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

Comparing Attributes

collecting data

"shoes" and "not shoes"

what's the same about that group?

we all have grey!

taking attendance

writing "3"

This week, we began a "question of the day" activity, which is a question that gives us an opportunity to write our name in a preferred space, and then look at a whole picture of data. We grouped ourselves this week as well according to such attributes as "shoes, not shoes" and "pictures on clothing, no pictures on clothing." For this activity I would group the children and they would try to guess what attribute I had used for my rule. We worked hard to write the number "3" which is quite different from "2" and there was such a sense of accomplishment and success when that pencil made the second curve! We continue with free play with materials, but we are  slowly adding more formal activities.

Until Next Time,
Michele

Moving On to Attributes and Number Recognition!

We started the week with a literature based activity:We read the book  Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews and then created our own pages with ten black dots. What was the focus of learning?

1. planning ahead
2. telling a story with numbers
3. spatial relations
4. counting to ten with one to one correspondence (I gave the children more than ten sometimes so they had to check my counting!) 

We also continued to have free play time with math manipulatives: when the children are comfortable with the materials they tend to be able to use them constructively with directed activity.

 We also talked about attributes this week, and matched buttons by at least one attribute.

Brilliance!

Michele

Establishing Routines, Exploring Materials

The Kindergarten Mathematicians met this week and learned about the routine of our time together. We arrive in the classroom, take attendance, and then move on to a workshop time, then it's back to the rug for wrap up and a story or number game. We talked about our dreams for learning this year, and I've posted them here. Typically I introduce this topic by talking about math and what it means, and then we move on to talking about our own ambitions. The group is quite diverse in it's interests, as you'll see!  Each week I will chronicle our learning in this blog. Enjoy!

 Until Next Time,
Michele