Thursday, January 13, 2011

Scoring Points with Basketball Elementary Math and Grammar Homeschool Lessons!


This weekend I will be heading up north with my parents to see my dad get inducted into his high school's hall of fame for basketball!  I'm so excited for him!  I am looking forward to the trip and I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband who will be with our children while I get some time away to see my dad receive recognition for his great career on the basketball court.  I hope to blog about my trip when I get home from the weekend.


Speaking of basketball, I wanted to share some ideas I came up with to motivate my children in their lessons that is centered around a basketball theme.  My 6 year old uses Math-U-See (MUS), Alpha and she always says she wants to play a fun game because she sees my son play lots of games with his RightStart math program.  So I made up the following game while she was filling in her MUS worksheet.
I took the math problems on this sheet and wrote each problem on a sheet of orange paper and then I wrote the answers on separate pieces of paper like this:



My daughter picked one problem from the pile, answered it using her MUS blocks if she needed them then wrote the answer on her worksheet.  She then found the answer from the pile of numbers.
She balled up the piece of paper that had her answer on it to turn it into a "basketball".  Then we taped the problem to the edge of the wastepaper basket, she said the problem and answer out loud, and then she tried to shoot the basketball in the goal!
Here she is tossing the ball ( paper) into the goal (wastepaper basket, which is located to the far left of photo):
Oh my goodness, I didn't realize how messy the room was until I uploaded this picture!  Oh well, I'm keeping this post real since you can now see a glimpse of how our classroom looks for the majority of the time while I'm teaching!
It did take much longer to fill out her math worksheet while playing this game of "basketball", but she loved it and it was much more fun to do it this way vs. sitting at her seat the whole time.

The idea of this game came to me a few months ago when my son was doing a lesson from Shurley English Homeschooling Grammer and Composition book. (Level 2, Teacher's Manual, page 56).  I don't have pictures of him doing this game so I hope I can explain it clearly.....

There was an activity that was teaching the different types of sentences (Declarative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory) and instead of their suggestion, I did a slight variation of the lesson by having my son play "basketball" with the different types of sentences.  I wrote down different sentences, one sentence per slip of paper.  He picked a sentence from the pile and  had to decide which type of sentence it was.  After deciding the sentence type, he then taped either the word Declarative, Interrogative or Exclamatory onto the edge of the wastepaper basket depending on his answer.  He balled up the sentence and tossed it into the wastepaper basket that had the correct sentence label on it.  My son got really into his "basketball" game and was trying to dunk his "sentence" ball and make all sorts of moves while scoring 2 points for his grammar game :)

These games were simple to set up and great to get them up and moving while learning!  I just wish I had the time and energy to make learning math and grammar fun like this everyday for all my cupcakes!  :)  

I'm linking this post up to Lynda's "A Day in Our Life" Blog Hop


Click button below to join Lynda, Anna-Marie and I for the No Ordinary Blog Hop for the entire month of January:) The blogger who posts the most will be spotlighted next month and be given a Star Blogger Award. Come join the FUN!!


23 comments:

Unknown said...

Your ideas are wonderful!! Love the games you thought of!! I might have to play some of them! Basketball is something my older loves!! He has 2 games this weekend!!

Congrats to your Dad, yes love the messy room. It is life!
kim

Great games, may have to try them with my kids:) Have a wonderful time with your parents and at the ceremony. Safe travels. I voted for you

Unknown said...

Great idea! Congrats to your Dad and hope you have a refreshing weekend away.

Mom2Seven said...

You are such a good mom! And, so cool for your dad!! Enjoy your trip...be safe! +JMJ+

Renee said...

I love the mess that kids bring to a classroom; it says to me that lots of learning is going on in that place! Great game ideas, too.

Unknown said...

Tracy, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. My son was looking at your blog with me yesterday and wanted to do the "basketball" with his math. He thought is was a great idea and fun. Congratulations to your dad! What a great honor. I voted for you yesterday and today.

Unknown said...

