Fun in the Box #16...

Why just do math worksheets when you can make it a little more fun. I save every milk cap that enters this house (which is a lot because we are a milk drinking, cereal eating family of 6). There are so many things you can do with them. For this workbox I wrote the numbers 1-9 twice and placed them in a bucket. Jackson was working on 3 digit subtraction so I took a piece of notebook paper and went ahead and drew the problems with blanks. By doing this he knew how many he had to do, how many digits, and it lined them up for him. Notice the paper is turned sideways. This is a great trick I learned teaching 4th grade. The lines on the notebook paper act as guides to help them keep their numbers lined up. That alone eliminates most mistakes kids make when writing their own problems.

Jackson had to draw out 6 caps which became his problems.

I recommend telling them they have to write the numbers down as they draw them for the top but allow them to rearrange the lower numbers to make sure the bottom number is smaller than the top (another important skill!).

This is also obviously great for addition as well. We'll probably soon use it for multiplication too since that is our summer focus!

Fun in the Box #12...

This is what the kids found in their box today:

I put lots of random items in the box and a paper folded in half with 4 flaps cut. They each had to secretly pick 4. On top of each flap they had to write 3 adjectives that described the 4 different items they had chosen. Underneath the flap they drew a picture of their item. Lastly, they took turns reading each other their 3 adjectives to see if they could guess what they chose. Then they lifted the flap to show the picture to see if they were right!

They did well and had fun. We also practiced labeling our adjectives with our chant "What kind? Which one? Hooooooowwwww many?"

Fun (Almost) in the Box #11...

Today the kids found this Little People house on their school table. Today's lesson was prepositions. I remember being taught in school they were anything a mouse could do to a house. So, ours became anything this bird could do to this little house. They worked together and Jackson recorded all the prepositions they found. I did have to give some hints and tell them to think of opposites. They really found a lot.

Then I showed them a list of all the prepositions. Jackson read them and Ashton highlighted the ones they found.

I was impressed by how many they found and hope this helps them remember what a preposition is!

Fun in the Box #10...

Money is definitely something that we need to work on more around here as I don't feel our math curriculum is covering it enough. What could be more fun than using some real money and setting up a pet store? I found these great pet shop cards:

This was a great activity to find out what Ashton knows and which coins and combinations she still needs help with. I think it would be fun to set up a real little store to play with money, hmmm..........

Fun in the Box #9...

We are trying to learn the books of the Bible. I found these great printouts at Carissa's site. They got to use the Bible this time to help put them all in order.

The left side says the name and the right side tells some great info about each book.

This is just the New Testament and next time we'll do the Old. One day we'll (We because this is something I need to learn as well.) be able to do them all :)

Fun in the Box #8...

Every Thursday the kids find in box number 12 "watch Jelly Telly". As you can imagine this is very exciting for them since it's not written work, but mostly because Jelly Telly is so fun. It is made by the makers of Veggie Tales and teaches them a lot about the Bible while making them laugh. This used to be something you had to pay for, but now it is free for anyone to watch. Each day has different features as well as some recurring features (our favorite is the movie review by Michael). The amazing thing my kids learn is the song about the different books of the Bible. They are really funny and even teach me things about the books as well. We usually watch it on Thursday because that is science day. They always have great movies about different things of science with a Christian viewpoint. They also have free movies you can watch on the weekends.

I really recommend watching Jelly Telly. In fact, I usually make them watch it in the kitchen so I can listen to it while cleaning:) Just click on the picture above and enjoy...

Fun in the Box #7...

Mommy really needed to get out of the house one morning that was beautiful outside. Our workbox solution: a noun walk.

In their boxes they found a page divided into person, place, or thing categories and away we went walking and observing.

Our noun walk ended at the neighborhood park- lots of nouns there! This was really a good learning activity because we had a good conversation about should a house or a park be a place or thing? Hmmm, always good to get them thinking!

Fun in the Box #6...

