Welcome to Kindergarten Math 2011/2012

Kindergarten Math has just begun! We shared a week of getting used to our "routine" for math; Circle at which we take attendance and practice counting, Activity which is a time for instruction in math, reading a book, or playing a game, Math Workshop during which the children make choices of different math activities, and Check In, when we come back together as a group and perhaps show our work, talk about what we've noticed, or play a game. This week we practiced some games and number recognition, and counted off to take attendance each day. The children engaged in long stretches of free play with math manipulatives as they familiarized themselves with the attributes of the different materials, and we shared many counting and number books together. We made a bulletin board of pages to illustrate what 10 YELLOW DOTS could be, and the pictures produced were very creative and sometimes included many more dots than 10!
These pictures illustrate one of our activities on Thursdays, which will be recollecting what we learned in math this week, and drawing pictures or writing words in a journal. There will be a message in each journal from me regarding our week.

Until Next Time,
Michele

Joining with the First Grade

This week we spent time together with our classmates to learn how to weave. No pictures, just busy times.

Surveys and Attributes

This week we talked about two favorite kindergarten topics, it turned out....LUNCH and ASKING OTHER PEOPLE QUESTIONS.
The children drew pictures of their lunches, including all the parts, and then drew a picture of their favorite part of lunch. We then grouped the favorites according to an attribute...drink or not a drink, sweet or not sweet, crunchy or not crunchy....and the children were original in their thinking and grouping. We moved on to survey questions....composing a "yes no" question, then asking a number of people the question, and recording the data. The children were able to report the results of their data collection with accuracy (and were very engaged in each step of the process).
Until Next Time,
Michele

skip counting

We began our week drawing pictures of ourselves, and grouping ourselves according to a big word that we've learned, "attributes." The children needed to draw themselves in detail, and that detail helped us to sort the pictures, and the children. We also learned to skip count as an offshoot of this grouping and counting activity...if there are 10 children, how many noses are there? How many heads? How many eyes?

Numbers in Review

We looked at making patterns and pictures with square tiles making sure to follow the rule of a complete side touching. Then, we talked about how to show our picture work with numbers. 3+3+2 ? what would you do?
The children revisited a few games, "toss the chips" and "racing bears" as well as "roll and record" 1 through 9. The children are learning to work together, take turns, choose the best move for their playing piece, as well as to show their math thinking with numbers and symbols.
Until Next Time,
Michele

What does this remind you of?

We continued to talk about 3D shapes, this time listing all the things that a particular shape looks like.....how about an ice cream cone? A party hat? A shark fin?

continuing to work on our quilt squares.
copying designs that were left for us
more practice
Until Next Time,
Michele

African Pattern Quilt Patches...and more shapes

This week we looked at "congruent sides" of 3D shapes, and the children were quick to learn what that meant through building with the 3D blocks!
More pattern block puzzles, and a silly face.
Finding the "footprint" of a 3D block.
Looking at African fabric patterns and making our own colorful quilt squares. What inspires us?
We will share these quilt squares with the First Graders, and think of how to combine them to make a "quilt."

Until Next Time,
Michele