5,4,3,2,1! Fun ways to count backwards

I had a mom ask me if I had any fun ways to teach kids to count backwards...which is actually pretty tricky when you think about it.

I don't think I have ever had a "lesson" on this with J & N...it's just part of our morning routine with calendar.  I also do lots of counting backwards when I push them in swings...like a countdown for a rocket blast off!

Here's how we incorporate counting backwards on a daily basis.

A BIG hundreds chart is a MUST!  

 A poster-size 100's chart is important for Little Learners to see how numbers 1-100 are organized in their specific pattern.  I prefer this over a 8x11 100's chart...bigger is better = doesn't this grab your attention rather that a paper chart laying on a desk!
Grab some High Lighter Tape or some Wikki Sticks to help and add some fun! We use this yellow Wikki Stick to help us keep track of how many days we have been learning....

which leads me to....

(this picture that is turned sideways - sorry!)

N and I have been counting forward till our 100th day of school, which is part of his morning calendar routine.  You can see we color in a pattern.  (at day 50, we decided to change the pattern to a tricker pattern)  BUT if your little learner needs help with counting backwards, then start with 100, and count backwards to 1.  If you don't see any point in celebrating 100 days of learning, then celebrate 10 days, 25 days or 50.  Adjust to what YOUR learner needs!

 This also goes along with N's and J's morning calendar routine.  Below, this number chart always matches our hundreds chart and our 100 day countdown.

If your learner is struggling with counting, dissect it for them.  Show them how the "tens" stays the same, but the "ones" changes...until you add another rod.  This can get complicated in explaining because I have my own way of teaching.  (I can always throw out a quick video on FB for you to see!  Just let me know)

Make number lines!!!!  Another great and fun way to work on counting forward and backwards.  Use a car to drive or a toy to jump and count.

When this mom came to me with this "counting backwards" question, I started asking myself how I would go about teaching this concept in a lesson...

Here's what I came up with:

Write a number line starting with 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 

LEAVE OUT 100!!

Have your learner start at 99 and jump and count backwards...

side note: I am a HUGE fan of chalk and outside learning time.  Getting all those different parts of the brain working together and OUTSIDE, really helps any type of learner, right?

 Add an index card "8" to change the place value, 

 Have your little learner run back to 89 and start counting back down again.

Then throw down a "7" card to change the place value and so on.

I guess you could say this is an advanced hop scotch kind of game.

Does this make sense?

And one more quick and fun way to practice counting backwards...

Make a countdown for ANYTHING - Birthdays, vacations, dinner dates, special visitors...

Here's a countdown for our Colorado trip a few years ago.

Here's our October calendar - Counting down how many Days until Halloween.

I hope this helps, inspires and encourages you to learn (and count in fun ways) with your Little Learners!

Happy Learning!

A Peek inside Our Day!

This post was meant for yesterday, Thursday, but the day got away from me...hmmmm, I wonder why!?
*******
I took yesterday off - canceled learning!  Well, kind of...we still read books, played Legos...but I put MY lesson plans aside.  My throat hurt, MiniM was snotty and needy - so I threw in the towel about 9am when the coffee just didn't get it done.

SOOOOOOOO, today was much better and we sprinkled learning throughout our day.  And here's a peek inside our day!

First, a yummy breakfast off our menu - FREE CHOICE!!!  Kid's favorite!

After a much needed bike ride to get out our wiggles and reset, we began updating our calendar.

15 minutes of "sprinkled learning" -
 built a Month of the Year Ladder with our month labels; N fixed the numbers and worked on left-to-right progression.

Took a quick play break, while I started some laundry and did some dishes.

No pictures of this:

But spent 10 minutes practicing our weekly Reading Strategy - "Does THAT make sense?" while eating a snack

Everyone grabbed their Reading materials

N worked on this curriculum with Mommy; while J gave a new book a "5 star review" in his Reading Journal; MiniM just walked around from room to room, doing his thing.

J decided to read his new book to us (even handed out tickets at the door), which led N to do the same!  MiniM just listened and absorbed!

After our Reading, kids played while I prepped lunch.

Then we went outside for our "progressional project"...building their skeletons.  Each day they get a new bone(s) in their bone bags.  They lay them out in their chalked-out self on the front drive. 

Sprinkle of Learning - 10 minutes!

Play outside, then eat lunch.

And rest time...I do make sure I read with each kiddo individually during this time.  We spend ALL day together, so these moments are sweet - just me and them.

J rests then is allowed to wake up and play quietly until I am ready for him.  And this was his creation he made!  A police watch station - very cool!

N and MiniM are still snoozing - so J and I add another page to his cabin book.

And we do alittle dinner prep and perimeter lesson using crescent rolls. 15 minutes of learning fun!