Yeah, you have a messy room room but it's worth the learning and fun :D

P.S. i love your floor :D

http://buybimatoprostonline.com/

Hi Kayla!
My 2 older children are playing in a basketball league now and they are enjoying it :) Thank you for your visit and comment! Hope you have fun playing basketball with schoolwork :)

Thanks Kim for your visit and comment :) Messy rooms are my life :0

Thanks Anna-Marie! I had a wonderful trip and now I feel like I'm behind on things because of it...hope to catch up soon :)

Thanks Jen! I had a great weekend and can't wait to have another relaxing weekend like I had, but who knows when that will be? :)

Ahhh...thanks Annita! I had a great trip and I hope to blog about it soon! :) Hope you are doing well!

Hi Renee Ann,
Your comment gives me hope and encouragement because my children must be learning lots based on the the appearance of my classroom and house ;)
Glad you liked the game ideas too :)

Hi Lynda!
Did your son try basketball with his math? If so, did he like it? Hope so. Thanks always for your visits, comments and support :) Hope to blog about my trip soon when I can get my pics downloaded :)

Unknown said...

Welcome home, Tracy!

Yes, my son loved it and wants to do it with spelling next. I am excited to hear about your trip, but I hope you take some time to relax, get back into the swing of things.

It was pretty quiet this weekend without you. =)
I was able to get caught up with a lot of things around the house that have been put off for too long.

Have a wonderful week. I voted for you yesterday and today.

Unknown said...

P.S. I make it sound like you are the reason my house is a mess. lol

Hi "red",
Thank you for your visit and comment!

Hi Hyde!
Thanks for your visit, comment and follow! I just stopped by your blog and left a comment on your most recent post. Have a blessed day!

Hi Lynda,
Spelling basketball? I will have to try that this week with my 5th grade daughter! Thanks for the idea :) I'm glad your son liked his math basketball! Something is messed up with my computer and I can't download pictures from my camera for a blog post :( Hence, the delay on my post about my trip :( I hope to have it up and running soon whenever my husband can find out what's going on!
Lynda, I laughed about your comment :) I knew what you meant, but at first it did sound like since I was away from my computer you were able to get housework done :) :) :) LOL

Hi Tracy
stopping by to vote and say Hi. Hope you get your computer up and running. My husband is my tech support too:)

Unknown said...

A forced break from blogging, oh no! It is very upsetting when things don't work when you want them to. I hope your husband is able to get it worked out for you. Have a wonderful day despite the set back. {I voted for you.}

Thanks Anna-Marie and Lynda!
Still don't know why my computer can't read the memory card! Thanks for your visit and continued encouragement :)

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Subscribe and never miss an update and post!




Hello! Thank you for your Visit!

Hello!  Thank you for your Visit!
I'm Tracy. I love my faith, family and on most days, homeschooling my 5 blessings. When I'm not busy baking cakes for my family or making memories in real life or dreaming I had a housekeeper or professional chef, I enjoy documenting a slice of Smith life in blog land.

Looking for Something? Search My Blog

Follow Me

http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5144881https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Slice-of-Smith-Life/119996718052404?ref=hlhttps://plus.google.com/u/0/+TracyBuaSmith2029/postshttps://www.pinterest.com/tracybuasmith/

Followers

Please Visit My Sponsor

Amazon Affiliate Search Box

You can support my blog and my family by purchasing through my Amazon affiliate link by using this Amazon Search Box to find products and I will receive a small percentage from your order at no cost to you!

Visit My Friends and Affiliate Links!

I get a small percentage from your purchases!
Thank you!




CCC of America

Brita Baby Boutique

Brita Baby Boutique
IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES !

Follow Me on Pinterest!

Member of Catholic Bloggers Network

Saintnook: Check It Out!

Saintnook: The Saints are Always Online

Curious about the Catholic faith? Click Below

My Blog is Listed at Blog Mommas

My Blog is Listed at Catholic Mommy Blogs

Healthy Moms Magazine Recognition

100 Top Homeschooling Blogs | Healthy Moms Magazine

Blog Post Categories

Blog Archive

Design by My Heart's Desire Creations Copyright © A Slice of Smith Life. Powered by Blogger.

Grab My Button

http://asliceofsmithlife.com

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright © [2010 and forward]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.