O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Psalms 43:3

And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith. D&C 88:118

The kids

The kids

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Wikki Stix Geography





Strawberry playing with Wikki Stix and the pile of butterflies made by Butterfly and Pumpkin Pie
I pulled out a large laminated map of the US. The children were exploring Wikki Stix modeling and had drawn scenes from movies like Star Wars and Toy Story on the door. So, I hung up the map and mentioned that we could use Wikki Stix to make our own map... Fast forward and all the kids were busy exploring the states. Right away we learned that the length of the western side of Washington wrapping down and around the Puget Sound was as long a distance as that of the entire southern board of Nebraska plus a tiny bit north on the eastern side! Since all the stix are the same size, comparing distances is really visual. Pumpkin Pie practiced sounding out the letters of state names. Strawberry named colors, and every one was working on the same project but learning something relevant to their own abilities and needs.

Tiger started with Washington...
I love Strawberry's baby hand! She wanted to help.


After a while, Butterfly asked me, "Why is there a North and South Carolina?" and then others asked about the Virginias and the Dakotas. We got to have a brief history lesson about the states. Then, we started on Arizona and I was reminded of the song Oceanfront Property by George Strait so we talked about why he might have said that in a song when there is no oceanfront property in Arizona. We talked about how in a general sense the lyrics were talking about believing the unbelievable and false.
Almost done...


3 comments:

  1. That's a cute idea. We've never tried Wikki Stix yet, but it's on my to-do list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sara,
    I hadn't tried wikki stix either and they actually freaked me out a bit when I first heard of them because string dipped in wax seems like a mess to me. But they are great! The kids have made all sorts of sculptures, pictures, etc. Just don't put them on painted walls. Doors seem fine and smooth tables, and clipboards, etc. but flat paint doesn't really like them LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. How incredibly creative! Don't let my children see this!

    Grin!

    Welcome to the Crew!

    ReplyDelete