Snowman Numbers

Another new math center is "snowman numbers" this is a fun activity where the group of children need to build a snowman using all the different ways to represent a certain number. So for example the number 8 snowman needs a numeral 8 card, a card showing 8 tally marks and a card showing 8 in a tens frame.

Attribute Men

Another new math center is "attribute men". We work together with our partners sorting out a bag of different objects according to a specific attribute. There is a little person shaped card in each bag that tells the kids which attribute they are sorting by. These men are superheros and they can only see their own super power.  If they get "rainbow superhero" they know that they are supposed to be sorting by color. If they get "shape superhero" they know that they have to sort by shape, if the get "ruler superhero" they know that they have to sort by size" and last is "calculator superhero" when they get this one the children know that they need to wort by number.
     One person gets the "marker mediator card" and they are in charge of recording down how many of each object there was using tally marks. Then at the bottom of the paper they need to write "=___(whatever number they counted to) The other partner gets a "hand mediator card" and that means that they are the person who has to sort the objects.

Here is a chant that we learned to help us remember how to make tally marks. Try and practice at home! Also try and practice counting the tally marks by 5s and then the ones that don't make a complete tally mark set you can count on one by one. For example, if you made tally marks for the number 17 you would make 3 complete tally mark sets with 5 marks and count "5, 10, 15" then the extra 2 tally marks you would count on from 15 by ones "16, 17"

Stackers

Here is another one of our new math games called "stackers". One person is the "director" and has a picture of a tower that they look at behind a folder so that their partner can't see the picture. The other person is the "stacker" and must follow the "directors" directions to build a tower that matches the one in the picture. The "stacker" has a board that has "left, right, back and front" labeled on it. They use this board to build their tower and the "director" will say for example, "Put a red cube in the middle of the board" then they will check to see if their partner did it correctly, then they will say "Put a blue cube on top of the red cube" "Put a yellow cube on top of the blue cube, put a green bear in front of the tower" etc, etc. We practice using positional words to give our partner good directions as to where they should be stacking.

Peanut

In the book "Ninjas at Night" a little mouse appears in the tree house and Annie decides to call it "Peanut". Peanut will be part of our class throughout the year and he will leave us messages every now and then. Here is a picture of Peanut's door...

I Have, Who Has? Counting by 10s

One of our new games that we play during math time is "I Have, Who Has?" counting by 10s! The person who has the "10" card starts by saying "I have 10, (then they flip their card over and say) "who has 20?" the person who has 20 would say "I have 20 (then they flip their card over and say) "who has 30?" etc, etc.

December Holiday Party

Thank you to everyone helped organize, send in supplies and volunteer your time for the holiday party! The kids had a blast! It was also pajama day the day we had our party so you can see all of the kids in their PJ's!

We had some healthy snacks...

 ...Played BINGO

 and made some crafts...

Freeze Dance

One of our physical self-regulation activities that we do in class is "freeze dance." The children learn to follow complicated directions and practice physical  self-regulation by inhibiting specific movements until the appropriate moment. Music serves as a mediator for when to inhibit and perform specific actions. Research shows that  this kind of physical activity has a positive effect on learning if used as a warmup for tasks that demand attention, memory, and learning. While the music is playing the children look at the picture and plan their pose in their minds and dance! When the music stops we stop dancing and "freeze" in that pose that I am holding up. There are 3 different levels of "freeze dance poses" increasing in difficulty. Level 2 poses require more balance, level 3 poses  cross the midline of the body and are more complex, level 4 poses are partner poses.

Night of the Ninjas

We watched a powerpoint about the Japanese Tea Ceremony. We learned that during this time people are very quiet and peaceful and they try to forget about things that might be worrying them. As a "can-do" we all had the chance to taste some tea during our own tea ceremony!

 Some of us were not a fan of drinking tea...

Here is a picture of one group hard at work writing their chapter summary...

For our "Fun Friday Art Project" today we made beautiful cherry blossom trees. We painted the tree part with brown paint and then to make the flowers we stamped the bottom of a  soda bottle in pink paint and then stamped it on the end of each branch to make the pretty cherry blossoms.

Here is our Mount Fuji that we use to dramatize the story...

Didn't they come out beautiful??