Perhaps you are wondering why there is so much fuss about the 100th Day of School. After all, it's become practically a holiday in many elementary schools! In my mind, it's with good reason. Not only is it an opportunity to celebrate all students have learned in the first 100 days of the school year, but it's also a chance to engage students in counting and place value concepts. And, it's not just a random celebration--it's one we've been working towards since the very first day of kindergarten. Every day, we add a number to our big blue 100 grid and talked about how many days we've been in school. We also add 1 straw to our place value chart. When we get 10 straws, we put them in a bundle of 10 and move them to the tens place. In this way, we practice counting by tens in a way that makes it more meaningful. Now that we are at 100--we have ten bundles of ten, which I put into one big bundle in the hundreds place. Students were very curious why there are two zeros in 100--this makes it a bit easier to explain. There is one group of 100 in the hundreds place and zero in the tens and ones places: 1-0-0, 100! Working up to the 100th Day also gave us a fun opportunity to count using the 100 grid each day--usually by ones and then by tens up to whatever number we were on for that day of school. Since the standard for oral counting is counting 1-100 by ones and tens by the end of kindergarten, we are well on our way! Our explorations of numbers to 100 is certainly not over now that we've passed the 100th Day of School! We will continue to solidify students' understanding of these numbers, with a particular emphasis on numbers 0-30. We will also continue to count our days of school, since many students are very curious about those numbers beyond 100. Please continue to support your child's math development by counting together. Students are really starting to see how grouping items in tens can help count larger quantities. Noticing numbers in the home and out and about can bring attention to why all of this matters, and how we use numbers in our daily lives. Thanks for all you do! | |
0 Comments
Our writers continue to make progress during Writing Workshop! I love these two photos...the classroom shot shows the peaceful nature of this time of our day. If you could hear it, you'd hear low voices and sometimes quiet music. We are working on sustaining our stamina during writing time--at this point in kindergarten, students should be able to write for 20 minutes. That includes creating illustrations to match the story and writing the words the best they can. We are working on consistently writing sight words correctly in our pieces.
We have recently been creating pattern books much like the books students are reading during Reading Workshop. For Valentine's Day, students have created a "Love" pattern book using the repeated pattern, "I love ________." This is not the type of writing we usually focus on, but it has been helpful to building student confidence in their ability to write real words and reinforcing understanding of correct word spacing and punctuation. Our kindergartners have had some pretty incredible opportunities to work with older students this school year. I believe strongly that these experiences are mutually beneficial. The older students get a boost of confidence as they realize how much they've learned since kindergarten and they get to experience a leadership role. Currently, we have two regular buddy experiences happening on a regular basis: 5th Grade Breakfast Buddies and 2nd/3rd Grade Book Buddies, and previously we worked with Mr. Walter's 4th grade students when the Maker Space supplies were in their classroom. 5th Grade Breakfast BuddiesThis idea originated after a conversation with one of the 5th grade teachers, Mrs. Hibbard. We were talking about breakfast and how some of her students either eat breakfast before school or finish breakfast earlier. I told her that the same is true for many of our kindergartners. She suggested that some of the 5th graders come to the cafeteria each morning to play games with the students who are either finished eating early or have already eaten at home. It's been wonderful to see the leadership skills the current 5th grade buddies have developed already. They've quickly learned how to facilitate an activity with a group of young students. Our students love it! They are playing games that are both educationally valuable and fun, and they genuinely enjoy their time with the older students. Mrs. Hibbard has her students apply for classroom jobs, so these are students who really want to be there. WMS ReadsStudents from West Middle School recently visited TCAPS elementary schools throughout the district to read. They selected books and came up with a follow-up activity. While this was a one-time event, it was another positive opportunity for older students to work with younger students. Book Buddies
Coming Soon!We will soon be hosting five interns from Ferris State University who are working on their degree in Social Work. These students will be reading with students as part of our new Emergent Reading Program (watch for more information about that!). I am excited for this opportunity for our students! They will be in our classroom for one hour per week on Mondays.
Students have enjoyed our exploration of measurement in kindergarten. Most recently, we used balance scales to measure and compare weights of objects. Previously, we measured the length and height of objects using cubes. We are working on math vocabulary like longer, shorter, heavier, lighter, more, and less. You can help your child use these terms by having conversations at home about everyday objects, asking your child to compare their length, height, and weight. For example, I might ask, "Which piece of fruit is longer, the banana or the orange? Which do you think is heavier?" Or ask your child to describe two objects using these words. They might say, "The banana feels lighter than the orange, but the banana is longer. The orange is taller, though." Being able to compare objects using these terms is part of the kindergarten Common Core State Standards for math.
|