The past week the children have been working hard to practice for the Christmas show multiple times a day. Our classroom elf has made his grand appearance and has been very mischievous.
Work Time
Nine Layout: This child is becoming familiar with the names and relative sizes of the categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands. She is also discovering that if she has i.e. 6 units and adds 1 more unit she will have 7 units.Metal Insets: This child is tracing the metal insets developing her eye hand coordination and fine motor movements. She is also learning how to control a pencil (pincer grip, pressure and steadiness).Table Scrubbing: This child is using many motor skills while also remembering the order and sequence of each action to successfully table scrub, which naturally leads to the development of concentration.Tracing / Labeling Turtle Puzzle: This child is tracing, coloring and labeling the turtle puzzle by doing this he is learning how to grip and hold a pencil correctly. It also helps refine his hand control to steady the pencil and he is learning the characteristics of a reptile.100 Board: These children are memorizing where the tiles should go and be placed on the 100 chart, while also learning to identify names of the numbers 1 through 100 and how to write each number.Tangram: This child is creating specific designs using different shape pieces.
Reminders
Christmas Show Rehearsal | December 13th 6 PM to 8 PM
Christmas Show | December 15th 6 PM to 8 PM | NO AFTERCARE
Pajama and Show-N-Tell Day | December 20th
Christmas Break | December 21st to January 2nd
A Look into Next Week: Christmas Program
The children will be practicing for the Christmas show multiple times a day.
The kindergarten students have been working hard on learning both static and dynamic addition using the golden beads. They have even started working on more abstract materials like the stamp game, bead frame and dot board to solve problems.
Dot Board: These children are learning to understand addition using the decimal system and are getting better at working with larger numbers. This work emphasizes the fact that in each category there are never combinations that come to more than 9, so it is just as easy to add tens of thousands together as it is units.Bead Frame: This child is using the bead frame to do dynamic addition. It is a more abstract way to work with the decimal system. When the child has ten units, tens, hundreds or thousands he has to focus on the process of exchanging. This child is also further familiarizing himself with the different categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands. Bead Frame: This child is using the bead frame to do dynamic addition. It is a more abstract way to work with the decimal system. When the child has ten units, tens, hundreds or thousands he has to focus on the process of exchanging. This child is also further familiarizing himself with the different categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands.
A Look Into Next Week: Continue Dynamic Addition (exchanging)
Introduction of exchanging 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 squares and 1000 cubes
The past couple of weeks we talked about the Pilgrims and Indians. The class found out the Pilgrims came from England to our country for religious freedom. We read many books about what the Pilgrims experienced during their journey on the Mayflower and once they landed at Plymouth Rock.
We also talked about Thanksgiving and being thankful. The children shared what their families do for Thanksgiving and learn that we all have our own traditions. We talked about why the Pilgrims and Indians ate a meal together. Each child shared what they were thankful for to create a classroom thankful turkey. We got responses from mom and dad, to pets, to sandwiches and chickens.
I want to send a big thank you to all the parents who volunteered to bring supplies in and to lend a helping hand at the Harvest Party!
Guest Reader
Work Time
Color Box 4: This child is grading different colors from darkest to lightest, while also refining his sense of sight.Circuit Board: These children are creating a circuit (a pathway made of wires) that electrons can flow through. The batteries are giving the power source the electrons needed to move. When the electrons get to the light bulb it gives it the power needed to make it work.Number Rods: This child is experiencing the qualities of each number and learning their names and what each quantity physically looks like.Log Numbers: This child is memorizing the sequence of numbers from 1 to 10. While also refining his fine motor skills by stringing the numbers onto the rope.Dot Board: These children are doing dynamic addition (a sum with exchanging) problems using the dot board. They are practicing addition at a higher level of abstraction.
Reminders
Thanksgiving Break | NO SCHOOL | November 22nd – November 24th
A Look into Next Week: Christmas Program
The children will be practicing for the Christmas show multiple times a day.
