Addition strategies

The girls were given the opportunity today to solve addition problems using any strategy they learned in class.  Some options were: number lines, using manipulatives, drawing a picture on the white board, or showing work on their iPad with Doodle Buddy. The girls were really excited that they got to choose how they solved their addition problems.

Art: Making Masks

The pre-first girls are layering shapes to create a mask.  They chose a big shape for the base.  Then, they traced smaller shapes to make the features.  Looking at a collection of masks from around the world, they noticed several ways artists emphasized the features.  One way was popping it out! So, the girls are using toilet paper tubes to "pop out" one or more of their features.  

What makes a sentence?

We focused on how to make good sentences today during language arts.  The girls were introduced to the acronym CUPS to help them form and determine the characteristics of a sentence.

As a whole group, the girls made complete sentences from words that had been cut up and scattered.  They had to make sure that each sentence started with a capital letter, they understood it, it had punctuation at the end, and the words were spaced evenly.

The girls then returned to their seats to sort phrases and sentences into two categories:   "sentence" and "not a sentence".

For the final sentence activity, the girls were given a word bank and had to create their own sentences applying what they had learned today through our CUPS lesson.

We also had our special STAR today!  The girls were so excited to see ST-elia's extraordinary box.

In math, we continue to develop our adding skills by using number lines.  The girls worked around the room in centers today, engaging in different activities to reinforce this strategy.

Center 1:  Dice Addition--the girls rolled dice, wrote down the addition sentence, and solved their problem using number lines.

Center 2:  The girls were given addition sentences and had to show their work, as well as check their answer, by using our "frogman" lines.

Center 3:  Learning Palettes--the girls really enjoy this center as they get to choose their own challenge board.  The boards have many different focuses from sequencing numbers to geometry and measurement.

The Mysterious Pinkins

The girls were lucky to have two mystery readers this week, and both just happen to be from the same family!  Many thanks to Caroline and Drew Pinkin for coming in to read to the girls.

Number Lines

The girls have been working with number lines for the past two days and are becoming much more comfortable using them as another tool to help them solve addition problems.  Today the girls rotated around the room in centers, each center using a number line in a different way.

Center 1:  The girls worked on the Mystery Number app on their iPad.

Center 2:  The girls had to create their own number line by cutting and sequencing numbers.

Center 3:  The girls pulled addition problems from a bucket, wrote the addition sentence on their paper and solved the problem using number lines.

Nutrition

Today we began our new science unit on nutrition.  We read the book Me and My Amazing Body and discussed how different foods impact our bodies and minds.  The girls brainstormed a list of foods that were both good and bad for their bodies and collaborated together to determine how to sort each food.  We ended our discussion by talking about how the food that we put in the "bad" column can certainly be enjoyed occasionally and is often called "sometimes" food. 

Technology: App List

Here is a list of the current apps on the Pre-First iPads.  We will continue to update and add apps throughout the year.

Alphabet Board
Antarctica by Kids Discover
Art Rage
Art Set
Book Bot
BrainPopJr.
Britannica Kids: Rainforests
Collections
Collins Big Cat Dark Night
Domino Math
Doodle Buddy
Draw Free
Edmodo
Educreations
Faces iMake
Gingerbread Storybook
Google Drive
Google Earth
Hickory Dickory Dock
Hungry Fish
iDiary
iFunFace
iMotion HD
Jungle Speak
Line Em Up
Little Patterns Game
Magnabet
Montessori Numbers
Montesorri Words
My Storybook Maker
Mystery Number                                                                                                          
Number Sense HD
Paper 53
Pic Collage
PicPlayPost
Popplet Lite
QR Reader
Rover
Scribble Press
Sculptor
Sentence Builder
Storia
Story Patch
Story Wheel
Teach Me First Grade
This is not an app