As you know, the students of Room #7 have been working on their rhyming words. They learned that rhyming words rhyme when they have the same ending sound. On Wednesday, the class read The Hungry Thing. This book describes a ravenous monster that continually asks the townspeople to Feed Him. When he asks for food, though, he uses made-up words that rhyme with the actual food he wants. For example, the Hungry Thing asks for “gollipops” when he really wants lollipops! The class became rhyming experts and was able to shout out together exactly what the Hungry Thing really meant to say. Afterwards, I was the Hungry Thing and some boys and girls had to make up rhymes for the food they were holding. For example, one student said he would give me some born instead of the actual food, corn. The kids loved this activity and we will definitely be doing this again!
This week, we talked A LOT about teen numbers, both how you form them as well as what they mean (e.g., 11 is 10 + 1). This will take a lot of practice, but once the skill is cemented, students will have a more solid number sense of what constitutes a number. It can often be tricky to remember which number comes first in the teens. In order to help the students recall how these numbers are formed, we listened to and sang a new song. Go to the following link to hear the fun rap! You can even sing it at home!
http://reallyroper.blogspot.com/2011/01/numbers-in-teens-they-start-with-1-song.html?m=1
Afterwards, partners worked together to order numbers one through twenty, and they even noticed some patterns that popped up when seeing them in a line!
During Math this week, our stations focused on strengthening the kids’ one-to-one correspondence, counting to twelve (and more as a challenge!), writing numerals, and identifying pattern blocks. There was a good mix of “oldies but goodies” as well as some new stations.
· 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.
· One More Bingo – An oldie, but a goodie! This Bingo-esque game required students to roll a die and then figure out what one more was than the number on their die. For example, if a student rolled a 6, one more is 7!
· Sorting Colors (with a twist) – The children picked a tub containing differing amounts of colored squares. They sorted the squares by color, counted how many of each there were, then labeled those squares with a number card. Finally, they wrote the corresponding number on their recording sheets!
· Guess the Next Number – At this center, the children first lined up number cards from 1-15. Next, the kiddos closed their eyes, and I turned over various cards so that they could not see their numbers. When they opened their eyes, they used their knowledge of one more and one less to predict what the turned over cards were! Everyone did a magnificent job with this activity!
· Number Puzzles – The kiddos concentrated on putting together a variety of puzzles. On the bottom of each puzzle were the numbers 1-10. This station had the students working both to recognize those numerals and put them in consecutive order! The pictures also helped them to check their sequencing! This will be the last week with these puzzles as our cherubs are ready for a new challenge!
· Shape Puzzle Books – Using various paper puzzle pieces in a book format, the children counted how many Unifex cubes could fit on each. Next, they recorded that number inside their books. Great job practicing your counting skills, Kindergarteners!
· Grab a Handful - Given a bag of cubes, the students grabbed a handful. They then counted how many they acquired and finally, wrote down the corresponding number! I put in more cubes this week so that the students received practice counting larger numbers!
During Writer’s Workshop this 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 multiple 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!
The kiddos are loving the leaf print workshop that we are doing in the afternoons! The corresponding works of art are unique and lovely for fall! If you are able to volunteer, please sign up on this link!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050948a4a822a02-funwith
Our Daily Five is up and running! As of right now, the kids are practicing two of the five parts: Read to Self and Word Work. Last week the students got to explore the various materials they can use while doing Word Work and also brainstorm what’s expected while completing this important assignment. Everyone did such an amazing job staying on task with each of the components. The element of choice really engages the boys and girls; they are invested in their learning!
On Friday, we went to Smolak Farm! Room #7 had a blast on the hayride, picking pumpkins, and eating a delicious apple cider donut snack. Thank you to the adults who chaperoned! It was a fabulous day!
Enjoy your weekend!