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Hi, my name is Melissa. Pour yourself a cup of tea and stay a while. I'm completely devoted to my Savior, madly in love with my husband, and joyously raising my daughters. I'm so glad you stopped by and I hope you enjoy your time here!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Cookie Sheet Challenge Volume 2: Review and Giveaway!

Having three young girls to teach every day means I have had to train them all from day one to be somewhat independent because I have to work with each of my girls independently. This is not too difficult for Rose (2nd grade) and Beth (kindergartner) but Grace (Pre-K3) is entirely different. She's in the beginning stages of this training.

You might wonder how this works with one so young. First of all, she sits right beside me while I teach her sisters, but the activities I give her require minimal participation on my part except for showing her how to do the activity. When she was two we used the idea of busy bags, although they weren't in bags! Now that she has progressed academically far beyond what I expected for her age I've had to get a little more creative. Having challenging hands-on-manipulatives are a key element to this training.  

I love the activities made by Julie from Make, Take, & Teach, especially the Cookie Sheet Challenges! The entire Cookie Sheet Challenge series focuses on early literacy and mathematical concepts. I am thrilled to be able to review two of these sets over the next two weeks and giveaway a copy of each to one blessed reader! 



Grace surprised me one day a few months back when she showed me she recognized numbers all the way up to 20! I was expecting to be teaching her this skill, not having her show me she already knew it. Then she proceeded to look at the number and use counters to match the number. What do you do with a three-year-old, or any age, who has already mastered these skills but is still too young to move into other areas of math? Julie has created a wonderful, hands-on manipulative which is challenging my little smarty pants while not delving into some of the more complex areas of math! Cookie Sheet Challenge Volume 2 focuses on number order, recognition, and other early math concepts. 

All you need is provided in the downloadable pdf file available at the Make Take Teach, Teachers Pay Teacher's store for $5.25. You provide the paper, a printer, magnets, and cookie sheet large enough to place a piece of standard letter sized paper. Full instructions for creating these manipulatives are also included. Rather than gluing magnets to printed numbers, I opted to purchase two packages of magnetic number sets from our local dollar store. I also like using photo paper rather than card stock. The pages last longer and gives a laminated feel without the expense of lamination. 

Grace couldn't wait to get her hands on these. I had everything sitting in the schoolroom the night before I planned for her to start using them and she begged me to get them out! There are many activities included. The first pages she worked on were number recognition. I like that the words are written under the printed number so she can begin to associate them together. Several pages like this are included in the set with numbers missing so eventually the student is putting in all the numbers!


Another activity that Grace really enjoyed was using counters. Students are intended to find the matching number word for the digit, but since Grace isn't there yet I just had her match the numbers and count using her star counters. She loved this and counted so well! This is her finished cookie sheet. She's very proud of herself! 






There are many other activities included to help students learn to count all the way to 100 as well as remembering what numbers come before and after one another. These can be used in so many ways for several different ability levels.

I was snapping pictures while she worked, but except for changing the pages and a simple explanation Grace worked completely on her own. This is an excellent example of how I train them to work on their own. I used to just try to get Grace to play on her own in another room, but that failed miserably! She of course wanted to be with everyone else and like many younger siblings wanted to do school like her big sisters! Manipluatives like these from Make Take Teach have been the answer for how to meet her needs.

Now for one of you to get to win this set! Yay!!!!
(And check back next Monday for another Cookie Sheet Challenge giveaway!!!!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer
I received Cookie Sheet Challenge 2 in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received

30 comments:

  1. We're just getting started with homeschool preschool math so I use lots of common household items--pennies, cheerios, etc.

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    1. Us too :) I did pick up some cute mini erasers from Target in their dollar bins for counters this year.

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  2. I know my kids would LOVE the Cookie Sheet Challenge! They love using our counting bears and they also love playing with the abacus.

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    1. I hadn't thought about an abacus :) I love old-school manipulatives!

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    2. We found a big set of counting bears at a local thrift store for $3. My kids love to line them up in long rows or sort by color/size. They are really fun!

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  3. Our favorite totschool manipulative would be the counting bears!

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    1. I don't have any of those. They're so cute!

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  4. Pom poms are one of our favorite manipulatives. We use them for counting, sorting by color, fine motor skills (picking up with a tweezers), and this week they were "blueberries" when we acted out "Blueberries for Sal".

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  5. We love foam Lauri toys (alphabet puzzles, peg puzzles, etc), and Tanograms!! 3rd child has half way through K4 but still loves to sit with toddler (2yrs) and play with the preschool activity bags and such!! These look like a ton of fun!! Thanks for the giveaway!! cherylpowell@hotmail.com

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    1. I had to look up what Lauri toys were :) My older girls help out with my youngest a lot too. It's fun to see them teaching her!

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  6. I dont have a favorite manipulative but we use things around the house like crayons, pasta, dried beans, really anything we can find.

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    1. We do too! We are also partial to legos around here.

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  7. It would! I'd also suggest the About 3 books by Rod and Staff. They are very simple workbooks which help teach fine motor skills in a very gradual progression. My daughter loves them and her only complaint is I only allow her one page a day :)

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  8. My 3 year old's favorite tot school manipulative is the Melissa & Doug beginning pattern block set. He absolutely LOVES to fill the wooden forms with the shapes! (We have the big kid version of the pattern block set put away for his 4th birthday, and I think he will love that just as much!)

    Thanks for hosting this giveaway. I think my little guy (3.5) would LOVE this set!

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    1. The pattern blocks are a favorite of ours too!

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  9. We don't have a favorite, we just use found things around the house! Last week we did a "Corduroy" unit study and used buttons for math!!

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    1. That was one of my favorite books when I was little!

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  10. Starting to get prepared for our toddler to move on after the summer to preschool stuff and this looks good.

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    1. It is great! There are so many to choose from!

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  11. favorite preschool manipulative is colored counting bears :)

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  12. we love all of our colored assorted counters (bears, planes, cars, etc)

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  13. Our favourite manipulative changes depending on the interests of the kid...my son LOVED his Melissa and Doug abacus...my daughter really loves any work that involves tiny people or objects!

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    1. I should look into getting an abacus. I hadn't thought about that!

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  14. This would be a great addition to my son's preschool!

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  15. I just love that you have encouraged your child even without knowing it! Thanks for the opportunity to win the printables!


    Born2instruct

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    1. As much as I genuinely love having a curriculum even for preschool it just seems natural to teach throughout our days, pointing out letters and numbers, having her repeat things. It is such a blessing!

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