Line Graphs (age 5)

While Benny was working on his goal of saving money for costumes, I decided that we should take the opportunity to teach Benny about line charts.

Making An Animation (Age 5)

I'm trying to teach Benny that the world is malleable.  That he can change things.  He doesn't have to just observe or consume.  He can create.

He likes to watch Pencilmation on YouTube.  So we made our own (with pencil, paper, a phone camera and Google Photos):

Then I let Benny do more of the work:

Saving Money (Age 5)

I had previously introduced Benny to the concept of money.  Now I wanted him to learn to save money.

He asked for a Gecko costume in early October.  So I told him to save his money and he can buy it.   I told him how much he needed and helped him count his money to see his progress towards the goal.  Sometimes he got a little frustrated and anxious but he made it.

Not only did he get the Gecko costume, but he went on to buy more costumes.  Now (December 2018), he's working towards a Hatchimal.

Reading Practice: Treasure Hunt (Age 5)

Exercise:  I hide a cookie somewhere, then hide a hint describing where the cookie is, then hide a hint describing where that hint is, and so on.  I try to use some words he knows, some phonetic words, and some sight words he doesn't know.

Results: AWESOME!  Benny loves the game more than the cookie.  And he's picking up words quickly and voluntarily making a lot of effort to learn the words.

Putting a Video on YouTube (Age 5)

Exercise: We uploaded a couple videos to YouTube (unlisted, by link only) and then he viewed them in the YouTube app on my mom's tablet.

I want to plant the idea in Benny's mind (many times in many ways) that the world is malleable - that he can change things and contribute.


Results:  So-so.  Benny thought it was funny to see himself on YouTube.  But he lost interest quickly.  It's hard to tell if it will make a lasting impact on him.

Addition and Subtraction (age 5)

Exercise: I wrote addition and subtraction expressions using small numbers on cups and hid the same number of peanuts of fruit snacks underneath each cup.  Benny gets to eat the contents if he can guess the right number.  I started off with very simple addition (e.g. 1+1, 1+0) then moved to more difficult addition (e.g. 2+2, 3+2) and then to simple subtraction (1-0, 2-1) and then to more difficult subtraction (e.g. 5-3, 4-2).

Note: Benny had previously learned some addition through flash cards and a YouTube video.  He had also had some exposure to subtraction by "subtracting"/eating small food items.

Results: Awesome! Before he started kindergarten, Benny understood the concepts of addition and subtraction as well as the symbols for both.  Using his fingers, he is able to add two small numbers (< 5) and to subtract 0 and 1 from small numbers successfully.  He still struggles with larger numbers.

Cosmic Scale: Sun, Earth, Moon (age 5)

Exercise:

I made a scaled model of the sun, the moon, and the Earth.

The goal is to create some curiosity to make learning easier later.  The size of the sun (1.3 million Earths) and the distance to the sun (91 million miles) is really mind-boggling and should create a strong impression.

Benny and his cousins moved the "sun" (a 4-foot beach ball) out to the scaled distance from the Earth (a 1-cm painted ball) in order to demonstrate just how big the sun is and how far away it is.

The sun was white (because the sun is white from space), the Earth was mostly blue (because most of the Earth's surface is Ocean).  I also emphasized that gravity makes the moon go around the Earth and the Earth go around the sun.

Results:

Good. Benny and his cousins seemed to enjoy it, especially playing with the sun. It's hard to tell how much an impression it made on the kids. The adults spent the evening talking about science so at least it made an impression on them.