A treat....

So a student from last year just stopped by to give me a cookie treat for his birthday. I miss him! He was a very special kiddo. Well, they all are.....it just made my day. Had to share!!!

Happy Wednesday!

Here are two friends playing How Many are Hiding? Last week there were so many students who had mastered their combinations to 5, that I had to slightly change the game to master combinations to 10. We talked about our strategies and a lot of students are counting by 1s/using their fingers. This is great! 

If you look below, there were some students who had their combinations to 10 mastered, so I gave them two 10 strips and they worked on numbers to 20. So fun to differentiate! 

More Missed Action......Oops!

I hope you had a fabulous 1/2 birthday Aryn (a lucky July birthday girl). You are such a bright and creative little girl. 

A great math video of Cason and Aryn playing a hide/count game with teddy bear counters. You show 5 counters. Then player 2 closes his/her eyes. Player 1 hides some. Then player 1 says, "How many are here? How many are hiding?" 

One important math standard is to fluently add/subtract within 5. These kids are doing GREAT! Many students were able to do this and proved it to me. So I had them work with 10 teddy bears. Then we talked about strategies such as counting by 1's, using your fingers, etc. 

Happy Monday!

Just have to show off a picture of Mrs. Greer's little girl. Her name is Allie. Isn't she soooo cute? She's in take a break! Haha. 

Here we are playing a new math game called Get to the Moon. The students roll a dot die and then put that many counters on. The next player has to determine how many squares are left until they reach the top of the ladder! 

Another one. Too cute. 

Just recently we came to realize how important '10' is. I learned in one of my math classes to never have 10 groups out....which I always did. The kids have to discover this on their own. Well we do a lot with 10 frames, 10 fingers, etc. One day, Avery says, "I think 10 must be pretty important!" So I've been building from there. I'm amazed at what they can do. 

Remember as your children continue to work with addition.....if they are talking about putting numbers together or saying "I know 2 and 2 makes 4," you can say, "Here's how a mathematician would represent that." Then show them 2+2. Don't feel like you have to use the equal sign. You can write the word 'is' or makes or just leave it 2+2. I hope this helps! Whatever you do, don't drill and practice addition equations with workbooks, etc. Thanks so much! 

I hope to continue to post tips for you so that you can see all of the wonderful things our teachers are learning. It amazes me every year! 

Today we played a game called Get Ten. Students play with a partner and they have 10 cubes/1-3 die. Player 1 rolls and counts out that many. Player 2 rolls and counts out more. You can ask each other math questions such as, "How many do we have? How many more to make 10?" The goal is to get to 10 (the winner can also be the first person to get over 10).

I promise to start getting in the habit of putting pics up from home. Darn computers.
So--this morning I was observing a fabulous K teacher in the District. When I get back from this awesome experience, I see like 12,000 cookies and pieces of chocolate on my desk....along with homemade cards and Inca salsa???? Have I talked too much on the blog about food I like? Hahahaha. This has never happened!

What a SWEET class. Ah! I don't want this year to end. Thank you so much for taking time out to think of me. It says a lot about you and your families :)