SMMART MATH: Cornucopia Catches

Another game for your kiddos to play while you are creaming the sweet potatoes and basting the turkey...

Help your child create his own cornucopia by forming a paper plate into a funnel shape and securing the edges with tape or staples.

Let your child experiment with tossing cottonballs, toy balls, or wads of paper.  You can even let your child experiment by seeing if one cottonball or a few taped together work better in this activity.

Just one person can flick the cottonball out of the cornucopia and up into the air.  Catch the cottonball inside the paper plate cornucopia.  Encourage your child to count out loud and declare each catch.  See how many catches he can complete in a row.  Two children can have a contest to see who catches the most in a row.

Two children can attempt to toss the cottonball back and forth between two cornucopias, counting out loud to keep track.

Advanced:  Each time you catch the cottonball, you can count by twos, fives, tens or hundreds.

SMMART MATH: Cranberry Creations

"Fun Geometry?"you say..."Is that possible?"
Expose your children to 3D shapes AND use edible constructibles...it doesn't get much better!  Using the term "3D" when you discuss spheres, cubes and pyramids might remind them of the recent "Toy Story III" movie.  Show your child a 2D square made of toothpicks and cranberries and then build onto it to create its 3D counterpart, the cube!

We like to use grapes, and marshmallows as the "glue" for the toothpicks.  Recently I picked up a bag of cranberries and they worked GREAT!  They really held up through multiple pokes-most durable yet, but not so edible.

My girls really enjoyed creating with the cranberries...This would be a great activity for your kids on Thanksgiving Day when you're busy in the kitchen!

SMMART MUSIC: Ukaleles-Lilo and Stitch Style

I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a promotional event for Disney on Ice: Mickey and Minnie's Magical Adventure.  Their wonderful promotions manager invited children from Shriner's Hospital to come and experience the magical adventure up close! 

The room was creatively decorated to depict the four lands of Disney on Ice- The Sahara (Lion King), Under the Sea (Little Mermaid-complete with continual bubbles), Neverland (Peter Pan) and Hawaii(Lilo and Stitch). 

Jana, a Disney performer from Finland, helped me to show the children how to make Lilo and Stitch ukaleles.  They turned out super cute!  The kids were so darling and it was fun to meet their parents too!

You'll need:
An Empty Tissue Box

Paper bag, butcher paper or construction paper

Ruler or Stick (can even be a wooden spoon)

About 4-5 large rubber bands

Duct Tape

Markers, Stickers, Stamps to decorate

1) Wrap the empty tissue box with paper.  Leave the hole exposed.

2)Tape the stick onto the back of the tissue box.

3) Wrap the rubber bands around the box so that it stretches to cover the hole (like an ukalele)

4) Let your child decorate the tissue box with stickers, stamps and markers.

Simple, but the kids really liked playing with the ukaleles. Check out a video on how to make these at:

http://www.sproutonline.com/sprout/Crafts/detail.aspx?id=ef2e3bc8-2c5a-433c-ae29-9a1800a14d62

The best part was watching their eyes pop when Mickey and Minnie walked in!  They posed for pictures with their families and left with some fun Disney memories.  So glad I could be a part of this great event!

As for the actual Disny on Ice show...spectacular and magical fun!  My girls wouldn't take their eyes off the ice!  Even my 16 month old little girl was clapping her hands and dancing throughout the program.  My little 3 year old exclaimed "Look! Ariel waved at me!"  I loved how interactive the "Peter Pan" story was told.  The girls clapped to show that they believed in "make believe" and saved Tinkerbell, and "tick-tocked" along with Peter Pan to trick Captain Hook into thinking the crocadile was after him.  It was a wonderful show!

SMMART READING: Scholastic Newsletter and Resources

I've been receiving the Scholastic Newsletter for a while now.  It's nice to see topics that interest me coming to my inbox.  You can sign up for it here (scroll down and it's in the right column with a green header)
These were a few recent tips Scholastic shared with parents:

5 Ways to Pique Your Child’s Interest in Science
Explore the science that surrounds you—from the science programs in your community, to museums, to nature walks.


1.Follow his interests and encourage him to explore subjects he likes. If he's a sci-fi fan, give him materials about space exploration, or try a paleontology book on your dinosaur buff.


2.Make time for everyday experimentation, like observing changes in weather or the chemical reactions in cooking.


3.Put scientific concepts in real-world terms. If she's studying states of matter at school, for example, take some water and freeze, boil, and melt it so she can see the scientific processes at work.


4.Listen to his questions and try to find the answers together. Simply telling him the answer won't be as helpful or as empowering as conducting his own research.


5.Explore the science that surrounds you — from the science programs in your community, to museums, to nature walks. Take trips together that pique her curiosity and keep her asking "why?"

SMMART VOTE

You bet I voted!

Living in military surroundings and experiencing several other countries, has certainly instilled a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to live in a democratic nation.

Even though it's not the easiest task, I often take my children with me to vote so they can experience the process. (I must say that I do love early voting since the lines are much smaller!)

