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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

a spoonful of couscous...

If you haven't checked out The Wonder Years yet, you should. I love catching glimpses of this Montessori mama's home-based classroom. She's got a good thing
going on.

The inspiration for this measuring lesson came from her - check it out here.
The child spoons couscous
with different measuring spoons,
using a spreader to level off his scoops.
There is a small dish for each spoonful,
so the child is able to see the differences
in volume of the measuring spoons.


After the child has put a spoonful
of couscous in each smaller dish,
he pours it all back into the main dish.

Later on, I will introduce the language 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1 teaspoon.
These measuring spoons could also be used in math activities... children could discover how many 1/4 teaspoons would fill 1 teaspoon or something.

A control of error for this lesson would be to fill the main dish with just enough couscous to fill each measuring spoon. Right now, our measuring lesson doesn't have this control of error. It's sort of an experimental experience for the child. I think I like it that way!

2 comments:

  1. I love that blog, and I loved this idea. Hope the kids loved this as much as we do :0)

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  2. I am new to your blog. It is a wonderful blog, not only the content but visually. Very artistic! I am going to do this at home for my children!

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