Mastering the Decimal System

I decided to shift back our Montessori materials to review our decimal system, skip counting, addition and subtraction using Montessori Materials. We’re almost done with our Singapore Workbooks so we’re taking a break from all the paper works and shift back to tactile activities :)

THE DECIMAL SYSTEM

We used the Montessori golden beads for presentation and the stamp game and bead frame for the activities.  My main goal here is for Mavi to really understand how the system works, to refine his knowledge of reading and  number formation.

 

QUANTITY AND SYMBOLS

The beginning of the lesson I presented to Mavi how to write the 4 digit numbers. This has always been a difficult subject for him, for he cannot understand why some units must take the place of 0's in tens, hundreds and thousands. We practiced forming the numbers using number cards and in writing as well.

He compared the digits to the body parts LOL.

For the exercises, I created a number checklist table.  Given the number, Mavi will give me the correct number tiles and bead frame counts . This activity is similar to Bank Game, but we’re not using the number cards and golden beads.  As you can see in the pictures below, he has to show me the correct quantity using the stamp tiles and bead frame.

                                  

 

FORMATION OF NUMBERS

This exercises is for Mavi to master how to write the correct number forms.  Given the quantity in number tiles, Mavi has to write the correct amount in our activity sheet.  I liked this activity, as he was able to understand the relationship of decimals.  This also enhances his skills in reading and writing large number units.

Our next step would be static and dynamic addition using the stamp game and bead frame.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
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Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!
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The Natural Homeschool

Life Cycle: Natural Environment I

The last part of the Life Cycle series is the study of the natural environment, distinguishing land and water environments and its living organisms.  The study of the natural environment is broken into two parts:  habitats and food chains.  This post is all about the organism’s habitats.

Decoding the Cuneiform Writings

 

Mavi loves this activity!  We’ve just finished Chapter 3:  The First Writing of SOTW and we’ve been doing this “decode the message” activity game the whole day.  Hopefully this will lead us to decode binary numbers and ASCII in the days to come LOL.

Picture below shows my son attempting to make his own code as well.  Oh I can’t wait to make another one tomorrow for him to work on!

The Twister Experiment

I am currently on vacation mode, so I am not keeping up with my planned schedule.  It’s the midterm break for Mavi and I don’t want to put too much “home” school activities for him as well. So we’re taking each day slowly, whip any activity I can think of if I feel it or if Mavi asks for it.  But other than that, we spend our time outdoors, doing a Harry Potter marathon and catch up on my workout as well.

As I mentioned, we’re doing random activities as of the moment.  And that’s what we did last week.  We have a few empty water bottles and we made use of it by making a shape of a tornado!

 

Objective:  This is to demonstrate the shape of a tornado.

Materials: 

• 2 two-litres of water bottle empty
• water
• duct tape

Procedure:

Fill one bottle with half full water.  Place the second bottle upside down on top of the half filled bottled water.  Secure them with a duct tape.  Turn the bottle upside down so that the bottle with water is on top (make sure to  stand the bottle on the table.  Hold the lower bottle with one hand and using the other hand, quickly move the upper  bottle in a circular motion counter-clockwise.  Stand the bottles upright with the empty bottle remaining on top.

The picture below is quite blurry, but I just want to you see the wonder on my son’s face. Precious!

Results:  The water in the upper bottle swirls in the counterclockwise direction and this forms a shape that looks like a funnel as the water pours into the other bottle.  This funnel shaped formation is the same shape as the vortex formed by a tornado.

Vocabulary:

• A vortex a spinning flow of fluid.
• A tornado is a violently rotating funnel of air that touches the ground.

Mavi enjoyed this activity!  We kept the water bottles for days and he keeps on doing those “shaky” things to make the tornado. 

For best result, it is recommended to use a washer in between the bottle’s mouth piece.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!
Share It Saturday
The Natural Homeschool