Summer Math

Have you wondered how to best keep your kids' math skills sharp over the summer?

Are you tempted (or did you already) purchase a "workbook" to torture (I mean help) them practice math over the summer?

Have you ever considered a more active approach to summer math?

In this post I will share a few of the MANY cool resources available for families.  I'll share the ones I actually use to confirm their value :)

Games.

Games are an amazing way to practice speed and repetition without it feeling like slow torture.  Plus, they encourage family quality time...something we all want.  Here are a few of my favorites:

1) Sum Swamp - Ages (4-12)

Sum Swamp is a simple but engaging game.  Kids like games with twists.  This one has lots of little twists.  The idea is simple.  Kids roll 3 dice.  Two have the numbers 1-6, the third has a + or a - on the sides.  However, there are lots of bumps along the way.  I play this with my 5 and 7 year old regularly.  They love it!  I make them say the math fact and answer out loud to aid memory.  

Think this is too easy for your 10 year old?  Nope!  One of the things I found year after year as a middle school teacher is that kids entering middle school didn't have their math facts down.  They couldn't add, subtract, multiply or divide with any speed.  This game works on speed - even for big kids!  Think this is too difficult for your 3-4 year old?  Nope!  Grab something to count with (legos, toy cars, beans) and have them "act out" the addition or subtraction they roll.  Help as they go!  

Have more than 4 members of your family?  No biggie - just add a game piece from another game or a coin!

2) Tri-FACT-A - Ages 6+

Tri-FACTa is a tad more challenging than Sum Swamp.  My 5 year old still plays it easily.  However, it is more challenging for her to win.  Tri-FACTa is a math teacher's dream game.  It practices math facts, but in a way that encourages flexibility.  The addition/subtraction version is ideal for grades 1-5th.  However, as an adult, I find the game to be fun as well.

*Tip: I put the extra game pieces in the top of the game to shake them around and keep them under control.

The coolest part of this game is that there is also an multiplication and division version!  Score!  If you have kids in grades 3 +, this version is ideal for your family.  Kids TRULY don't get enough practice with multiplication and division facts.  This is an easy solution :)

3) Challenge 24 Game - depends on version

There are almost endless levels of the 24 game.  This is the easiest version, using addition and subtraction.  This game is awesome in the classroom.  The only challenge of this game is that the 2 players need to be relatively similar levels of ability.  If you have 2 kids with very different abilities, I would play with them, instead of having them play each other.  Otherwise the same kid will always win, which is rather frustrating.  Browse around and find a Challenge 24 to fit your child's level.  Check each box for the start age.  This box says 6 and up.  However, since my 5 year old knows how to add and subtract, she could do this easily.  Always keep in mind whether your kid is on grade-level, below, or above.  

4) Equate - Ages 6+ 

This is one of my favorite games to recommend to families with a variety of ages.  You can take out the multiplication and division signs to make it easier, but there is also a Junior Tile set (an add-on) that you can purchase.  Additionally, there is an advanced set of tiles that you can purchase to make it more challenging.  This game is played like scrabble, but with math facts.  This isn't a fast game, but it is a good game for a family setting.

A final note on games: 

You can find a ton of different math games!  Check out a learning store near you.  Always check reviews online prior to buying a game, to see the pros and cons.  Also, remember that games are supposed to be PRACTICE to help your kids be faster at math facts.  Don't purchase a game that is too challenging for them.  It should be easy, encouraging more speed.  Trust me, if your 2nd grader plays a math game once or twice a week all summer, they will be more ready for 3rd grade than their peers.  The perk of games is that they don't have to only be for summer time.  Also, you are ENJOYING math alongside your kid.  What family doesn't want more quality time together?

Multi-Sensory Tools.

1) Wrap-Ups

If there was one tool that I would encourage parents to purchase OVER a workbook, it would be Wrap-ups.  This version is the addition version, but there are also subtraction, multiplication, division, pre-algebra, etc.  There are lots of levels.

What is so great about wrap-ups?

Well, they are much prettier and more hands-on than a worksheet, and reusable.  That's the short answer.

Wrap-ups are just big plastic keys that show kids a series of math problems.  They solve the math problem and wrap the string around to the side where the answer is located.  Then they move to the next problem on the left.  They keep working until they are finished.  Then, the flip the key over to see if the answers are correct.  Kids can do this completely alone.  There is no need for adult "checking".  Also, using multiply senses at once really helps kids retain their facts.  

I like to have my  kids time themselves and write down their time.  Then, the next time they do the same fact, they try to beat that time!  Use a chart to help them.

