Sweetness and Light

Subtraction Strip Board Work

Sean-Paul has taken off in leaps and bounds with his math this year thanks to a very few Montessori presentations and a handy used workbook I picked up over the summer for $2.00 :)

Pictured left is an equation completed with the Subtraction Board (ours is from Alison's Montessori, although not this expensive version, mine was only $15 at the time of purchase). Here is another version at Kid Advance. You can also acquire a printable version from Montessori For Everyone.

So, on to the lesson. The board numbered across the top 1-18 and covered with a grid twelve deep comes with a set of numbered and divided red strips 1-9, blue numbered strips 1-9, and un-numbered white strips lengths 1-18. The example shown above is for the equation 5 - 2 = 3.

Here is how I present the lesson:

• First we say the equation out loud and read as follows, "Five take-away two."
• Next he locates the red numbered strip that corresponds to the "Minuend" (or the number to take away from) which in our equation is "5" and removes the corresponding white strip. He then places that strip across the numbers at the top of the board to cover from 18 to 6. Now the blue five is showing down to one.

 

• Now he selects the red strip "Subtrahend" or the take-away digit which in this equation is the "2" and places it directly under the blue "5" in the first row.

 

• The difference of the two numbers is the empty space which he will fill with a corresponding blue strip to give our answer of "3".

 

• To complete the equation he repeats that "Five take-away two is three" and writes his answer into his workbook; then replaces the strips back into position on the board to begin another equation.

 

This is a very satisfying way for the children to see subtraction in action and it reinforces that it is also another way to show addition at the same time. I always mention after they finish each equation to "check" their work and by looking at the strips all placed together that they indeed add back up to the original minuend. In our case 2 + 3 = 5 and so forth.

 

Here he has completed 5 - 4 = 1, a very happy math boy :)

Please email me or ask questions in the comments if you'd like more information or help setting up a Montessori Math Center, it is well worth your time and effort and so much great learning for the kids!!

Many blessings in your day, happy Feast of St. Francis of Assisi!!

January Learning Room

Lots of good stuff going on for the new year. I am in awe of the way my children will help each other and learn things that I never expected of them. Keeps me one step ahead most of the time, although just barely :)))

Violet has created some delightful learning for Sean-Paul with her Polar and Ice Themes in the Preschool Learning Corner. He had tons of fun with Polar Bears and Penguins the past few weeks and is now on to Winter Weather, Igloos and Sled Dogs, should be an active week for him as he is very hands on, of should I say, he's a full-body learner!! I anticipate many sled dog races amongst he and his brothers :) Note :: She is finding all her goodies and printables at Making Learning Fun (great free site)!

Other activities and learning that is ticking away for them is the continuation of our WW II studies. There are many books with eye-opening and touching stories for this kids of this tumultous and scary period of history. We are currently in the middle of Sun Slower, Sun Faster from none other than our favorite book seller Bethlehem Books! I was telling a friend lately that I wish they'd just set up shop right here in my house! In addition to this I have been reading aloud all of the D'Aulaire historical picture books with Seamus, he is loving these, our current read is Benjamin Franklin. We also just picked up East of the Sun and West of the Moon illustrated by the D'Aulaires from the library. It's a collection of twenty-one Norwegian folk tales, looks promising! 

:: My middle boys are enjoying a fun Human Body Lapbook and Study Guide I found for FREE in November at Currclick! Hello!!! Can I tell you how much I love this site!! I have been able to homeschool virtually free this year becuase of sites like these that offer so much great learning materials to home schoolers for free, what a blessing indeed!! I also find MANY wonderful online books from Homeschool Freebies (this is an email notification service for e-book resource downloads, lots of good old fashioned stuff here.  Some other great ideas for more FREE home learning are at Lori's site: Freely Educate! Visit her sometime, it's worth a good cup of tea )

:: Violet has been working diligently on her many subjects and we are finishing up on our version of the Ivy Basket - Violet this week. She has totally relished reading and re-reading all of the Anne of Green Gables books and the discussions that we've had are truly memorable. Looking forward to finishing the series with her in our next term!

:: Also on Violet's agenda has been her Marine Biology studies. This has also brought forth much good fruit for Violet, although a little lacking in live specimens here on our coast during winter. We did relish a few impromptu beach days last week as the weather was acceptable enough (read not raining) for us to go combing. Her shell collection is growing and should have everything labeled for a nice presentation next term. 

Here was a particulary interesting find ~ a clam shell completely surrounded by some kind of seaweed??? (identification please, anyone??) UPDATE!! from Theresa at Lapaz Home Learning left us a great i.d. link  in the comments below! These are apparently octopus eggs!! WOW, awesome!

There was also some mud-slide activity from recent rains that all the kids found especially cool ~

:: Our Geography Center continues to be a weekly draw for the children. In addition, we are totally loving all the nifty high-tech features of Google Earth, so much to explore in our world, and so little time, sigh :) Here is Sean-Paul working diligently with his polar animals on an "ice floe."

