Saturday, October 6, 2012

Color Mixology, Flexibility, and Games!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying the first part of their 3-day weekend!  I came to drop some stuff off at the classroom today and saw these two friends hanging out in our garden!


 This week, the children worked on mixing clear, red, and blue colored water.  Using pipettes to transfer water into their mixing glass, each student decided if they were going to be investigating the effects of adding clear water to the red water, clear water to the blue water, or mixing all three of the colors.  Friends were very excited to discover so many different colors, including, light blue, dark blue, pink, purple, and purple-ish pink, just to name a few!





Friends were asked to be flexible this week because the blacktop on our playground was being resurfaced.  On Tuesday, I had to break the news to them that we would not be able to use it, so we would have to have recess at the park.  They took it pretty well =]  We revisited the list of safety agreements that we had made regarding how to take a walk.  The students did a great job at sticking with their partners, sharing the sidewalk with other park goers, and keeping each other safe!  When we got to the park's amphitheater  we established a perimeter using the trees as landmarks to indicate how far the different games could happen.  It was neat to see the children make up their own games and make new discoveries in nature!


Some friends started up a game of Freeze Tag with an interestinf twist!  In order for a friends to un-freeze someone, they needed to crawl in between their legs!



I had a nostalgic moment as other friends danced around a tree, singing "Hi-Ho Cherry-O!"




It was then that the class made an exciting discovery...


ACORNS!



The children agreed to leave the acorns near the trees so that the squirrels can still enjoy them.


It really made my day when I saw the kids playing my all time favorite childhood game: playing with dirt!


This past Friday, the class got to try out some new math and language games. 


"A Minute to Win It!" challenges friends to match the letters on the picture card with the letters on the cubes to spell out the word before the sand timer runs out!  Whether the friend beat the timer or not, they wrote down the words they tried on a T-Chart to keep track of their work.








"Math Dice" asked friends to write down which two numbers they rolled and find their sum.  This was a neat was for friends to practice different techniques for counting, such as using their fingers or referencing a ruler as a guide.






"Add 'Em Up" requires students to trace two Cuisenaire rods on grid paper and find their sum.  This game turned out to be trickier game for most friends for a number of reasons.  One challenge many children in our class had was practicing their fine motor skills.  This game challenged them to slow down in their work as they guided their pencils around each rod, fitting the outlines onto the grid paper. 




I was surprised to see some friends finding a new strategy to keep track of their counting by writing the number in each square of the grid paper, so that they can visually see the number that corresponds with its length.  I thought that was really neat!



We ended our Friday with a special goodbye to our dear friend, Anthony, who is moving on to 1st grade.  We shared a nice moment together singing one of Anthony's favorite songs, "All Together Now," and enjoying some of his homemade cookies.  We found comfort in knowing that we will still get to see Anthony on the playground and that he could come and visit us some times.  We're glad that we can still be friends with him!



Love, Gaby

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