I'm Sorry, were you trying to do your Homework??

Animal Habitats

This Biome Chart was the best thing I could find for this activity but I am sure those craftier then me could come up with something better:) I printed it out and brought it with us on a clip board. As we went to each animal we looked at the habitat and tried to guess what time of environment they lived in, then we read the sign to see if we were right. We also talked about if we thought the zoo did a good job of giving them a good habitat to live in. Then we would write the animals name on the chart.

Later that week with our homeschool group we planned an animal habitat sort and book picnic.

The kids really enjoyed this activity and with them sorted like this we made some observations. The desert animals were mostly brown, the rain forest animals were colorful and the grassland animals were yellows and browns and so on.

Dice Math

This is so simple! It is another one of our math Journal "Games"! Easily adapatable. For my little guy Jack(4) he just rolled one dice and then counted and wrote the number down. Drake(6) rolled 2 dice and added but is now ready to add 3 dice for sure! Caden(7) used 2 dice to multiply and could be given 3 to multiply as well. So simple!

For Drake(pictured) I drew 6 circles so that he could draw his roll and then write the number sentance.

For more of a challenge you could have them roll three dice and write it as one number Ex. 9-6-3 would be 963 and then roll three again to get a second number to add to it:)

Simple Math Games(kindergarten-2nd grade)

All of these "Games" are simple, very inexpensive to put together and very engaging!!!

My sons are just barley 6 and 7 and they loved these. We do Math journal style lessons at our house. I have a can(pictured below) that has little folded up pieces of paper in it. Each paper has either a word problem that they can tape in and solve or a "game". The games go back in once the can is empty and I add in new word problems:)

Graphing with Food!

Any math is more fun with food! The only cereal in our house is plain cheerios so this was a big deal:) I bought a cheap box of fruit loops at the dollar store and counted out 20 for each of them. You could also use crackers that come in different shapes or colored goldfish or what ever has some sort of variety:)

I gave them each a sticky note of graphing paper to draw their own graph.

When the graph is done they need to write one sentence about what they observed.

Bowling!!!

This game could be played with a dollar store set like ours or with soda bottles or blocks or whatever:)

 The simplest version of this game is to write 10 on your paper, bowl, and then write -7 or how ever many you knocked down.

Write the answer and then write a new problem and then bowl your second ball. Each turn should have 2 equations unless they get a strike:)

 For Drake(6) we stopped there but for Caden(7) we changed the values of the pins. So for example each pin equals 2 so his equation started with 20. It was a great challenge for him:)

Heads and Tails

Flip a quarter 10 times and tally the results and then go to 20 and as high as you want.

The kids were shocked that all of our results were almost the same!

Again I had  them right a sentence about their observations.

Candy Factors

I steal/save the little packs of skittles and m&ms from the kids Halloween candy. They don't mind because they know I will use them for school and they will get them eventually anyway:)

Start by ripping open a bag and counting them. Write the number on the board and then see how many ways you can split it evenly.

The kids noticed that the same numbers were on both sides of the line, then we graphed them:)

I GOTTA DOLLA!!!!

This is so fun! Put a pile of money in the middle of the table(real or fake or combo like us). The first player rolls 2 dice(or 3 if you want it to go faster or 1 for slower). Every time you roll you have to take the least amount of coins possible. For example if I roll a 7, I can't take seven pennies, I have to take a nickle and 2 pennies. Then you look at you pile and see if there is anything to trade so you have less coins, like if I just got a nickle and I already had a 2 dimes, then I can trade them in for a quarter! The goal is to get to a dollar and when you do you have to wave the dollar around and sing " I GOTTA DOLLA, I GOTTA DOLLA, I GOTTA DOLLA hey hey hey hey!" from little rascals! Keep playing till every one gets a dollar:)

 I have more to post but these should hold you over:) These are all easily adaptable to older and younger kids!

Cutting Boot Camp! (scissor practice)

Last week we did a fun little art activity that required cutting and my preschoolers did not handle it well! I decided to do a little 3 day "boot camp" to help get them on track. It was amazing to see the difference by the end of the week! With your child it is not necessary to do this in three days. don't move on until they have mastered a step:) My preschoolers all had the idea, they just needed to fine tune:)

3 steps:

1. Single Cuts

I pre-cut these strips of paper and then the child added the white circle stickers. Great fine motor warm up before cutting.

I did this one on one with each child during work time so that I could really watch how they handled the scissors. I reminded them to keep their thumb facing up:) and had them each cut between the stickers.

This is a great first step because they only have to cut once and you can really focus on just the proper hand position:) After they cut them all apart I had them pick up each sticker and cut it in half again. They loved it!

2. Cutting Through

Next step is to learn to push the scissors through to cut on a line. I just drew these with a sharpie and a ruler:)

 Again, thumb on top:)

If cutting through the entire length is too difficult for them you can cut the whole paper in half:)

3. Turning While Cutting

I used a little plate to trace and a sharpie to make these. The children used the white stickers to cover the circle.

Once the circle is filled with stickers the child cuts in the side and then follow the line and tries to cut each white sticker in half. 

This could be done with smaller and different shapes to add more difficulty:)

Update and Randomness:)

So I have been absent from this blog for a while and it's always awkward to start up again after a break so I am just going to hit you all with a big random post of things we've been up to. The truth is I have been writing blog post in my head but I am just too busy to get back into it. So an update before I dive in to the pictures. I am still teaching 3 classes of preschool at home, My kids are 7,6,4,3,and 2 years old:) Homeschooling is going great! I love it!

This  my little baby turned 2 today and my sister made him this white cake and gave him all of the stuff for him to decorate it himself! He was in Heaven!!!

We go to our local Science center about 2 times a month and they have done some really great activities with the kids! For this activity Camilla(in the purple and tie dye) filled a bowl with Soapy water and had Ally(3) blow bubbles with a straw. Once there were a lot of bubbles, Ally picked what colors of food coloring she wanted and dripped it all over the bubbles.

Then she pressed her paper on to the bubbles! It was the coolest effect and so simple!

Caden(7) learned all of his U.S states by playing this app called Stack the states in less then a week! He still plays it and loves it!!

Caden has also been building with our Duplo bricks a lot and loving it! He is usually a Lego guy but I think he enjoyed the big results-in a short amount of time, aspect of Duplo

Drake(6) and Caden(7) have a morning routine of Morning work(Purchased a years worth at TPT) Writing in their journals, and then doing their chores.

That's it for now but I really do miss posting so hopefully I will get back into it:)