Math - The Mommy Teacher

Food Fun

Hi! I’m Casey from Kidspired Creations! I have been a guest blogger a few times on The Mommy Teacher am very excited to now be co-blogging with Jessica! I am a former Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten teacher and am currently a stay-at-home Mom of 3 little ones ages 5, 3 and 10 months.

I have to admit that despite my best attempts, not all of my Mommy Teacher moments get the best reception from my kids. I think if I say, “Let’s make a pattern!” one more time, my 3-year-old might throw a toddler tornado-sized tantrum.

Yes, my kids can get burnt out on lessons from this Mommy Teacher; however, I know how to win them over every time: food, particularly pizza.

I recently saw a recipe on Pinterest that involved cutting zucchini in half long ways, carving out the insides and filling them with various deliciousness. I decided that these “zucchini boats” would make great pizza crusts! This idea perked interest with my kids so quickly that I couldn’t prep fast enough.

Zucchini Boat Pizzas

-Ingredients: zucchini, pepperoni, mozzarella, pizza sauce

-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut zucchini long ways and spoon out a trench on the inside. Spread a few spoonfuls of pizza sauce inside. Fill with mozzarella cheese. Top with pepperonis. Place on the oven for 15-20 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Easy peasy… and so delicious that even my super-picky 3-year-old was digging into the “green crust.”

Here are the different skills we covered while making our pizzas:

Math

– Sequencing: “What is the first step to making our pizza? What comes next?”

– Measuring: “How long is our zucchini? Let’s measure in pepperonis.”

– Adding: “Our pizza needs 3 pepperonis. There are 2 pepperonis on the pizza now. How many more do we need to add to make 3?”

-Counting: “How many pepperonis are on your pizza?” How many pepperonis are there all together?”

-Multiplying: (for the school-aged child) “If we have 3 pepperonis on 10 pizzas, how many pepperonis are there all together?”

-Time: “Our pizzas need to cook for 20 minutes. Let’s set the timer.”

Motor Skill Development

-Pouring and spreading the sauce with a spoon

-Sprinkling the cheese using our fingers

-Using the pincer grasp to separate the pepperonis

Language Skills

-Sequencing Vocabulary: first, second, next, then, last, before, after etc.

Health and Nutrition: Learning about making healthy choices by substituting with fresh vegetables and what food groups are being included in dinner

Following Directions and Recipes: Following step-by-step or a series of directions is different than following one direction at a time. “So, I put the pepperonis on first right??? No? Well, what do the directions tell me to do?” You can take this a step further than I did by drawing or writing out the recipe for your child to have a visual to follow.

Social Behaviors: being a happy helper in the house! It is important for kids to take ownership over household tasks and doing it with a happy heart!

* * *

My kids do not like to try new things, but since they made the dish themselves they were eager to dig right in! More surprisingly was my 3-year-old who didn’t shed any tears before his taste test! That’s quite an accomplishment at our dinner table! Everyone was happy… even the baby who got pureed zucchini that was scooped out of the middle of our boats. Bonus!

March 6, 2013 by Casey | 1 Comment

Adding Can Be Sneaky

Hmmm…. I have a child napping and one at a birthday party that my husband brought him to. Adding those little nuggets together equaled getting my fingers to the keyboard and writing a long overdue post. You know me, I am SIMPLE. An idea can go a long way.

One idea you can take today and run with it (in your own way) is introducing the concept of addition if you havent already. You can start with language as simple as “You plus mommy equals happy together” OR “One cookie and one more is two for YOU!”

Addition sounds scary, but it is so important when kids start realizing that two groups of numbers can be put together to make one new number. And there are so many fun ways to practice…. drawings, crafts, and it gets really fun when you incorporate food 🙂

I usually start out by introducing the language for a while, like I mentioned earlier (examples are: and, is, more, plus, equals, together).

I cant help of think of that cheesy song “You (plus sign) Me (equal sign) us” that I’m pretty sure was one big joke and I actually cant believe I am bringing it up in this post…. don’t judge hah 😉

Then I simply incorporate all of this into every day learning opportunities like….

“Daddy has a fishing pole AND Sean Patrick has a fishing pole. How many fishing poles do we have all together?”

If he doesn’t know then I would say “Let’s count!” and then, “So, one and one is TWO.”

After there is familiarity with the language, I bring it to a more concrete level by adding our snack time foods together or adding two groups of blocks to one tower.

Finally, we might draw pictures to represent adding, and then introduce word sentence in writing (one and one is two) and then the symbols (+,= ).

Your turn mommy teachers…. how do you use addition in your every day home environments…. send pictures for me to share and post ideas for other moms to see! jessica (at) themommyteacher (dot) com.

February 2, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Here Is My Secret Math Weapon

Okay, so today I am going to reveal one of my GREATEST math resources for little ones…. it is an OLDSCHOOL book that is still relevant and always will be for teaching number concepts.

Developing Number Concepts Using Unifix Cubes

WHATEVER YOU DO…. DO NOT BUY A NEW COPY OF THIS BOOK! Buy a used one….. it is an old book and there are TONS of afforable copies!

If you are a homeschooling mom then you do not want to pass this up, but whether you are, or aren’t, this is a great activity book.

It is informative, and extremely hands-on. If you worked on one “game” a week from the book and did it every day by the time you get through the progression of the activities your child will truly understand the foundations of math, and I wouldn’t be surprised if your child embraced math from then on.

This book is outdated in appearance but NOT content. There are more updated books broken up into Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3, but they are just visually more appealing. If you get the cheaper old school book you wont regret it.

Oh, and I guess you will need some of these:

Unifix Cubes; Assorted Colors; 100 Piece Set; no. DD-225

January 13, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Playdoh Numbers

My kids are having a blast with this SIMPLE and CHEAP number activity. They close their eyes and pick a number (this is a magnetic number from the walmart toy aisle where the playdoh is).
Then they pinch that number of dots (which is great for teaching one-to-0ne correspondence) and roll a chunk of playdoh into a “snake” before forming it into the numeral to match the number they selected. I actually let them do this on a laminated sorting mat in my classroom. My sorting mat is one piece of white construction paper and another piece glued together at the end and then laminated. That way they can place the quantity on one side and the formed number on the other.

EASY, CHEAP, DOABLE, and you probably have everything you need at home!

October 4, 2012 by Jessica | 1 Comment

FaVoRiTe Book(s)

Sean Patrick has more than one “Favorite” book. In fact, the other day I bought a book and before I read it to him he said, “Mom, read me this one. It’s my favorite book.”

So, as you can tell, he isn’t very credible if you are to ask him about his favorite book. But, I can pretty much guess his favorite book(s) based on the ones he asks me to read to him OVER and OVER again 😉 I actually enjoy teaching him new things each time but sometimes I find a gem in the book that makes for the best teaching experiences. And here is one example:

We have been reading “Curious George Makes Pancakes” a lot lately.

I always seem to look for extension activities but the following page jumped out at me because it provided the perfect set up for sequencing and retelling.

I made a copy of the page that showed how George made the pancakes (onto a piece of cardstock that I keep handy in my desk).

Then I split the page into the four steps (yikes I need a new color ink cartridge!) so that I could display them in our kitchen when we make pancakes:

When SP is a little older I will use them as sequencing cards (to observe his thought process as he orders the steps), and as retelling cards to tell me how to make pancakes.

Hope this inspires you to find extension activities in your little one’s favorite books. If so, please share on my fb page!

July 16, 2012 by Jessica | 0 comments

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