The Glorious Flight {FIAR}
Thursday, April 9, 2015
We love this book! I mean it. It’s funny yet full of lessons from history. It teaches the reader of never giving up, of persistence and following dreams. And did you know that this book is based on a true story of Louis Bleriot, the first person to fly an airplane in the English Channel.
This is one book that I highly recommend reading when studying airplanes! And you get to study history as well :)
Geography
Now the setting of the story is in France. So we spot France in our Montessori Europe Puzzle Map and identify the English Channel where Louis Bleriot flew.
in addition, we check out landforms as well, as Mavi was asking me “Mommy, what is a channel?”
Since it is in France, Mavi made the flag of France. I was surprise he still remembers the colours.
And of course, the exciting part was creating the English Channel using our coloured rice, Europe Pin Flags and Learning Resources Transportation counters.
Math
The book was using Roman Numerals so we made Roman Numerals for each Montessori Number Cards. This was a huge hit! I even learned from this… the Roman Numerals of thousands!
Science
We studied Airplanes! Here are the books we used:
They were all helpful! The only thing that we didn’t do was to have an experiment on flying. Oh well, maybe next time.
Interested in learning the different parts of an airplane? I have FREE 3-part cards for you!
Mavi loves to read and match the parts. I have yet to create definition booklet for this. But Mavi knew all the functions of each parts by heart so he was discussing it to me while doing the work.
History
We created a timeline for the airplane. Starting from the discovery of the Wright brothers up to the very present of airliners (this was Mavi’s idea).
And that’s about it! We have a fruitful week for this! I didn’t know that rowing FIAR books could be this exciting and fun!
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Number Cards and Roman Numerals (with FREE Cards)
Thursday, March 26, 2015
As you all know, we are rowing books from Five in a Row (we are loving this so far!). This lesson in Roman Numerals is in line with the book The Glorious Flight (My son enjoyed every single page of this book! He even made a video narration of this book which you can watch here.). This is the first time Mavi encountered such numbers and he was surprised to learn that the numbers are represented by letters!
I made use of our wooden Montessori number cards for this lesson and roman numerals handwritten on a paper (I ran out of printer ink!). We started off with the units (ones). He got the pattern right away and continued working up to the hundreds.
We stumbled on the thousands as I myself was not knowledgeable of the the Roman Numerals in thousands LOL. We searched the web for the corresponding symbol for this.
He realized that he only needs to memorize a few letters because the representation is almost the same as counting 1,2,3. According to him, he just have to remember that…
He worked on the rest of the numbers with less assistance from me and here he is so proud of his work!
And now, if you are interested you can download your FREE printables of the Number Cards and Roman Numerals by clicking this link. Hope you find this helpful. Thank you! Don’t forget to like and pin this!
More Math activities from my Pinterest board!
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Introducing Picture Graphs
Friday, March 6, 2015
One of the most important topics which I find very useful when I was in the university and as a professional for some time was picture graphs. As an engineer, we always looked at statistics, comparing data and interpret them to come up with a solution to a problem.
Now, this is where our picture graph lesson comes in. I introduced this to Mavi because of my experience, and of how useful this in real life.
There are a lot of ways to come up with data collection activities and interpreting the output using picture graphs. Here I will show you how we did it at home in two ways.
Roll a Dice
Roll the dice a number of times (depends on you) and record the how many instances the number appears. Discuss the graph to your child.
Link Cubes in a Bag
I placed the equal number of link cubes in the bag, Mavi and I have to pick up a cube one at a time. We then have to put an X or mark the chart when a certain colour appears.
In each activity, try to describe your graph and ask questions like:
- Which link cube did you pick the most?
- Which link cube did you pick the least?
Another suggestion is that, you can create a WEATHER CHART. Let your child record the weather, if it’s sunny, rainy or cloudy. We were supposed to do this, but you know in Ireland… it is always RAINING… so this idea will not actually work for us :D
So there you go! This is a very very easy activity to prepare. Use anything that you see in the kitchen, no need for printables… just create the chart in a piece of paper and that’s it! Enjoy the activity and goodluck!
More math ideas from my Pinterest board!
Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Math Ideas on Pinterest.Fun Math Activities for Numbers 20 to 99
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
So we’ve been practising our Mathematics since we came back from our big break. We’re almost done with our study on 2 digit numbers (20 to 99). Now you might be wondering why we need to stick around here. Well you see, though Mavi knows his addition and subtraction by heart, there’s still a lot more in mathematics than that. To explain, here’s a few of our “brainy” activities (this is how Mavi describes it!).
Count Me!. Using our decanomial beads, I laid out 20 sets for Mavi to count using what he has learned previously on counting tens and ones!
Place Value. Here’s it is in Singapore Math. I copied the activities in our Math notebook so that we can reuse the workbooks from Singapore for Vito. Mavi works on this using mental math, no manipulative needed.
Find the number. This thinks that this is a very tricky game. I made a lot of questions and clues for him to find the correct number using our hundred board. This is to test his analysis. Example: 8 less of 35 is?
Smallest and Greatest number. Given the number series (I prepared 10 for him), identify the smallest and greatest. Again he finds this difficult, but upon teaching him the trick, he was able to answer the questions quickly.
Another version is to arrange the given set (15 sets) from smallest to greatest and greatest to smallest. Arranging from smallest to greatest was very easy for him, but he complained that doing the other way around is more difficult. He gets confused between numbers. I even added 1 digit number (number 6), to my surprise he considered it as “60” rather than “06”. So I therefore conclude that conventional counting, that is from smallest to greatest is waaay more easier for them than the other way around!
Why don’t you try this with your kids and let me know how they feel about it!
More math activities here!
Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Math Ideas on Pinterest.FREE Stamp Game Sheets
Friday, November 21, 2014
For the first page, I printed it multiple times. Then, I cut it in the middle and created a booklet. For the second page, we used it to practice writing numbers as seen in my Static Addition post. And the last page, I randomly wrote a number and Mavi has to indicate the correct number of thousands, hundreds, tens and units.
Dynamic Addition
Monday, November 17, 2014
Our dynamic addition starts with a brief discussion of what makes a 10 using a unit (1’s), 100 using 10’s and a 1000 using 100’s. This is a visual presentation of smaller units that we can group together to form a bigger units. From here, I told Mavi that whenever he encounters this when he plays Stamp Game, all he needed to do was to “substitute” the group with a bigger value.
The concept of dynamic addition in Montessori is the same whether you use golden beads, stamp game or bead frame. Here’s how we do it:
- [Top left photo] Mavi would take out a strip of paper with a written equation and copies it in our booklet. [Top left photo]
- [Top right photo] He would layout all the stamps according to the equation. Then perform the addition by combining the two sets. See our Static Addition for this.
- [Lower left photo] Count the stamps starting from the unit’s place value. He counted 13 units, grouped the 10 units (green) and replaced it with a 10 (blue). As you can see, he was confused at first he put the 10 (blue) in the units area. This I emphasized that he has to place it on the correct area in the place value mat.
- [Top right photo] He recorded the sum after he worked on the tens and hundreds, applying the same concept of regrouping.
Note: Mavi has memorized a lot of number pair in addition. Most of the time he doesn’t use the stamps or beads, he automatically do the addition work. Sometimes he would start on the thousands going down to the units. I have to explain that he always need to start from the smallest unit. This is because he will produce an incorrect sum once the equation is dynamic. That is the number changes (addends) because of the regrouping. And he understood this somehow when finished a few equation strips.
Well, that’s all for dynamic addition for now. This is just an introductory to my 6 years old. We’ll practice more of this next year.
FREE Skip Counting Learning Materials
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Montessori Inspired Skip Counting
Thursday, November 13, 2014
I wonder how you teach kids to skip count? When I was younger this was one of the thing that I despise the most. Why? Because basically they just want us to memorise it. With the available resources now, I want my boys to love skip counting…. as I always tell Mavi, you will use this technique all the time for the rest of your life :)
We had a few practice on this but I never had a the chance to come up with a serious unit or lesson for this. Now he’s a bit older to understand and appreciate, I decided to come up with sheets to get him into the skip counting thingy.
First I created the hundred sheets, and discuss the concept about skip counting (by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s). I cross-out the count in our sheets and made him mark it using our Do-a-Dot markers.
“Look Mom! It has a pattern!”
Now using these visuals, we put it into action using our decanomial beads and hundred board number tiles (both Montessori Math materials from Absorbent Minds UK).
Here we have the counting by 5’s.
And I compared it to the counting by 10’s.
And his least favourite skip counting is by 2’s (because it takes a long time to read 10, he said LOL).
Now well be practicing this for the entire week. I’m coming up with materials so we can use the concept using non-Montessori materials. I’ll be sharing it with you so watch out for it.
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Static Addition
Thursday, November 6, 2014
My son has been doing a lot of addition exercises (static) using both the stamp game and bead frames. I created equation cards, place value mat and stamp game booklet for the exercises. I’m sharing how we do static addition using both materials.
Static Addition using the Stamp Game.
1. Take out an equation card and copy the equation in the booklet.
2. Using the equation, select the stamps for both numerals placing them on the place value mat.
3. Now say “Let’s add the amounts together.” Push the rows of stamps together (combine them), starting with the units. Count and record the number. Do the same thing for the tens, hundreds and thousands.
4. The four rows of the bead frame represents the decimal. The upper green beads is for the units, the blue for tens, red for hundreds and the lower green beads for thousands. Now using the same concept as the stamp game, count and move the appropriate beads from the left to right side. Once you’re done counting, record the numbers. In this case, Mavi used it to check his work.
Here’s Mavi working several times. Can’t believe he’s glued.
For a PRINTABLE STAMP GAME, visit MONTESSORI PRINT SHOP for the free download. Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Montessori on Pinterest.Linking to:
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Mastering the Decimal System
Monday, November 3, 2014
I decided to shift back our Montessori materials to review our decimal system, skip counting, addition and subtraction using Montessori Materials. We’re almost done with our Singapore Workbooks so we’re taking a break from all the paper works and shift back to tactile activities :)
THE DECIMAL SYSTEM
We used the Montessori golden beads for presentation and the stamp game and bead frame for the activities. My main goal here is for Mavi to really understand how the system works, to refine his knowledge of reading and number formation.
QUANTITY AND SYMBOLS
The beginning of the lesson I presented to Mavi how to write the 4 digit numbers. This has always been a difficult subject for him, for he cannot understand why some units must take the place of 0's in tens, hundreds and thousands. We practiced forming the numbers using number cards and in writing as well.
He compared the digits to the body parts LOL.
For the exercises, I created a number checklist table. Given the number, Mavi will give me the correct number tiles and bead frame counts . This activity is similar to Bank Game, but we’re not using the number cards and golden beads. As you can see in the pictures below, he has to show me the correct quantity using the stamp tiles and bead frame.
FORMATION OF NUMBERS
This exercises is for Mavi to master how to write the correct number forms. Given the quantity in number tiles, Mavi has to write the correct amount in our activity sheet. I liked this activity, as he was able to understand the relationship of decimals. This also enhances his skills in reading and writing large number units.
Our next step would be static and dynamic addition using the stamp game and bead frame.
Linking to:
Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!
Share It Saturday
The Natural Homeschool