math

I am so so happy to be getting to know this lovely group of individuals; each one unique and kind and knowledgeable in his or her own way. The new schedule is quite a shift from kindergarten and they have done a wonderful job adjusting most of the time. We have math after lunch and it wasn’t until Thursday of the second week that students seemed tired and overwhelmed (understandably).

We began the school year by going over routines and procedures in the math cabin. I read a lovely book about a boy who begins school and has to outwit a troll in order to avoid paying a toll, and eventually they both go to school together. We did a class activity called Counting Cats, and another which involved figuring out the number of feet of a ll the adults in their households together. Each student has started a number scroll and they are very excited and request to work on it as frequently as possible. I have introduced some lessons from the Everyday Math curriculum and students played either the Penny Dice Game or Two Fisted Penny Addition with a partner. Some students have begun to solve a set of task cards and we have been practicing number sequences on a number line by playing Bunny Hop. We have had our first few sharing circles and students have practiced giving and receiving compliments. The compliments are heartwarming and it is amazing to see how the students who have been here since kindergarten and those who are new this year are already forming bonds and have kind words for each other.

Here are instructions for some of our games in case you wish to play at home:

Top It - use a deck of playing cards and remove the face cards: King, Queen, Jack Ace is a one and is the lowest card in the deck

Addition Top It - can be adjusted to use subtraction (Less Than You), or shifted to Multiplication Top It. Again, remove the face cards and ace is always a one in our math card games.

Two Fisted Penny Addition - change the total amount of pennies as needed. Only a few students were introduced to this game.

Penny Dice Game: played by most students in the class.