Thursday, November 4, 2010

I know, I know...I'm "such a teacher"

When I was a kid, I loved sorting through my stash of Halloween candy after a night of trick-or-treating. I'd count out all of my Snickers, Crunches, lollipops, etc...and then try to hide my bucket in my bedroom so I could dip into anytime I wanted to. Oh, that sweet tooth of mine. Must be in the DNA because now those childhood traditions have been passed on to my kids. Sure enough, as soon as we walked in from our Trunk-or-Treat on Weds. night, Abby dumped out her bucket in the middle of the living room floor and took inventory. She even counted Noah's loot. Then my inherited-sweet-tooth boy hid his bucket in his closet for two days before I realized it was missing. No wonder Noah was spending so much time in his room. Geez...

Since we're doing the homeschool thing this year, I thought I'd use the candy to our "educational advantage" and do a math activity with Abby. On Thursday morning, I had her sort through her candy again, create categories, and helped her make a simple bar graph on large tablet paper. As she sorted through those 67 pieces (which she counted exactly), we talked about words to describe the candy & wrote them on index cards for our "Adjective Word Wall" - chewy, sticky, sweet, hard, crunchy... - a little twist on the Savoring Food activity from Fishful Thinking that helps promote Emotional Awareness and Optimism:

Select various food/snacks... Eat one of the items you selected and notice all the different tastes and textures. Take turns naming out loud something you notice...Repeat this with the other foods. Take an index card and list as many attributes of the food as you can.

An activity using Halloween candy that builds math, language, and positive-thinking skills all at the same time, and it was fun too! If only all of our school activities could be like this...

Next up, I think we may need to do a lesson about SHARING Halloween candy. I swear, it was like pulling teeth to get the kids to give Mom and Dad a measly little Hershey bar.

3 comments:

Candyland said...

So creative!!! You're amazing:)

Jessie Oliveros said...

That is a great idea! Luckily, my son didn't get too much candy, but he's still pretty little. I know-one day he'll track the whole neighborhood and come home with a bag full of diabetes.

Heidi said...

Now that was a great way to use Halloween candy!!!! I have to admit that my kids just shoved theirs in our "candy bucket" which is usually empty for the majority of the year. But in contrast to your kids, mine pick out all the snickers, reeses, and other chocolate goodies and shove them to the bottom, never to be seen again. I'm not sure where they got their DNA gene that doesn't like chocolate, but it didn't come from me. :)
Thank you so much for stopping by to visit me. I hope I'm really back for good this time. Life shouldn't be this crazy. Oh, and I had no idea you were home schooling this year. How old is Abby now anyway?