Lemon Cucumber Invasion, a Math Lesson

Summer is the time of year to enjoy these delicious lemon cucumbers. Not only are they cute looking, shaped just like a lemon, they are crunchy and healthy little snacks that fit perfectly in little hands. My three kids absolutely love them. In fact, Mei, my little two-year-old girl, no longer waits for me to wash them.  She does it herself and starts munching on them while I finish picking them.

I have been harvesting these cute little “lemons” since early August and they are still coming. I got so many that I, being a home educator mom, decided to create a lesson; The Lemon Cucumber Invasion Math.  We would use the tally mark system to keep track of them. First, Mei and Chico counted them, and Buddy drew the tally marks for how many we would pick each day. Then, together we would count them by one’s and five’s together.  This was Buddy’s first intro to tallying so he had fun drawing those lines and making sure all the cukes are counted for!

Once the job of tallying and counting was done, we did some comparisons. This part was first done orally with all three kids. Afterwards, Buddy was given a worksheet of questions to be completed on his own. We called this homework.

To view or print the list of questions click here.