In Math, the boys and girls are continuing their 100th Day activities as well as practicing measurement and addition!
· 100th Day Smarter Crowns – For the 100th Day, students created beautiful, one-of-a-kind crowns with 100 items on them to match their 100th Day necklaces and vests. Each crown contains 10 multi-colored strips of paper on which students put 10 “things” (bingo dobbers, buttons, stamps, tissue paper, sequins, googly eyes, hole-punched dots, etc.). This was a definite fan favorite! The crowns look amazing, and the kids can’t wait to wear them J
· How many ways can you make 10? – Using a tub and 10 pennies, each child shook out their 10 pennies. Next, they organized their coins into 2 groups: heads and tails. Lastly, on their sheet, they colored in how many heads and tails they had (one color for each). From this activity, the students were able to notice how many different ways one can make 10. They continued this activity ten times until, again, they reached 100!
· Measuring! – 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!
· Towers, Towers, Towers – This activity gives children an opportunity 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 tower that had one less cube had a total of nine! Room #7 is full of math detectives!
· Domino Addition – At this center, the boys and girls picked various dominos. They then recorded what their domino looked like and transferred those dots into a number sentence. This was great subitizing, counting on, and addition practice!
· iPad - Park Math – Addition! – For this new game, the students practiced their addition skills by adding two groups of ducks together! The kiddos are eager to move up in levels and challenge themselves with their counting on skills! Way to work super hard, boys and girls!
Room #7 is trucking along in our magnet unit! On Monday, everyone was introduced to a new magnet, the bar magnet. Then, 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 see which magnet drew the most!!
During Word Work, the boys and the girls focused on figuring out words and how they work. The class concentrated on matching beginning word sounds to letters. As the children learn letters and their relationships to sounds in words, they’ll begin to distinguish words as they read storybooks on their own. To continue to strengthen these skills, you can do a variety of activities at home to help!
· Try making an alphabet book using blank sheets of paper (1 per letter). Cut up the uppercase/lowercase letter cards and place one at the bottom of each page (for example, Aa).
· Help your child identify items around the house that fit each letter (for example, table for Tt).
· Have your child draw a picture of the object and you can write the word below it.
Last week, the cherubs learned 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 and bat. We made a list of the –at family words and then practiced breaking them apart, putting them together, and writing them! The kiddos loved that part!
Similarly, Room #7 is also learning to solve new words by making connections to words they already know. In class, we’ve been changing the first letter or letters of a word to form a new word, such as dog to log. This understanding is helping the children take words apart as they read and spell as they write.
In Open Circle this week, the kiddos were excellent players in DramaRama School. They acted out various Space Invader scenarios and did an absolutely phenomenal job! Before beginning, the boys and girls reminded me what a Space Invader does and some strategies one can use to defeat this tricky Unthinkable. When he invades someone’s brain, he makes that person pop another person’s comfort bubble. In order to defeat Space Invader, one could use the following language: “You have Space Invader and are popping my bubble. Please move (or scootch).” In order to ensure that you don’t have Space Invader, one could also use one’s arm to see how much space to allot! Ask your child what scenarios we practiced on Friday! Everyone who wanted a turn was able to participate!
Keep those 100th Day vests coming! I would be happy to store them in the classroom until February 11th! In addition, please encourage your children to bring in 5 cans! We are about 30 cans away from reaching our goal of 100! Thank you so much for all of your support! Have a wonderful and restful weekend.