Splash!: Modeling and Measurement Applications for Young Learners in Grades K-1 (William & Mary Units) 1st Edition

When I first read through part one of the Splash book, I felt somewhat overwhelmed by the detailed structure presented. As a homeschooling mom, I tend to leverage life experience learning mixed with by-subject curricula such as Rightstart Mathematics which is laid out very differently then Splash. One critique of the book is that the materials needed are not necessarily those from around the house and I had to gather them ahead of time in order to have them on hand for completing the lessons with my son. For example, we did not have a fish tank on hand. Also, the book suggests some items that are very specific such as a Lifeguard Lucy Doll and the book Dinosaurs Before Dark from The Magic Treehouse series. We substituted the Lifeguard Lucy Doll for another object of similar proportions and it worked just fine for us.Although I was unsure of what I first suspected would be intense structure, once all items were gathered and we completed the lessons, I became very impressed by the level of depth this book presented to children and was extremely pleased with the continuous use of hands-on activities used to teach the lessons. The amount of vocabulary included was thoroughly enjoyed by my young logophile. The questions that are posed by text provide children with an opportunity to use their critical thinking skills. And the open ended brain-storming concepts presented throughout worked well for my perfectionist gifted child. Being able to explore several options to deduce the best possible answer allows the perfectionist to explore their ideas without the stress that often rises from texts that request black and white responses. Certainly, the creative child who prefers to explore their own unique considerations for solutions would enjoy this text. Further, the amount of writing was at a near perfect level for my asynchronous child who is much further ahead in math than fine motor skills.We have not yet completed the extension Building a Pool activity at the end of the book, though we to plan to. Overall, I'd rate this book 5 stars because I feel that the material available for gifted children is limited and this text did an excellent job of presenting concepts in a fun, hands-on way and it assumes an appropriate level of knowledge for a gifted child in Kindergarten through first grade. Some curriculum for gifted children tend to "dumb-down" the vocabulary for subjects such as math, but this text did not disappoint in keeping with a rich vocabulary while maintaining interesting activities to teach children about everything from measurement to models.