2) Clever Catch

My 7 year old likes to....move....a lot.  I'm always finding tools that help her to move and do school work at the same time.  I actually used clever catches in middle school, but was excited to find that they have them even for K-2 addition!  A clever catch is simply a blow-up beach ball with math facts all over it.  Throw it to one of your kids.  Wherever their left thumb lands, they say that fact out loud and answer it.  Then they throw it to someone else.  It's that simple!  Don't want to pay $12 for it?  Grab a beach ball at the dollar store and use a sharpie to make your own!

That's all folks!

As I was sitting here this morning playing Sum Swamp with my girls, I realized that there are parents everywhere this summer who are simply buying workbooks for their kids, having to harass them to actually complete the workbook, and getting frustrated.  All while there is fun to be had with math.  The time you get to spend and laugh with your kids is the reward.  Oh - and math. Math is always a reward ;) !

Keep following their thinking!

In the summer I wrote a post about Charlotte's addition algorithm with base-10 blocks.

I sort of thought this would be her algorithm and she would just move away from the blocks.

However, lately I've noticed lots of work with the abacus (her favorite) and base-10 blocks again!

However, her strategy has changed.

Today I started exploring HOW it has changed, asking her questions as I watched her solve.

She told me that she knew she had 7 tens because 3 and 4 tens make 7 total.

Okay, I'm following.

Then, she says that 8 only needs "2 more" to make another ten.

So, she grabs another ten stick.

She throws it in the pile to make 8 tens.

She immediately grabbed 3 extra units and throw those to the side.

 

So I ask her "How did you know to grab 3 units?"

Her answer: "Oh, well since you took 2 away from the 5 to give to the 8, there is only 3 left there".

So, I'm totally following her logic and it makes mathematical sense.

and….ya know what?

She is doing the "traditional algorithm".

Is this a bad thing?  Absolutely not!  She totally has a grasp on what she's doing.

So I show her how to record her work on the board with numbers and no base-10 blocks.

She giggles and does it correctly with 8 more problems.

Kids' brains are awesome.

We….well, we just have to make sure we keep up ;)

Following their thinking...

 Today was another wonderful day in the neighborhood….

No, seriously.

It was one of those days as a teacher/homeschool mom 

when you get the warm fuzzies because you are that sort of nerd.

I don't even fight the inner-nerd anymore ;)

Today I planned for Charlotte to do a worksheet of problems.

I chose this particular worksheet because the problems are horizontal instead of vertical.

Vertical placement of problems sometimes rushes kids into a procedure without understanding 

the concept of place value within adding two digit numbers.

I was going to have her do the same sheet of problems 3 times using...

Base-10 blocks 

A basic abacus

A 100s chart from her desk

Mostly, we do a ton of word problems in real-life scenarios.  Every unit I create a new set of word problems following the Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) problem types.  We are almost finished a set of problems I created for her as we studied money.  Below are the type of basic problems she has been working on alone, with the help of manipulatives of her choice.

So anyway.

Today I thought she could use a few different tools and maybe she would get to the point she might be able to make some generalizations about when we put together (add) two digit numbers.   

If not, no biggie.  I just wanted to see where we were.

So, away we go.

I start with base-10 blocks because she uses those a ton.

I ask her to add a problem like 13 + 25.

I expect to see what I've pictured below. 

I expect to see a 13 and a 25.

I did not see that at all.

Instead I see her count out 3 ten sticks, then 8 units. (like below)

I watch and she does this about 4 times.

When I ask her what she's doing, it takes her awhile to put it into words.

I keep digging, asking how she knows to just "grab 4 ten sticks".

I ask her to point to where she is getting that information on the page.

Eventually, she explains that she looks as the 10 and the 20 first. 

She adds 10 + 20 and just grabs 3 ten sticks.

Then she adds 3 + 5 by counting onto the larger number

(like …. 5… 6 , 7, 8) and then writes 38.

At this moment, I realize my child is no longer in the concrete phase of 

understanding and is completely adding the numbers in an abstract way.

Do I then STOP and show her the traditional algorithm?

No.

See?  I'm a "new math" person.  Only "new math" really isn't new.

It's the way mathematicians have been thinking for thousands of years, but that chat is for another day.

Why am I an advocate of "new math"?  

New math isn't about teaching your kids a more complicated way of

 doing something that we learned another way.

Nope.

Instead, it's about listening to a kid.

Listening and watching how a child is already thinking about a problem or type of problem.

Then?

Follow their thinking.

Don't push our thinking on them.

So today, instead of the plan I had for Charlotte, I taught her how to record her thinking.

She was naturally adding tens first, then ones.

So…I show her how to record just that.

I show her that she can write down that answer so she doesn't get lost.

Then, I show her how to record her answer to her ones.

She was thrilled and even asked me how she might go back 

and do that if the answers were written horizontally.

I showed her that she could write her work vertically or horizontally, 

whichever way made the most sense to her, no matter how the problem is presented.

