Room #7 has been doing a lot of work thinking about what makes their writing readable! After sorting their beginning of the year narrative writing into two piles: Yes, I can read it! No, I cannot, the kiddos brainstormed the reasons why. As a class, we came up with a hearty list of reasons. For example:
- There aren’t any spaces!
- I didn’t stretch my word out enough.
- The letters are all smushed together.
- There aren’t enough words.
In a week, I will introduce another type of checklist, except this one will be more content based. Did you include who was there? Where you were? What you did? How you felt? These checklists will really encourage my friends to add as many details as possible into their already interesting tales!
For the next two weeks, many of our Math stations will be centered on 100th Day. This is a big deal for the Kindergarteners, and they are eager to visit each station.
- Comparing Numbers – Last week, as a whole group, the class began comparing numbers and determining which was greater, less than, or equal to. We noticed that the greater than and less than signs look like alligators! Those alligators like to eat only the greater numbers. Using these words, instead of bigger or smaller, is very important at this age. In this manner, it helps to alleviate any literal confusion relating to each number’s size. At this station, students practiced using the signs to compare various numbers. They whizzed through it!
- 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!
- iPad – Park Math – Addition! – For this new game, the students practiced their addition skills by adding two groups of ducks together!
- 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!
- 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! Their estimates improved from last week! Way to go!
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.
Room #7 is also learning how to break down words into patterns or parts. The cherubs 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. We discovered our first word family! Hooray!
On Friday, the brain growers of Room #7 learned a new word to help them continue to grow their growth mindset: Empathy! After hearing the definition, we read Leonardo the Terrible Monster, by Mo Willems (my all-time favorite children’s author). The kiddos were able to very quickly name all the instances that the main character felt empathy for the little boy in the story. Moreover, they themselves felt empathy throughout the book as they said words like, “Awwww,” and “Poor guy.” After debriefing, the cherubs defined empathy in their own words. They said empathy is:
- “When you feel other people’s feelings.”
- “When you feel someone’s feelings with your heart.”
- “Feeling bad for someone.”
- “You imagine how you would feel if you were that person.”
Have a great weekend, families!