, looking at the symmetry in the pictures.My 8yo enjoyed using punches to decorate his egg. He worked really hard to make it symmetrical, agonizing over the fact that "it might be 100th of a millimeter off, Mom!"
At first, I gave my newly 5yo some cutouts and helped him with the symmetry. In time, however, I faced up to the inevitable. He was having entirely too much fun with DECORATING and could have cared less about the symmetry involved. That's okay. We're all about fun here, too! :)Check out a few more of our symmetry lessons!
Or try making some Easter bunny tangrams. (What will people think of next???)
We're linked up over at A Mommy's Adventures: stART. And don't forget to check out all the posts linked to Math Monday! What a lot of great ideas to explore.
uses a series of cartoons to teach the names of the Presidents (through Clinton, btw) in order. Although we're not taking the memorization part too seriously, it's fun to see just how many we can remember using the comic book mnemonic tricks. Even more, I enjoy the trivia about each President, highlighting interesting facts about each person. [Note: although at first glance the book appears out-of-print and $$$, it looks like there are a lot of used, inexpensive copies.]
by Donna Jo Napoli, totally changed. When I read it alone, I wasn't terribly excited. When I read it to my student, his enthusiasm was catching. In the book, siblings, ages 8, 8, (twins), 4, and 2, wish on a star. Over several nights they discover that their wishes are granted in fractions, determined by their ages: 8yos get 1/8, 4yo gets 1/4, 2yo gets 1/2. My student quickly understood the concept of fractions, exclaiming after the second page (which shows four 1/4ths make 1), "then one penny is 1/5th of a nickel!" In the story, the siblings put their wishes together to make one whole wish and get the wish that all of them want. [Concept: fractions]
My current student and I have not talked much about probability. The book, 
by Virginia Kroll, some animals witness children playing a game of tug-o-war and set out to play their own game. It quickly becomes obvious, however, that they have a problem making the sides "equal" with five animals competing. But even when the sides have equal numbers, the groups still aren't fair because the weights aren't equal. They set about figuring out how the animals' weight can be evenly distributed by balancing on a park teeter-totter. But when the bear is distracted by honey, they learn that equal effort is also important. Super cute. [Concept: equality]
by Patricia Reilly Giff is part of "The Kids of Polk Street School" series, chapter books for young readers. This book has a reading level (R.L.) of 1.9 (first grade, ninth month). I read it aloud to my sick 7yo. The story captivated him and he would read ahead over my shoulder and then hide his eyes because he was nervous about the events.
by Jean-Luc Fromental is an oversized picture book that provides many opportunities for problem solving. Each day, beginning January 1st, a single penguin is delivered to this family's home. After two months they have 31+28 penguins. Then they organize them into 4 groups of 15. But yikes! What about the food? They eat 2.5 lbs of fish/day at $3/lb. By the 100th penguin, it's getting expensive. They decide to arrange the penguins like eggs, in dozens. 12 boxes of 12 penguins. Later, they're stored in a cube shape = 6x6x6. By Dec. 31st, they have 365 guests. At last, Uncle Victor, the ecologist, arrives to transport the penguins. But, on January 1st, another BIG box arrives. Uh oh! [Concept: problem solving]
