It has been so great being able to meet with each of you and chat about your child’s successes! Thank you for your time and efforts in continuing to support our Kindergarten family! Room #7 is full of busy bees! The kiddos have been hard at work; keep reading to see some of the highlights!
As it is a new month, the kids created gorgeous, one-of-a-kind self-portraits using oil pastels. As usual, they concentrated on including all the features of their faces into their pictures. Many even included extra details by adding intricate and festive designs to their shirts. Come on by Room #7 to sneak a peek at the cherubs’ handiwork!
During Writer’s Workshop this week, the boys and girls were introduced to a new writing tool – spaceman! We have been talking informally about the importance of spaces in between words and why they are necessary. This is a very difficult concept to grasp, especially when most students at this age are just beginning to understand that words are made up of multiple sounds. It is also a new experience for them to realize that several words make up a single sentence with spaces in between those words. In order to help the kiddos conceptualize and use spaces between the words, we worked on writing a story together using this fun and engaging new tool. Students were also informed that if they preferred, they could just use their fingers! Happy writing, boys and girls!
During Math this week, our stations focused on strengthening the kids’ one-to-one correspondence, counting to twelve (and higher as a challenge!), writing numerals, and identifying pattern blocks. There was a good mix of “oldies but goodies” as well as some new stations.
- Shape Puzzle Books – Using various paper puzzle pieces in a book format, the children counted how many Unifex cubes could fit on each. Next, they recorded that number inside their books. Great job practicing your counting skills, Kindergarteners!
- One More Bingo – This Bingo-esque game required students to roll a die and then figure out what one more was than the number on their die. For example, if a student rolled a 6, one more is 7!
- Build a City – This partner activity had students building towers depending on the roll of the die. When their game was over, they had built a “city” of skyscraper towers! This week, the cherubs had an extra challenge. They connected all their towers, counted and decided which one had more cubes and which had less. They compared the 2 towers by laying them next to each other and comparing which one was more or less and by how many using their buddy line strategy!
- Fill the Cup – In this partner game, the mathematicians picked a cup they wanted to work with: big or medium. Next, taking turns, each cherub rolled a die and filled the cup with that many cubes. The partners continued until one of the cups was filled up to the top! Next, each person connected his/her cubes to make two individual trains. Finally, after lining the trains up, side by side, the partners used buddy lines to determine which train was longer and by how much! Terrific job, boys and girls!
- The Counting Jar – What a fun, new station! The students counted how many Halloween sponges there were in the jar and then duplicated that number with a different material. Lastly, they wrote different ways to represent that number on our Counting Jar board. It was amazing to see all the various ways they chose to record the number (e.g., with shapes, tallies, numbers, and more!)
- Let’s Count! - At this center, every cherub took a bag with 24 (a different number from last week!) counters in it. They challenged themselves to count the manipulatives in different ways. They were asked to answer the overarching question: No matter how you position the counters, do you always get the same number??? The boys and girls learned through this work that it’s always a great idea to recount and check!!!
- Monster Squeeze - The cherubs were beyond excited to finally try out iPads! During the game, they chose either a level where they felt they needed practice or one that challenged them. This fan favorite independent game required students to guess a number. The computer then replied either: “My number is greater than that” OR “My number is less than that.” Children continued guessing numbers until the correct number had been determined or “squeezed” between the monster’s two long arms!
I hope everyone is able to see the pictures from our successful Fall Parade on Wednesday. The kids looked amazing and did a fantastic job performing their songs! They were very proud of themselves and so was I :)!
We had a very busy and fun week! Enjoy your weekends!