Lemon Cucumber Math

Lemon Cucumber Invasion, a Math Lesson Part 2

September 4, 2012 by Betty

You must think we are nuts about lemon cucumbers. That’s probably true to a certain extend. They are usually gone soon after I pick them. Besides that, I, being a Home Educator Mom, try to turn everything into a learning experience. That’s the perk in homeschooling! So to continue with the theme of lemon cucumbers, my husband, Bubba, created a worksheet for Chico. First Mei and Chico counted the cucumbers together; then he colored in the appropriate number of squares on his worksheet like the picture below.

This exercise gives him a visual presentation of what he’s counting and allows me to ask him to compare between the days. Chico is only reading three-letter (one syllable) words so we went over the questions together. Click here to view or print a list of the questions.

Lemon Cucumber Invasion, a Math Lesson

August 22, 2012 by Betty

Summer is the time of year to enjoy these delicious lemon cucumbers. Not only are they cute looking, shaped just like a lemon, they are crunchy and healthy little snacks that fit perfectly in little hands. My three kids absolutely love them. In fact, Mei, my little two-year-old girl, no longer waits for me to wash them. She does it herself and starts munching on them while I finish picking them.

I have been harvesting these cute little “lemons” since early August and they are still coming. I got so many that I, being a home educator mom, decided to create a lesson; The Lemon Cucumber Invasion Math. We would use the tally mark system to keep track of them. First, Mei and Chico counted them, and Buddy drew the tally marks for how many we would pick each day. Then, together we would count them by one’s and five’s together. This was Buddy’s first intro to tallying so he had fun drawing those lines and making sure all the cukes are counted for!

Once the job of tallying and counting was done, we did some comparisons. This part was first done orally with all three kids. Afterwards, Buddy was given a worksheet of questions to be completed on his own. We called this homework.

To view or print the list of questions click here.