And yes, for the record, the 4 year old does school in his pajamas and slippers on many occasions! Shh, don't tell anyone ;-)

:: Seamus has been learning Mathematics in leaps and bounds. It's hard for me to fathom that as a 2nd grader he's doing all of his multiplication tables, squares and square roots, factoring, and even some long division with ease. Not only does he love Math, but asks for more daily, what a way to put a smile on this Mama's face :) I have to attribute alot of it to his early start with Montessori math materials, they have been invaluable for his learning and I'm so pleased that he was ready and willing with me! His little brother will hopefully benefit from them as well and is starting to show much more interest in doing "big boy math"! Yippee! Violet and Matthias are in the middle of Algebra and doing very well, and when the inevitable question arises as to HOW they will ever have to use it in "real life" I calmly respond that when they home school their own children they'll be able to teach Math with ease ;-)

Well, that's a wrap for January as it wanes in to it's last days...

I'm off to watch The Blue Planet - Ocean Deep with everyone! Thanks for popping in for a visit! Many blessings in your days together with your sweeties! 

An Impromtu Poll ~ Minnesota Style ~ Math ?

Well, in light of all the great responses to Minnesota Mom's Impromptu Poll yesterday, I thought I'd give it a whirl as well seeing as I need to make a decision on the Pre-Algebra program I will use for Violet and most likely Matthias. We will be starting up more formally on the Assumption so I need to get it in gear here.

So...for those of you who have tackled Pre-Algebra/Algebra for your 8th grade students, which program have you used or had good success!

Saxon or __________________?

Thanks for all your input, it will be greatly appreciated :)))

Happy Links :: Math

Just wanted to pass on a great site for Math!  We are totally loving the oodles of free downloadable worksheets at Mammoth Math, THANK YOU Maria :)

I hope someone else will enjoy her site and helpful tips for teaching Math as I do, kids are pretty excited about these too, which is a really good thing.

She also has a Homeschool Math Blog and a Homeschool Math Site!  I have subscribed to her Newsletter and am very pleased!

Blessings in your day!

A Fraction of Fun!

Fractions of Fun are happening all the time, here's a little work various people have been doing lately!!

Matthias doing a lesson for his Saxon Math.

Seamus working with the Fraction Insets for the first time after his Presentation!!

We've also been talking alot about pies and pizzas!!  How do you like to do Fractions???

Have a great day, many blessings to you!

Fun With Shapes

Math is a subject that we like to liven up a bit in our house and along our Montessori Train-of-Thought, we are having Fun With Shapes!!  Pattern Blocks and Mosaics to be exact!  Here are some of the boys creations as of late:

Matthias's Turtle

Seamus's Mosaic, he loves doing these!

A rendition of the Solar System by Matthias!

How does your garden grow...

Under the Moon and Stars???  A little Matthias style humor for ya!! 

What do you all like to do with your Pattern Blocks??  This is just the tip of the iceberg for us. 

Oh, here's a few  more from a couple of weeks ago I want to include.  They are very special:

St. Francis of Asissi, by Matthias, notice the bird.

Our Blessed Mother by Violet:

Aren't these fun!!  Thanks for visiting our little world today, many blessings coming your way!

Mathematical Moments

Can Math be fun?  My dear children wonder this at times.  I didn't EVER think it could be - until I went to university and had to learn Calculus to finish my degree, YIKES!  Needless to say, it wasn't always fun, but I did enjoy it more knowing there was a means to and end!

Well, with my cherished ones, I want it to be fun.  I know not everything they do for schoolwork and academics will be a slice of pie, but why not try to entice them with whip cream and a cherry on top if it makes it more enjoyable? And so it goes with Math.

For the Nuts and Bolts we're using Saxon.  It's all there and I don't have to worry whether we're going to miss anything, you can't. We also love the place value cubes, flats and units that double as builders when your not counting with them!  We have always used Cuisinare Rods and loved their various manipulative capabilities.  Elizabeth talks about how she likes them for her dear children here too!  I Love this book, How Math Works, it's suggested in the Mater Amabilis curriculum for Level 2 as a supplement, it's the ultimate for K-12 and is a nice cross-over for Science related material as well (an added bonus)!  I'm also reading random selections from The Joy of Mathematics and More Joy of Mathematics by Theoni Pappas.  The kids were excited when I read to them about the Parabolic Ceiling of the Capital as we had just experienced Whisper Dishes at our Discovery Center the week before (very cool).  I also visit MacBeth's Math page often for new titles and great Living Math ideas.  I am encouraging my little mathematicians to write in a math journal as well as doing their regular text work to keep things interesting. 

We also like the Math-U-See online math drill page - Seamus is really cooking along with addition.  I like to have each child do their level a bit each week for review of mental math basics. 

There are so many math resources that I couldn't possibly list them all here, but do check Real Learning for an incredible list of all things math picture books, it's quite a list!

I have updated my Math Bookshelf to include all the books we are using currently and don't forget to check the Preschool Learning Corner Bookshelf for great Number books for the littler crowd!!  Thanks for visiting and May God Bless you in your day!!

Are you Prime??

While perusing several math sites and Unity of Truth blog, I found this great article:  GKC's Favourite: A Prime Example.  What do you think?  My head is still spinning after reading this!!

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Tags:  Math , Science