Thinking and Learning Time Week of Oct 22

Scientists sort picture cards by which sense they would use the most. They then recorded their thinking. Ask you learner about this recording!

Ending Sound Stamp

Readers have been working to listen for sounds in words. We have been focusing on ending sounds. If your learner completed one side, that is great work!! If not, you can finish it at home. Doing the back is optional :-)

Writers have been practicing writing FROG JUMP letters on chalkboards. This is part of our Handwriting Without Tears Program

Reader's Workshop Shopping Bags

This week we have been using our new shopping bags and private reading spots to extend our ability to read for longer periods of time!! These readers were excited to "shop" for their own books and read them privately. We learned that readers can read three ways:

Read the Pictures
Read the Words
Read from Memory

Ask your reader how /she read today!

Five Senses Hike

Ask your scientist what he or she saw, heard, felt and touched on our hike!

Scientists Use Their Five Senses

Last week we learned all about the Five Senses. We did some testing and experimenting with using our senses on Friday! Take a look at what we worked on...

Taste Test!!
During the taste test Scientists not only used their sense of taste, but also touch and hearing!!

Ask your learner what he/she discovered!

Using our sense of smell to decide whether or not we liked various scents. Ask your scientist which scent he or she liked and didn't like!

Scientists also used texture mats to create rubbings. The rubbings had the texture from the mats below!

Ask your child about how they used these objects to practice using their sense of hearing.

All of these items required careful observations using our sense of sight. Some involved color, color mixing, reflections, and movement.

Your learners know that they are SCIENTISTS!

Math Centers Week of October 15

Yesterday we started math centers to support our learning from the past two weeks. These centers will carry over into next week as well.

Mathematicians explore numbers, counting and recording. These thinkers are graphing tiles to match the numeral in each row. They then record their graphs on paper to bring home and share with you!

Mathematicians take their study of geometry further by putting shapes together to make new shapes and designs!

Mathematicians work with partners to sort and record.

Mathematicians practice "Subitizing"! Subitize is the ability to tell the number of objects in a set, quickly, without counting. These thinkers organize the cards under the matching numeral. They then recorded the variety of ways each card represented different numbers of dots.

Ask your child about their work as it comes home. There really is thinking behind all of it!

Mathematicians study shapes!

Most of our mathematicians know all of their basic shapes (rectangle, triangle, square, circle). Some still confuse them, most commonly rectangle and triangle. We have been working hard to study various attributes of shapes to help identify them. Ask your child to explain the differences between triangles, rectangles and squares. We then moved on to look for these shapes in the world around us. We searched through magazines to find items shaped like triangles and rectangles. Try doing this at home! It sure was fun!

Writing Workshop

Our writers have been taking their first steps into Writer's Workshop! Writer's Workshop is a time in our day when we work on recording our ideas on paper to become authors! Your learner will learn to write a variety of genres. We are starting with personal narratives, writing stories about something that really happened to them. This is one of the things these thinkers love to do! Take a look as your writer tries out our very special writing pens...

Sorting and Recording

Today in math we extended on our learning from last week. Many children were able to sort. In kindergarten we learn that things can be sorted by multiple attributes! Items can be sorted by color and shape and size! For example; red, big, triangles; red, big, squares; red, little, triangles and red, little, squares. Usually children pick one attribute (sorting into piles of matching color only or shape only) with witch to sort. This helps to build and extend on what they already know.

 We took our learning one step further today by recording how and what we sorted. I love watching these mathematicians make their thinking visible!!

Ask your child how he/she sorted today!

WE ARE MATHEMATICIANS!

WE CAN SORT!