Our Math stations over the next few weeks will center mostly on addition and subtraction! The boys and girls are cementing their knowledge of these two tricky operations!
- Measuring Beads – We have been talking about different ways one can measure and the importance of having a standard way of measuring objects. This week, students measured various-sized beaded necklaces. What fun!
- 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! – Before vacation, 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!
- Snap It! – Working with numbers six to twelve, students made trains of cubes. They then “snapped” their trains at various places. Putting part of their trains in front of them and placing the other part behind them, students worked to figure out how many were hidden. In this manner, students are learning to describe a number by its parts. For those tricky high numbers, students used invisible buddy lines as a strategy to determine the hidden number. Fabulous work, cherubs!
- Top it – Using new domino cards, this partner card game is similar to the game, War. Each student put down a number card, and together they decided which number was greater. The child with the greater number card won and took the two cards. As an extra challenge, the boys and girls could choose to engage in Addition Top-it where they added the two cards together. This is super tricky work, but the cherubs used the skill of counting on to help them work through it! They LOVED playing this game!
- iPad – subtraction! - At this iPad game, students worked to finish subtraction number sentences!
- Bump! - An oldie, but a goodie! Working with a friend, each student took 10 cubes of the same color (e.g.: Player 1 = green, Player 2 = blue). Next, Player 1 rolled the two dice and added them together. That player then put a cube on the circle with the matching sum. The game continued in this manner; however, if someone achieved a sum that was already marked, that player could “bump” the cube off the game board. Players could also “freeze” a number by rolling the same sum twice. Once a cherub used all ten cubes, the game was over! So much fun!
Last week, in one of our whole group Math times, the cherubs of Room #7 learned about the subtraction sign and what it means! We first read The Duckling Wants a Cookie by Mo Willems and used the cookie jar to make subtraction number sentences. Everyone had a lot of fun with this activity – something we will definitely do again!
Room #7 writers are plugging away in their how-to stories. This week, the kiddos learned about acting out the sequence of their stories so that they didn’t miss any important steps. Additionally, using their writing partners as a resource has been very helpful!!
Lastly, Room #7 was beyond excited and proud for their 100th Day Parade. They totally rocked it and had so much fun. Between their awesome 100th Day costumes (Crowns! Vests! Noodle Necklaces!), celebratory song, and smiling faces, this was definitely a 100th Day for the books! Thank you to all who were able to come and thank you for your endless support at home!