Thursday, January 26, 2017

Counting is More Than 1,2,3!

We've completed our Geometry Unit and moved onto our counting and measuring unit. This unit asks children to begin to see groups of objects as a numeral, and to add and subtract informally. Our first games involved making groups of "6" or any number that followed a rule, and playing a game called "Toss the Chips" in which a certain number of red and yellow faced chips are tossed and counted up.
We are more willing and able to sit with pencil and paper and complete work now, which is exciting!



 The "rule" for this game is that one whole side of each tile needs to touch. The children create a design, count up the groups, and are learning notation to make a number sentence.




"Toss the Chips" requires tossing a cup of a certain number of chips, counting them up, and putting a number in each row. 

 Until Next Time,
Michele

Thursday, January 12, 2017

2-D and 3-D Geometry

We've continued to look at concepts of geometry, including 2-D and 3-D shapes. The mathematicians have worked to find out about shapes through free choice time. We've had a 3-D shape hunt and we wrote  riddles about our favorite shapes. We shared a book about 3-D shapes that had us thinking; what shapes can roll only, what shapes can stack only, and what shapes can roll and stack? We matched the faces of 3-D shapes to construct new shapes.





Until Next Time,
Michele

Thursday, January 5, 2017

2-D and 3-D Geometry

The K mathematicians have begun a new unit of study; geometry! We look at shapes in our world, put shapes together, and define shapes. The children wrote a book about shapes in which each page began-"a __________is a ___________until you add___________and then it's a _______________.  Some of the shape pictures were buses, trains, houses, and maps. We have discovered that there are many ways to make a hexagon, or to fill in a pattern shape puzzle, and are practicing our recording skills. We have been working on a "shape mural" which depicts a circus- the children glue shape cut outs together to make the different characters in the circus.

Until Next Time,
Michele