Beka and I love to play together. We play dolls, store, raft, school, restaurant, store and servant. She always lets me be the boss and she’s the servant, isn’t she sweet?
It’s hard to do school when you wanna’ play, so we like to play during school.
It greatly improves math skills.
So does scratching your head, we learned.
In 2nd grade, Beka is learning money skills. The worksheet introduced the concept of counting back change. Having a cash register with a calculator and a change drawer that “dings” when you open it, is a must for math class.
The worksheet was kinda’ confusing. It was kinda’ boring, too. If Teacher Momma Mindy is bored, I know my student is bored
When the head scratchin’ didn’t help enough,
we opened a store.
While Beka priced her toys, I scribbled quick cards for each item.
The box on the left is the price, the bill used to pay is in the middle. She had to use $5, $10 and $20 bills.
First, she had to figure out change, using the lease amount of each coins. Then, I came into her store many times, in character,
buying gifts for nieces, spoiled children, brats, and kids having birthdays.
She recommended an item, took my money, and counted back my change.
After I bought out the store, she had nailed the concept.
We went back to the boring worksheet, and finished it in a few minutes. I’m thinkin’ boring doesn’t always mean just boring. Confusion can bring on boredom. When you are confident and understand, math isn’t boring, it’s exciting.
Then, we played, because that’s what we like to do.
We play.
I think this is why SCM's Pet Store Maths appeals to me for Jemimah. I will have to look into it more. The idea of confusion bringing on boredom is just so true, I think. When head scratching don't work, things are really, really bad!!
What a practical math post! I love the points you brought out regarding teacher momma's boredom and how confusion can equate to boredom.Best,Richelep.s. I love Keith Green's music as well 🙂
Yes! This is very much like what I have been doing with my daughter, Selah, who is five(though we aren't using very complex numbers at this point). : )She loves it! Because of games like this, math truly is her favorite subject! Thanks for sharing!
Ugh. Math. Beka must love to go to school every day. 🙂
oops, I meant looks fun 🙂
was fun….
Great Idea….I will have to remember it for next year. But I am sure we will be selling dino's and lego's rather than barbies!