TED TALK: Talks from Inspiring Teachers! - Teachers, definitely worth a watch :)

10 Black Dots

In continuation with our focus on Counting, today we read 10 Black Dots and had an interactive lesson where 10 students in the audience had 1 black dot each.

Every time we needed to add one, one student from the audience would stand up and join the formed line of black dots in front of all the students. We practiced counting forwards, backwards, one-to-one correspondence and grouping (4 and 4 make 8). In the end, the students understood that 3 and 3 made 6 (addition), 4 and 4 made 8 and figured out that 5 plus 5 MUST make 10 and self created (without much direction) 2 groups of 5 to show equal groups.

Questions I asked prior to reading the story:

What do you think the story is about?

"Black Polka Dots, because I see them on the orange" - Vanessa
"I see the word TEN" - Stella

"I see number 1 and 0" - Joshuwa S.

The whole class shouted that they saw the number 10!

Questions asked during the story:

How many dots to we see?
We have 6, we will add one more - how many will we have?
"7" - Joshua B.
"3 comes after 2" - Whayne

"4 comes after 3" - Vanessa

Zooming in on the literacy component, the students were able to complete the words in the story recognizing that they were "rhyming words". I would allow the students to complete the sentences out loud which is something that many of them enjoyed! Try this strategy at home with books that rhyme. 

In-Class Math Activity:

Creating an image using 10 black dots or less! Check out what they came up with....

What's new in Literacy Centres?

We have added two Literacy Centres to our program:

Creating letters (you can also use for math) to trace numbers with your finger. This is great for fine-motor skills and a great way to stray away from pencil/paper. The students LOVE tracing the letters and moving around the paint.

You can make this at home by:  Putting paint into a ziploc bag and taping the top! Quick and easy and enjoyable for students.

Rearranging letters: The students have been challenging themselves and arranging the letters of the alphabet.

This week we will be reviewing all of the letters learned so far and continue to Letter U u next week.

Thank you!

Letter of the Week: G g

As the students are learning the Letter G g, we read the story Gorilla, Be good. The story is about a boy who brings home a gorilla, however, each day of the week, the gorilla creates a mess and/or does something to bother the family. The students then had an opportunity to participate in an Optional Literacy Centre. They were able to retell the story through pictures while creating a visual calendar of what the gorilla was doing each day. This task helped the students both orally re-tell the story, identify the days of the week and use pictures to explain their thinking.

 

COUNTING

 Lesson Based on Book: The M&M’s Counting Book

Each student in the class received 1 coloured M&M cut-out and interactively participated each page. They had to listen to each page carefully as when a number was called corresponded with the colour they had, their task was to place it on the chart paper. 

We completed 1-6 on Monday. On Tuesday, we will continue 7-10, however we will focus on adding different colours to each number such as 4 red, 3 blue for students to visually observe  different combinations (addition). During Math Centres, students had the option of re-reading the story and were able to practice writing numbers, number words and drawing the corresponding M&M amount.





Curriculum Expectations:

NS1.1 investigate the idea that quantity is greater when counting forward and less when counting backwards

NS1.3 begin to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects

NS1.4 demonstrate understanding of the counting concepts of stable order

NS1.5 recognize some quantities without having to count, using a variety of tools

NS1.6 begin to use information to estimate the number in a small set

NS1.7 demonstrate an understanding of number relationships for numbers from 0 to 10, through investigation

NS1.9 use, read, and represent whole numbers to 10 in a variety of meaningful contexts

NS1.11 investigate and develop strategies for composing and decomposing quantities to 10  

Parent & Teacher Read

“The metamorphosis of childhood can be understood as a dynamic dance between children and their environments”. (2007)


Early Learning for Early Childhood Today: Click the link to a great resource for understanding Child Development. A great read for educators and parents!