Just add sausages and you have....

PIGS IN A BLANKET!!! (It was breakfast for dinner night!)

While I wake up the lil guys, J picks a quick workbox using Q-tips and flashcards.  

He adds a "bone"/Qtip each time he completes the flashcard.  

Sprinkle of learning - 10 minutes

Everyone is awake - and our Learning Time is done for the day.

A Sprinkle of Learning here and there; makes for a fun day with time to play!

Happy Learning with your Little Ones!

What's for Breakfast?

Can't you just picture it?....

"MOM I would like cereal!"  

"MOM, I would like yogurt and a waffle!"  

"MOM!  just hand over the breast milk!"

All while the hubby is mixing his morning smoothie and heading out the door!!!!

After a few months of feeling like the cook at The Waffle House,  I HAD to do something.

I was tired of shuffling around (half asleep) trying to fix breakfast for 3 different lil learners.  

I was worried about how much $milk$ we were going through in a weeks time because that's the easy thing to fix - cereal and milk!  Right, Moms, it's our "go to meal!"

I KNEW my kids needed more nutrition in the morning to get us started up for the day.

Public Schools set Menu's...I set a weekly dinner menu... so let's try this Breakfast Menu!  

I really don't remember how this idea evolved, but I am so happy it did! 

I introduce to you - our Breakfast Menu:

It's a simple pocket chart from Lakeshore Learning, Days of the Week cards, a die-cut Star to highlight the Day, and a handful of interchangeable menu options:

Pancakes (I make them a freeze them in bulk)

Cereal

Yogurt

Burrito (eggs, left-over meats, cheese)

Fruit

Muffins

Eggs

Waffle (frozen)

Oatmeal (for colder days)

Smoothie

Toast

Free Choice

Special (Chick-fil-a or donuts)

Every Sunday afternoon, I toss this out in the living room and J&N work together to put the menu together.  

Of course, the first few weeks of this idea, I'd guide them in their choosing, but now its easy!  

They get it, they work together and THEY OWN IT!  

OWNERSHIP for kiddos is HUGE!!!

If you involve them, they feel a sense of importance and it really helps with ANY complaining!  

Just a quick post, for a quick idea, that has made a HUGE difference in the way we start our homeschooling day!

Happy Learning with your Lil Ones!

~Ashley

Johnny Appleseed Day...yep it was today!

Happy Johnny Appleseed Day!  

And just how did I know this...well...I teach a Reader's Theater class with our Homeschooling Group and just happened to pick a script on Johnny Appleseed for my advanced readers 

(which J is apart of).

Afterwards, J came home and said "WE HAVE TO REMEMBER Sept. 26th and mark our calendar to celebrate Johnny Appleseed's Birthday!"  

So we did - but it's apple season, folks!  Use these ideas all FALL long!

And this is a quick post about how we celebrated it (while learning at the same time, of course).

Started off the morning with some Apple Muffins and Apple Juice!  Not a bad way to wake up, huh!

We even delivered a few muffins to the elderly couple that lives across the street.  Three boys, with warm muffins, knocking on your door created BIG smiles!  

I love seeing that.

After our morning walk, we came in and did some taste testing.

I hope that I can describe this:

I bought 3 apples; Gala, Honeycrisp and Golden Delicious.  After cutting them up, I left 3 with the skin on and 3 naked (no skin)

Each boy tried 1 apple slice with the skin.  I asked them to remember the taste and which one they REALLY liked best.

This is 2 of the 3 apple slices. 

Our next test, was the naked apples/no skin.  As they ate the apple slice, they tried to guess which one it was.  And they did pretty darn good!  

We munched on apples while we watch this YouTube video on Johnny Appleseed.

YouTube-Johnny Appleseed

A quick workbox for J was putting together a "broken" poem about apples.

It might sound familiar to you:

"Away up high in the apple tree.

Two apples smiled down at me.

I shook that tree as hard as I could.

Down came the apples and 

mmmm they were good!"

And to end our morning of learning...J and I made a homemade apple pie 

(while the little guys napped)

We followed this GREAT and super, easy recipe off of Pinterest.

Pinterest Pie recipe 

It had great picture support for this lil learner so I didn't have to read the recipe.  He did, I checked it and we cooked!

Making memories and our first apple pie!

Happy Fall Yall!

Happy Learning with your Little Ones~

Easy-peazee Perimeter!

We've been learning about units of measurement for about a month now.  Using inches, centimeters and a good ole fashion yard stick!  Here's a few pics from that last month is you missed them on Facebook.

We chalked out our family on the fence, then measured using inches.

Measuring with shoes from one room to another

using yarn to measure rocks

measuring GIANT bugs that we found on an evening walk

I knew he need to understand 2 math skills before I taught him this one.  