Human Conductor of Electricity: The students learned that electricity is a flow of electrons through a circuit. We used an energy stick to demonstrate this and in order for it to became active, two ends had to be connected in a circle by students. This allowed the electrons to flow through it. The energy stick was so sensitive that it could detect the tiniest flow of electrons through the moisture on our skin.
Fireproof Balloon: We filled an ordinary balloon up with water and air and another balloon up with just air. Then we held a lit candle underneath each balloon. The balloon with just air popped immediately. The balloon with water and air took longer to pop this is because the water in the balloon was soaking up the heat, allowing the heat to pass through. As the water closet to the flame heats up and rises the cooler water began to replace the water on the bottom of the balloon. Eventually, the heat of the flame became greater than the waters ability to conduct heat away from the balloon and in turn the balloon popped.
This past week we talked about the five food groups: fruits, vegetables, dairy, proteins, and grains. We learned about MyPlate which is a healthy guide that shows how much to eat from each food group every day. As a group the children created a food group pyramid and listed a variety of foods in each group. We also talked about how being active plays a big part of being healthy. They learned that kids should get at least one hour of exercise daily and eat healthy foods, and of the people with skin problems they can find deep scar removal home remedies online.
Work Time
Metal Insets: This child is tracing the metal insets developing her eye hand coordination and fine motor movements. She is also learning how to control a pencil (pincer grip, pressure and steadiness).Golden Beads: These children are doing static addition (a sum without exchanging) problems using the golden beads. They are discovering that addition simply means to take two small numbers and to put them together to get a larger number.Spindle Box: This child is matching the correct quantity of spindles to each numeral symbol. She is also being introduced to the concept of zero and what its symbol looks like, while also seeing the natural sequence of the numerals.Sandpaper Numbers: This child is learning the symbols for the numbers through the sense of touch and sight. He is also retrieving objects of the named numeral learning what each number physically looks like.Puzzle Words: These student are completing the words by moving and rotating different letters to fit in the correct order.Human Skeleton: This child is forming a skeleton and labeling its different parts such as: skull, clavicle, sternum, ribs, humerus, radius and ulna, spine, pelvis, femur, tibia and fibula, feet and hands.
Guest Readers
Reminders
November 15, 2017 | Bring Your Parent to Work-Time
November 17, 2017 | Parent/Teacher Conferences | NO SCHOOL for students
November 21, 2017 | Harvest Party
A look into next week: Indians/Pilgrims
The children will learn about the items Pilgrims used long ago.
The children will learn that life was difficult for the Pilgrims in America and that everyone including the children had to work hard.
The children will learn where the Pilgrims left from and where they were headed to in America.
The children will be reading and learning about the very first Thanksgiving.
The kindergarten students have been working hard on learning both static and dynamic addition using the golden beads. They have even started working on more abstract materials like the stamp game and dot board to solve problems.
Equivalence: The students are learning that the word equivalence means to be equal or equivalent in value . They are discovering that 10 units are equivalent to 1 ten, 10 tens are equivalent to 1 hundred and that 10 hundreds are equivalent to 1 thousand.Dynamic Addition: This child is doing dynamic addition using the golden beads. Dynamic addition simply means addition where we need to carry over an amount. The process is similar to static addition except if the child has a group of ten he/she will need to exchange. Exchanging takes place when the child is combining the beads.Dynamic Addition: This child is doing dynamic addition using the golden beads. Dynamic addition simply means addition where we need to carry over an amount. The process is similar to static addition except if the child has a group of ten he/she will need to exchange. Exchanging takes place when the child is combining the beads.Dynamic Addition: This child is doing dynamic addition using the golden beads. Dynamic addition simply means addition where we need to carry over an amount. The process is similar to static addition except if the child has a group of ten he/she will need to exchange. Exchanging takes place when the child is combining the beads.
