Parts of a Whole

I wanted to teach the girls about Parts of a Whole for a Great Math Adventure.  I started by showing them an orange and talking about what made it a "whole" orange.  Then I broke it in half.  At this point I realized that the kids thought that anything broken was considered "in half."  I had to explain that we were talking about two equal parts.  We went a little further by breaking it into fourths.  After they understood that and we went back and forth a few times, I was prepared to go further, but felt like I might loose them.  I quickly pulled out some measuring cups and two bowls of water and went over everything again.  They measured out water and predicted how many halves and fourths would equal a whole.  We talked about recipes and why we need to be able to measure the exact amount that the recipe calls for.

 Yes, that is a tamale on my plate.  We were eating lunch while we talked about Parts of a Whole.  You would be surprised at how much their listening skills improve if they can be doing something quiet while I talk.  I know that I'm the same way.

After discussing measuring cups and Parts of a Whole, we finished up our lunch and used our newly gained knowledge to bake an Angel Food Cake from scratch.  This was a fun recipe to do with kids because it doesn't involve a whole lot of ingredients or steps and they get to watch egg whites fluff up.

 This is my favorite kind of cake and I have never baked it for my family until now because it calls for about 10 egg whites and Aydri has been deathly allergic to eggs in the past.  She got to eat a couple of bites and so far she is fine.  HERE is the recipe.

Math really can be one of the funnest subjects to learn.