*Does he get measurement?  YEP!  After a month of fun-hands on learning and a quick pen and paper assessment, he gets it!

*Does he understand how to add using more than one addend?  YEP!  He does this nightly with Daddy during their Math time.

Ok...so I gave hime 2 cans of playdough for "snake making", showed him exactly how I wanted him to measure and label each snake and gave him a few minutes to complete it.  This is what that looked like:

I was ease-dropping and LOVED hearing his imaginative play shine through when he was making his snakes.

Perfect!  Just the way it needed to be to set up for the next step of this lesson!

From there, I showed J how we can take these "snakes" and form them into shapes.   We made the larger triangle on the left and I left him to do the others.

From here, we simply added up the sides

 And checked our answer by laying them out on the ruler.

What J did with this math problem was added 2 inches +2 inches in his head to get 4 inches; then added the 1 inch side to get his grand total of 5 inches.

Simple and fun way to learn!  This hands-on lesson took about 20 minutes all together.

I'm looking forward to our next few weeks of learning about perimeter! 

I'll keep you posted:0)

Be sure and "like" https://www.facebook.com/mommyslittlelearners.  

I post there daily with quick lil learner moments.

I'm posting our video summary for this lesson on Facebook!

Happy Learning with your Lil Ones

Play Dough, Snakes and a new Word! Oh MY!!!

If you want your Lil Learner to do it right...then you HAVE to show them EXACTLY how you want it done!  YOU have to model and talk out loud to them what you are expecting and 

HOW you go about doing this certain task.

Maybe it's unloading a dishwasher or even brushing teeth.

Keep this in mind:

"I DO" - parent models 

"We do" - child/parent do it together

"You do" - parent releases task for child to do independently

99.9% of the time, if your little learner DOESN'T get it - you didn't explain it well enough for them to understand...so try it again before frustration sets in!

Here's how I "talked" my way through making playdough snakes with N.  Yes, we've done this before, but I needed to make sure he understood this very important step in order for the next step of my lesson to be successful.

Once, we had our "snakes", we began his letter formation for his new word "at".  He had previously read his Aa Book (curriculum from thisreadingmomma.com) that exposed him to this word.

Another simple, quick, hands-on lesson and learning for a little learner!

How do you use play dough with your little learners? 

I would love to hear your ideas!  Feel free to share them below in the comment section or on our Mommy's Little Learners Facebook page

Happy Learning with your Little Ones!

Post Vaca Emot-i-blog

I hope the post title explains the meaning and purpose behind this blog....this post idea has been on my heart the second I stepped on our plane to fly back from Colorful Colorado to The Lone Start State of Texas.

Life after vacation is tough, for anyone!  It's back to the ole grind!  Luckily, I don't have to rush as much as a mom that works away from home...so blessed for that.  But I did have to get back in gear for planning lessons for the boys, prepping for a Homeschooling workshop, checking email and sending out reminders for our Lego Club, unpacking and doing laundry, planning meals and so on....

Back to life and the hustle of it all.

For 1 week, our lives were simple, easy and relaxed while we enjoyed God's beauty up at the cabin in Colorado.  And in ALL HONESTY...my favorite part was...there is ZERO internet access!  Yes, I could walk to the top of the hill by our cabin and "search for a signal" or drive into town just to check my email...but WHY?  Why can't we just get away from these amazing pieces of technology just to enjoy our family?  It's hard!  It's a struggle!  But why?

Mommy Confession!!!
Since MiniM was born, I always had my IPhone by my side while I nursed him.  (I sound old when I say "we didn't have those things when J & N were nursing"  But it's true!  I used this time when they were babies to relax, close my eyes and enjoy that sweet moment.)
But once I discovered what I could accomplish in 15 minutes using my phone (check email, Facebook, and Pinterest), it became a habit.  However during our vacation, no internet meant no need for that IPhone while nursing.  I looked down at him and thought "Boy, have I missed alot during this sweet moment between a baby and mother."
Now, I leave my phone out of the room and enjoy those 20 sweet minutes of time with him...because it will soon be over.

While at the cabin, I found a letter that my Mema had written to her Mom and Dad back in
1950-something.  Her words were beautiful and simple (just like her).  She spoke of the kids (all 5 of them) were in the bunk room reading funny books while she fixed a delicious meal.  No Ipads, no cell phones/or even home phone...just FAMILY and memories!  She was good at that...keeping life simple and fun!

The night before we left, the electricity went out but came back on around midnight.  We had NOTHING but each other for a solid 3 hours.  So Jer and I sat outside, watched the boys play, held hands and talked until the sun went down over those mountains.  We all went to sleep in silence - no TV, no lights, just the sweet sound of pure silence!  What a way to end this trip.

