Diving DEEP into math!

We are SO lucky to have Math Buddies for Math Game Mondays!  We have a few fifth graders come in each Monday to play math games with the kinders.  This year we are using math and logic games, to dive deeper into math, and develop a good number sense and logic!  (They don't know that... they just think it's fun 😉)

During our regular whole group math time we have "number talks"!  Or sometimes, number JUMPS.  We spend a few minutes just exploring patterns and numbers.  The kids have already come up with some GREAT observations. Here they are having fun learning how to count by 2's, or skip count.  The kids have such great questions in our discussions, and we try and figure them out together... like how many would each friend have if you shared 50 with ten friends?  Today they figured out how to count by tens starting at 2, just by catching on to the pattern on our hundreds chart.  They are making some great discoveries!

In reading and science we are continuing to learn about our 5 senses.  We made rubber band guitars this week on our toolboxes.  We also tried to read the braille on the signs around the school!  

We also began talking about how to stay healthy as an intro to our unit on our amazing bodies.  We "sneezed" on each other with a squirt bottle, and then used a tissue to block the germs.  Then we made "sneezy pictures" of ourselves holding a tissue!

We put Glo-Germ lotion on our hands to see how our handwashing was coming along.  Some of us had quite a bit of work to do!  The kids were amazed at how hard it was to get your hands really clean!

This was a big week for Popcorn words (sight words).  Each student got their own popcorn word folder that contains their own flashcards.  We practice them with Popcorn buddies during reading time, or at snack time.  On Fridays they'll pass off the ones they can "pop" quickly, and get new ones.  This way each student can progress at their own pace in learning sight words.  They are so proud when they get to move a word from the Bubblegum side (slow, sounding out...) to the Popcorn side!  We had a popcorn party to kick off the popcorn words!

We had fun reading through our journals.  We've written so much already this year!  The kids are progressing through just tracing, to being able to write on their own, to being able to sound out words and "kid spell" them phonetically.  The kids were able to see their progress already as they read through their journals.  These will be keepers for sure!!!

Thanks to some parent volunteers we were able to run free time game centers on Friday!  The kids played War, UNO, Sequence, and Candyland.  Eventually I hope to be able to make these independent centers, but for now they are still learning most of the games, and definitely still need referees!  But they all had fun playing games.  Thanks Michele and Cody for coming in! 

Happy Moose Days!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Moose Days vacation!  We celebrated Moose Days by doing some moose writing and art.  The kids made handprint moose holding their essays on what might happen if you gave a moose a muffin.  There were some great ideas, like, "The moose would grab it and run away because I am a hunter." or "The moose would come charging into my house and break everything!" or "The moose would be my best friend!"   

We had another Prize Card Store... we have them every week or two.  It is an opportunity for the kids to make change, exchanging their pennies into nickels and dimes, and then using the coins to buy prize cards good for privileges in the classroom.  So... if your child comes home and says they get to bring come to school, or they can wear their PJ's, or bring their pet to visit the classroom, it's probably because of a prize card!  P.S. - If you plan on bringing a pet to school, please call us first! :)

Another STEM challenge!  This time the kids were challenged to make a free standing structure that would hold a book up off of the table.  The catch?  You can only use one piece of paper and 3 inches of tape.  There were some really creative versions of this idea... some great teamwork, and good engineering processes, too!  The best part was, NO ONE got frustrated and quit!  They really internalized the  Ask, Imagine, Create, Improve cycle!

We cheered on our school's volleyball team, and supported Wolverine School Spirit at an assembly on Thursday!  Go Volleyball girls!

Kinder Corner:

We worked on measuring in math, both standard units and nonstandard units.  We measured ourselves on the wall and you won't believe how much they grow this year!  We also practiced measuring things around the room using linking cubes!

Just like everyone else in the first and second grade, this week the Kinders got their Pillow Pets!  The Pillow Pets live in their lockers most of the time, but come out once a day at read aloud time, also called Chill Out time, so the kids can rest and lay down without putting their heads on the carpet 😬.  

All of the first and second graders who went to Tok School should also have one of these!  We made our traditional first day of school fridge magnets this week.  Aren't they a cute class?!  

If you give a Tok School Student a Muffin....

We used our cranberries from last week to make delicious cranberry muffins!!!  Thank you to parents who came into help us cook!  (BTW, you are ALWAYS welcome to come in and volunteer, and we AND your kids will love you for it! 😁)

We used this cooking activity for a quick intro to fractions as well as a jumping off point for a writing activity based on the book, If You Give a Moose A Muffin.  More pictures coming on that next week!

Our ants enjoyed the muffins as well!  We are learning about the life cycle of ants, and the kids FOUND an ant pupa OUTSIDE  at recess!  It was so COOL!  

The kindergarteners made ant pictures that were so cute... showing how ants work together like we do in our classroom! 

Another assignment we finished up this week in writing was goal setting.  The kids made great little goal people holding their goals!  They are all displayed on the wall in our hallway for you to check out!

We took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and collected beautiful leaves one afternoon!  

Then we made all kinds of awesome leaf creation pictures!

Friday afternoon was the district Cross Country meet.  The K-1-2 kids ran a 1/2 mile.  It was hard!  And they did a great job and stuck with it!  The best part?  The cheered on their classmates and had GREAT sportsmanship!  Afterwards we had a sports jamboree with kids from the other schools around the district on the playground!  It was such a great way to finish off the week and enjoy this amazing September weather!