Adding Up the Christmas Tree [game]

Download a PDF of this game card here.

This activity isn't new to my son, but it is a new version - a holiday one. To see the original, read my Climbing a Mountain of Addition blog post.

This festive take-off is played the same way. A player writes five different single-digit numbers in the ornaments at the bottom of the tree. 

Then, he/she adds the two numbers at the bottom of each upside-down V. The answer is put on the V's point. 

They keep adding up the Christmas tree, until his/her final answer is written in the star at the top. 

The second player does the same. They compare trees. Whoever has the bigger number in the star at the top wins!

TIP: After you print the pages, put them in two plastic sheet protectors (or laminate) and use a fine-tip dry-erase marker so the game cards are reusable.

States of Matter and Chocolate Lollipops

Whenever I incorporate our love of chocolate with our love of learning, the afterschool activities are especially fun!

To teach my son about the states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas), we made some beautiful molded chocolate lollipops.

Before we got started, we read a wonderful example of children's literature. Joe-Joe the Wizard Brews Up Solids, Liquids, and Gases is playful yet informative - just the right combination of fiction and nonfiction! 

The book chronicles science class at Ms. Tickle's Academy of Magic and Joe-Joe's failed spell to turn his homework into chocolate bars. Oops! He got chocolate syrup instead!

Ms. Tickle would have been more upset, but the day's lesson is all about solids, liquids, and gases; Joe-Joe's chocolate mess is a wonderful inspiration. The teacher goes on to explain what matter is (anything that has weight) and that liquids flow and can take the shape of their container - just like Joe-Joe's syrup. Solids keep their shape. Gases expand, grow, and not only change shape, but also change volume.

When we were done with the book, it was time to whip up a wonderful holiday treat. I put some Wilton's candy melts in a bowl. "Are these solid, liquid, or gas?" I asked. "Solid."

Then I told him that in order to make lollipops, we needed to change this solid to a liquid and asked him how we could do that. "With heat!" he exclaimed. (I was glad to see he remembered what Eric Braun's book and its character Ms. Tickle had taught us).

After heating the candy melts in the microwave, we put the liquid in plastic bags, snipped a corner, and squeezed some into each candy mold, adding the sticks halfway through.

Just like I figured, my son was anxious to eat one. "How do we make them into lollipops?" he asked staring at the liquid chocolate in our molds.

"We need to turn them back into a solid," I said. "Any ideas?"

"The freezer?"

I was thrilled. Once again, changing the temperature would also change the chocolate's state. We slid them into the refrigerator to set up.

When he pulled them out and popped them from the mold after dinner, he marveled at the perfect snowflake and Christmas tree shapes. I reminded him that when they were liquid they took the shape of their container, our lollipop mold.

YUM. That was one sweet science lesson!

Fortune Teller Spelling Review

There's a boy in the 2nd grade that makes "fortune tellers" and my son can't get enough of them.

It dawned on me that this could be an excellent way to review spelling words. To test the theory, I made a template to be filled in with the 12 most challenging words on the spelling list.

Then I folded it. If you've never made one of these before, I've done my best to provide a photo tutorial below.

Making a Fortune Teller

Before you begin, download a PDF of the fortune teller spelling review template here, print, and cut around the perimeter (step 1).

Next, fold it down the center (step 2). Then open it and fold it down the center again so you now have perpendicular creases (step 3). Open it and fold it corner to corner so the paper is now the shape of a triangle (step 4). Open it and fold it corner to corner again, the opposite way (step 5). 

Open it with the printed side face down and fold one of the corners in so the point meets the center of the paper, aligning it with the creases you made earlier (step 6). Do this with each corner (step 7), until all the corner have been folded in to the center point (step 8). 

Next flip it over so the colors are face down and pull one corner back in toward the center, aligning the point with the center of the paper (step 9). Repeat until all corners have been folded in to the center (step 10). 

Now pick up the fortune teller and slide your thumb and index fingers from each hand under the four colored flaps, pushing them in to the center (step 11). When it's done, it should look like the photo in step 12 above. Now write 12 spelling words in the blank boxes on the fortune teller.

Reviewing Spelling Words with the Fortune Teller

To use the fortune teller, pinch it closed. The child asks you to pick a color. Whatever you choose, they must spell the word on that color, moving the fortune teller up and out with every letter.

Now, choose a word from the inside (your fortune teller will now be open) and again, the child moves the fortune teller up and out with every letter in that word until all the letters have been stated.

