We had a wacky Wednesday for sure today! Our schedule was all mixed around because we decided that we wanted to get our center time in today. We usually do not have centers on Wednesdays but decided to do them today because of the 4 day weekend and we did not want to have kids miss a rotation. We had two centers that went well. The students I read with did a great job sounding out their words!
Next we had our computer lab time which was spent on the Odyssey program working on Language Arts skills.
After computer lab we had Math game time! Two of our parent volunteers came in and taught the class a new game. Students played with a partner for about 20 minutes! It was great to see the kids working together during this time!
Today in math we reviewed greater than, less than, and equal to by cutting out little alligator's and placing them in the correct direction with their mouth open toward the bigger number. Students worked on this independently and I will be reviewing them to check students progress with this concept. Next students worked on candy heart addition and subtraction. They worked on this activity independently and I will be reviewing this to check for students understanding of addition and subtraction of numbers 0-5.
I am very impressed with the results from today's 3 minute math! Over half the class passed their test and moved on to the next addition pattern! So much of this activity is getting the routine down and knowing the format. Students are showing improvement each day and its great to see how happy they are when they pass! Please continue to work with students on basic addition/subtraction skills at home!
The next activity we did in math was a heart search. Students were given half a heart that had an addition problem on it. For example half of the heart would say something like 7+3. I hid the other half of their hearts throughout the classroom for the kids to find. The other half would have an answer for example = 10. Each student had a different addition problem and they had to solve it and then find the other half of the heart and put them together on their tables to make a whole heart. The kids loved this activity and they were doing math without even knowing it! After a few rounds with the addition problems we switched to subtraction. Students still need a lot of work with subtraction, but we discussed how to use a number line to solve addition and subtraction. I showed students how to start at a number and then to count back. That is a strategy that Everyday Mathematics really focuses on throughout grades 1-5 in PHM schools. I encourage you to use number lines at home to assist in any math homework. It is a great strategy that students will use throughout their years in Elementary school.
We then had time to finish our science unit and we discussed the vocabulary.
At the end of the day we had fundations and language arts combined. Today we discussed ending sounds, and short vowels. We did not get all our short vowel activities complete and spend tomorrow discussing the short E.
Class as a whole was very chatty today and struggled to listen long enough to follow all directions. This is understandable because of our long day on Wednesday and tomorrow being a holiday, but we need to continue working on self control while in the classroom. Please remind your child to follow all directions and to listen while lessons are being presented. We had a discussion today about appropriate times when to talk to their friends and inappropriate times to talk to friends. As a 5 or 6 year old this is a challenge and I am doing my best to keep students engaged by using activities that involve movement every few minutes. Please encourage your student to "stay on green" all day and to make good choices while at school!
Looking forward to the Valentines Day party tomorrow and all the fun Valentines Day themed activities planned for tomorrow!!
Mr. Schultz
Wednesday Activities (Did not complete all)
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