Waldorf math for the youngest

I have been gearing up for math with Logan.  He is ready for the concept introduction, but I wanted to do it in a super gentle, fun way so he doesn’t feel like math is drudgery like so many of us adults.  Enter the Waldorf math Gnomes.  These little guys were the same ones I used when teaching colors two years ago and they have been played with quite a bit since.  I used them, (along with a rainbow mat), to help Cyan with place value as well.  They have been wonderful members of our learning family and I am proud to say, they have now come out to teach Logan the four main operations in mathematics! 

Some of these poems were inspired by others online (none are exactly the same) and some are made up by me, but each has a lesson in the story.  For this unit, we use floral gems as manipulatives and each little gnome is present for their specific operation.  The idea being that connecting a concept with a story is the best way to keep that concept clear in your mind.  Especially for young children.

Divide is my favorite:

Good King Equals is a character made up to help with the idea of things on either side of the = sign being equal, regardless of what they look like.  2+2 = 4 and so on. 

The stories that go along with these characters can be found in this wonderful curriculum (free) from Serendipity.  And although I do use quite a bit of this story when teaching beginning math, I am not opposed to worksheets and basic kindergarten math when doing this.  I think it all goes into the same box in the brain and it all helps when doing real world math problems!  And that’s what it is all about!  These little guys do make it super fun for Logan and easy to understand the four main operations in math.

More inspiration came from here:

King Equals poem

Drawing inspiration

Hh is for Harvest!

Box #1 was some math worksheets to do with mom.  Our current focus in Math is the numbers 6-10.  He has the others down really well now. 

 

Box #2 was Get Ready for the Code and he is now starting to get the format of the book.  The pages go faster and easier and his handwriting is getting better all the time!

Box #3: I used this as a timed number recognition tool today.  I held up a card and he said what it was as fast as he could (he could count if he needed to).  I made the third round the “Lightening Round” and he got a Skittle for each number he got correct on the first guess (he got 7 skittles out of 10).

Box #4 was a handwriting activity.

Box #5 was a Montessori Practical Life activity with lacing, velcro, and buttoning.

Box #6 was my beloved Ecojournals.  We took a little walk outside and collected leaves for an activity tomorrow.

Box #7 was an Eye Spy jar I made for him years ago.  But this time I made drawn little cards of objects to find in it.

Box #8: Favorite activity of today!  We made our own Dot-to-Dots!  I wrote the numbers 1 - 10 on stickers and he placed them on a piece of paper.  Then he and I followed the numbers to make a picture.  These were the masterpieces we came up with!

Box #9 was a letter matching activity with our names.

Box #10 was a Fall Harvest book and going out and gathering the very last of our summer tomatoes!

Review day - This lesson was brought to you by the numbers 1 - 10 and Aa - Ee

We have been sick.  It wasn’t bad, just a cold, but it was one after the other after the other and then Don, me and the baby all at the same time which ended in a cascade effect of tired, grumpy mama. 

We are finally past that now and everyone is on the mend, but a full week of school was missed.  So some review started off our week this week.  And for Logan that meant numbers and Aa - Ee!

Box #1:  A tracing numbers activity from LaTeeDah.

Box #2 is a matching numbers game which he loves!  Can find it here (it was on the clearance table at Barnes and Noble last week).

Box #3 was a letter matching game that helps him remember how to spell his own name.  This time I added in “Mama” too.    Inspired by this pin.

Box #4 was the LeapFrog fridge letters.

Box #5 was a measuring rice Montessori activity.

Box #6 was a counting down from 10 book called “Ten Dogs in the Window” and even though it was not supposed to be for me, I cried!  The last page with the doggy all alone in the window just made me tear up something fierce.  My oldest came in and asked what was wrong.  lol!

Box #7 was a Ee tracing exercise inspired by this pin.

Box #8 was a “Rough and Smooth” Montessori exercise with a blind fold.  Those are still not his favorites but he is getting better and better at them!

Box #9 was a few kid yoga moves with Oops and Oopsie.

Box #10 was the I Spy preschool game.  This is the third time we have played this and honestly I think he was way past it when we started.  It is now down right easy.  I think it has been all that work with the older siblings on their level I Spy books (which they love and we have like 12).  Whatever it is, I think this one is getting packed away for Luke really soon.

After school we had a refresher in Wet on Wet painting.  Logan LOVED being able to paint as last year this was an activity saved for when he was down for nap.    He thought being included while Luke was napping was pretty much the best thing ever….  also, Wet on Wet is just really fun!

First day of 'school'

It sounds SO funny to say that considering we never stopped and we have had classes at least three times a week for two months! But... we started Math U See today... so that means that we 'started school'... LOL!

We started out with a review of the math rods. I pulled out her princess addition and subtraction flash cards and I (or Alex) would pull a card and she would make them with the rods, and then tell us the answer. The problems were not the important part... she has been adding and subtracting double digits for a while now... but it was the use of the rods that I wanted to reinforce.

She did just great! We quickly moved on to the first lesson in her new math book and found out that even that was review! She already knew her place value... but it was good to get some reinforcement for that as well.

I moved her on to reading, and went to check on Alex... who was doing great! He was doing a lesson from his math that was a unit review as well... and without my help he was able to look up where he was in the text book, figure out which problems. I can't tell you how much of an improvement over when he was in public school. He couldn't do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) by himself. Now he is looking up words from his math book in a dictionary, and then finding the correct lesson and doing the problems all by himself. If I pulled him out for the self motivation alone, it would have been worth it. He is a really amazing kid.

And turning into a beautiful young man as well.

I just love my children... so very much.

We also started the most wonderful science curriculum EVER today. I will tell you about that tomorrow. ;)

Alex and Geometry

Alex's illustration of what the Pythagorean Theorem looks like. He definitely gets the idea. :)

Donna Young

I LOVE DONNA YOUNG! I loved her handwriting stuff last year and I just found this today. This website/woman is amazing and I am thrilled to pass this around to all my friends and fellow bloggers. She is a wealth... that is for sure.

Fall Foods From Scratch Day

Cyan and I are talking about fractions. Alex is working on dividing fractions in Algebra. Lets talk fraction application... ie: COOKING!

So today, I set the kids to two separate items to cook. Cyan and I had planned on making pumpkin pie from scratch (like from a pumpkin) for a few weeks now. Alex wanted to make Zucchini bread, but I asked him to make something savory instead as we already had pie, and he found Zucchini Cheddar Bread in my Joy of Cooking.

So off we went. Alex grating Zucchini

And Cyan scooping pumpkin flesh out of the baked pumpkin from last night and putting into the blender to puree.

~From Pumpkin to Pie Recipe Link~

It was a wonderful morning. I did realise though, that Alex isn't quite ready for my cook book. Which is fine. He does great with the more simple recipes (he has made pancakes three days in a row out of one of the kid cookbooks), but the more complicated ones he gets easily frustrated. Completely understandable.

The Zucchini Bread is still in the oven... but smelling OH so good. And the pumpkin pie will be perfectly cooled for the best after dinner October Dessert EVER!

Fractions? Who would have guessed?

And done!