3. Yahtzee® makes adding, skip
counting, and multiplication fun.
My son has been playing Yahtzee® since
he was around five years old. My family
plays, and it was natural to include Josiah.
Yahtzee® has helped me measure Josiah’s
math abilities without giving him a test. He
used to complain about me telling him to
do school work, but when I’d say, “Hey, let’s
play Yahtzee®,” he’d jump on board. To fill
the bottom part of the Yahtzee® score card,
children have to add up three or more dice.
saying he was earning the money for soccer.
At the yard sale, under my supervision, he
practiced counting back change while earning money for soccer.
There are many different ways to make
math fun, and I encourage you to work
some fun into your school routine. Good
math skills are essential to doing well in
school and in life so you might as well make
things interesting.
Erica Sirratt and her husband, Jimmi, live in
a growing city in Arkansas and homeschool
their three young boys. Erica graduated from
the University of Central Arkansas with a
Bachelor’s Degree in writing and journalism.
She worked as a published journalist for five
years before leaving the newsroom in 2014 to
become a homeschool mom. Erica volunteers
as Communication Coordinator for a local
non-profit organization and writes regularly
about homeschooling and parenting on her
blog, www.momodyssey.wordpress.com.
For young children, the dots are there to
help count, but for older children they can
start practicing mental math. To complete
the top part of the score card, children get
to practice skip counting. Josiah practiced
counting by twos every time he rolled a
two, four, or six. Then we started working
on counting by threes and fives. Once he
really understood skip counting, I transitioned into saying, “You have three dice
that say two. What is three times two?”
M b B a aa c c s ’s ui Asc
Makes Learning Math FUN
A Introduction to Numbers Hands-on
4. Make cookies using fractions.
As an adult, I was reading recipes before I
understood how to add and subtract fractions. I could barely add and subtract fractions as a child, and now I can divide, double, and triple recipes in my head. I knew
when it came time to teach fractions that
cooking was the way to go. Josiah is only
in third grade so he’s still in the early stages
of learning fractions, but the visual aid of
the measuring cups has made fractions
more understandable. He can see that 1/3
of a cup is bigger than a 1/4 of a cup. We
practice pouring the liquids and solids out
of the different cups when making cookies.
When I bake bread or make pizza crust we
sometimes practice doubling the recipe or
halving the recipe to show the relationship
between whole, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8.
For All Kids
Ages 3 to 8
;;60 wordless Example Lessons
;;300 attractive full color Picture Lessons
;;Learn: Counting, Lengths, Addition, Subtraction,
Decimal System, Money, and more
Curriculum includes
5. Teach money, counting change,
and profit, using an old-fashioned
lemonade stand.
One of the biggest complaints I hear about
is teenagers and young adults working a
cash register without having a clue about
counting back change. I decided that a fun
way to teach about money was to let Jo-
siah do a water and lemonade stand during
my yard sale. We bought the supplies and
wrote down how much money everything
cost. Then he decided how much he needed
to sell the product for in order to make a
profit without overpricing. He learned a
little about marketing by creating a poster
Rugged, Hardwood, Washable, Non-Toxic ;;Abacus
Beads slide easily, yet stay in place!
Lessons listed by concept ;;Lesson Planner
answers to all Lessons and ;;Teaching Guide
a brief discussion of concepts presented
360 Examples and Lessons ;;Lesson Workbook
See in this issue, under our Product Review Math, Early Learning
Find us in Bob Claymier’s STEM Newsletter
l on y
Made in USA
Learn more at www.Learn Tools.org
9 $3
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