In our homeschool, we have always loved doing hands-on math during the early elementary years. Sometimes I wondered if I was covering the math concepts that my daughter needed. Looking for something that might guide our math activities, I found Evan Moor’s Geometric Shapes and Beginning Fractions. It gave us a simple guide for our hands-on learning.
Pizza Night! Hands on fractions. Let your kids help cut the pizza into 1/2. 1/3, 1/4.
Ordering a pizza became a math lesson, not only in counting the money to pay the bill but also for fractions problems.
“Which is bigger, ½ or 1/3?” We then cut the pizza into halves, thirds, and fourths before serving it. Seeing the different sizes of each fraction made fractions so clear – and delicious!
Then, later, making cookies became a lesson in learning shapes! We cut out hexagons and rectangles in the cookie dough after my daughter rolled it out. Real, hands-on learning! And, don’t forget to subtract the cookies, too!
Geometric Shapes and Beginning Fractions covers the following concepts:
1. Direction following
2. Identifying shapes – circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, hexagons
3. Identifying fractions – ½, 1/3, ¼.
4. Dividing a group of shapes into fractions. Such as…. with a group of 6 toys, can you divide it into three groups for thirds; two groups, for halves?
The simple math concepts above were covered in this workbook. There are colored illustrations, easy instructions, for these fun activities:
1. Color the shapes
2. Name the shapes
3. Matching activities
4. Divide shapes into parts, ie dividing a pizza into thirds, fourths, or halves.
5. Match the parts to their names, ½, 1/3, ¼
6. Divide sets into parts, such as “If you have 4 toys, how many toys equal one half?”
7. Dividing a set of cookies!
Making shapes with cookie dough was my daughter’s favorite math lesson.
All of these activities could be done by writing in the workbook, OR could be done with manipulatives! My daughter enjoyed the workbook, but LOVED it when we had the time to work (and play) hands-on! We would take one page at a time, with my daughter acting out each concept
Doing them yourself, with toys, cookies, etc, really shows your child math in action!
Here’s a few more easy math problems:
1. If you have six balls, how many balls would make one half?
2. If you have six toys, how many is 1/3 of the toys?
Easy to follow instructions.
This workbook is written for first grade but it could work for K to 2nd grade. It could be grouped with other workbooks/activities to build your own early math curriculum!
Geometric Shapes and Beginning Fractions gave structure to our learning!
If you are looking for a fun early math workbook, our family recommends Evan-Moor’s Geometric Shapes and Beginning Fractions or any of the other math books in the Learning Line series. For more info, go to www.evan-moor.com.
Betsy is mom to her now college senior, whom she homeschooled from day one. She blogs at BJ’s Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote the book – Homeschooling High School with College in Mind. She offers FREE homeschool help through messages at BJ’s Consulting.
Betsy is a veteran homeschooler who loves unit studies and hands-on learning, mixed in with Charlotte Mason approaches. She homeschooled her daughter from preschool through high school, and helped her get accepted to mulitple colleges. Betsy blogs about her journey at BJ's Homeschool about the early years, high school and college too. A former O. T, she also writes about special needs, and is on the team at the GIfted Homeschool Forum. Betsy is the author of "Homeschooling High School with College in Mind" and also is a homeschool consultant.
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