At the end of week 2, Sr. shared some concerns over the Odd/Even module that Hayzel learned that day. He didn’t feel that Hayzel was grasping the difference between odd and even numbers properly. He explained that when a child is learning the even/odd concept, he should understand that the difference is that even numbers are divisible by 2 and odd numbers are not. He feels that the even and odd module was something better left as a precursor to division, which doesn’t really happen until around 3rd grade. Hmmmmm……
I mulled it over for a few days and did some research. While I do agree that the even and odd concept will make even more sense when division comes into our lives(so looking forward to that!
), there is nothing wrong with laying out the groundwork for later and more complicated concepts. I feel that at this age little Hayzel should be able learn the most basic of math concepts. Sr.’s concern may have stemmed from the fact that after a long lesson on even/odd numbers, Hayzel was still guessing most of the answers. He was not understanding the difference. But, I really think that either T4L was not explaining properly or he needed more practice before the lightbulb went off in his head. He still had not had that, “A-HA!” moment. You know what I’m talking about? That moment when the frown lines creasing your little’s forehead disappears and the tension leaves his little body, and he finally understands! So after some creative thinking and a few keystrokes on Google, I came up with an activity on Tuesday that Hayzel would enjoy. And all I needed was some paper, pencils and M&M’s.
I made a quick little table on Word, 2 rows and 5 columns. I numbered each box 1-10. I instructed Hayzel to put the number of M&M’s that was listed at the top of each box inside the box. I explained to him that for each even number each m&m has a friend or a pair and for the odd numbers there would always be a m&m left without a friend. All he had to do was write even or odd under each box once he figured it out, and if he got a perfect score he could eat all the m&m’s he used.
And in the mind of my 5 year old, this made perfect sense.
Chocolate always seems to make things clearer.
After this activity he was able to recite, “Mom, the even numbers are 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and the odd numbers are 1,3,5,7,9.” I took it a step further and told him any number, no matter how big or small that ended in either 0,2,4,6,8 would always be an even number and vice-versa for the odds. I then gave him a couple of worksheets to practice, and after a bit of help at the beginning, he flew through them.
After he was done with those, he went back to the T4L module for a recap. Then, he told me he was ready to take the lesson quiz.
He got a 100. Naturally.
Any child can learn anything as long as it is tailored to his mental capacity.
After math, Hayzel and cousin Ashley ( who was spending the day with us) got down to pore over some ocean-themed books we borrowed from the library. This year we are doing monthly science units and in September we are focusing on Ocean and Marine Animals. Hayzel had to read up on octopus and clown fish. From this book, he learned that the limbs on octupi was called tentacles and made the connection to Squidward’s last name which happens to be Tentacles. “
Oooooohhhhh, Mom! So that’s why his name is Squidward Tentacles!And ooooooooooooooohhhh Mom! That must mean that he is an Octupus and not a squid like I thought when I was 4!”It was a very smart guess and I’m glad he made the connection. BUT! I just realized that dumb book was wrong. Which makes me very very mad. According to National Geographic and other sources, Octopi DO NOT have tentacles, only 8 arms. Squids also have 8 arms AND 2 longer tentacles. I tossed that book in my return-to-library bag and I shouldn’t have been so hasty because now I can’t remember the name of the book so I can write a letter to the editor.
There are certain things I know next to nothing about, and I depend on reference books to educate me. How am I suppose to teach the right things if there are books out there with the wrong information? Thank goodness for the World Wide Web.Okay, rant over…
After about 30 minutes of poring over pictures,
Hayzel and Ashley got down to some serious arts and crafts.
I got the ideas for these crafts from Pinterest and they are under my September board.
In the afternoon, Hayzel and I went to a Science Explorers meeting. For more on that click here.
Finally we went to visit baby Lucas and celebrated his half birthday.
Wednesday morning, Hayzel did a LA module on words with the –ng sound and followed up with some worksheets.
In the afternoon, he joined some friends on an ambulance tour, then it was time for Tball.
Thursday was pretty laid back. Hayzel studied for his upcoming Math chapter test. He worked on some practice sheets about place values, counting by 2s & 5s, and odd/even numbers. We watched a lot of Blue Planet on tv and did some research on plankton.
Hayzel was very upset that the real plankton look like this:
and not like this:
Friday morning we had a science co-op and afterwards did a bit more math practice. Hayzel will be taking his chapter test at the beginning on Week 4 before moving on to Fractions.
This was a science-heavy week for us, but we learned and did a lot!