Why?  Because this isn't about me and what I know.

I already passed second grade math.

Instead it's about her understanding how she is making sense of the problem.

So today….was a good day.

It was a good day because I had the time and opportunity to notice and listen to her thinking….

Then,

Follow it.

Our weekend

A phone call came last Thursday that no one could be prepared to receive.  After a month of unresponsive physical therapy for my shoulder, I had gone to have an MRI to hopefully find the source of my problematic trapezius muscle.  However, this phone call did not include conversations of fixing an annoying shoulder problem.  Instead, it involved words like bone lesion and cancer.  I was clear – there was not a question of whether I had cancer or not.  The question was how badly I had cancer.

The initial panic hit me like a ton of bricks.  Hyperventilation.  Visions of my children without a mother swirled in my head.  Breathing was impossible.  Mercifully, I was at a birthday party with my children, who were completely distracted with entertaining rides and friends.  Women that I call friends, but haven’t known long surrounding me with prayers, watching my children as I stepped away to avoid panicking my sweet little monkeys.

My husband and my sister were my first two phone calls.   It couldn’t have been 30 minutes before my sister and mom had a plane ticket for the next morning.  My husband was by my side.  The rest of the troops were on their way. 

The entire first night was a panic.  I tried to push away the terror, but horrid visions kept pushing into my brain.  I fell asleep, but woke up around 4:30 with fear.  I prayed with fervor.  My completely oblivious child woke with “nightmares”.  As I lie in her bed, calming her jumping body, it become immediately obvious to me.  My entire home was under attack.  The demons of fear were everywhere, even in my child’s body who didn’t know about that terrible C word in my head.  I prayed immediately that Jesus cast out every demon attacking my family, repeatedly.  There was no more sleep for me, but Charlotte settled down and slept.

A slight calm had come.  My sister and mom were in airports, hopping their way to Colorado.  I called my dad and my grandmother, assuring them that we were not going to allow the devil to penetrate our minds with fear.  Whether I had 3 days, 3 months, 3 years, or 60 years to live, we could not give him the pleasure of our panic.  God speaks to my heart with song most often, and He immediately pressed “Praise you in this storm” by Casting Crowns and I clung to the lyrics and melody in my mind, knowing that He was offering me respite from my fears in this song.

My PA was absolutely amazing.  She had the ball rolling Friday for CTs and a bone scan scheduled for Monday morning.  A scavenger hunt for where my body had betrayed me and grown the cancer source of what we could only assume had metastasized to my rib.

I’m a numbers girl.  I’m a logical thinker who understands statistics and knew exactly what was happening.  I’m not a unicorn and cotton candy kind of girl.  Joe and I began conversations that we didn’t want to have.  We left some suspended in the air like helium balloons….wishes, wants, our children…. 

God was offering me rest from my panic, but it’s the kind of rest that you have to cling to every moment or two, or you may fall off of it. My children were watching.  I was determined to stay calm in their presence, though I’m sure I wasn’t.  I was imagining conversations with my sweet 5 year old about cancer and whether or not Mommy was going to die.  These were the ugliest conversations I could imagine having with my innocent children.

Church on Sunday morning was needed.  Worship was required of my heart.  I was determined to tell my merciful Savior that I would praise Him, I would cling to his mercies, even when it wasn’t going to be pretty.  JD spoke to all of our hearts about covenant.  I heard God loud and clear.  Covenant was a choice, regardless of circumstance.  I had no illusions of pretty in my head.  I begged for my life, but knew my family and I were going to have to walk through fire at the very least.   At the most….  I pushed visions of chemotherapy and being so sick that I couldn’t care for my children out of my brain, but the Devil is persistent and they attacked me constantly.  My sweet – innocent children.

Joe, Leigh Ann and Mom were here and were amazing at distracting the girls so that my emotions didn’t leak entirely on them, though both girls knew something was up.  Charlotte is particularly in-tuned with my emotions and she was watching everyone and paying attention to everything.  We had told them that the doctors were taking more tests on Mommy’s shoulder, but that is as specific as we could be, because truly – we didn’t have much more information for them.  We tried to spend time together, enjoying our moments together.

Monday morning came and we went to one hospital for the CTs, then on to another for the bone scan.  We waited.  Leigh Ann and Joe took turns hunting down my phone, everyone on edge, waiting for that phone call, assuming it would happen on Tuesday, but hoping it would come Monday.  It came at 4:12 pm on Monday.  I picked up the phone, awaiting the prognosis.  Was it colon cancer as everyone suspected?  Breast Cancer?  Lung Cancer?  Each of them had been through all of our brains and the waiting game was finally over. 

