We are doing a variety of family-themed projects this month. Thank you to those families who have already sent back the Helping Hands paper. We are beginning on Monday, so please do send them in! In addition, keep the family photos coming! Room #7 is working on a top secret holiday gift that needs those pictures! Thank you for all of your help with these activities!
A new month, a new self-portrait! For December, the boys and girls of Room #7 utilized a mixture of mediums to create their unique self-portraits. In order to obtain practice in the art of collage, the students worked on creating parts of themselves by using different colored construction paper as well as craypas to fill in the rest. They studied themselves in mirrors to see what different colors they could use to capture the real tone of their hair, eyes, and lips. This was a tricky project, but everyone worked super hard, and the results are magnificent!
Room #7 continues to focus on more and less in our Math Stations. There is also a smattering of other skills practiced too!
· Shrinking Number Monster – An oldie but a goodie! At this class favorite, students rolled dice to determine how many “eyes” belonged on their monster work board. They then took away one eye, predicted what the one less number was, recounted them, and wrote down the number that was one less! The cherubs were so excited when they had predicted correctly! This week, as an extra challenge, the boys and girls had to write down their beginning number and the number that was one less than that!
· 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.
· 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!
· Make a Train Race – This week, Room #7 worked on reaching a new number – 21! Working with a partner, kiddos took turns rolling a die and making a cube train. The first person to reach 21 won the race. In this manner, students not only practiced their counting skills but also were required to keep track of how many cubes they already had as well as figuring out how many more they needed in order to reach the specified length.
· One More, One Less – In this activity, the children were challenged to name a number that was one more or one less than a given number without counting. Each kiddo started with a cube train of any length (e.g., 10), and continued to add or take away cubes and name how many cubes were in their train after each addition or subtraction.
· 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. If students had trouble counting that high, they compared the 2 towers by standing them up next to each other and comparing which one was more or less and by how much!
· iPad – Park Math – The kiddos were incredibly excited to learn a new iPad game this week! In the app, Park Math, there are many games. This week, the boys and girls learned about an activity where they ordered numbers from least to greatest. It’s super tricky, though, because the numbers are not in consecutive order. For example, a child might need to order the following numbers: 23, 12, 15, 4, 25, 15, 6. They had fun moving the numbers around until they were correct! This was excellent practice in recognizing numbers and determining if they were more or less than others!
This is our last week of 3 page stories in Writer’s Workshop! On Friday, the boys and girls shared their hard work with their 3rd grade buddies. Before they reached that stage, though, they needed to do some revising!!! First, everyone picked their best story. Next, using their editing checklists, the kiddos concentrated on making sure that they had included everything that famous authors employ in their stories. They then went back and reread their stories to determine if they:
· wrote a story that stretched across 3 pages
· stayed on topic across those 3 pages
· had pictures on each page that matched their words
· employed labels
· included a feeling (For example: “I was excited to go on a playdate!)
· used a full sentence (a complete thought) on each page
· could read back their words!
The kids really used their revising checklists well and did a lot of significant editing on their stories. Many of them realized that they couldn’t read their words and then rewrote what they had intended to say the first time! Wowza – what grown up work!
As our class learns how to read and write, we’re listening to the ending sounds in words and connecting them to letters. The children are learning about last letters in words as they listen for, say, and recognize the consonant sounds at the end of words, attaching the sounds to these letters. They are understanding that:
· Some words sound the same at the end.
· You can connect words that sound the same at the end.
The kiddos worked hard to emphasize the last sound in a variety of words so they could really hear it and consequently, identify the corresponding letter. We also discussed why it’s important to include the ending sound in our writing!
During Open Circle this week, the class learned about a new Unthinkable! Allow me to introduce you to Kenny Can’t! When Kenny Can’t invades your brain, he makes you give up before even trying something! To begin the lesson, we read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, a cute story about a young girl who thinks she “just CAN’T draw” but soon overcomes her insecurities to discover her unique artistic abilities. The class then shared several situations where Kenny Can’t had invaded their brains. Here are some strategies you can use to help defeat this frequent Unthinkable:
1. Think positive thoughts!
2. Try to do the activity before giving up; you never know, it could be fun!
Throughout the day, it was rewarding to hear the Kindergarteners recognize when they were having a Kenny Can’t moment. Everyone worked really hard to defeat him with their Superflex strategies! Way to go, kiddos!
Enjoy your weekend!