Elf on the Shelf is one of those things that a lot of people love to hate. And a lot of people hate to love. We’re not doing the Elf at this point but I really enjoy seeing what mischief other elves get into. I’ve gotta say, some of you are really really creative with…
Christmas time means busy, busy, busy – right? Is it just me? We don’t even start shopping for presents until later in the month but we are just busy. There are so many events and exciting things in December. We always end up slacking off school a bit in December and we do “Christmas school”…
We love making math hands on and the counting mats have been such a hit! Now that we’re working with larger numbers, I wanted to make a version of the counting mats with two 10-frames! We need to practice counting all the way to 20! And thus, the addition mats were made. They can also…
Have you ever taken one of those “Can you name the 50 states” types of tests? Did you do well? I’ve always enjoyed geography, and for the most part, I’m pretty good at naming the states and capitals, and being able to locate the states. I even know that Alaska is in fact up…
Do you ever get that warm feeling, the small smile, when you suddenly encounter a memory from your childhood? When I was a kid, one of my mom’s favorite movies was Dave. There is one scene where Dave (the President) visits a school and the class is showing off an activity called Poor Joe. Joe…
Do you ever take a break to focus on one subject? We’re taken a break right now to focus on memorizing math facts. It’s been something we’ve worked on but right now we are focused on that. The holidays tend to mean less learning anyhow, so I thought I’d make a more manageable goal for…
As we continue to work on new ways to practice letter sounds, I keep thinking about how important learning phonics can be to a beginning reader. They need all the extra review to make sure they can read letter sounds quickly. Otherwise, sounding out words becomes very challenging. So we will practice, practice, practice and…
Is anyone else having trouble getting their kids to concentrate already? We’ve hit this moment before where the excitement of the holidays makes school work impossible. I just don’t remember it happening so soon! I’m going to have to pull out all the stops with holiday themed work so we don’t lose ground in December! …
Did you ever throw a party when your child reaches a milestone? Like, a big milestone? Logi-Bear learned to read earlier this week and we told him we would throw a family party after he read his first book. He is so proud of himself. Now, when I say he learned to read I mean…
It’s been years since we’ve had a Christmas Tree up, but this year we are getting one. I’m pretty excited, but not nearly as much as the boys. Of course, they don’t know yet that it’s going to be an educational experience. Muah haha! I see no reason why we cannot incorporate an amazing tree…
My kids love STEAM projects and they love holidays. And I think their love of both is for similar reasons. Both STEAM and Holidays take us away from the norm and provide a fun escape. So activities that combine STEAM and holidays? That’s bound to be a success. Activities that combine cookies and math? Even…
My kids like to throw things. Not just me, right? A lot of parents put their “throw-ey” kids in sports, but mine don’t like sports. They still want to throw things though. So I give them dice in school because it knocks out two problems. 1. They get to throw things and no one gets…