They Grow Up So Fast.
Our daughter learns at home, a-la virtual school. Some day I will do a post all about it, but for today, I just wanted to share that my sweet 'Little Bit' is all done with Kindergarten and will start first grade lessons on Monday. We're really happy and proud for her, and just amazed how quickly she learns.
And at the same time, the thought that my baby is going to be a first-grader in a few days makes my eyes leak.
This past week we did some fun activities with money. We had a little pretend 'yard sale' at the kitchen table to help reinforce the values of different coins and how they add up. We also learned that there is more than one combination that will add up to a given total. Well, I did already know that. But now we both know it!
My daughter chose a few of her favorite little plastic animals, and I got some money from the change jar. We made up prices that were numbers that would help us with the concepts we were working on - all 30 cents or lower. She mixed up the money, then we got started.
As you can see, this little frog is twelve cents. She used her coins to show me several different ways to make twelve cents.
I like to use real coins. Her math book came with some nice, realistic looking coins that we punched out of the tagboard pages, but I think the sound, heft and feel of the real thing helps the whole activity to be more meaningful. She has been using the play money with her bigger toy dinosaurs - I think they are starting a dino bank. So even when she is playing on her own, she is still practicing her skills.
This was a lot of fun, didn't cost a thing to set up, and she played 'yard sale' for a full 45 minutes. I'm sure we'll do this again and again and she'll continue to develop her money math skills.
And just so you know, she also got a tiny peek into the world of astronauts. We put a tablespoon of instant pudding powder into a baggie, added a half cup of milk and sealed it up tight. She massaged it around until she had astronaut pudding. Then we slipped a straw into one corner so she could enjoy her treat. Astronauts don't get to use utensils, you know. The food would float away, and as you can see, the idea of missing even a tiny speck of that delicious astronaut pudding is beyond imagining.
Bless her heart - her little eyes are bugging out!
Proud of my almost-first-grader,
-Laura at TenThingsFarm
And at the same time, the thought that my baby is going to be a first-grader in a few days makes my eyes leak.
This past week we did some fun activities with money. We had a little pretend 'yard sale' at the kitchen table to help reinforce the values of different coins and how they add up. We also learned that there is more than one combination that will add up to a given total. Well, I did already know that. But now we both know it!
My daughter chose a few of her favorite little plastic animals, and I got some money from the change jar. We made up prices that were numbers that would help us with the concepts we were working on - all 30 cents or lower. She mixed up the money, then we got started.
As you can see, this little frog is twelve cents. She used her coins to show me several different ways to make twelve cents.
I like to use real coins. Her math book came with some nice, realistic looking coins that we punched out of the tagboard pages, but I think the sound, heft and feel of the real thing helps the whole activity to be more meaningful. She has been using the play money with her bigger toy dinosaurs - I think they are starting a dino bank. So even when she is playing on her own, she is still practicing her skills.
This was a lot of fun, didn't cost a thing to set up, and she played 'yard sale' for a full 45 minutes. I'm sure we'll do this again and again and she'll continue to develop her money math skills.
And just so you know, she also got a tiny peek into the world of astronauts. We put a tablespoon of instant pudding powder into a baggie, added a half cup of milk and sealed it up tight. She massaged it around until she had astronaut pudding. Then we slipped a straw into one corner so she could enjoy her treat. Astronauts don't get to use utensils, you know. The food would float away, and as you can see, the idea of missing even a tiny speck of that delicious astronaut pudding is beyond imagining.
Bless her heart - her little eyes are bugging out!
Proud of my almost-first-grader,
-Laura at TenThingsFarm
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