Math Card Game- Corners

In an effort to keep practicing math facts and make it fun, I got this idea to try out the RightStart Math Card Games. Only...now is not a great time to buy stuff unrelated to the holidays. So, I decided to see how I could come up with the games at a low cost.

A FIAR friend let me know that she made her cards and that a few of the basic games are on YouTube. So, I've been on a quest to make these cards and learn a few games. I do plan to purchase the Math Card Game Book that RightStart sells to accompany the card sets just as soon as I can. The cards retail for $7.50 a game or $25 for a set of 6 card decks. To make the Corners cards, Addition, Product, and Fraction sets I will have spent about $3 total and it took me no time at all really to make them. The trickiest part is how many to make and what goes on them.

So, here are the directions to two games involving the Corners cards. The first is just plain old Corners. This game practices identifying sums that are multiples of 5 and 10.



Top and Bottom Corners is a lot trickier. You have to add to get the sums that are multiples of 5 and 10 with the vertical numbers and subtract with the differences being multiples of 5 and 10 with the horizontal numbers. This gives practice with negative numbers and makes the game harder to get to 100!



So, we played a bunch today. I played with R9, then later on I7, and finally E11 who couldn't wait to beat me. I decided it would be great fun to video the game with I7. Did you all know I got a nice little new phone for my birthday last week? I had to try it out and the hardest part was liberating the video from the phone and getting it on to my computer which was nothing short of a technological miracle and when Dan finds out how I did it, he'll be amazed. Amazed. I'm not sure it's worth all that hassle, but I know how to do it the easy way now without locking up my phone 3 times. Maybe it won't be so bad next time!

Without further ado...I7 and I play Corners- this is a great way to practice adding lots of numbers. So many bonuses to this game. Now press play and see if you can pick out the Balmer (Baltimore) accent! And watch for J4's shadow.

The Robotics Competition

Sunday was the competition against the competition board and ten other teams. The team worked really hard leading up to it and that day they had a very solid performance for a first year team. It was wonderful!

We had a parent who was able to take our practice table to the site so the boys could keep working at it. We started from ground zero in mid-September with the team and they could use all the extra time they could get!

We didn't use any of the robot's sensors and I know next year they will be on that.

Dan and I were the coaches- I took care of administrative, financial support gathering, the poster and research portion, and general crowd control. While Dan was in charge of technical instruction and motivation and communication with parents. Here he is doing what he did best on Sunday- keeping our team on time! We all had the yellow shirts (ok I was in charge of acquiring shirts as well- more administrative type work). The kids had their names and Dan and I had Coach on there. Our team sponsors were the CNF at Cornell and Arleo Eye Associates. Thanks sponsors!

The guys wait outside the competition ring for their next run.

More practice...

The team won the TEAM SPIRIT AWARD which was really terrific. They earned it! They were quick to encourage each other that day and they cheered on other teams. I think we were the loudest ones there.

We placed 4th or 5th overall out of 11 teams which was nothing short of amazing! The team is excited to work on robot skills next semester in co-op and Dan and I are already planning some robot time over the winter between co-op sessions. The boys can hardly wait.

If we can get more sponsors, we may be able to have a second team. We've been trying for YEARS to get a team off the ground so this is just really exciting for us. The parents are jazzed and very supportive which was really nice because they needed to agree to extra practice (Wednesdays and Saturdays for weeks) toward the end- not to mention the 12:30 to 8 pm day on Sunday.

The result was well worth our effort for the kids. If you are interested in starting up a LEGO FIRST team check out this website for information.

Autumn Nature Study: Woodpeckers (and bird feet)

We've been doing some of the autumn nature studies this season at the Handbook of Nature Study Blog. Barb has a lot of very nice resources linked over there. I've often thought of doing an investigation on bird beaks illustrating how they are made for the food that is a particular bird's diet, but this was an easy lesson with the feet.

First we took a nice walk and listened for as many birds as we could hear. We have observed the geese flying south and the increased activity of the birds that wills stay with us all winter- chickadees, blue jays and cardinals. Well and how can I forget the crows?! It was a fun day time activity on my birthday last week.

First we used this sheet on bird feet to do some matching. This one belongs to J4. He and I talked about the different birds and their feet and he correctly matched them.

All the kids drew some pictures of bird feet just like at the Handbook of Nature Study blog. I did one too and it turned out well. E11 wanted to add examples of birds with that type of foot.

We thought it would be fun to listen to the Downy Woodpecker as we worked. We heard the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker too. We know we've heard that one! This is one great little book. If you are into nature studies and birds, see if they have one for your state. I7 has requested his own copy the next time we go to the Lab of Ornithology.

Bird Coloring Book from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology- we did a page on the Downy Woodpecker as was suggested in the study. R9 reflected on what she loved about her bird book and we listened for quite a long time after the assignment was finished.

Usually we do nature study as the opportunity arises, but I think we are going to work on scheduling it once a week. I'm working on a new routine now that things with our FIRST team have settled down.

10 Days in Asia

So, you might remember that I recently shared our experience with the game 10 Days in Africa. I mentioned that there are other versions of the game- Asia, U.S., and Europe. Well...it got me thinking about the other continents. Would there be an Australia version? South America? When I visited the website I didn't see anything new so I decided to contact Out of the Box Publishing. I asked if there were plans for Australia and South America.

