Math

I am really enjoying getting to know the first graders, and all of the students seem really happy to have a larger class with more friendship options within their class. We began the year by going over the routines in the math cabin, learning the weekly jobs, and reviewing the Community Spirit Agreement. I read a book called The Toll Bridge Troll in which a boy must outwit a troll in order to cross the bridge for free on his way to school. The book ends with the troll starting to go to school with the boy in order “to get smart”. Every week we have a sharing circle based on Positive Discipline class meetings and Nonviolent Communication circle practice. So far, we have given and received compliments and appreciations and shared our feelings. I am lucky to have Valerie Phipps, art teacher, as a class aide and co-teacher on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. As much as possible, I split the students into groups and we teach smaller group lessons. I also have Brenda Surrey (Mickey’s grandmother) on Monday mornings and she helps to teach smaller groups when she is with us as well.

First grade students have begun a number scroll, practicing number sense and place value. They have played a card game called Top It, which is a math version of the game war. We are practicing counting and greater than, less than concepts with the game of Monster Squeeze. The Penny Plate game from the Everyday math curriculum is a hands on game in which students explore complements of 10 and other numbers using pennnies. Students are continuing to practice number formation (please reinforce the idea of forming numbers from sky to earth and encourage good pencil grip). They learned the game of Bunny Hop in which they use dice and a number line to advance from 0 to 20. We solved some 1 more 1 less stories using whiteboards and number lines and will be writing and illustrating 1 more 1 less stories.

Seasonally, we have completed our apple investigations; picking apples from around our campus. Then, predicting weight and circumference of our apples. Finally, students weighed and measured their apples using pounds and inches and recorded this data.

Second grade students have continued to work on their number scrolls. They began the school year by solving an investigation called “How Many Tails and Feet?” in which they try to figure out how many tails and feet all of the Orchard animals have altogether. Following our beach cleanup, students weighed our garbage and recycling in grams. In our Everyday Math curriculum they have played the card game of Addition Top It (war by turning over and adding two cards and seeing whose sum is higher). They have also solved Logic Pattern mental math challenges, reviewed the use of tally marks and coin values and have played several games to reinforce their grasp of coin value (feel free to further this at home by encouraging students to get out your change for you, etc.). Students also extended the apple investigation by predicting how much juice their apples would produce and measuring and recording the amount in milliliters.

A few images from this time…