SMMART SCIENCE VIDEO ON "GOOD THINGS UTAH" WEBSITE

Hello and Thank you for watching the SMMART Science segment on "Good Things Utah". If you missed it...you can catch it on the abc4 website for the next few days:

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http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=90829@video.ktvx.com&navCatId=462

Watch for SMMART MATH ideas

on abc4, 10:00am on "Good Things Utah" on

March 25th!

SMMART TIME-OUT FOR TIDBITS: CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

I'm sharing next week's post a little early, in time for Valentine's Day. My sister sent me this recipe e-mail from Hawaii...don't know if it's made it around the loop to everyone yet.

Anytime you are baking or cooking with your child, it's an excellent opportunity to learn math skills with measuring cups and measuring spoons. Compare the size of 1cup to 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup. Let your child pour 1/4 cup into 1 cup until the 1cup is full.

Of course, involve your child in the recipe...cracking the egg, pouring in ingredients, sprinkling a few chocolate chips on top.

Science comes into play as you combine dry ingredients and then add the wet...observe texture and let your child feel the mixture as she stirs. Then it's fun to watch in the microwave as the heat expands the mixture and the cake batter rises.

The original recipe is to be cooked in a tall mug. I separated the batter into 3 ramekins and microwaved all 3 together. It worked beautifully...especially with an extra helping of powdered sugar dusting over the top of the finished product (thanks to my 3 year old helper).

Serve with a dallop of vanilla icecream on top if you like...I like.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 Tb Flour
4 Tb Sugar
2 Tb Cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tb Milk
3 Tb Oil
3 Tb Chocolate Chips
Small Splash of Vanilla Extract
1 Lg Mug

· Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.
· Add the egg and mix thoroughly
· Pour in the mil and oil (Add in chocolate chips if you like)
· Put mug in microwave and cook for 3 min on High (1000 watts)
· The Cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!
· Allow to cool a little and tip out onto a plate if desired. Serve a la mode.
· EAT!

And why is this the mots dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from a chocolate cake at any time- day or night!(Unfortunately I don't know who to credit this recipe to, so if you know, let me know and I'll give props where they're due.)

Lisa

EYES ON "GOOD THINGS UTAH"

Tune in for SMMART SCIENCE ideas on February 18, abc 4 at 10:00am.

Thanks for your support!!!

SMMART READING: PLOT PICTURES

Many children’s books have free coloring pages available to print. Search the web to find your child’s favorite characters. This picture comes from http://www.littlecritter.com/color_book_page57.html, where there are a variety of activities for children from the Mercer Mayer book series.

Print a coloring page for your child to fill in with markers, crayons or watercolors.

As your child is painting, ask your child a few questions:

Where is the picture taking place?
What is happening in the picture?
How do you think Little Critter feels about what he is doing?
Do you think it’s a good idea to do this?
What is his mom thinking about?
How does the sister feel?
What will happen next?

Help your child explore the simple parts of a story: setting, plot, characters, themes.

Lisa

SMMART ART: GREAT ART WORK PUZZLES

Find great works of art in used books, on postcards or on the internet.

Write the artist on the back of the picture. Laminate or contact paper the pictures and cut them into simple puzzles.

When you are putting the puzzles together with your child, talk about the artist and what type of artwork you are looking at. As your child matures, you can cut the pieces into even smaller puzzle pieces.

(Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, On Becoming Preschool Wise (South Carolina: Parent-Wise Solutions, Inc, 2004) 121-132.)

Lisa

SMMART MUSIC: QUIET LISTENING

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Beauty in simplicity.

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Sit down on the floor and hold hands with your child. Explain to her that you are not going to make a sound for 30 seconds and you need to listen carefully to the sounds that you hear.
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After you both listen for a while, ask your child what kinds of sounds she heard. Ask your child if she heard the same sounds that you heard.

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It’s nice to take the time to listen to your surroundings and be together for a little moment.

Lisa

SMMART MATH: HIDING COINS

Fill an empty water bottle 2/3 full of rice, sand, dried beans, or oats. Place several of each type of coin into the bottle (quarters, dimes, pennies, nickles).

Shake, shake, shake and encourage your child to name the type of coin he sees.

Discuss the value of each coin and see if your child can name the correct value amount when he names the coin that he sees.

(Many times you can only see a tiny bit of the coin, so you will need to recognize some identifying characteristics other than just the size of the coin.)

Lisa

BUTTON, BUTTON- PLEASE ADD MY SMMART IDEAS BUTTON!

A dear friend of mine solicited a friend of hers to create a button for me without even knowing me. That is SOOO NICE! So, a public thank you to Kami.If you would like to add this button to your blog (and I would be honored if you do), then please e-mail me at:

SMMARTideas@hotmail.com

I'll send you the HTML code.

Keep your eyes posted to

"Good Things Utah"

abc4 at 10:00am

January 14th!

I'll be presenting SMMART Reading ideas