Welcome back! I hope everyone had an enjoyable and restful vacation and a very happy New Year! It was so wonderful to see all of the cherubs’ smiling faces on Wednesday morning; they were full of great stories and excited to be back in school! It’s been a terrific week; here are some of the highlights!
With a new month comes a new self-portrait! For January, the students did a stellar job capturing their faces with colored pencils! They added awesome details to their portraits by including hair decorations, blending colors, and adding items from shirts they own! I loved seeing how different each picture is and noticing the improvements the children have made from month to month. Stop by to take a peek at your child’s beautiful work!
The students of Room #7 were also hard at work on their January calendars. On Monday afternoon, we read Caralyn Buehner’s Snowmen at Night, and the kiddos loved brainstorming all the activities their snowmen could possibly do at night when everyone else is asleep! After our discussion, they created their very own “droopy” and “melting” snowmen using construction paper and crayons. Some of these snowmen certainly had a fabulous time when it was dark! Lastly, everyone wrote what their snowmen did at night to make them look so “tired” the next day!
We are back in the routine with Math in Room #7! This week, students worked really hard and did a fantastic job with measuring, adding and subtracting, and continuing to practice more and less!
· 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!
An example (without pictures):
9
3
6
2
4
· Race to Trace – At this independent station, students had a deck of ten frame cards. Each card represented a different number, from eleven – twenty-two. As the children turned over the cards, they had to find the numeral that matched that number and then they practiced writing it. Students received a lot of practice recognizing what various higher numbers looked like when represented on ten frames!
· iPad – Park Math – A new iPad game! Kiddos worked to feed the hippo various items, making sure to count to the correct number and feed him the specific food he asked for (e.g., green hot peppers instead of red).
· 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!
· 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.
· More/Less Dominoes – to 12 – Students took turns choosing dominoes and determining if their dominoes were more, less or the same as the chosen domino. The kiddos sorted their dominoes on the work mat according to where the numbers belonged.
· Breaking Down Teens - Room #7 has been working hard to learn and remember how teens are made up of tens and ones. To help cement this tricky concept, the kids worked extremely hard on another Decomposing Number Book where they had to show how many groups of tens and ones were in each teen number. They did an awesome job!
As the children become more aware of the sounds in words, they learn to separate and identify the last sound they hear. This ability is the foundation for connecting sounds and letters beyond the first letter, knowledge that will help the children begin to solve words and also monitor and keep track of their reading as they read a whole story. They’re learning that
· You can hear the last sound in a word.
· You can say a word to hear the last sound.
Additionally, the boys and girls of Room #7 have also begun segmenting! On Wednesday, I introduced the silly game Ms. Fast-woman and the Slow-mos. During this activity, I would say a word normally, and the kids needed to slow it down, naming each individual sound they could hear in the word. For example, if I said, “cake,” the “slow-mos” must say, “/c/, /a/, /k/”. They LOVED this game. During Word Work, we played the same game but with a bit of a twist. For each sound the kids said, they pushed a “tap-it” light. In this manner, they have a physical input and representation of each individual sound. This was a fan favorite - everyone loved turning on the decorative lights!
Also on Friday, the class met a new Unthinkable. Was Funny Once was introduced to the class. When Was Funny Once invades people’s brains, he makes them get the giggles or sillies! He encourages them to get carried away and not be able to get back on track with what the rest of the people are doing. In order to defeat Was Funny Once, we can use different strategies. Taking a break is a great one to try, whether it is breathing deeply, getting a drink of water, resting on the bean bag, or doing wall pushups. Another strategy is to check out what everyone else is doing. If the rest of the class is being serious, that helps the student(s) remember that they should be too. All of these strategies help us “get back on track”. In addition, I have hung up a Silly Scale! Our one to five helps the class name where they should be. For example, one is for when we are being super serious whereas five is out of control laughing. As a class, we generally stick to a two or three, as long as we can remember to “get back on track”!
The boys and girls are still hard at work on their Pattern Books. They are beyond excited to see their very own work in our class library and are pleased to see other children read them as well! Such successes! This week, everyone learned about a new type of pattern book – an AB book. For example, “I like cats and dogs. They are cute. I like birds. They are cute.” Everyone was super enthusiastic about trying something new and did a wonderful job!
We have started discussing opinions in Room #7! At least once a week, our morning message will have something to do with an opinion The cherubs are learning how to express an opinion and the reason(s) behind that opinion! It’s great to hear them use that lingo during the day as well!
Have a lovely weekend!