A holiday gift is coming to your family which showcases your child’s diligent work, so if you are planning to leave before vacation officially begins, please let me know; I want to make certain I can get your gift to you in time for the holidays! Additionally, if you have not sent in family photographs, please do so by Monday! They are needed for the gift!
Math stations this week were all about measuring, more and less, and a little bit of addition! The cherubs are doing such an excellent job with all this difficult work!
- Exploring the Pan Balance – On Monday, I introduced the balance to the class. They loved predicting what items would be heavier than others and were amazed to see when 2 different items balanced each other out. During Math stations, the students explored the pan balance with a variety of materials (e.g.: dominoes, counters, pompoms, etc.) to see which was heavier, which was lighter, and how many more or less of a material it took to even the balance out. The kiddos loved this station!!
- iPad – Park Math – At this popular station, the boys and girls of Room #7 got to try out a new activity within Park Math! In the game, the students have to figure out how to balance a seesaw. On the seesaw are different amounts of cute mice. Through trial and error, the kids either added on or took away mice to balance the weight! What a great connection they were able to make to our pan balance as well!
- One More Bingo - At this station, students drew cards from a deck of numbers 1-25. After picking a number, they identified what one more of that number was and then everyone marked that number on their Bingo board, if they had it! 4 in a row won!
- Nearby Numbers – An oldie, but a goodie! Nearby Teen Numbers – Using various game boards, students placed the missing teen numbers in their grid to complete the “number line”. They are really getting good at counting on and then, thinking of one less!
- Sorting Shape Puzzles – In the original shape puzzle center, the Kindergarteners estimated how many cubes would fit on a shape puzzle, counted, and then labeled them with the correct numeral. As an extension, they then sorted the shape puzzles onto a 1-20 number line! If the puzzle held 11 cubes, they would then place that puzzle piece on the 11 space.
- 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!
Room #7 is continuing its work on Growth Mindset. This week, we began to explore the different stances that help students be “Brain Growers,” also known as students with a growth mindset. After reading The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, a wonderful story that supportively portrays the sometimes frustrating process of translating ideas to reality and shows how a new perspective can help problem solve and rekindle enthusiasm and joy, the class and I had an excellent conversation about the importance of sticking with a task, even when it gets tough. Together, we defined the word “perseverance” and thought of things one can say to him/herself in order to keep persevering and never giving up! We also made a chart where when students are perseverant, I can quickly write it on a sticky and add it to our perseverance chart! In this manner, the boys and girls will be able to physically see how they are perseverant. A letter went home last week documenting the work the Kindergartners will do in regards to growth mindset. If you have any questions, you know where to reach me!
Have a restful, relaxing, and lovely weekend!