School Day Snapshots

 

A great way to introduce math concepts is by using Cuisenaire Rods.  Cuisenaire rods are a collection of rectangular rods in 10 lengths and 10 colors, each color corresponding to a different length.  They allow a more concrete way of looking at math and help children explore addition, substraction, volume, fractions, measurement and much more.  They have become a staple in many elementary classrooms and they are a staple at home in our "classroom" as well.  

 

Our bucket of rods came with a nifty workbook that features letters and shapes to fill with the rods.  It will then ask questions like, 'how many rods did you use?' 'fill the letter using only white rods.' 'make the train using only two colors.'  I have Ella do the page in the book that corresponds with the letter sound we're learning that week and then we go over the questions in the book.  She loves working with the rods so much that she continues on her own after we have done the work scheduled for that day.

 

Since Christian is only two years old, I do not do a lot of structured learning with him yet.  However, he is immersed in educational toys, books and activities throughout the day.  In fact, it's usually his idea to explore our space books.  He has taken an interest in all things space-related and has learned the names of the planets and can recognize other space objects like nebulas and galaxies.  He is beginning to learn his alphabet and likes to play with his letter puzzle and he also does a lot of fine-motor activities like painting, drawing and peeling stickers - believe it or not, those activities help prepare children to write.