Dear Families,
Room #7 boys and girls have been busy bees these past two weeks. Read on to find out some highlights!
During Writer’s Workshop last week, the boys and girls were introduced to a new writing tool – spaceman! We have been talking informally about the importance of spaces in between words and why they are necessary. This is a very difficult concept to grasp, especially when most students at this age are just beginning to understand that words are made up of multiple sounds. It is also a new experience for them to realize that several words make up a single sentence with spaces in between those words. In order to help the kiddos conceptualize and use spaces between the words, we worked on writing a story together using this fun and engaging new tool. Students were also informed that if they preferred, they could just use their fingers! Happy writing, boys and girls!
This week, we began a new unit in writing – pattern books! The cherubs were thrilled to start this new unit and did an amazing job with it! One way to encourage the kids to write is to give them a purpose to compose by presenting to them the kinds of books they like to read - ones that are often predictable and follow a certain type of pattern. To begin, the class and I read a variety of these types of books, and the kids were quick to notice the patterns. The boys and girls picked several subjects on which to write: what dogs play with, all about themselves, their siblings, what he/she likes to play, animals, what they see, where they go, etc. I cannot express how engaged, involved, and excited they were to do this writing – it was incredibly refreshing! We will continue with pattern books for a week! On the horizon are pattern books with a twist (the ending page is slightly different), and seesaw pattern books: the pages follow an ABAB pattern (e.g., I saw a ball. I played with the ball. I saw a jump rope. I played with the jump rope). How fun!
We started a new unit in Math this week. During this unit, students are focusing on shapes – learning their names, understanding their attributes, and describing the differences among them. Students are also finding out about teen numbers as well as exploring the concepts of addition and subtraction.
- Build a Staircase (to 9!) - This week, this fan favorite got even trickier!! Not only did the kiddos use number dice to increase their number recognition but also had to build the staircase to 9! They had to choose which dice to use (1-6 or 4-9) dependent on what they needed in their staircase. Working with a partner, the boys and girls of Room #7 took turns rolling a die. They then stacked cubes together to represent that number. Once the partners finished building their staircases (1-9), they took turns rolling the die to disassemble them!!
- Spin and Sort Pattern Blocks – Given a spinner with the following options: 3 sides, 4 sides, and 6 sides, the students sorted the shapes on their sorting mat. In this activity, everyone had to identify which shapes had that many sides. They also received continued practice naming the various shapes.
- Teen Puzzles – The kiddos concentrated on putting
- Mix It Up! – This fun game could be played either with a partner or independently! Given a deck of number cards from 10-20, the students mixed up the cards and put them back in number order. It was really cool to watch them problem solve to make certain the numbers were in the correct positions. Additionally, the cherubs often sang parts of our teen number song to assist in this tricky work!
- Shrinking Number Monster (with a twist!) - Another favorite, students rolled dice to determine how many “eyes” belonged on their monster work board. They then took away one eye, recounted them, and this week, wrote the number that was one less! This was tricky work that required a lot of thought!
- Give and Take – At this station, Mrs. Bellaire hid a specific number of cubes under a tub. Then, she lifted the tub and either added a cube (or two!) or took one (or two!) away! Next, the boys and girls wrote the numeral that represented the number of cubes under the tub. Finally, they counted to see if they were correct!
- Spin and Write Teen Numbers - Using a spinner with all of our teen numbers represented in 10-frame form, the kiddos spun, then practiced writing that number on their board. They always had to remember: “Numbers in the teens start with a ONE!”
We have also been talking about syllables in class! Wowza! Room #7 discussed how every word is made up of parts, or syllables. We figured out how we can discover how many syllables a word has by putting our hands underneath our chins to see how many times our chins move when we say the word. Next, we did a picture sort to see if the word had one, two, or three syllables! The kids did a fantastic job with this! We will continue our syllable finding with poems we read, morning message, and our Alphafriend songs! It’s a great game to play at home as well!
During our Superflex time this week, we read the book Walk On! A Guide to Taking the First Step by Maria Frazee. This is an amazing story that we will use multiple times this year to address different challenges. In this book, a child is learning how to take his first steps. In our lesson, the students began to think about their mindset and how we think about not only everyday occurrences but also unexpected obstacles. In the book, every time the baby tries to walk again after falling down, he is using a growth mindset. We talked about what would have happened if the baby had had a fixed mindset and gave up trying to walk because it was hard. The boys and girls and I ended our discussion thinking about how a growth mindset helps us learn and makes our brain stronger! I highly suggest taking this book out of the library; it is a fun, engaging, and funny story to read!
Have a wonderful weekend!