Date: 14th of March
Author: Eleni Katsiavou
Students’ age: 4-6
Duration: 2 hours
Materials:
- Paper
- Pencils
- Crayons
- Watercolours
- Salt
- Water
- Flour
- Camera/ Mobile phone
Online Tools:
- Cisco Webex Meetings
- Padlet
- Google Slides
Aim:
To get to know a traditional custom and at the same time to cultivate their mathematical skills
Description of the activity:
“Mrs Lent” is an old Greek Tradition. It was actually a kind of calendar with which they calculated the time until Easter. Women used to make a lady with dough the last Sunday of Greek Carnival. That lady had 7 legs that represented the 7 weeks of fasting before Easter. She had no mouth because she has been fasting all this time and her hands were crossed because she is praying. They also put a cross on her head. Each Saturday they had to cut one leg, so when they cut the last one they knew that the next day was Easter. So, we tried to connect this tradition with STEM in a creative way for our students.
Step 1: Let’s measure the ingredients
Students are asked to measure the ingredients for the dough (1 cup of salt-1 cup of water and 3 cups of flour). Then, they mix the ingredients and make the dough.
Step 2: Let’s create Mrs Lent
We show the students pictures of “Mrs Lent” using Google Slides and ask them to make their own. Kids create their own “Mrs Lent” the way each one likes, but they must not forget her 7 legs, so kids have to count so as to make it right. When they finish they put it in the oven for 40 minutes to dry. At this part of activity we asked their parents’ help so as to help the kids with the oven.
Step 3: Let’s draw Mrs Lent
While the dough is in the oven we ask the students to draw “Mrs Lent”and write numbers from 1-7 under each of her legs. This way they practice number writing.
Step 4: Let’s paint Mrs Lent
The kids are asked to paint their “Mrs Lent” if they want and then to take a picture of it and upload it on the padlet we have created for their creations. They have a mission. To cut one leg every week and calculate how many weeks are left until Easter. This helps them get aquainted with subtraction.
Outcomes:
Te kids really enjoyed that activity. It reminded them of the experiential activities we carry out n our classroom. They cultivated Maths skills in a playful way even though carried out online.