They replied! Here's what I learned...there is no Australia version yet, but a new version called The Americas is due out June, 2010! I'll be watching for that one. It'll include North and South America.

In the meantime, they very graciously sent me 10 Days in Asia to review for you! I am just so excited!

The kids did not waste time cracking open the box. It arrived last week and we've already played a bunch. We've been hauling it to LEGO practice and playing like crazy while we wait. Nothing like hearing your kids discuss the finer points of moving around the continent of Asia.

This game has more modes of transportation for getting around. 10 Days in Africa has a truck and an airplane. Asia here has planes, railroads, and ships and there are two oceans to navigate. Pretty tricky.

To play the game you draw 10 cards and you have to arrange them in the best order possible. There are rules about how you can fly from country to country (they have to be the same color with a matching plane) and how to get to bordering countries. The other thing is that when you draw a card (either from the top of the discard pile or a new card), you can't just move the others around. You can only put a new card where the card you discard goes. So, you have to do a bit of planning and if you don't set up your itinerary carefully in the first place you are going to struggle.

You might guess that we want to collect them all. While they play very similarly, each time you play it's a new game because you never know what you'll be dealt. The age recommendation is 10 and up, but I7 can play with some success and R9 is quite good at it. The game retails for about $25 depending on where you purchase it.

What a fun way to play with geography! My sincere thanks to Out of the Box Publishing for letting me try out a new game.

I don't know about you, but I've been doing a lot of thinking with the Christmas season arriving...you know...about what to get for the kids. Good news! Rainbow Resource carries this series of games. So, if you happen to be in the market for some new homeschool games, don't forget this geography fun!

Velocity of a Marble: Results

Here is the much anticipated result of our marble investigation. I was delinquent in getting pictures to go with my results. I have to have the pictures! If you missed the first post on our most excellent math lesson, then go to there and read about it. It was good science!!

The first thing the kids found was that it was hard to get the marble to repeat a good run enough times to record it for five trials in a row. They tried to get the marble to go around the curve correctly each time to no avail. Finally, they ended up making a new chart to record the partial runs. We could calculate the velocity whether or not the marble went all the way to the end of the track.

The data chart-we recorded the time in seconds using a kitchen timer. Each of them took a turn helping to hold up the part of the track near the curve, timing, and letting the marble go.

Then we measured the length of the track at both the partial and final marks and I marked the yarn with the start and partial distance. That was important later on. E11 used a yard stick to record the full and partial length of the track. Then we had the mathematical task of converting the measurement to inches. Note, scientific work is generally done in cm, but I was working with a yard stick not a meter stick so I just went with English measurements this time.

The final calculation page. E11 and R9 used the formula velocity = distance/time to get their answers. The answer was in inches per second. Their marble was traveling 41 inches per second down the marble track.

Then I thought I'd give E11 the challenge of converting our answer from inches per second to miles per hour. That was fun! Yeah...I'm that kind of mom!

Some things to think about- first the kids wanted to give up on the full track runs, but I made them stick with it. E11 was especially annoyed and declared it was all ruined several times, but I reminded him about how scientists meet up with obstacles all the time. Dan helps to manage a university lab full of users who get frustrated the same way. Months of work will come to a crashing halt when they make a mistake or a tool is dirty and ruins a wafer or a tool is broken and breaks something they've worked hard on for a long time. There is a delay in forward movement. They have to begin again. That's how it is in the real world of science! Besides, E11 is a very bright boy who needs to work on perseverance when something is more difficult than he would like to battle.

Also, before we could do calculations, we had to deal with the raw data. We chose to find the median rather than an average in order to do the velocity calculation.

We had trouble importing the video from E11's camera into Picasa so for now the video of the run will wait. Next time... Aha! E11 just informed me that his camera card was not wiped so perhaps, with my help, we'll load up some video for you. That was part of the challenge that day.

All in all a fantastic activity for math and science. I wonder what we'll do next!

Mapping the UGRR

Using the features from the Time Travelers History Study on the Civil War, we made the map of the Underground Railroad.

First I had to cut the flaps with a craft knife- that's not something I do everyday.

Then we put the descriptions behind the flaps. Very cool.

Again, just catching up on some real deal homeschool blogging here. This CD is organized very well and the projects are fun.

Pumpkin Math

We have been so crazy busy here with lego practice, co-op, fun fall sunny days that we've been on the go A LOT. However, we've had time to fit in some fun activities here and there. What am I saying? Of course we are ALL about the fun! ALL the time! Right?

One of my oldest friends and a fellow homeschooler and FIAR user, Cherylin (this is where I'd link you to her awesome blog if she had one...hint...hint) sent me a link to Mathwire.com knowing I love pumpkin fun stuff. It took me a while to really peruse their offerings, but when I did I pulled some fantastic math fun. See what you think.

The Pumpkin Jumble game was a big hit. Pattern blocks piled high, we did some jack o' lantern building using a dice roll

The kids had to record on a chart the roll of the die and follow the directions to fill in the face. Once they were able to complete it, they won. In the meantime, we totaled up the tally marks and talked about probability.

We also had some fun with glpyhs (symbols representing data) which was so fun because later on, J4 was able to share what we did with Dan at the dinner table. In a pretty detailed way too.

You could spend a lot of time on there roaming around and they are kind enough to leave previous year's links up. Though Halloween is all done, there are still good pumpkin with no face type activities to enjoy.