As Room #7 continues to delve into number sentences and comparisons, we are also investigating shapes, both 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional. Have your child try to find the following shapes in the real-world; they are everywhere: cones, spheres, prisms, cubes, and cylinders. Ask them to tell you about what we found in the classroom!
- Fill the Hexagon - With what different shapes can you make a hexagon? At this center, everyone picked pattern block shapes to determine how to fill in their hexagons. This center really inspired the kids to think critically and carefully to see where they could fit each shape!
- Worm to 5 and 10 – At this partner game, students worked with numbers to equal either the number 5 or 10. The goal was to cover all the spots along the worm. The kiddos had to choose 2 circles to equal the target number. This station was great to work on different number combinations!
- Pattern Block Barrier Game – At this fun-filled station, partners sit near each other with a barrier between them. Player 1 puts one to three pattern blocks somewhere in his/her grid playboard. Next, he/she tells the partner how to put pattern blocks to match his/her grid. The mathematician uses the names of the pattern blocks and positional language to describe where to place them. Next, the barrier is removed and the partners discover if the two grids match! Finally, they swap roles and play again.
- Copycat – Using geoboards, a teacher made various shapes and then the students copied the shapes! As they worked, the groups talked about the various shapes, how many sides, and how many vertices/points each shape had!
- iPad – Hungry Fish! – 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 students’ 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!
- Building Shapes from Shapes – At this tricky station, the boys and girls of Room #7 used various pattern blocks to make certain shapes. There were many challenges at this center, but they persevered!
- Dozen Domino Dilemma – This partner game gets the kiddos comparing numbers to determine which is greater, less than, or equal! Each partner was assigned a title: Dominos less than 6 and dominos greater than 6. Each person then chose a domino and determined who should get it. First person to a dozen dominos won!
Room #7 boys and girls have officially learned another brain grower word: optimism! When one is optimistic, one feels hopeful that risks are worth taking and that problems will work themselves out. Using kid-friendly words to describe optimism, they came up with their own definition - when you do something new, you think, “I can try,” and give it your best shot because that’s how you grow. After reading The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, our growth mindset thinkers discussed how the little boy was optimistic in the story, and how that helped his brain grow. Moreover, we then brainstormed times of our day when the cherubs can learn to be optimistic! We can’t wait to fill our poster with evidence of the sort!
We are just about with our how-to stories! The writers of Room #7 have been working really hard to incorporate as many aspects included in this type of writing: tips, warnings, lots of details, labeled pictures, hooks, or getting the reader excited, arrows, speech and thought bubbles, and closings, etc. They are all very proud of their work, as am I!
Together, we’ve been snipping out one sound and replacing it with another, which helps the class use knowledge of one word to write or read another. Here’s a game that’s easy, and the children love playing it (and they learn a lot from it).
• You say a word and ask your child to change the first sound. So if you say mop your child might say hop, stop, pop, drop.
• Again, this is a game that can be played anywhere, anytime – try it in the car, at the park, while taking a walk.
Say it – and play it!
Have a wonderful weekend, families!