4-17-2020 Make a Jigsaw Puzzle

Puzzles are always fun to put together.  But they are also fun to create.  You can make your own puzzles at home and then share with others in your family to put together.  Here is a simple idea using a cereal box.

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-16-2020 Tower Building Challenge

You can build with all kinds of different things that you find around your house.  One suggestion is to build a tower using index cards.  If you don't have index cards, you could use playing cards.  

1. How tall can you build your tower?

2. What strategies did you use to make your tower strong?

3. What is the highest tower you can make with 20 cards? 

4. What shape is stronger?  A triangle, a rectangle or a cylinder?

5. Is your tower strong enough to hold something on top?  What can it hold? 

6. What other materials could you use to build a tower? 

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-15-2020 The Lost Ladybug Project

 Ladybugs are helpful little bugs that eat bugs that destroy plants in the garden. Scientist are trying to figure out why there are fewer native Ladybugs around. You can help scientist learn more about what is happening to the Ladybug population by participating in the Lost Ladybug Project. 

Here is a video about the project and how you can be a Citizen Scientist.

You can find out lots about ladybugs and learn how you can find, document and share your findings with the scientist to help with their work at this website. 

1. Why is it important to protect Ladybugs?

2. What is a Citizen Scientist?

3. How many Ladybugs can you find in your yard? 

4. Based on how many Ladybugs you find in your yard, estimate how many Ladybugs are in Mount Vernon.  

5. What can we do to encourage Ladybugs to come to our yards? 

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-14-2020 A Lot of Ducks

A Lot of Ducks

Choose a Question-Draw a Picture to Answer it!

• Are there more or less than 15 baby ducks? How could you find out?

• If 12 more ducks joined the group, how many would there be altogether? Explain or show how you know?

• Describe how you would count the number of duck feet in the picture.

• The ducks sleep in straw beds that hold 3 ducks at a time. How many beds would be needed for the ducks in the picture? How many beds would be needed for 42 ducks?

• Ducks sleep about 10 ½ hours per day. How many hours does each duck sleep in 3 days?

• When feeding baby ducks, ¼ bag of feed is divided among 8 feeding bowls. How much of a feed bag will be in each bowl? Explain how you know.

Mary Ellen Huggins: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-13-2020 Math Games

If This is One, What is…?


Games are an awesome way to reinforce math concepts! Shapes, area and fractions are fun to play with. Use the shapes below to identify what is 1 and then what the value of additional shapes would be in relation to 1.





For example:





If the red hexagon is one and three blue diamonds fit on top of the red hexagon, then the blue diamond covers ⅓ of the area of the hexagon and therefore has a value of ⅓.







Try thise: LINK


Marry Ellen Huggins: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning