Learners in Bloom: RightStart math

Showing posts with label RightStart math. Show all posts

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Homeschool Preschool - Week 9

L and E are 39 months old. This was a really good week for us, but not without its ups and downs. There were some days when the girls were begging for more and more learning activities, and other days where they were whining and fighting so much that it didn't feel like we got anything done. That's fine - they're only 3.. Here's our weekly summary...

Math Games and Activities for Preschoolers

L and E are 31 months old. Here is an update on our preschool math curriculum...

We're still doing RightStart Math Level A. We've gotten through lessons 1-9, with a lot of repetition. The girls don't like practicing the same thing over and over so I always try to come up with creative ideas to bring in new math manipulatives or come up with different games and activities. I'm probably going to stay on these lessons until I feel that the girls have mastered the concepts before moving forward. Considering this is a Kindergarten math curriculum, we can definitely take our time.

The girls have become really good at identifying groups of objects to 5. We practice this in lots of different ways:

The picture above is from the Number Lap Books we're creating. I photocopied some of the pages from the appendix of the RightStart Math manual, and the girls choose the items that represent a specific number (two sticks, two fingers, number two, two abacus beads, etc..). Then the girls practice drawing a certain number of lines and circles (see L's paper in blue above).

We also play a game with a deck of Uno cards, where we flip over one number and then demonstrate that number using objects, tally sticks, fingers, or the abacus:

(and then they eat the corresponding number of Goldfish Crackers!)

We sing 'Yellow is the Sun' almost every day. It's a song that helps kids memorize how numbers from 6 to 10 are decomposed using 5 (6 is 5 and 1, etc..). We often use manimulatives to illustrate the concepts as we sing the song:

I've also been demonstrating what addition really means by showing them how to add up various objects, and by using the Add It Math Game Free Printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler:

Patterns and blocks are really popular with the girls, as well. Here is a photo of a game I made for them by cutting up non-stick shelf-liner into various shapes and letting them place blocks on them (blocks came from a game from older kids that we found for a clearance price.. great fine motor activity):

Since all the math activities we do are very hands-on, not just flashcards, the girls are really getting the concepts. I know this, because they demonstrate the things that they know whenever they play (even when they're just playing with each other and I'm overhearing them) - I love that math is not reserved for a special 'class at school', but is integrated into the activities and games that we play every day.

Check out Part 2 of this blog: Ten More Early Learning Math Games - Number Line and More

Some other math-related activities from Learners in Bloom:

Here are some links to other Mommy/Teacher Blogs with ideas for math activities and games appropriate for the preschool age-group:

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Homemade Math Manipulatives - Sorting Hearts

Here are some homemade math manipulatives I created for L and E (30 months old).

I've decided to use the RightStart Math curriculum for the girls. It is based on hands-on learning using lots of math manipulatives (and an abacus, too!). I'm really excited about this curriculum, but I'll talk more about that in another post. Level A is supposed to be for Kindergarteners, but we've already done the first 3 lessons and the girls are really enjoying it and are grasping the concepts just fine. A big part of the curriculum is to condition the brain to identify groups of objects instead of always count them. I wanted to create some of my own manipulatives to help reinforce grouping and sorting concepts.

These little hearts are made from Crayola Model Magic. It's an air-dry 'clay' that has the feel of foam when it is dry (and doesn't break if dropped). We used the same technique to make Christmas ornaments a couple months ago. I rolled the modeling compound out with a rolling pin and punched out shapes with a cookie cutter. Then I pressed different numbers of 'gems' into each one:

Initially I wanted to use different shape and size cookie cutters, but in the end decided on a heart theme for Valentines Day. I brushed a mixture of glue and water (equal parts of each) over them after they dried to make these more resistant to fingerprints.

The girls didn't help me with this project, but they had a good time making their own creations out of the modeling material:

These girls always impress me with their creativity (I think their project turned out cuter than mine)!

Back to the Math Hearts. There's no correct way to play this 'game', but here are a couple things we did. First I'd show them one heart and ask them how many jewels it has (without counting). The girls are really good at identifying groups of 1-3, but still working on groups of 4 and 5 (with the RightStart Math program, everything is based on 5s and 10s, which is how Asians are taught to do math, so once we can identify groups up to 5, we can do all types of operations fairly quickly). Then I put all the hearts down on the table and we sorted them in different ways - by heart color, by gem color, by gem shape, and by the number of gems. After sorting them into groups I asked questions about which group had the most and least, how many are left if we take one away, etc.. In future play, we'll do some ordering and sequencing activities with these manipulative as well. They are so versatile! I have a feeling that the girls (especially E) will want to pretend they are cookies as well and feed them to their stuffed animals - which is fun too!