Trying to get on the ball!

I've been slacking lately with this blog. I've been pretty busy and I was sick. Enough excuses!
I don't know if the kids have told you, but I've been playing classical music while they are working. I can't believe the difference. They really enjoy it and asked for it the other day while they were working on their writing. Reseach says that it relaxes the brain. I notice that they are more focused when they can tap their feet to the beat.

We are about to start learning word families. Next week! I love word families and I'm ready to move on from long and short vowels! Something different.

We've learned several new games in math that you can play at home with you child.

1. Penny Plate: You need 10 pennies and a paper plate. (use 20 pennies if you want to challenge)
Take turns hiding pennies under the plate. Then have your child guess how many are under the plate based on how many are left on the table. It teaches subtraction. If they know that they had ten to start with, they can subtract the number on the table to get the answer!

2. Penny Nickel Exchange: You need 20 pennies and 8 nickles and a dice.
Take turns rolling a dice. How ever many you roll on the dice is the number of pennies you grab. Once you have 5 pennies you can exchange it for a nickel. Take turns and keep playing until all of the nickels are gone. The winner is the person with the most nickels.

3. Penny Grab: You need 20 pennies (or more) (and 5 nickels if you want to challenge)
Put the pennies in a small cup. Take turns grabbing a hand full of pennies. Try to guess how much money is in your hand. Then, count the money and find the difference. Keep track of who guessed the closest the most times. They are the winner.

4. Coin Top-It: You need to make cards with the amounts of 7cents to 20 cents written with P's and N's (for pennies and nickels)
Take turns playing "War" with the cards. The winner of each hand is the person who has the most money on their card. The player with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
SAMPLE CARDS: NPP NPPP NPPPP NN NNP NNPP NNPPP NNPPPP NNN NNNP NNNPP NNNPPP NNNPPPP NNNN

5. High Roller: You need two dice and some paper and a pencil.
Take turns rolling two dice. Record the numbers on a paper. Cross off the lowest number and roll one dice again. Record that number on the paper. Then add the two numbers together. The person who has the highest number is the winner.
EX: I rolled a 4 and a 6. I'm going to cross out the 4. I roll again and get a 3. I add them up and get 9. My partner rolled a 2 and a 3. They cross out the 2 and reroll. They get a 5. Their score is 8. I win!

Have fun playing these games and let me know if you want to borrow anything at anytime. I'd be glad to share.