Field Trip - Lattin’s Cider Mill Pumpkin Patch

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

The Moon and the Oreos that go with it

During this last full moon we had a big fat moon unit study.  I tried to take decent pictures but since most of our work that was picture worthy was done outside at night you can imagine how that went.  I did get a couple pictures of the full moon… but even with a tripod and a timer you get this:

Or this:

Pretty… but not looking like this:

Via

However, we spent the next three days happily studying the moon in all her glory!

These were all the books we had from the library.  The one on the top labeled simply “MOON” was one of the best for fun facts and cool pictures!  Did you know there was such a thing as a ‘moonbow’?  I didn’t either!  But the shot in this book of the moons light reflecting off some mist near the horizon certainly looks like a rainbow and is clearly from the moons light!  How neat is that!?!

After this we talked about the different shapes of the moons light and what each portion was called.  They learned this well and fast… cuz I used Oreos!!

Thank you Pinterest!

After that we watched a video and had ‘eclipse toast’.

This video was amazing!  Simply done, so Logan could really understand it, this video explains all kinds of facts about the moon and it’s rotation as well as facts about what we see when we look at the moon.

After that, we switched gears to perspective of the human eye.  We talked about how when the moon is low it seems SO much bigger but if you look through a TP tube (which we did when looking at the full moon) you could see that it isn’t any bigger than it is in the center of the dark sky… there is just something to measure against.

Then we moved on to drawing with depth perception.

We are working through Commander Mark’s Draw Squad and the kids LOVE it!  If you have never seen this, it’s super duper old.  The dude has a mullet and everything… but he is just a great character and he is good at explaining things like foreshortening and depth perception with easy, kid friendly language.  Plus, he draws cartoons.  What could be better than that?

Our moon study was super fun… but we are moving on to photosynthesis! 

Field trip to the Seattle Arboretum

God’s Eyes and Apple Eating

This morning’s handwork was making Eye of God and/or a woven spider web.  The kids enjoyed it so much they continued to make them for most of the afternoon, especially Cyan.  She has made 4 so far.  All more beautiful than the last!

This is Alex’s:

Isn’t it lovely!?! I just love how he used the blue in the midst of all these drab colors.

This afternoon was dedicated to using up the last of two laundry baskets of apples we had gotten from a dear friend.  I made batch after batch of applesauce.  And after I was done and tired of it, Cyan took over and made yet another batch.  We now have 18 quarts in the garage and more in the kitchen and still had enough left over for some for dinner tonight!

In Logan’s last workbox today was ‘make fresh apple pie with mommy’ and he just loved helping me prepare a pie for the family.  We made the whole thing from scratch and fresh apples.  No store bought dough or pie filling in this baby… Logan really honed his rolling pin skills!

With the left over dough he got to make his own little ‘pielette’. He just LOVED that!

As I put the kids to bed this evening I realized that even my ‘treat’ to myself tonight was apple:

Tis the season!

Happy FALL!!!