Categories

This is a game of critical thinking that we do in the teaching world. I decided to introduce the game to "A" who is going into 1st grade next year. You want to take picture of something that are related, but not completely. For example you could do geometric shapes but not all triangles or animals but not all mammals. I chose to teach "A" the game with animals because I just happened to have a bunch of National Geographic animal cards that come in the Little Kids magazine (love this magazine for primary kiddos). I know they also have similar cards in the Zoobook magazines.


The way you play Categories is to have the child sort the cards into different categories of their choosing. You can tell them they can sort it by type of animal, color, where they live, whatever they want it is their choice but all the cards in that category must be related somehow. Tell them you will guess which categories they chose when they are ton. Then sit back and RESIST THE URGE to tell them what to do or direct them in any way. The point of the game is critical thinking so they need to work it out for themselves. I left the room actually. When "A" was done he called me in to guess. His first were things that live in water, near water, and completely on land. It was a tricky one. Have the child explain the categories and why they chose them (part of the critical thinking process). Next I sorted the cards and he guessed. This is a great way to model how to play. He loved it and we played many rounds of taking turns making categories. Here is some of the categories we came up with:

With shells

Birds

Baby Animals (another group was unsure of age)

Have Spots

Stripes

What continent they live on (that was me not me 6 year old)

The sky is the limit on the different categories you can make just with the animal cards alone. In a school setting we have played this game for almost every unit we teach: plants, colonial life, Native Americans, geometry, landforms, habitat and environment, rocks & minerals, etc. If you don't have cards make ones from magazine cut-outs or Google images. Kids love thinking they can stump, and better yet, teach adults-its empowering!

Happy Playing Everyone!

Playing With Leaves

I finally got around to playing with the leaves from our leaf hunt last week. In hindsight, we should have worked with them earlier because they were pretty crispy and lost some of their bright colors. Oh well, learn from my mistake! I first wrote different colors on strips of paper, and had "A" sort the leaves into a bar graph formation. We then discussed which one had the most and the least. We added the color purple even though it isn't a normal color used to categorize fall leaves, but "A" insisted.

Then to get a little more into the Autumn leaves spirit of things "A" sang a song he learned in Kindergarten. Watch the video to hear a song set to the tune of London Bridge.

Then it was time to make leaf creations. I got easily frustrated by how dried out the leaves were. "A" stuck it out and made some pretty cool animals!

I made this guy. Don't know what he is

My butterfly ( I gave up after this one)

"A's" Leaf man

A Snail

A Giraffe

A Fish

Activity Bag #1

Yesterday my husband took the boys to get the tires done and he asked "A" to bring something to do as he waited. I was laying in bed (my sleep in morning) and heard the lil stinker say he didn't know where any books were? What? What? WHAT?!? First off we have a basket of library books in the living room, a book shelve just for him the the bedroom, two new magazines for him by the front door, and that doesn't include the tub of learning activities in ziplocks waiting to be used! Something had to be done. I have seen activity bags or busy bags throughout the blogging world. I have always kind of done that on long road trips but I have decided to have a bag with 6-7 things in it by the front door at all times. That way if we have a doctors appt, have to wait at the tire shop, go to a restaurant he can never claim he doesn't have anything to do. I think I will change what is in the bag every 6 weeks or so...depending how often it got used. That way he won 't get bored. As "B" gets older I will most likely make one for him too. As of this moment there is no excuse for boredom when he is out!

Let me introduce to our first activity bag:

Activity Bag #1's goodies!

The bag (with name blocked out). Bag was $1 at Michaels and then painted with fabric paint and sponge stamps.

The Activities:

A few cards from Rivers, Roads, and Rails game and transportation counters. The game is a fave of "A's" that he has wanted for a long time and I just got it for $3 at Goodwill-what a find!!! I figured he could put the counters on the roads.

Another use for the counters. I found these cards at Learning Palace. The teach sorting, counting, and patterns.

A bag of markers, hidden picture book, and our Little Kids Magazine (subscription a gift from Grandma-WOOT!)

Memory Match game I made from Disney paint samples

Number match with clothespins. Wheel found at 1+1+1=1 although I don't know the exact post.

Melissa and Doug opposite cards (I only chose 5 sets for this month). Got at Goodwill for $2-yay!

Another Goodwill find for $2-Number Dominoes

Sight Word Go Fish cards that I made. I only did three of each word (instead of traditional four).

Grains of Sand

This is actually a special project "A" does with my mother. My mom LOVES collections! Recently she started a sand collection for/with "A". Each time someone goes to a place that may have sand she has them take samples that she puts in glass jars. She even took sand from "A's" sandbox! Being a rock-hound (like me) she wanted "A" to see how sand looks different when taken from different areas. Here are some countries "A" has sand from:

• Thailand
• Mexico
• Honduras
• Grand Cayman
• United States: Florida, Alabama, Oregon, Washington
• Awaiting sand for Japan from "A's" aunt in Okinawa

Collection so far

The darker grains (they have fun sorting colors and particle size)

Lighter Grains

To help "A's" understanding of how sand is made and why they differ I got the book Jump into Science with National Geographic:Sand by Ellen Prager for us to read. In the book, they show close up of sand and I found an amazing slideshow of similar close-up pictures of grains of sand that was published in May 2008 Discover Magazine. To view the entire slideshow click here.

Page from the book looking at different sands

Close up of sand from Greece (photo from Discover Magazine)

Grain of Massachusetts sand as piece of art from Discover Magazine

Photo from Discover Magazine (Okinawa Japan)

This is just one of the many reasons why "A" and my mom have such a great bond!

A Closer Look At Seashells

Continuing on with our water/ocean theme of study this week, I thought we should examine "A's" extensive seashell collection. Many of the seashells my family or I have collected over the years at the Oregon Coast or traveling. Some of the more exotic shells have been gifts. I thought we should start by sorting them to get a better look. Plus sorting items is teaches great problem solving and analytical skills.

Smooth

Bumpy

Cone Shaped

Clam Shells

"B" wanted to help sort too!

 I then told "A" about the two types of seashells: gastropods and bivalves. Bivalve seashells are shells that have hinges to hold them together. Gastropods don't have hinges. I then had "A" sort into the two categories.

Then we did some research in books to see if we could find what animals would have lived in "A's" seashells. The books we read (all I recommend):

What we discovered in our readings: mostly that we had clam, mollusk, sea snail, and hermit crab shells. It was so exciting to find a picture in a book that matched a shell in "A's" collection!

I couldn't resist following up the learning with some crafting. Pink and Green Mama thought up the idea to have her little one paint some of her white clam shells. Anyone who has a seashell collection knows that you can have TONS of the same white clam shell. It can get pretty boring, so why not liven them up a bit. In her blog she had them paint with watercolors. We tried it, and although it was fun, the shells turned out really light. Pink and Green Mama must have special watercolors because ours just didn't have the colors her's did. So I decided why not also take some of my permanent markers and decorate them that way as well. Now we have some special colorful clam shells to brighten up the collection!

Beautiful but hoping for more vibrant colors (they even dried lighter than this)

Permanent Marker is so much messier than watercolors

Permanent Marker Shells on Top/Watercolor Shells on Bottom