School
Great Work Girls!
Great Work Girls!
The girls completed their extra math work this week and earned pumpkins! The pumpkins were on clearance for two dollars at Walmart so we figured it would be a fun activity to do together with the Halloween Holiday. I don’t know which was more fun for them, scooping the seeds out and dehydrating them so they could eat them or doing the jack-o-lanterns!
Super excited that they continue to go the extra math with their math learning. If you want to read more about why we are doing this activity you can see my post on Going the “Extra” Mile with Math It has been very beneficial for our family!
Lunch Box Surprises: A Banana with a Name
Karlie & Brina’s bananas for lunch
When I make school lunches for the girls I try to put in something fun or interesting into their lunch boxes. Usually they don’t see what surprise I have added until they open their lunch box at school. I use a variety of different notes, treats, and special items for their lunches. One of the treats I have been doing this year is tattooing their bananas before sticking them into their lunches. They have gotten a real kick out of seeing tattooed bananas appear in their lunch boxes!
I love discovering new and easy ways to add a little spark to their meal! Both girls enjoy bananas and will take them in their lunches plus we typically have a variety of tattoos from random places around to put to use. These tattoos were from the girls last visit to the eye doctor.
One day as I was tattooing their bananas Jake suggested adding their names to the bananas too. I took a butter knife and lightly scratched their names into the bananas and drew a heart around their tattoos. As the scratched parts became exposed to the air the lettering began to darken and this is what it looked like a short while later. Our family usually packs lunches the night before so these went in the lunch boxes and fridge at night; the next morning when I added the ice packs the bananas looked the same as pictured above. The girls thought these were awesome!
Going the “Extra” Mile with Math
Way to Go GIRLS!
Every week we give the girls 4 additional math worksheets to complete “on their own time”. Each sheet for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division contain between 50 to 100 math problems (a total anywhere from 200 to 400 extra problems to compute). We give them their math sheets in a folder on the weekend and they have until that Friday at 5:00 pm to have all their math sheets finished, checked, and corrected. The worksheets are to be completed on their own time after homework, chores, and other family activities.
If they get all their extra math worksheets done then they get a special message and a surprise! We do not remind them of the worksheets or force them to do it. Every week both girls have worked earnestly after homework or while riding in the car or during free time to complete the worksheets so they can get their special message and surprise.
We have re-useable bags that we set up on the chalkboard with their treat in them. Typically, the items will be ones we find on clearance that we know they’ll enjoy. Over the last few weeks we’ve done anything from games, whistle candy, toys, bubbles, chalk, flashlight, crafts and more fun stuff. On Fridays when they get home they immediately run upstairs to get their message and surprise.
It has been interesting seeing how they have adjusted their activity patterns over the last few weeks. At the beginning they would do one sheet at the beginning of the week and save the remaining three for Thursday night, which resulted in them hurrying to finish them before Friday. They are figuring out the advantage of pacing themselves and getting some items accomplished earlier in the week so they are not rushed to get it done. One time they didn’t get it done before Friday and were disappointed when they came home and no special message or surprise were waiting for them (guess they were really testing us to see if they really had to do the work) so they both sat done immediately and finished up their worksheets before the 5 pm Friday deadline. They did it and got their reward!
It is really neat seeing how much this activity has motivated them to do extra math exercises on their own time. They are getting more efficient with their math facts too which will help them for the rest of their lives. The results have been amazing for our kids. It may take a little extra time for us to plan and execute, but if it is something that will encourage them to go the extra mile in learning it is worth it.
Native American Homes – Extra Credit School Project
Now that the girls are in third grade is seems like they have more “hands-on” projects coming up these past few weeks. They had the opportunity to earn extra credit for Social Studies by building a replica of a South Carolina Native American home. They spent a lot of time building their houses, writing out their facts, and presenting their project to the class. Thank goodness for a yard full of saplings, vines, monkey grass, and for Jake who is creative and patient when helping the girls.
The girls really LOVED the arrow heads (even though they did not come from SC). The arrow heads are actually ones that Jake and his Grandpa Hayes collected when he was a boy. Both girls did well and got a 100% on their extra credit projects. Even though they worked hours on this project they told us it was one of the most fun homework projects they had ever done and would love to do more! Glad they enjoyed it because it was a great way to learn even more about the Native Americans from South Carolina.
Brina building the structure out of saplings for her Longhouse
Brina’s House:
- Longhouse
- Cherokee Native American’s lived in Longhouses in the summer months
- The Cherokee’s live in the Blue Ridge Mountain Region of South Carolina
Karlie weaving vines to make the structure for her Wattle & Daub
Karlie’s House:
- Wattle & Daub House
- Cherokee’s from the Blue Ridge Mountain Region lived in a Wattle & Daub house during the winter
- Yemassee’s from the Coastal Zone Region also lived in a Wattle & Daub house during the winter
Multiplication CD by Twin Sisters
This past year in school the girls started learning their Multiplication facts. They actually had a good start with multiplication because they had been listening to the Multiplication CD by Twin Sisters for awhile now. Karlie was actually given an award (and medal) this year for having the Highest Math Achievement in her class.