I don't know if I'm just getting old and wiser:0) - but I've reflected more after this vacation than ever.  Probably something to do with kids growing up, right?

So, I'm challenging myself to "unplug" on Saturdays and spend more time with my boys and my husband.  No blogging, no texts, no online shopping, no Facebook, no homeschool planning - just good ole' family time.

These boys are growing up so FAST - and I don't wanna miss a moment.  Computers, emails, Facebook post and all that jazz will remain...lil learners running around in their undies with lazer guns wont.

If you feel compelled to jump on board with me - HIGH FIVE!  And please "share" this and let's start a crazy movement of Moms disconnecting with life and connecting with family!
Simplify life, enjoy each moment and cherish the ones you love.

God Bless and Happy Learning with your Lil Ones!

Learning Room Open House - Part 4

Welcome to our Learning Room...it's a happy place, full of laughter, learning and lots of love.  

Thanks for stopping by for my final Part 4  Learning Room Open House series.  

If you missed them, check out:

Part One - Pocket Chart calendar and storage

Part Two - J's desk, window word wall and workbox station
Part Three - My mommy message board, inside N's desk and our Art wall

Here is our last corner of our kitchen nook.  We use it as our Math Wall and N's calendar work.  It also holds a very! adjustable schedule in a pocket chart and a magna-doodle for writing.

You can probably tell that I am a HUGE fan of pocket charts!  They are great and can be used in so many different ways.  Here is a pocket chart on our door...  Right now, it holds a sorting activity for our Rock and Mineral study.

Below is our very! adjustable schedule.  Posting this allows the boys to see where we are and what comes next.  Something I did away with (it is was HARD to do) was time cards.  In the past, I would post what time we'd do every activity.  Not this year! because that's a perk of schooling at home.  Flexible schedule on our own time!

  

And keep in mind that Math happens within afternoon play and during the evening with Daddy.  This schedule ends after Read and Rest.

The 100's chart posted on the wall helps J with his Math work.  I use it as a reference throughout the day if we are talking about numbers.  N and I use it during his calendar time to track our "Days of School".  When these pictures were taken, it looks like we were on Day #72.  Once we reach 100, we are celebrating BIG time!  It will be a fun day with hundreds of cool activities.

We use WikkiSticks ALOT!  kind of like a pipe cleaner dipped in wax.
They bend and shape, stick and remove easily.
MOMMY MUST BUY!!
Amazon link to Wikki Sticks

This is N's magnetic board that we use to track our 100 Days of school.  We add a magnetic "unit" each day to show place value change day by day.  Once he has 10 units, he trades them in for 1 "rod" for the tens place.  I hope that makes sense...

I am so proud of the smart person that made whiteboard markers with magnets attached so they can hand on the surface that you write on.  High five for being so handy and helpful!  BTW: bought a set of these at the Dollar Tree.

Another way we track and record out 100 Days of School is this chart.  This is one of the ways I taught patterns to J and N.  I write the number, we "read" the pattern, then N colors the square for the day to complete the pattern.

If you notice at #61, our pattern changes.  Orange, Green, Brown was to easy...so we changed the pattern to blue, stripes, yellow, orange, sticker!  And of course, sticker day is a fav!

After N completes his calendar (mentioned in Part One of this series), He comes to this magnetic board to create his sentence.  He changes the day of the week and the number in the date.

At the base of this AWESOME magnetic board (which Ikea doesn't make or sell anymore!), you'll find magnetic numbers housed in an old wet-wipe container, crayons for pattern coloring and
 N's magnetic "units".

Does MiniM dump those numbers out and mess up this board!?!  YES HE DOES!!! And I fix it back up every time he does it.  He's only 1 and that's his way of learning...just wants to be learning the way his BIG brothers learn, right?

Here's a quick peek at my fridge...Just tall enough for MiniM NOT to reach, you'll find this.
The box created with laminated boarder is N's word bank.  That gray "thing" is a magnetic wand for pointing to the words when he reads them.  It stays put!
That lil car is magnetic and actually drives down and around on magnetic surfaces.  We were learning the sight word "look" and this was N's word activity.

And last but not least...here's my area.  This poor bakers rack!!!  It's holds many purposes, literally!

I keep my supplies here.
My planning book, materials for the week and pots and pans if I decide to cook while teaching! LOL - It's been known to happen!

Below, MiniM has his own 2 learning shelves.  I rotate these learning toys once he looses interest.(except his velco name stars - still LOVES those!)


And there you have it!  So many memories are made in the kitchen nook, we call our Learning Room.

Feel free to share pictures of your lil learners learning space - Love borrowing ideas from
other Mommys.

Happy Learning with your Lil ones!