Here are a few resources to share with your child during the election period:

Printables:

Books:

 Videos:

I searched for a cartoon about elections, and found this Care Bear "Mayor for a Day" episode. This shows the voting process with ballots or might help you explain why sometimes the public wishes to impeach someone in office:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKp08GAsiG4

This Popeye "Popeye for President" episode (lots of cigars and pipes). This could help to explain how candidates each have a platform or how some candidates might not "play fair":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY1AKX9iz6c

"You're not elected, Charlie Brown" teaches about the voting process on a school level, good sportsmanship, loss in faith in a candidate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8hrs6IY298

Sites:
White House Site/Blog: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/white-house-101/
Info and coloring pages of all the US Presidents: http://patrioticcoloringpages.com/presidents/

SMMART MATH: SIZE RELATIVITY

(with a cool science connection)

"My hand is bigger than your hand" or "My cookie is smaller than your cookie".  Try to incorporate "bigger than"/ "less than" vocabulary in your routine today.  Show your child the <> signs. 

Place an apple slice on a piece of paper, then place bigger slice beside it.  Draw a box between the slices.  Let your child draw the correct "bigger than or smaller than" sign in the box. You can talk about how one apple piece weighs "less than" the other, and one apple piece takes up less volume than the other.

Place 4 raisins on a piece of paper and then place 1 raisin beside it.  Draw a box between then and let your child decide which sign ("less than or greater than") should go inside the box.

Check out this site made by the UofU comparing the sizes of a coffee bean to a red blood cell and ultimately, to a water molecule!  This is a fun site to see size comparisons.  It even shows a graph box disected to emphasize the miniscule nature of these objects.  http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

SMMART STATES

The Teach/Learn Blogging Carnival hosted by Science@home is for anyone, because we are all teachers and learners all the time. This month our theme is "Studies of Society and the Environment" which covers all the humanities, from history to finance, geography, politics and of course the environment. Check out the links at the bottom to find some other great posts on SOSE.

Little sponges is what they are...children are so capable of retaining so much information!


Since daddy travels the United States, becoming familiar with where he travels entertains and teaches the girls where the states are and small facts about them.  "Florida is where I saw little baby sea turtles running on the beach back to the ocean after they hatched."  The girls like to find California where Disneyland is (we still haven't been!)  Virginia is where Grandma and Grandpa live...you get the idea.  It's a fun way for the girls to draw a mental correlation to each state. 

Then you can quiz them by asking them to find the state by their clue..."What state is known for growing potatoes?" (Idaho)


We've posted a map on the wall where the girls eat breakfast.  They like to use a pointing stick to identify the states that they know.  Of course this is a fun activity to learn countries, territories and provinces-whatever applies to where you live.

We're still learning...but it's been a fun learning activity over meals.

Check out this fun online game to practice your knowledge of the United States:

http://coolmath-games.com/0-geography-state-the-state/index.html

Visit Science@home to find out more about the Teach/Learn Blogging Carnival.

Please take the time to visit the other participants and check out their posts on "Studies of Society and the Environment."

•The Planning Queen has pulled together some of the many great sources that you can use to keep kids up to date with world news.



•SMMART Ideas is writing about how your 2 year old isn't too young to learn the names and locations of the state she lives in and those around her...or even countries of the world!


•For Adventures with Kids, photos can provide a great starting point for telling or discovering history, from family history to world history. Find out some questions to ask about the photos to get you started and where you can find historical images.


•Narelle at A Bunch of Keys has been having lots of fun learning all about volcanoes and how they work.


•Monique at Your Cheeky Monkey knows that kids are fascinated with igloos - how they are built and why they don't melt. We investigate why!


•Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now has a fun treat to celebrate the end of a geography unit on land and water forms.


•At Homeage, almost every day they get another piece of the world delivered to their door, helping them learn about where and how other people live.


•Deb's girls at http://science-at-home.org/family-trees/ have been building their family tree and talking about all their relationships.

Thanks for visiting our carnival, have fun reading all the posts.

SMMART GIVEAWAY:

Science Detective Books

Author Michele Torrey is hosting a giveaway of her fun Doyle and Fossey, Science Detective books! Four lucky winners will receive copies of the two newest books in the series, THE CASE OF THE TERRIBLE T.rex and THE CASE OF THE CROOKED CARNIVAL, plus a cool test tube kit!

Michele Torrey's Doyle and Fossey, Science Detectives books are a fun series for kids in grades 1-4. They could be described as Encyclopedia Brown meets Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Featured in the books are best friends and budding scientists Drake Doyle and Nell Fossey. Each book has several "cases" that the intrepid duo solve using their scientific know-how, plus there are easy science experiments at the end. Author Michele Torrey has a degree in microbiology and immunology, so her science is spot on, and very accessible. The sixth book in the series is THE CASE OF THE TERRIBLE T.rex.

To enter, send an e-mail to DoyleandFossey@gmail.com.  In the body of the e-mail, include your name and e-mail address (if you're under 13, submit a parent's name and e-mail address).

One entry per person and prizes will only be shipped to US or Canadian addresses. Entries must be received by midnight (PDT) on 11/18/10. Winners will be selected in a random drawing on 11/19/10 and notified via email.

Check Michele’s website after Nov 22 for the list of winners!