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 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 of noodles, 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 – 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!
- iPad – Park Math – Addition! – For this new game, the students practiced their addition skills by adding two groups of ducks together!
- Bump! – An 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!
- Fix-it Strips – At this center, students worked with me on a new and tricky concept of “changing numbers”. Independently, the kiddos received a fix-it strip. Using cubes, they built a tower that represented their first number. Next, they changed that tower to match the second number. I asked them to articulate what they did by telling me if they added or took away cubes and how many. The pictorial representations really enabled the students to visualize what they had to do. I was super impressed with how quickly the students caught onto this skill!
9 --> 3 --> 6 --> 2 --> 4
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!