Pick a third word from those visible. This time, the child spells the word without moving the fortune teller, and then opens the inside flap to reveal their "spelling fortune!"

It's Snowing Angles!

Have you ever looked at a snowflake? It's made up of a TON of angles!

While we have yet to see a flurry of white flakes falling where we live, that doesn't mean that a little winter weather-inspired math practice wasn't in order.

My son has learned right angles at school but that's it. I figured we could step it up a notch. I gave him a protractor and watched for curiosity to sweep across his face.

Sure enough, it did.

Then I explained that right angles are 90 degrees, obtuse angles are greater than 90 degrees, and acute angles are less than 90 degrees. I showed him how to line up the bottom of his protractor to tell the size of an angle.

Now, I handed him red, blue, and green markers and a page with four snowflakes.

Download a free 1-page PDF of this worksheet here.

Time to find and color the three different kind of angles. This took some practice and even though it was hard, I knew it was a success when my son said, "You know, this is kind of fun!"

When he grew tired of coloring angles, I got out a package of jumbo popsicle sticks and told him it was time for us to make a snowflake. This amazing math craft is the sheer genius of Peggy Banks over at DIY Crafty Projects.

With a low-temp glue gun and the protractor in hand, we gradually glued together the sticks to form a giant wooden snowflake. During its construction, I asked loads of questions to get him thinking (e.g. "So is that an ACUTE angle or a RIGHT angle?"). 

Peggy's instructions at DIY Crafty Projects are amazing. Follow her tutorial here; she shows you step-by-step how to make several different shaped snowflakes.

Once it our snowflake was complete, I sprayed it with red spray paint and red glitter spray; then when it was dry, hung it in the window with fishing line.

Not only is this a beautiful addition to our holiday decor, but it's a month-long reminder of our afterschool angles lesson! Now that's what I call a real win-win.

Weather Tracking with a DIY Thermometer Slide

This activity came to me in the wee hours of the morning after lumbering out of bed to let the dog outside; I laid there unable to sleep at daybreak on a Saturday. The reason?

This thermometer. Once the idea popped into my head, I was afraid I'd forget it. <YAWN> 

This activity is simple and requires few supplies:

Red paint or markers

2 empty chipboard paper towel tubes

1 piece of sticker paper (or regular office paper and glue)

An Exacto craft knife

Glue

Printable 1-page "Was the Meteorologist Right?" PDF (choose Fahrenheit or Celsius)

Printable 1-page thermometer PDF (download the one I made here)

For five days, my son and I watched the meteorologists' prediction in the morning over breakfast. What would the high temperature be today? 

When it was shared, my son promptly moved the red "mercury" in his DIY thermometer slide to that number and wrote down the respective degrees on his recording sheet.

Later that day, (sometimes after school via Weather.com or over dinner as we watched the 5:00 news) my son recorded the ACTUAL high temperature of the day, once again moving his thermometer slide. Now he figured out the difference between the predicted high and actual high, using subtraction. This number was also written down. Now all that was left to do for the day was determine how well our meteorologist did, by checking the appropriate box.

less than (<) 4 degrees difference = Excellent Job

4-6 degrees difference = Fair Job

more than (>) 6 degrees difference = Poor Job

We did this each day for five days straight. Our recording sheet revealed that three of the five days our meteorologist did a fair job and twice, the predictions were excellent; the last day it was only one degree off! My son was amazed.

When the five days were over, my son asked if I could print another recording sheet so he could keep on recording the weather predictions' accuracy. He truly enjoyed this.

We read some great books as part of this activity. Check them out!

How to Make a Thermometer Slide

Flatten your paper towel tubes. Cut one along one of the vertical creases you just made; open it and apply white glue to the inside. Fold it shut again and place under a stack of heavy books until it starts to dry closed. (photo 1)

Print the thermometer onto a sheet of sticker paper. Cut it to a width that will fit on the flattened tube. Peel the paper backing off the sticker paper and stick it down. Place something inside the tube (I used an old plastic ruler) to keep from cutting all the way through the tube and use the Exacto craft knife to cut out the mercury part of the thermometer (photo 2). Use a piece of the leftover sticker paper to line the inside of your thermometer.

Now trim the flattened and glued tube so it's skinny enough to fit inside the thermometer snugly but still slides easily (photo 3). Paint it red (photo 4). Once dry, slide it inside (photo 5). It's ready to use!