Happy Holidays to everyone! In the math cabin first and second grade students keep track of how many days of school have passed by putting a penny for each day in a little ‘piggy’ bank. Last Thursday was the 71st day of school, Wow! We have 178 total this year, 177 now since school was closed due to lack of electricity last month, so we are over a third of the way through the school year.

First graders have been continuing with the Everyday Math curriculum by practicing tally marks and graphing. They graphed Pets We Own as a whole group activity using tally marks and played the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors in partnerships, using tally marks to record the outcomes. We practiced estimates as a whole group and then they completed a homework assignment that involved estimates. Students went over one of the ways of writing the Number 4 and drew stories about the number 4, practiced writing the number and the word four, and discussed the significance of 4 in our lives. They returned to the game of Top It and played the game of Monster Squeeze, reinforcing the ordinality of numbers and practice with the number line. They continue to work on their number scrolls weekly, and some of them daily, at every opportunity. All of them have been working on the Add a Dot task cards, in which they practice addition facts. As a group, we told subtraction stories and drew them on white boards. Then, each student created one or more subtraction stories and drew them on paper, including the mathematical equation that went with the story.

Second grade students continued to practice their math facts by solving wrap ups and task cards. We also used base ten blocks to explore and practice adding larger numbers. We then moved on to column addition on paper and students took home the game Largest Sum Wins in order to practice the concept. Students practiced time by playing Time Bingo and completed a November calendar. We discussed subtraction and again used the base ten blocks to practice subtraction of larger numbers. I introduced the game Get to Zero, and some students enjoyed it so much they asked to take home the instructions for homework right away. When playing this game students are welcome to use a 100s chart for support and I included one with the directions.

In terms of whole class activities, students created delicious cranberry sauce and cornbread for the Stone Soup feast. They also filled little heart shaped tins of appetizers for each student and teacher on that day. With geoboards and rubber bands they practiced geometry by creating and discussing their beautiful designs. I got some clay from Linda and we each made cubes which then became dice students could take home. For the holiday season, we created six pointed stars (snowflakes), read the Jewish story “One City, Two Brothers”, discussed Christmas and Hanukkah traditions, and played the game of dreidel. Our last class graph for the week was a Venn diagram with three circles each representing how you celebrate the holidays: putting up a tree, lighting a menorah, or solstice. For our closing sharing circle, each student made a wish for another student, and then a wish for the class. One memorable wish was when Max said to Ruby “I wish you have a good baby brother.”