Math Centers

In math we have been counting, writing, and recognizing numbers 1-30, putting numbers in order from least to greatest, and comparing numbers. The kiddos are really getting the hang of counting and ordering numbers.   After we introduce or review the daily math concept whole group, we move right into math centers.  This is one of the kids favorite times of the day! They are so engaged in the activity!  During math centers, students rotate through 4 stations where they practice skills we have been learning about. I love math centers because the students are learning while playing!  The students LOVE playing the games and I LOVE how focused they are while doing them! 

 

All About Apples

This past week was all about apples…and exploring apples with our 5 senses.   We used our 5 senses to explore APPLES!!!  Just another reason to LOVE Fall.  Who doesn’t love a ripe, delicious Honeycrisp covered in caramel?!?!   One of the first things we did was a little apple taste test.  We compared yellow, red, and green apples and picked our most favorite.  My kids were SO excited to sample the flavors and I was REALLY surprised with the results!!!

It was a toss up between green and yellow, but in the end the sweet taste of the yellow apple won.  After creating our pictograph and talking about the data, we used snap cubes to count out each amount and talk about how many more…how many less/fewer…etc.  After creating our group pictograph, we transferred the data to a bar graph.  It was a great to reinforce important vocabulary, practice making tallies, and work with bar graphs. 

After tasting our apples, we used a few leftovers to EXPLORE and INVESTIGATE them with our five senses.  First up, we brainstormed a list of words that DESCRIBED them.  Let me just say that this wasn’t an easy task.  Getting the kids to understand what it means to DESCRIBE took some elbow grease :)  But once they got it, they couldn’t stop.

We also learned all about Johnny Appleseed and what made him a good citizen. We read nonfiction books about his life and even watched a movie about him. Students created a was/had/wore chart to help us organize our facts and then we wrote 3 sentences about his life.

We finished up the week with an apple investigation and making 2 yummy apple snacks.....Apple Smiles and Crockpot Applesauce.  What a fun week!!!

Here we are showing off our Apple Smile.........

Oreo Day

How many Oreos can we stack before the tower falls over? 

This is the question that the students were asked when they walked in on Friday morning!

First, each student made a prediction or estimated  how many cookies they thought they could stack.

Students then worked together, stacking, counting, and tallying their cookies.  They slowly stacked the Oreos one by one until the tower they were building could no longer stand.  Once the tower fell, the student counted their tally marks and gave a total.  Each student had 2 chances to build the tallest tower they could.  Our tallest tower was 24 Oreos high!

We practiced several math skills while stacking the Oreos.....we practiced counting by 1's,2's,and 5's, estimating, making and counting tally marks, and adding. 

Once the stacking was complete, we decided to have a taste test between the plain Oreo, the Raspberry Oreo, and the Chocolate Chip Cookie.  After we collected the data, students created a bar graph to display their results. 

And the winner is........the plain Oreo!  Most of the kiddos liked the taste of the Oreo over the other 2 cookies!

Here are some pictures of us stacking our Oreos!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I have designed this site to keep you informed with what your child is doing in 1st grade. I will keep this site updated so please check in often. I hope you will find this site helpful. If there are any questions or comments about this site, please feel free to contact me.   I look forward to working with your child this school year.