It was wonderful meeting with all of you over the last few weeks to talk a Dear Families,
The kiddos in Room #7 are beyond excited about our new student, Rose! They are being great friends and helping her to learn the ropes of Room #7! Welcome Rose! Room #7 has officially begun our chick unit! The kids couldn’t be more excited. On Monday, after reading the book Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones by Ruth Heller, the class discussed a new vocabulary word: oviparous! This fun word to say means to hatch from an egg. Then the class did a sort of various animals and insects to decide which were oviparous and which were not. This conversation segued into which creatures are mammals AND how one can tell what a mammal is. Ask your child to tell you which animals are mammals and which are oviparous! You’ll be surprised by their answers. After spring vacation, we will obtain chick eggs from a local farm! Stay tuned for more information! 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! · Build a Floor – A tricky, new station that the kiddos loved! The object of this partner game is to be the first to complete a “floor” made from Unifix cube trains lying side by side. Each train had to be made from cubes of two colors. This week, the students worked with the target number of 6. In the first stage of the game, the cherubs took turns rolling a number cube to determine the length of the first color of each train. Then, in the second stage of the game, they again took turns rolling the cube to complete their own floors, placing the indicated number of cubes (the second color) wherever they could on the board. The second number needed to combine exactly with one already on the board to finish one train! This was complicated work, but they rocked it! · Fill the Hexagons – With what different shapes can you make a hexagon? At this center, everyone rolled shape dice 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! · Pattern Block Puzzles – The purpose of this station was to give the cherubs the opportunity to explore relationships of shapes and determine how many ways the shapes can be arranged in a particular space. Using pattern blocks, the boys and girls filled in a particular puzzle shape in several different ways and recorded the number of blocks used each time! · Geoblock Match-up – This week, the students observed some three-dimensional geo-blocks. We talked about how these blocks have faces. The faces are common shapes that the students see every day (squares, triangles, and rectangles). In this game, the students received a geo-block game board. Their job was to reach in the basket, pick out a block, and determine if any of the faces matched a shape on their board. The complicated part of this game was that many of the shapes had different shaped faces. For example, some triangular shaped geo-blocks had rectangular faces as well. It was tricky! · Geoboard Designs – At this center, I built a variety of designs and shapes on a geoboard for the boys and girls to observe and copy. This station really helped them be more analytical about the various parts of a design or shape and its position on the geoboard. The kids thoroughly enjoyed this station, especially when the designs got super complex! · 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! · 3-D Shape Color - The boys and girls did an outstanding job recognizing what each shape was called at this center and then coloring that shape accordingly! In class, the children are learning about the structure of words and how some words are related to each other. This recognition helps them break down new words to solve them. We’ve been focusing on adding ‘s’ to a noun to make more than one. The boys and girls and I talked about how sometimes that ‘s’ can sound like a ‘z’ and to be careful word detectives when writing those plurals! Have a wonderful weekend! Dear Families,
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! · 10 Frame Numeration Boards – Using fun 10 frame manipulatives, groups worked on a variety of skills: comparing numbers to determine greater than and less than (and then saying the number sentence), writing teen numbers as a ten + ones = the teen, AND creating a variety of number sentences to 10 – all on a dry erase board! This was certainly a fan fav! · Tub Game – At this center, students received practice describing a number by its parts. This week, the students worked with the number 10! This was a challenge, but a fun one, where they had to figure out how many cubes were underneath the tub! They then said the corresponding number sentence. For example, if I put 5 cubes under the tub, they had to discern how many more would equal ten. Lastly, they named the corresponding number sentence! · Number Arrangements – At this station, the boys and girls explored various designs they could make using around 10 toothpicks, depending on each student’s individual skills and comfort level. After some experimenting, they then glued their creations on to a piece of paper. Finally, they subitized and wrote down the groups they recognized. So fun! · Comparing Lengths – Using pipe cleaners and cubes, students measured the various sizes of 2 pipe cleaners. Next, they compared the two sizes and wrote which was greater than, less than or equal to! · Up and Down the Ladder – A blast from the past! At this small group game, the cherubs took turns rolling a pair of dice. The roll on each die determined the number of Room #7 kids to put on the bunk bed. For example, if a 5 and a 2 were rolled, the players took the pictures of seven kiddos and placed five of them on the top bunk and two of them on the bottom bunk. Next, Player Two picked an Up and Down the Ladder game card and everyone rearranged the seven children’s pictures on the bunk bed according to the card’s instructions. For example, if the card said “1 Up the Ladder,” the kiddos moved one kid picture from the bottom and placed it on the top. Using dry erase boards, each player recorded the corresponding number sentences! The boys and girls really enjoyed rearranging their pictures on the bunk beds to play the game! · Addition Dice – Using two different types of dice, a dot die and a number die, students rolled both. They then counted on from the number die and wrote the number sentence! · Ten Shapes with Double Dice - At this tricky oldie but goodie, each child took a ten frame and one other shape and wrote the total number of cubes needed to fill both shapes (always a teen number). This week, the kids rolled double dice (a new challenge!) to determine how many Unifix cubes to take away and finally, recorded the corresponding number sentence. This is a multi-step process that required a lot of brain power to complete! To celebrate Earth Day, Room #7 read The Lorax. We then brainstormed a variety of suggestions that we can implement to help keep the earth clean and healthy! After the kids wrote down their fantastic ideas, they completed the art component of this activity. Using a little blue and green paint, marbles, and a shoebox, they created their very own unique worlds. To top it off, we took pictures of their cute mugs with a Lorax moustache on them! Check out our back bulletin board to see their priceless results! The boys and girls are continuing to work diligently on their amazingly creative Elephant and Piggie books. I am constantly wowed by their artwork and unique and ingenious story lines. Using Mo Willems as a mentor text, the cherubs are integrating elements that Mo Willems utilizes in his stories such as speech and thought bubbles, various sizes of writing, and facial expressions into their own texts. Soon, we will have a Publishing Party to celebrate all of your children’s extremely imaginative work! Stay tuned… This week, during Writer’s Workshop, everyone worked on their Community Helper project. After recording the interviews last week, the kiddos rewatched their interview and recorded the answers to their questions. They also illustrated those answers as well as drew lovely pictures of their school-based community helper. Soon, the children’s hard work will be transformed into a book all about our three community helpers: Mrs. Knight (assistant principal), Ms. Salvucci (school support staff), and Ms. Breslin (crossing guard). The kids are super excited and feel proud of all their efforts! A new month, a new wonderfully unique self-portrait! For the month of April, the students designed themselves using only construction paper, glue, and scissors. They worked enthusiastically to create reflective portraits utilizing the art of collage. This is difficult work! I was proud of the students’ tenacity as well as their finished artistry! Please stop by to see these extraordinary masterpieces! Happy Spring! Let's keep these 50 degree days a-coming! |
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March 2020
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