A Look Into Next Week: Continue Dynamic Addition (exchanging)
Introduction of exchanging 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 squares and 1000 cubes
Color changing flower:We took white roses and placed them in water with food coloring. The next day the children discovered that the flowers had taken on the color of the food coloring they were placed in: yellow, blue and red. The reason the petals of the roses changed colors was because the food colored water had traveled up the stem and into the petals.
Tabletop hovercraft: We hot glued a bottle cap to an old CD and then blew up a balloon and attached it to the bottle cap. When we slowly opened the bottle cap air flowed out of the balloon creating a cushion of moving air between the CD and the table. This reduced the friction allowing the CD to hover freely over the table.
This past week we learned about different body parts. The students learned about the parts we can see on the outside and the parts we can’t see on the inside like our lungs, kidneys, stomach, small intestines, large intestines and heart. They made a model of a lung to keep in the classroom and discovered our anatomy apron where they enjoyed learning about the organs and where each one belonged by attaching the fabric organs to the apron.
Work Time
Zipping: This child is developing his independence and concentration while also gaining finger control and dexterity to manipulate a zipper.Table Scrubbing: One child is teaching another child how to independently wash a table and care for his environment. These children are also learning how to control their muscles particularly in their hands. They have to remember the order and sequence of each action to complete the task at hand which is developing their concentration.Color Mixing: This child is using the three primary colors to create secondary colors. He places one dropperful of red and one dropperful of yellow in a small dish and like magic, orange appears.Tying: This child is learning how to care for himself and developing a sense of independence while refining his fine motor skills and coordination of movements.Pumpkin Hammering: This child is hammering golf tees into a pumpkin and is developing the proper movements needed for manipulating a hammer and golf tee. He is also refining his fine motor skills by being able to grasp the golf tee and developing his strength needed holding a pencil to write.Circuit Board: This child has created a circuit (a pathway made of wires) that electrons can flow through. The batteries are giving the power source the electrons needed to move. When the electrons get to the light bulb it gives it the power needed to make it work.
Guest Reader
Reminders
November 15, 2017 | Bring Your Parent to Work-Time
November 17, 2017 | Parent/Teacher Conferences | NO SCHOOL for students
November 21, 2017 | Harvest Party
A look into next week: Food Groups
The children will become aware of five food groups (dairy, protein, vegetables, fruits, and grains).
The children will become aware of different foods from each food group.
The children will be informed that eating different foods from each food group will help them grow, think, and have energy to play.
The children will learn how to recognize different foods from each group.
During academic enrichment this week the kindergarten students were hard at work learning how to not only compose and retrieve numbers, but how to do static (no exchanging or carrying when adding) addition using both the golden beads and the stamp game.
Composing Quantities: This child is practicing the sequence of numbers in the decimal system units, tens, hundreds, and thousands and recognizing what different quantities look like.Addition: These children are using the golden beads to discover that when you put two small numbers together to get a larger number it is called addition.Stamp Game: This child is using the stamp game to do addition. It works like the golden beads but instead of unit beads there are unit stamps. Instead of ten bars there are ten stamps. Instead of hundred squares there are hundred stamps. Instead of thousand cubes there are thousand stamps.
A look into next week: Introduction to exchanging
Introduction of exchanging 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 squares and 1000 cubes
This past week in academic enrichment the children were introduced to numerals and quantities of the decimal system using our golden bead materials. They discovered what the numerals look like for different quantities from 1 to 9000.
Introduction Tray: This child is learning the names of each category: units, tens, hundreds, and thousands and learning to identify the quantity and symbol.Nine Tray: These children are learning equivalences i.e. ten units is the same as a ten bar. They are discovering that when they have a ten bar they have to move to a new place and can’t stay in the unit’s place anymore.45 Layout: These children are visually able to see the association between quantities with the written symbols using the numerals and golden bead materials.
A look into next week: Introduction to addition
Working with 9 tray / 45 layout
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 square and 1000 cubes
