In this chapter, we will be having the concluding part of Mathematics in the Home as we've started from chapter 1.
From the last chapter I noted that this chapter will contain some trickish but logical home calculations you can engage your child in other to be very familiar and smart in Mathematics.
So here Day COMES........
Fill It Up
Filling empty containers provides opportunities to explore geometric concepts,
such as “more or less” and volume, and to apply measurement skills.
What You Need
★ Measuring cup
★ Four large glasses of equal size and shape
★ Water
What to Do
★ On a table, put the glasses in a row and fill them with water as follows:
1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 3/4 cup, 1 cup.
Ask your child questions that
encourage her to compare, estimate and think about measurement.
Ask, for example,
“Which glass has more water? Which has less?”
★ Pour more water into one of the glasses to make it equal to the amount
of water in another glass.
Move the glasses around so that the glasses
that have the same amount of water are not next to each other. Ask
your child to find the glasses that have the same amount of water.
★ Help your child to do math in her head. Ask questions such as,
“If I have
four cups of water and I need seven, how many more do I need to pour?”
Tracking Time
Introducing children to statistics and data analysis can begin by having
them collect information, analyze it and describe or present their findings
in an organized way.
What You Need
★ Stopwatch, watch or clock
★ Newspaper
★ Blank paper
★ Graph paper
★ Ruler
★ Small round object to trace to
make a pie chart
★ Pencil and markers or crayons
What to Do
★ Show your child how to keep track of the time he spends on two
activities, such as watching television and doing homework.
Help
him to make a chart with two columns, one labeled “Television” and
one labeled “Homework.” Down the left side of the chart, write the
days of the week.
Tell him that you want him to write the number of minutes he spends doing each activity on each day. At the end of the
week, sit down with him and talk about what the table shows.
★ Help your child to make a chart to use as he
watches television. Give him a stopwatch (or an
easy-to-read clock or watch) and tell him to
record how much time of each television show is
used for commercials and how much time is used
for the actual show.
Have him keep the record
for one night of viewing. On the graph paper, help him
to make a bar graph that shows the different amounts
of time devoted to the show and to commercials. Or, show him how to make a pie chart.
★ Together with your child, keep track of how he spends
time in one 24-hourperiod:
time spent sleeping, eating,
playing, reading and going to school. Help him to measure a strip of
paper 24 inches long, with each inch representing one hour.
Using a
different color for each activity, have him color the number of hours
he spends in each activity. You and other family members can make
similar charts; then your child can compare the charts and see how
everyone in the family spends time.
Fraction Action
In introducing children to the concept of fractions—numbers that aren’t
whole numbers (such as 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4)
it’s often a good idea to use
objects that they can see and touch.
What You Need
★ Large clear container (holding at least 2 cups)
★ Masking tape
★ Marker
★ Measuring cups (1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 cup measure)
★ Unpopped popcorn
What to Do
★ Invite your child to help you make popcorn for the family. Begin by
having her put a piece of masking tape from top to bottom on one
side of the large container.
★ For younger children, use a 1/2 cup measure. For older children, use
a 1/3 or 1/4 cup measure. Choose the unit of measure and fill the
measuring cup with popcorn.
Give the cup to your child and ask her
questions such as the following:
—How many whole cups do you think the container will hold?
—How many 1/2 cups (or 1/3 cups or 1/4 cups) do you think it
will hold?
★ Let your child pour the measured popcorn into the clear container.
Have her continue to pour the same amount into the container until
it is full.
As she pours each equal amount, have her mark the level
on the container by drawing a line on the tape.
Then have her write
the fraction, corresponding to the unit of measure on the line. After
the container is full, have your child count up the total number of cup increments (1/2, 1/3 or 1/4) and compare it to her estimate
from above.
★ As you measure out the popcorn to pop, ask your child to answer
questions such as the following:
—How many 1/2 cups equal a cup? Two cups?
—How many 1/4 cups equal 1/2 cup? A whole cup?
★ Pop the corn and enjoy!
Here we comes the end of "Mathematics in the Home" so in the next chapter I will going to a different subtopic which is "Mathematics on the GO" it gonna be very awesome and don't try to miss it.