Transportation Station

We managed to do the impossible this week. We squeezed 4 day of centers into just three days.  Though it was short, this week was super fun as our theme was transportation.  This was also Ms. Kendall's "solo" week, which means she was in charge of all instruction. 

She did great and so did the students. Ms. Kendall began the week by reading the book "Duck on a Bike." Afterward, the students came up with all sorts of ways to get from one place to another on land and Ms. Kendall listed them on our transportation anchor chart.  Then the students wrote about how they got to school in their journals.  This is becoming one of my favorite times of the day because these kiddos are getting SO good at writing!

The next day, the students listened to the story, "Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon." There were a handful of different modes of air transportation in the story, and once again, the students brainstormed even more ways to get around in the air.  They surprised us with all they came up. They are very creative thinkers!
We took to the sea for Friday's whole group reading time.  Ms. Kendall read, "Mr. Gumpy's Outing," a fun little story about many animals asking to join Mr. Gumpy on his boat until it eventually tips over.  The students brainstormed about other ways to get across the sea and then they were given a new journal prompt: Where do you want to go and how do you want to get there? They came up with some great ideas! Here are a few from the PM class.

"I want to take a car to Ohio."

"I want to take a fast boat because a fast boat is cool and
I want to take a boat to the ocean."

"I want to take boat to South Carolina."



"I want to take a plane to Mexico."

     And these are just a few examples of the awesome writing we see every week in class. I am very proud of them!

    The students began a whole new calendar math series this week since it was the start of a new month. Here's what it looks like and how we use it.

    For this month, instead of revealing the pattern piece each day, we simply move the "today" tag. Because this pattern is more complex than others we've had, I want the students to be able to see it all everyday to get a feel for it. 

 

    On the next page, the students each get a turn to fill their piggy bank.  We just learned about the dime this week. The nickel and dime are the "shortcuts" a student can take if they spin a number greater than five or ten. This is fun way to explore and add up different coin combinations. 

   Following the coin practice, the students continue to keep count of the days in school. This month we get to move a shamrock.

 

    And our last page is the "Mystery Number" page.  When we click on the gray square, a new teen number is revealed. Then the students have to find all the ways to represent that number using base ten blocks, equations, and coins. 

 

The next page (not pictured) has links to many different online math games.  One that we will be playing a lot this month is Curious George's Museum of Tens.  This game works on finding the missing addend in an addition equation.  You will notice papers in your child's folder where we are working on this skill. It has really turned that light bulb on for some students who have been struggling with the concept of addition. I teach it in class by putting a random number of items into a ten frame (thus, 10 is the sum) .  All the students have to do is count how many frames are empty to find the missing addend.   Like this:  

    The centers this week were some of the best ever, just ask your child (especially if I have your son).  In Math Games, the students went through the land, air, and sea using cars, helicopters, and boats....and subtraction.  The students began "in the air" on number ten and rolled the dice and went backward that many. (The dice only goes to three). Once they made it to zero, they switched to a car and hit the road, once again beginning on ten.  Once they reached the end of the road, they swapped their car for a boat and made their way through the sea, subtracting all the way.  Since Ms. Kendall was holding down reading groups, I was lucky enough to play along and guide the kiddos.  This is a keeper and will be coming back to Math Games in a few weeks!

    And in the Word Work center, the students played a junior form of Scrabble with the addition of toy cars!  I call it The Sight Word Parking Lot. Each student begins by blindly pulling five letters out of the box.  They examine the letters they have to see if they can make any sight words on the board.  If they have a word, they lay it out in the parking spot and can then choose a car to park in that space. (Then they replace the letters they used). And the only place the monster truck could park was in the longest word's space; "what." This may go down as my  favorite center of all time. And, like the Land, Air, and Sea Subtraction, this game will be returning soon.

 



Continuing with the transportation theme, the students worked with puzzles of a ship, fire truck, dump truck, airplane, and train in the floor puzzles center.

And they played with the magnetic trains in the block center.

 

And as if this week couldn't get any more glorious, this happened on Friday afternoon...

 OUTDOOR RECESS!!!

It was so nice, I asked Mr. Dauer if he could teach their PE class outside.  He was happy to oblige! It was beautiful! 

    Next week is I Love to Read Week at Garth. In our classroom, it's called SUESS-A-PALOOZA. (I just made that up but I think I'll stick with it). Monday is Crazy Sock Day and we will read Fox in Socks.  If you'd like to send in a Suess-y snack, please let me know (email, text, or a note in your child's folder). They can be for any day of the week. (We've already got a parent bringing Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes for the PM class).  Next week is going to be so awesome.  Just imagine how fun a Fun Friday will be during Suess-a-palooza!