Comparing Lengths and Amounts; longer, shorter, more, or less.

Our activities this week were about comparing; we read Chrysanthemum and then counted the letters in her name and in our own names. We played a grab and count game that let us compare two grabs to see which hand held more cubes, and recorded our results. Finally, we had a "longer" and "shorter" classroom hunt, and the children measured their tower of 10 cubes against a number of objects and sorted them according to "longer" and "shorter."

 And now, a word about dot to dots. You may have noticed a few dot to dots lately coming home with your children. Sometimes something grabs a student, in this case all of the students, and we need to run with it. In the kindergarten classroom, it's dot to dots, so I decided to look closely at what happens when the K's are completing dot to dots:

• counting one to 40 or more
• numeral recognition
• number order
• place value 
• fine motor control
• focus and persistence
• figure ground visual perceptual skills(locating numbers on the page that are not one next to each other)
• some helping behaviors and conversations 

Even if the page is not completed accurately, there's a lot of time and attention spent looking for numbers, tracing lines, and trying to figure out the picture.

Until Next Time,
Michele 

Measuring and Inventories

 We made towers of 10 cubes and then measured objects against it. The children recorded whether the object was "longer" or "shorter." We practiced comparing lengths by laying the objects and the towers end to end.

 We also learned the importance of taking inventory, to make sure that you have enough of something. The children represented through drawing and writing the number of objects in each bag.

 "Me" is a new game; with a stack of number cards, 0-10, turn each one over and the child with the larger number card says "ME!" We are also trying to work in pairs and cooperate with each other and following rules independently.

Until Next Time,
Michele

Number Writing

 We tried our hand at counting up two di to color in a "number bow" this week.

 We also learned about a 10 frame, and how to count using it. We are learning that numbers are more than just 1,2,3!

Learning Games

 We learned some games this week, "grab and count" and "roll and record". The children embraced the work and wrote numbers and represented what they had found on paper. When you're rolling dice it's fun to write your numbers.

Until next time,
Michele

 We shared our number books with the prek's in the afternoon, and we were very proud of our work!

Beginning to Show our Work

 We practiced grouping ourselves by attributes a few more times, and the children had a chance to figure out how the groups should mix.

 There were lots of suggestions as we tried to figure out why children were in one group or the other.

 We made pictures with pattern blocks, and then tried to "show what we made" with paper cutouts and glue. We had to count, match, and create!

 The "question of the day" is part of our routine. 

 We've continued to show our work by constructing a "Counting Book" that represents each number 0 through 6. We read Anno's Counting Book before we started creating our own books. The children are excited to read their books to the prek's next week.

Until Next Time,
Michele