Math: Comparing and Building numbers

We spent our week comparing and building numbers. The vocabulary that I was stressing was GREATER THAN. So, if they had a tower of 6 cubes and a tower of 9 cubes, we would focus i=on saying, "Nine is GREATER THAN six." 

Social Studies: Honor the Texas Flag

Honor the Texas flag;

I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas,

one state, under God

one and indivisible.

This week we are focusing our learning on the great state of Texas! Today we made tear-art Lone Star Flags. This was a great fine motor activity that gave the class time to talk about the information they are learning about Texas.

Texas State Bird: Mockingbird

Texas State Tree: Pecan Tree

Texas State Motto: Friendship

Math: Teamwork

Another area we focused on in Math is recognizing and ordering numbers to 20. We played a game where I divided the class into different colored teams and they had to put numbers 1 to 20 in order.  The class enjoyed this little competition. I took a few pictures of the groups as they were putting numbers in order.

I was so happy to see how good the class worked with their teams. This is another area that young children often struggle with. Each group had a team captain and they all worked as one to line up the numbers!

Math: Problem Solving

This year we are doing a big push in solving word problems. This is an area in math that so many kids struggle with throughout school. Each week we have a new story problem we solve as a whole group. I have been modeling how to solve problems each day with a different strategy: Draw a picture, Ten Frame, Number line, Part-Part Whole Mat, and a Rekenrek. 

Last week I started to print individual copies of the story problem for the kids to glue inside their Math Spiral. Today they were given a simple subtraction problem and they had the freedom to choose a strategy to solve the problem. It was interesting to see which strategies each student chose to find the answer. I was happy to see that so many students chose a couple ways to solve the problem rather than just one. Now, not all of the children solved them correctly, but they were close. It gives me a good idea of who really understands the concept and who still needs more practice.

Here are a few snapshots of student work.

Social Studies: Voting

Our objective in Social Studies was to teach students about voting. They learned that there are choices and that the one that had the most votes, is the one that wins. We used our filled marble jar reward to create a list of choices we could be rewarded with.

I asked students to brainstorm a list of fun things they would like to do. We discussed the pros and cons to each choice and then I gave each student a piece of paper to use as their ballot. They wrote down choice 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. And then they turned it into the ballot box. I read each vote and we created a tally mark. When the votes were all read, we were able to see the winner...Build with blocks. They had so much fun the other day building with blocks that it was a choice that the majority chose.

 Here are some pictures that I took of the class building with blocks...their choice! :)

Valentine's Day Party

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day celebration! Thank you to all of the parents who donated food for the party. The class was so excited to have a yummy snack and then they enjoyed decorating cookies!

A special thank you to the family members who were able to find time to come and enjoy our party!

Here are some pictures of the "decorated cookies". Boy, oh boy! The sprinkles were a HUGE hit...I have never seen so many sprinkles on one cookie before! :)