Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful and fun vacation! The kids were excited to be back and get into the swing of things again. I was amazed at how much taller and older they all looked after only one week! Our week started off with a bang!
Math Stations:
· Clear the Deck – This game is intended to provide cherubs with opportunities to distinguish between the plus and minus signs and to perform the corresponding operation. Each kiddo filled his/her game board with 20 colored tiles. The goal was to be the first to completely “Clear the Deck” or clear the board by using a plus/minus spinner and a number die. Everyone LOVED this station, and it was great practice for the class!
· Wall Game – At this center, the kids worked with the number ten. After arranging a vertical line of cubes of that number, a teacher “walled” off a portion of their line so only a certain number of cubes was visible. The children then predicted how many cubes were over the “wall”. What a fun way to see the different number combinations!
· iPad – Hungry Fish! (a new game!) – At this fun and engaging new game, students picked a level where they felt comfortable yet challenged. In each level, a fish emerges with a number on its belly. The student’s job is to combine numbers, or add, to equal the number found on the fish’s belly so that the fish can eat it! Everyone loved this game and enjoyed the challenge!
· 3D Shape Books – Is it a cone? A cylinder? A prism? At this station, the boys and girls cut and pasted the matching 3D shape to its correct page. Then, they had to draw a real-world example of that shape (e.g., an ice cream cone) and write a sentence about the shape! This was super tricky work and they excelled at it! Way to go, Kindergartners!
· Comparison Number Stories – Room #7 loves to get creative! At this center, everyone came up with different number stories and then compared the numbers to determine which was greater, less than, or equal to!
· Double Digits– The boys and girls worked with me to compose various numbers with 2 digits. For example, if I said, “Please write the teen number with a 7 in it,” they would write 17. Then, I asked, “What’s the other number you can make with a 1 and a 7 in it. Not only did they write the numbers, but also named them. Some kiddos even went into 3 digit numbers! Wowza! We have a bunch of mathematicians in our class!
· Two Ten Shapes (with a recording sheet) – At this new center, the cherubs used two ten frames. They rolled a number cube twice to determine how many cubes to place on each ten frame. Then, using addition, they found the total and wrote the corresponding number sentence. For this activity, there was no specified way of placing the cubes. The boys and girls used the ten frames in any way that made it easier for them to add. They did such a great job with this activity, and many chose not to use the counters and did the addition in their head!
On Monday, the cherubs strove to finish their community helper how-to books. The finished products are nothing short of phenomenal! I am so impressed with their ideas and how they incorporated so many mentor-text skills into their personal writing. We are transitioning into a new unit: informational writing. On Tuesday, the class and I talked about the differences between how-to and informational writing. We discussed how one needs to identify at least five things about a topic in order to write about it knowledgeably. Next, we wrote our very own informational book on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so that they could use it as their own mentor text. Lastly, the boys and girls brainstormed topics that they could write about and came up with so many fabulous ideas. Moving forward, they will work with a writing partner to ensure they are on the right track when writing about their topic. Everyone is super excited to continue with this unit.
Speaking of informational writing, we started a new science unit on plants! The class has been immersed with emergent texts on plants that are great resources as well as examples of informational writing. My hope is that many of their features (e.g., table of contents, diagrams, labels, etc.) will be incorporated into the cherubs’ very own informational books in the future!
It’s that time again: a new self-portrait! This month, students used white chalk on black construction paper to create one-of-a kind portraits of themselves. I challenged the cherubs to remember all by themselves each of the different parts they needed to include! They were up to the task! Come check out the finished products if you get a chance!
Room #7 continues to learn to recognize common word patterns. This recognition helps the children learn about writing words and solving new words as they read. As the kiddos break down words into patterns or parts, they can easily hear the break between the first part of a word and the rest of the word, such as h-ike, b-ike. The pattern we’ve been studying is the –ike ending in words. The children are learning that some words have a vowel and a silent e at the end and that the vowel sound is usually the name of the vowel. These Kindergartners are phenomenal word detectives!
Have a spring-filled weekend!