Snowmen & Number Stories

Last week, we read a There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! by Lucille Colandro.


After swallowing lots of odd things, the old lady burps up a... snowman!  So, we collected some data:

We learned something new with this graph.  We learned how to find how many more.

As you can see, we discovered that 12 more people have built a snowman than have not.  This is a tricky skill for Kindergarten kids.

We have also been working a lot with addition number stories.  We have been practicing telling, building, drawing, and solving number stories where we put two parts together to make more.  We have learned that mathematicians use the "plus" symbol to put two parts together.  We are learning how to write number sentences to go along with addition number stories.

Today we read Animals On Board, which illustrates various number stories involving animals.  Then, we created our own number stories.  Take a look at some:

One horse was eating hay.  Two more came.  How many horses are eating hay?

Four monkeys were swinging in a tree.  Four more monkeys were swinging in another tree.  How many monkeys are there?

One zebra was eating some grass.  Three more came to join him.  How many zebras are there?

Six frogs were sitting in a pond.  Two more frogs came to join them.  How many frogs are there all together?

Telling number stories are a great language-building activity.  When your child brings one home, I encourage you to ask him or her to tell you the story.  Support your child as needed.  Your child should also be able to read you the number sentence! :)  You may even try creating one together at home... any piece of paper will do! :)

Monday is a Snow Day

Well, you may have guessed it but may not have heard yet that tomorrow, Monday, January 6th, is a snow day.  Your kiddo can stay warm and safe in your home.

If you haven't looked yet, inside your child's yellow folder are some learning activities that may keep you busy tomorrow.  (I meant to mention these back in December and alas it slipped my mind).  If you haven't done them yet, take a look and pick a few things to do.  There is a piece of writing paper, so maybe your child can draw and write about what he/she did on the snow day! :)  I'd love to have some students share those when we do return to school.

Stay WARM!

HAPPY New Year!

Happy 2014!  I hope you all had a restful and joyful break.  Within a few days, we will be back to school!  Speaking of school, here are some pictures of our Gingerbread activities from December:

Re-telling The Gingerbread Man with the book and story props during Literacy Work Stations

Measuring Gingerbread with different non-standard units (unifix cubes, paper clips, hexagons, pennies)

Reading in the Library

Thanks volunteers!

Decorating COOKIES!

Math Centers

Roll a Gingerbread Man

Depending on what students roll with a die, 

they draw different parts of the Gingerbread Man until complete!

Shared Writing

Sight Word Game

Yum!

Measuring

So detailed!

Take a big bite!

Measuring

After we all decorated our cookies, we got together and took 1 bite of the cookie.  Then I asked students to look at their cookie to see what part they bit first.  We graphed the results!

We sure had a lot of fun!

Thank you to all of the volunteers and to the families who donated supplies for the activities!

Before we left for break, we also learned how to say and write our last names.

Just as your child has memorized how to read and write his/her first name, your child should also be able to do the same with his/her last name by the end of the Kindergarten.  Please help your child practice writing his/her first and last name (with a space in between) at home often.  This is a great thing to do before your child returns to school on Monday.  See you then!