Due to our snow days, Room #7 is repeating last week’s stations, as several of our cherubs were unable to go to each station! Many of our Math stations are centered on 100th Day. This is a big deal for the Kindergarteners, and they are eager to visit each station.
· Noodle Necklaces – The students made their very own necklaces using 100 noodles. This was a multi-step process where the kiddos counted out 10 noodles of one color. In order to ensure they had the correct amount, they used 10 frames. Next, they strung these noodles, adding additional groups of 10 colored noodles to make multi-colored necklaces! They went all the way to 100. Wowza! Super practice to improve finger dexterity too!
· Comparing Numbers #2 – At this station, students practiced using the greater than, less than, or equal to signs to compare various numbers. The kiddos loved seeing those “alligators” eat greater numbers!
· Towers, Towers, Towers – This activity provides an opportunity for the children to see number relationships while they practice counting. Given prepared towers, students figured out how many cubes were in each tower by using invisible buddy lines and the knowledge they already have. For example, if they knew that one tower had ten cubes in it, they could then figure out that the other one that had one less cube had a total of nine! Room #7 is full of math detectives!
· Addition Crossout – With a partner, a cherub rolled two dice. He/she then added those two dice together (counting on!) and crossed out that particular number on his/her sheet. The partners went back and forth until all the numbers were crossed out. The partner who crossed out the final number won!
· iPad – Park Math – Addition! – For this new game, the students practiced their addition skills by adding two groups of ducks together!
· Snowman Addition –Given a snowman sheet, students rolled dice for a starting number. Students then put that many buttons on their snowman. After they recorded their beginning number, the kiddos rolled again. They recorded that number and added that many buttons onto their snowman. Finally, they counted how many buttons they had in all and wrote that number. What a fun way to practice addition!
· Measuring! (new this week) – Last week, the boys and girls worked as a whole class to place 19 different objects in order from shortest to longest. They learned that one needs to make sure the objects are lined up at the bottom to determine which is longer or shorter. Later, at this station, the cherubs were each given a tub of 5 different objects – pencil, crayon, marker, eraser, and a spaceman. First, they put them in order from shortest to longest, paying close attention to ensure they were lined up correctly. Next, they recorded their answers by drawing their objects, and lastly, they labeled them. This was tricky work with many different steps!
In one of our whole group Math times, the cherubs of Room #7 learned about the subtraction sign and what it means! We did a few problems where the kiddos represented the number sentences. Everyone had a lot of fun with this activity – something we will definitely do again!
Room #7 is trucking along in our magnet unit! On Wednesday, we did a whole class experiment to see which magnet was the strongest – the bar, the horseshoe, or the doughnut magnet – by seeing how many paperclips each attracted. Ask your child to tell you which magnet drew the most!!
Because our school time has been interrupted these past two weeks, it’s been difficult to start our opinion unit! However, we finally did it! Room #7 began this writing adventure by identifying their favorite Mo Willems character and writing at least 2 reasons why they had chosen that character. The kiddos first practiced orally with a partner and pinpointed their favorite and why. Then, they transferred those words into writing and pictures. We have so much more to go! How fun!
Our class is working on matching beginning sounds in words to initial letters. By recognizing letter sounds and identifying the letters, the boys and girls are learning to distinguish between words. In our lesson, the children worked with Three-Way-Sort Sheets with letters in the tops of the columns. They worked independently to match pictures to the beginning letter. For example, under the Pp, the children placed pictures of a pig, piano, and pillow.
Additionally in Word Work, the cherubs are learning to break down words into patterns or parts. They can easily hear the break between the first part of a word and the rest of the word, such as h-op, br-own. The pattern we’ve been studying is the –at ending in words, such as cat, bat, sat, etc. Everyone loved brainstorming words that end in –at and noticing how the ending sound was always spelled the same. This connection will help them in their reading and writing!
Enjoy your weekend! I hope it isn’t too snowy!