While listening to a CD about Multiplication does not teach you everything you need to know it definitely can help give you a head start or help you pick up speed in a certain subject. One of our girls learns very well through audio processing so any educational CD’s like this one from Twin Sisters is a big positive for her. Both of our kids love listening to CD and audio books and this one is a bonus because they are learning something important too!
You can get this CD online at Amazon or in several bookstores. We actually found it for $2 at Garden Ridge in their CD clearance section. It has definitely been with the couple dollars we invested in it!
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
It was great having some extra time this past weekend with the family over Memorial Day. Only a couple more weeks of packing school lunches and then we’ll be into Summer Break! I am really excited about having the girls home for the summer and we have a lot of super fun activities planned.
Lunch Box Meal
- Ham Sandwiches
- Fresh Carrots
- Pickles
- Animal Crackers or Granola Bar
- Chips
- Fresh Apple
- Vanilla Yogurt
- Juice Bag
The girls are getting really good at packing their lunches, but I know they will enjoy having a little break once summer hits. Thankful they are still excited about bringing their lunch to school. Every once in a while we’ll have them eat at school as a special treat and even then sometimes they prefer to take their own lunch.
Teaching Our Children: The Number Crunch Game
A few years ago I came up with a fun game for the girls to learn their numbers. It was a super simple, easy, and fun way to teach them the written words for the numbers they had already learned. I came across it the other day when I was re-organizing their educational cabinet and thought I would share it since there may be other parents looking for a fun and simple way to get their kids to learn the written numbers. Even though our kids have pretty much out grown the game since they now know their numerical words it is still fun to pull out every once in awhile for a fun reminder. Here’s how I put it together:
- Wrote out the Numerical Words in a Word Document (1 to 20 then 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 1000, 1000000)
- Made the words big and bold
- Printed the words onto colorful paper (can find for a couple dollars at Walmart)
- Laminated the words
I used these for a variety of different games!
Number Crunch Games (a few options):
- Line up all the numbers from least to greatest while being timed
- Line up all the numbers from greatest to least while being timed
- Pick out all the odd number while being timed
- Pick out all the even numbers
- Sort out all the numbers before 10
- Sort out numbers in the “teens”
- Find all the numbers above 100
- Locate any number ending in “O”
There just a few ideas to get you started. You can get creative and come up with so many more variations on ways to make learning the written numerical number learning process fun for your little ones. The reason why I laminated the cards is because I wanted to make sure I could use them for many activities over several years (and they have have held up really nicely of the past couple of years).
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
The girls always love taking school lunches. It is hard to believe that before long the girls will be done with school and summer break will be started. We are looking forward to a lot of fun activities over the summer together.
Lunch Box Meal
- PB&J Sandwich for Karlie & Soy & Jelly Sandwich for Brina
- Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce
- Yellow Pear Tomatoes
- Apple Slices
- Strawberry Yogurt
- Chips
- Water Bottle
Thankful the girls enjoy taking lunch to school. It is nice knowing exactly what the girls are eating for lunch. Over the next few weeks we’ll have a few field trips and other activities over lunch so not too many more days and they’ll have a break from packing their lunch boxes everyday. We’ll have to make sure to go on a few picnics this Summer to keep up the fun.
A Common Sight On the Way to School
Usually we are stopped by a train going by at least a couple times a week going to and from school. Some trains are long & slow and others are short & fast. It typically isn’t a problem when the train stops us on the way home but there have been a few times throughout the year the train will stop a whole line of cars going to school, thankfully not often, but occasionally a large group of kids could be late to school because of a train taking too long (especially if it is a really slow one).
These pictures are taken at a different intersection a little further down the same tracks. The girls always love watching the trains go by even if it means we have to pause for a few minutes. They repaired the tracks earlier this year and for a few weeks they were extremely rough, but thankfully they got them fixed and the road smoothed out. It’s neat to see the trains and they have become a familiar sight on our weekly track to and from school.
A Little Bug In the Lunchbag
What is in their lunches today?
The other day after the girls had made their lunches and after they were in bed I put in a little “bug” note for them to read at lunch. I cannot remember where I picked up this bug note pack (maybe Hallmark?), but the bundle of notes has lasted me a long time. The girls always enjoy getting the bug notes in their lunch box.
Whenever I go through their lunch bags (usually to make sure they packed everything & sometimes to double clean the bags) it is pretty common for me to find a stack of these and other lunch bag notes in their lunch bag. The notes don’t take much time to add to the lunches, but they sure mean a lot to the kids getting them at school the next day. The bug notes are cute, unique, and have neat sayings on them.
Each “bug” note is different
Bug notes for the girls lunches
