To celebrate the beginning of spring last week we made these spring cherry blossoms using a water bottle! We dipped the bottom of one of my seltzer water bottles into pink paint and used it as a stamp to create the cherry blossom flowers. We hung our spring trees in our entryway.
I was hoping to share our first day of spring activity in a post tonight but I am having some issues downloading pictures onto our computer. I'll leave you with some pictures from our time at Pine Point Beach on Sunday until I fix the computer issue. 
"Mommy, can we do math now?' I hear this several times a day from my math loving girl! Grace has always loved numbers. Since the age of one, Grace has had a strong mathematical knowledge base. I really wanted to foster Grace's love of learning and her love of math so I investigated many, many math programs that I could use to continue to teach Grace at home. After lots of research I decide on a program called RightStart Mathematics. My main objective was for Grace to fully understand math and numbers since 95% of math should be understood and only 5% learned by rote. This program emphasizes patterns and reasoning over memorization and algorithms. I also wanted to be fully involved in the program and RightStart Mathematics is heavily parent driven. Grace and I cherish this time we spend together every day. Since starting this program several months ago, Grace has learned to count in a whole new way. We typically count 10, 11, 12, 13 and so on, which really does not give a child an idea about tens and ones. Grace has learned to count by saying ten-1, ten-2, ten-3 for the teens and 2-ten and 1, 2-ten and 2, 2-ten and 3, etc. for the twenties and so on. In the pictures above, Grace is using tally sticks to show the answer to an addition equation (9 + 4). Grace has learned to add numbers together easily by grouping -- e.g., talking a 1 from the 4 and putting it with the 9 to make 10 and 3 or 13! I love how Grace is learning to add numbers together by fully understanding how it is done rather than relying on counting strategies or simply by memorizing the answers. 
 Grace loves using her geoboard. Grace has also enjoyed learning about parallel and perpendicular lines and planes, geometric solids, and the Tens Fractal! I continue to be amazed with Grace's knowledge but I am most proud of her deep love of learning.  |
Jack has been very interested in learning about outer space for some time now. Every night Jack stands at his window gazing up at the sky. Jack was fascinated to learn that stars are actually still present during the day but we cannot see them because of the sun's bright light. Jack and I talked about how the stars make patterns when they are connected together with imaginary lines. To visualize these constellations, Jack made made a constellation box (a box with a hole in one end to look through and the other end open to place constellations cards). We made several constellation cards by punching out tiny holes and connecting them with lines in order to clearly see the pictures the stars make. Jack used his constellation box to view the constellations. 
