Counting is More Than 1,2,3, and How We Begin....

 Group Photo number 1. I'm not sure about the number 1, but I do know that kindergartners love having their own math group. At the beginning and then throughout our kindergarten year, we are given many opportunities to play freely with materials that will later be used more formally in games and math activities. We take attendance and count how many are here, absent, and how many should be here altogether.





These are our math "dreams" for this year. We might revisit them to see how we're doing in making our dreams come true!

free choice with pattern blocks

geo blocks

marker table

 We often look at books, like Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews, and then make our own pages, in this case with 10 black dots each.

buttons to sort or just look at

geoblocks

pattern blocks galore!

more focus on pattern blocks

Until Next Time,
Michele

a few words

but no pictures this week. We have been sorting through materials, which kindergarteners are VERY good at, playing games, and learning "o'clock" on the clock. We have been weaving with our first grade friends, as well.  Sometimes the camera is forgotten!
Until Next Time,
Michele

and finally, games

The creative and critical thinking that went into the creation of each  child's  "game" was impressive! We finished up our games this week, and the children were very proud of their accomplishments, and were even able to dictate "directions' for playing their games. Some of the games are quite intricate and colorful and not quite playable unless the game creator is part of the process, and some of the games are logical and follow steps from  start to finish.  Look to the Kindergarten blog for another way that we spent our time this week; weaving!

Until Next Time,
Michele

finishing touches

taking steps

my bean game

jumping contest!

 we jumped and measured and added up the inches of jumps to get a grand total...and then tried again and INCREASED our grand total!

And More Games

This week we played more games, strengthening our number skills, our counting skills, and our social skills! The children then got very creative and created their OWN games, which we then tried playing. I noticed a few children adding components to their finished games after they were played for a while.

number practice

inventing a game

this game is about Bean Thirteen, a favorite story

somehow buttons became part of the mix

this is a thoughtful game of finding the "bad guys"

this game has water and boats to travel with

back to the drawing board!

trying out the games

Until Next Time,
Michele

Math and Games

smarty farm

 We are reviewing our numbers and practicing playing games too.  The k mathematicians explored all sorts of games, taking turns, learning all sorts of rules, working together to move pieces around the game boards. We reviewed our numbers from 11 to 20 by creating colorful number writing books. Soon we will create our own board games for our friends to try!
Until Next Time,
Michele

creating number books

race to the harbor!

smart shopping

trying a new game

dot to dots to practice numbers to 50!

collecting data and surveys

we created and asked "yes/no" questions of our peers

we had to keep track of the yes and no's

and the majority of us found a lot of yes answers

lunch data

lunch data favorites grouped by "long" and "not long"