This morning the workbox was a little scary!

I was introducing Ashton to the greater than/less than sign. Since we always talk about the alligator mouth eats the big number I thought I'd just show her. After she used the alligator then we looked at what the sign itself looks like.

Jackson even reviewed his with some bigger numbers.

If you don't have foot long plastic alligators lying around (are there houses like that?) you can also print a picture of an alligator with its mouth open to practice.

I'm pretty sure this activity cemented in Ashton's mind which way the sign goes since she can always imagine this big 'gator!

Fun in the Box #5...

Jackson has been learning about perimeter. So in his box on this day he found objects from around the house to measure the perimeter of.

He worked very diligently on this although I did let him measure to the nearest inch because we haven't learned how to add fractions yet :)

Fun in the Box #4....

I have to post this because it is so funny. My boy has some serious bed head and still in pj's! We are studying space right now so they used their Kidnex to design their own spaceship.

I thought they were fairly creative and the parts even rotate for liftoff.

A fun little way to start the day! I cannot take the credit for this though. They were playing on their own while I was getting everything ready for school. They were so into it and working so studiously that I told them it could be their first box since it went with our space theme. Needless to say they were thrilled!

Fun in the Box #3: My Favorite Tool...

I haven't met many people who have heard of highlighting tape so I thought I would share about it and how we use it. I found out about this at a conference when I was teaching in public school. I used it in my classroom in guided reading groups much like I am using it with my own kids. It sticks on paper and highlights words or phrases (depending on how big a piece you use:), but then pulls right off without hurting the book. This means you can use it on any books or papers they are working on without hurting anything.

I can't seem to find the exact kind I have, but this one looks close.

The uses are endless, but in their workbox on this day they found an index card with person, place or thing written on them. Beside each word were 5 pieces of highlighting tape using a different color for each noun category. While they read they stuck the appropriate color on any nouns they came across.

They both enjoyed using what we were studying in grammar in the "real"world of literature. Any time you can do this it really makes the learning seem more authentic.

After they finished their daily reading they showed me each word they found. Jackson was proud and amazed at how many he found on the first page alone! It really drove home how important nouns are.

The best part of highlighting tape is that it is reusable, at least a few times. I am still using the same batch I bought to begin with. After they reviewed their nouns with me they pulled off the tape and returned it to their note card. They will see that notecard in a workbox again in the future, and again, and again!

PS: There are tons of uses but another we use a lot is having Ashton highlight her sight words or word family words she knows. It increases her confidence when tackling a new book to see how many words she already knows!

Fun in the Box #2: Yellow Collage...

I was looking on a blog (and I can't find it now!) and saw a yellow collage and thought that would be a fun thing to throw in the workbox. I am always looking for good ways to incorporate art. So, first we talked about what the word collage means and looked at some examples in an art book. Then they were given free rein to create.

Jackson decided to create a car (surprise, surprise):

Ashton created a heart (even less of a surprise):

I decided that they were having too much fun so I decided I had to join in.

What do you think of my awesome sun???

Art is always a big hit and was even more fun when Mommy participates!

Fun in the Box #1...

In trying to get creative and fun with their workboxes I pulled out some file folder games I had made when I was teaching public school. This one was a silly one that teaches subject, predicate and prepositional phrases. I just made up a bunch on my own. You pull one strip from the 3 pockets of sentence parts and end up with a silly sentence. Then they illustrate the sentence. Jackson loved this and insisted I take a picture of his creation.

This was his first sentence, "The monster ate an apple in the principal's office."

I guess it makes sense that this silly boy would like silly sentences!

His 2nd one was "The cow danced a jig at the circus."

This was an activity that I should have had a timer card in so he would only be allowed to spend so much time doing it. He kept wanting to "do just one more" and "just one more". He liked this one so much that I have used it a few more times. Having an activity he loves really motivates him to finish one he doesn't love which means I usually put this after his Saxon math or Wordly Wise, his 2 least favorite things to do!