As we continue to work with counting, shapes, and teen numbers, the boys and girls are becoming more comfortable and more importantly, more confident within our Math workshops. It is always amazing to see the progress they are making as every day passes!
- Counting on Cup - In this game, one person turned over the top number card and put that number of counters in the cup. Next, he/she rolled the die (+1, +1, +2, +2) and placed that many counters next to the cup. Finally, he/she decided how many counters there were in all and filled in the record sheet.
- Nearby Teen Numbers (a different board) – Using various game boards, students placed the missing teen numbers in their grid to complete the “number line”.
- Monster Squeeze - The cherubs continue to enjoy the iPads! This week during the game, they chose either a level where they felt they needed practice or one that challenged them. This fan favorite independent game required students to guess a number. The computer then replied either: “My number is greater than that” OR “My number is less than that.” Children continued guessing numbers until the correct number had been determined or “squeezed” between the monster’s two long arms!
- A Colorful Feast - At this station, the kiddos helped themselves to a Thanksgiving feast! Each child dished out servings of cranberries, turkey, potatoes, and corn (represented by colorful cubes). Next, they lined them up and used invisible buddy lines to determine the least and the most colorful “foods” they had served themselves. Finally, when asked specific questions, the “turkey eaters” figured out how many more they each had of the various foods. What fun!
- Turkey Tessellation – Using various pattern block shapes, the boys and girls of Room #7 created a turkey!
- Turkey War – At this festive station, the cherubs played the game of “War” with turkey-themed decks of cards. During this game, each person had his/her own deck of cards. Simultaneously, each child revealed his/her top card – the person with the greater number won those two cards. The tricky part of this game was determining which card was greater since they had different representations of a specific number. Each deck of cards had either a 10 frame OR a numeral. This was a super fun center! The kiddos are eager to use these cards again - maybe to make a match next time!
- I am thankful for…. After reading several books about thankfulness, the kiddos shared all the people and things they are thankful for. For example: family, baby brothers and sisters, homes, good food to eat, teachers, etc. Very sweet.
- On Monday, Room #7 learned about the very first Thanksgiving. After reading Thanksgiving is…. by Gail Gibbons, the class talked about the sequence of events that led up to this special day. In order to help them retell the story and include most of the events, the students made their very own Thanksgiving retelling bracelets, where each bead on the bracelet represented a specific part of the Pilgrims’ story. Everyone worked super hard on this activity and did a great job retelling the story to a variety of friends and adults! Ask your child to repeat the story to you!
We also read several Thanksgiving-themed books this week. Two of the class favorites included A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting and The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing. In the first book, the class talked about the word, prediction, and what it means. Everyone made a prediction about what they thought the story would be about given the title and the cover of the book. The class predicted that the main character, Mr. Moose, was going to hunt for a turkey for his holiday dinner. Boy, was everyone surprised when they discovered that their prediction was incorrect! Mr. Moose wanted to invite the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. The cherubs got a real kick out of the book and have been practicing making predictions ever since!
The Night Before Thanksgiving is a story that follows the format of the book The Night before Christmas. Many of the kiddos recognized the familiar cadence and remarked that the Thanksgiving book reminded them of the Christmas story. I told them that “Oh my gosh! You all just made a text-to-text connection!! Wowza!” This type of connection occurs when something in one book reminds the reader of something that one has read in another text. The class and I then discussed what this term means, and I challenged them to make other text-to-text connections with other stories!
Happy, happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoy time with your families!