This week, students worked diligently and did a fantastic job with measuring, adding and subtracting, and continuing to practice more and less!
- Bump! - A new addition partner game! 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!
- Counting on Cup – (an oldie, but certainly a goodie!) Wow! It’s awesome to see how much easier this station is now for the mathematicians of room #7! I remember that just a month ago, this was super tricky work. Now, it’s no problem! In this game, a cherub turned over the top number card and put that number of counters in the cup. Next, he/she rolled the die (+1, +1, +2, +2) and placed that many counters next to the cup. Finally, they count on to get the final answer of how many in all!
- How Many Does it Hold? - At this station, the cherubs filled specific containers with Unifix cubes so that it was full. Then, they counted and recorded the number of counters in each container. This is a great station for students to start to understand capacity and to visualize how different sized containers hold varying amounts.
- Estimation Station – The Room #7 mathematicians have been hard at work at estimating. It is a tricky skill! At this center, they examined what 5 pebbles looked like and what 20 pebbles looked like. Next, they filled a small cup with rocks and dumped them out. Using the visual of what 5 and 20 look like, they estimated how many they had in their cup. Finally, the cherubs organized their pebbles onto ten frames to determine the actual number. Everyone loved this station and enjoyed the challenge!
- IPad – Friends of 10 – Pairing with the T-Shirt game, mathematicians worked to figure out the different combinations that equal 10!
- Stamp by 10 to 100! - In preparation for the 100th Day, students are counting by tens constantly! At this center, they used various stamps to stamp to 100 in groups of ten! For an extra challenge, they used tally marks to represent each group as well!
- T- Shirt Game - This partner activity required students to put either six or eight buttons on the t-shirt. Next, the first partner closed his/her eyes, while the other student took away a certain number of buttons. Then, the first partner opened his/her eyes and had to determine how many buttons were in his/her partner’s hand! Students used a variety of methods to arrive at the correct answer! The students took turns closing their eyes and recording the answers. They had a great time with this activity and are eager to play again!
As Martin Luther King, Jr. Day approaches, Room #7 read a few books about this wonderful man who helped to change America over forty years ago. As we read about his life, the climate of America, and his renowned “I have a dream” speech, the students asked thoughtful, insightful questions. We discussed how the United States has changed for the better as well as how unfair it was back then for people of color. We were even lucky enough to hear his famous speech at the beginning of All School Meeting. So powerful.
The children and I have been concentrating on saying and hearing the middle sounds in words. This is helping the class develop an understanding of how words are put together. The long vowel sounds, which sound like their letter names (a, e, i, o, u), are the easiest to hear. First, we listened to the sounds without looking at the letters, and, later we began to compare words and connect sounds with letters.
Enjoy your long weekend!