site will walk you step by step through creating your very own custom bingo cards. Here is the one that I created in a matter of minutes:

H E A R T

I created mine to practice Letter Recognition. 

This is a great way to get the whole family involved in the process of learning and having fun together! 

To go along with "HEART" bingo cards you can use Valentine Day M&M's as your markers. The first to get a bingo or "heart" gets to pick a prize from a sack of Valentine goodies that you might purchase from the Dollar Store! 

Happy HEART night!