Apple Countdown

 We started with a book about a class that went on a field trip to an apple orchard. They counted down their adventures from 20 to 1. The kids had fun remembering all the field trips they've been on.

 We tried to guess how much an apple weighs. I let them hold a 16 ounce bag of beans and they decided that the apple was less than the beans. They also guessed which weighed more, an apple or a pear. They were pretty close to the same.

 I cut the apple in half and had them draw what they saw. They all did a great job! Then we guessed how many seeds were inside. We found only 7 seeds.

 While I sliced the apple for eating, the kids worked on a dot-to-dot. Numbers 1 - 10 were easy but 13, 14, and 15 were a little tricky to recognize.

 Since Sunday will be Mother's Day, we had to make something for our wonderful moms!

More or Less

We continued learning about estimating and more or less by reading a few books by Anne Matzke.

 We learned how to read and spell the little word "and" which is so useful. The kids had fun practicing their cutting and gluing skills. 

I gave each of the kids a small package of mini M&Ms and asked them to guess how many were inside. We were amazed when we counted 58! Then we sorted and graphed our M&Ms to see which color had the most and which had the least. It was easy to guess how many would fit in our tummies - ALL OF THEM!

 It was a beautiful day so we went outside for some more practice with numbers. (Will was glad for the chance to really use his sunglasses.) The kids each drew a number card from the stack and then found the number that was one more on my number line. Then they each drew a card from the 2nd stack to see where to move. The cards said things like 2 more, 1 less, 0 more, etc.

We even had time for a little game of hopscotch. There was some discussion about how their moms had taught them all a little different version of the game. In the end it was just fun to see how far they could hop on one foot. Amelia didn't think she could go very far but Bryn showed her how easy it was. 

 

We were missing Stella. What a fun bunch of kids!

Estimation

 This week we learned about estimating and more or less. The kids were excited to learn another big word. (Estimation kind of sounds like transportation but means something very different.) They all agreed that estimating was easy.

We compared containers of blocks and guessed how many were in each. Then we guessed if the container would hold more or less cars. We tried it with marshmallows in a bowl as well. The kids were amazed that the small bowl held 42 little marshmallows. 

I gave them each a toy car and asked how many they had. They all knew that was one. Easy! Then we practiced giving Bryn one more car until she had all five. Next we practiced one less as she returned the cars. The kids were thrilled when I told them they were doing math!

We did a worksheet to identify which group had more. Lily announced that it was easy because if you didn't know you could just count. These kids are good counters!

We also estimated how many marshmallow shapes we could find in one cup of Lucky Charms. The kids wrote their guess for each shape on their chart. (Writing numbers is a little tricky.) Next, they dumped their cereal on the table and sorted all their shapes. Then they counted and wrote the actual number next to their guess. Some came pretty close. Others were hoping for a lot more marshmallows. We discovered that there aren't very many moon shapes but there are lots of shooting stars.

And then we guessed how many of those yummy marshmallows would fit into our tummies!