My PA was quick and merciful.  She said she wanted to cry for me.  Many Radiologists had to look at the scans to verify - ie: They were stumped.  The Radiologist and Oncologist were on the phone for 30 minutes because….well, because she didn’t believe them.  Somehow, this rib lesion wasn’t a rib lesion.  They think it is a hemangioma, though they are obviously in awe.  The bottom line from the CTs and bone scan – there is no cancer.

My NP (ie: superhero) sister took the phone and had the same conversation and more with the PA.  Sweet relief overtook us all.  Leigh Ann kept reiterating – this makes no medical sense. 

I’m not sure of the numbers.  I found articles that said less than 1% of bone lesions turn out to be hemangiomas and the tiniest percentage of those are on a rib.  This morning my RN aunt must have been having the same sort of stunned morning from this news.  She said she found a study that stated only 22 documented cases.

I am an anomaly.  No – my God is an anomaly. 

I hesitate to even say “Praise God” because I don’t praise my incredible God because I don’t have cancer.  There are so many fighting cancer right this moment, praising Him.  I praise Him because He is my Savior, my Comforter, my Creator.

I could have never imagined He would grant me this much mercy.  I was intent on following Him, even though the road didn’t look like the road I had dreamed in my head.  However, His mercy has me humbled me beyond words.

I’m a numbers girl. 

I know this doesn’t make sense.

Today – I am thankful that God is God.

I am humbled beyond words that he is also My Healer.

Whales

We learned a little about whales this morning!

First, we learned that whales are either Baleen or Toothed.

We sorted our whales into their correct category.

Then we learned a little bit about each.

Did you know that Baleen Whales eat tiny little plankton?

like this?

Let me show you HOW they eat…

Check this out! 

We learned about parts of a whale, including blubber!

We (of course) had to do the blubber experiment.

We covered one of our hands in Crisco and dipped both in ice water.

…and counted to 5.

The girls loved it so much they did it like 5 times :)

My printer was out of ink (go figure) so I drew an orca on the board to label.

The girls helped me label the parts they remembered.

All done!

Charlotte drew a whale and wrote a sentence (near the word wall)

while Adelyn did her reading lesson.

"Whales have blowholes. When they come out of the water they blow water and air."

Sometimes phonetic spelling is easy to read.  Other times… ;)

The girls decided to play with some word study stuff!

After nap time, Charlotte continued with her reading rods.

We love word-play!

Ocean Zones

I've been finding these creatures all over my loft.  

My girls LOVE wikki stix and they've been creating sea creatures with them in the spare time :)

Sea Star 

Sea Horse

Jellyfish

 We started today with a story.

I had words within the story that the girls had to find.

Adelyn and Charlotte both did pretty well with this!

On to the real topic of the day!

We read "Wish for a Fish" today and used an idea I found.

"Wish for a Fish introduces ocean zones.

We used another non-fiction text also!

Using construction paper, I let the girls choose which colors they thought matched which zones.

We glued them together to make a single sheet of paper.

I labeled the zones.

Then, we pulled out stickers that we have and began researching which sea creatures went where.

Charlotte was the expert researching.

Adelyn was the expert sticker-putter-onner ;)

We also put a bunch of our sea creatures into the right zone on our paper.

Then, we moved on to make a 3-d models.

The girls were SO into this!

We chose a few of our sea creates and measured out string 

to see where they would have to hang in our pretzel container.  

We used thread and mailing tape on the lid.

We even placed on few on the bottom that were truly in the "Trench".

Then we filled it with water.

The girls are goggly-eyed over our "aquarium".

Adelyn's big take-aways that she keeps telling us is that it gets darker and colder the lower you go.

That's a pretty good take away, I think!

Miss Adelyn is really getting into school more and more :)  yay!

Charlotte's really good at our routines!

Word sorts aren't Adelyn's favorite, but Panda loves it :)

We've added funnels and the crabshells you get with stuffed crab.

Sea Stars

Leaving from swim lessons, we decided to do "car school" today!

As we drove to the Butterfly Pavilion (which has sea stars),

the girls worked on seastar coloring pages, writing, reading, etc.

Charlotte lasted the whole time.

Adelyn lasted - about 20 minutes :)

We got to see this giant hermit crab there!  

His shell had baby crabs, barnacles, etc living on it JUST LIKE THE STORY 

so that was pretty awesome!

…but the coolest thing?  We came back to visit him 2 hours later 

and he had dropped that shell and was wearing this one that was obviously 

newer and had less life on it.

I didn't realize this but we researched it and found out that some hermit crabs change shells all the time.

Weird, huh?

Here's Adelyn petting the sea stars.

The 2 varieties are so different!  It was fun to feel the difference :)

We had other fun papers, etc.

The most fun was the field trip, though.

Petting sea stars was definitely nicer than just learning about them in a book!