What Have We Been Up To?

In math, we have been working hard on our sense of numbers!

Take a look:

This Math Work Station is called "Race to Ten!"  Each partner rolls a dot dice and puts that amount of bears on their ten frame.  Each time, we add a new amount of bears and count how many there are all together.  We also think about which partner has more.  We can also think about how many more we need to make ten.  This is a great precursor game to addition!

This Math Work Station game is "Pumpkin Counting."  We take turns rolling a dot dice and placing that many pumpkins on our counting mat.  Here we are working on one-to-one counting skills up to 20!

Now that we are becoming comfortable with representations of numbers 0-10, we have begun to look at the Tricky Teens!  The big idea we want Kindergartners to understand about teens is that they are ten with some more.  The tricky part about teen numbers is that they don't always look like they sound (i.e. 11, 12) and when they do sound like a "teen" (i.e. 16, 17, 18), we say the "teen" second.  However when writing the number, the "teen" is the 1 in the tens place (worth ten).  This can cause young children to write teens backwards.

We have worked on ordering teen numbers, representing them in ten frames, and even using base ten blocks to model them:

This week, we have explored an important new math tool:  DOMINOS!

Dominos get students thinking about parts and wholes.  This is also a precursor to addition.

 We have played "Domino Concentration," in which we try to match dominos with the whole number they are worth.

We played "Domino Parking Lot," where we count the whole number the domino is showing and "park" it under the number.  This is a great game for seeing different representations of a number.  For instance, parked under the number 5 students may see 5 & 0, 1 & 4, or 3 & 2.

We also worked on labeling a domino in our Math Journals:

In Phonics, we have been working hard on linking letters with sounds.  We have been listening for the beginning sounds in words, and I am sure you have seen our daily sound sorts coming home!

 In this task, we sort the pictures and try to write the words.  EVERYONE can write the first letter because that is how we are sorting! :)  But some students are ready to hear more of the sounds in the word and have been stretching out words slowly!

To reinforce this work, we have also been using laminated sound sorts independently during Work Stations.  When finished sorting between FOUR different letters, we draw and/or write a new word we learned that begins with that letter.

(This is my example.)

When your child's work comes home, ask your child to tell you about it and read it to you! :)

The work we are doing in the classroom is helping to prepare your child for our weekend homework project, which we started last week.  Generating multiple words that begin with a letter can be a tough task, but the work you do together will help your child build that knowledge.

 Here are some great examples from last week:

 I know this project takes some time, but I encourage you to help your child put his/her best effort forward.  It is a great learning experience.  If your child is drawing pictures, add color!  And remember, I have magazines that I can send home for your use - just send me a note!

By the end of this project, your child will have an alphabet book that I plan to bound.  It can really be a piece to be proud of! :)

Bb comes home tomorrow!

And last but not least, our classroom is in need of a few supplies.  We appreciate any support that can be given!

* TISSUES (wow we have been flying through these!)

* Homemade play-doh for classroom use.  This is a fun project to do with your child!

Click here and here and here for example recipes.

Thank you!