Children love to play games.   Playing games is a wonderful way to share time with family members, to have fun, and to learn math concepts.

In simple card games such as Go Fish, Concentration, War or Crazy Eights children learn to identify numerals, match numerals to the number of objects, recognize more, less and equal and practice memory skills. They also develop fine motor coordination by picking up and handling the cards.

By playing dominoes or games with dice, children learn to count the dots and relate those dots to the number they represent. Moving game pieces the right number of spaces on a board adds the concept of one-to-one correspondence (being able to point to an object as it is counted), and constantly comparing the rolled numbers helps develop number sense.

Children can increase their fluency in adding numbers to ten by playing a card game called Make 10 .  It is played like Go Fish except that you make pairs that add up to 10.  So if you had a four in your hand, you would need to ask for a six to make a pair.

As you play games your child, you can extend his/her mathematical thinking by asking simple questions: “How many matches did you get? Do you have more red cards or black? Can you deal us 6 cards each? Can you count on from that number?”

So let the games begin!

Well . .  . who would have thought that we would find ourselves getting an isolation vacation.  Our class has been exposed to a person confirmed to have COVID-19 and therefore we must self-isolate for 14 days until April 23rd.

When I heard the news, I thought . . . why?  But sometimes, in the moment, we can’t understand why things are unfolding as they are.  It is only in hindsight that we can begin to make sense of it all.  So, the most desirable course of action is to remain as positive as we can and try to do our best to get through these unprecedented times.  As Dr. Seuss suggests, let’s use this opportunity to make some wonderful memories with our children.

I know that everyone’s situation is different and trying to accomplish anything at home with small children around can be challenging (been there).  Please know that I do not have any expectations regarding how much school work your child manages to get done – quality over quantity.  So don’t worry. I will be providing you with ways in which you can engage your child in learning.   Just do what you can and have fun . . . make some memories!

Let’s have a wonderful (sunny) two weeks of isolation vacation.

The children conducted an experiment called the The Walking Rainbow.

Here are the instructions:

• Fill three glasses with water and food colouring (blue, yellow, red).
• Put an empty glass between each glass.
• Cut a paper towel in half and fold it lengthwise two times.  Place one end in the water and one end in the empty cup.
• Watch the colours mix.

We discovered that:

• blue + yellow = green
• red + blue = purple
• yellow + red = orange

Try this experiment at home