February 18th, 2010

We are making the morning math graph part of our daily routine. Today, Sam ran the math center in the morning and helped kids put up their math babies. Here is a video of Sam running the math center (again, sorry for the sideways!)

Our mathematical observations are getting stronger every day. First, we all think in our heads about what we notice about the math graph. Then, we share with a buddy our observations. Finally, mathematicians that choose to come up and teach the class about what they have noticed. The teacher then calls on another mathematician friend to share his or her thoughts!

Teacher Justin.

Teacher James.

Here is a video of Teacher Justin's mathematical observations.

At centers, we used our animals in winter vocabulary words and sorted them on our word wall by the first letter of each word. For example, hibernation went in the "H" category. This helps us not only expand our vocabularies, but also helped us with letter recognition and making the connection between letters and their sounds.

Today we read a story called Listen to the Wind. It is about children in Pakistan with no school and no school materials. We thought it would feel "bad" and "sad" to have no school and no materials. We also thought it would be very difficult to learn under those conditions. We brainstormed solutions to help children in disadvantaged areas. Some of us wanted to buy a window, some of us thought we could buy markers. We finally decided to work together with our friends to collect pennies all next week. We will give all the money we collect to Pennies for Peace, a group that works to help children with no schools or supplies. Together, we can make a big difference!

We looked up Pakistan on the globe. We estimated that it would be 40 hours away by plane.

We were very excited to work together to help the children in Pakistan.

Our big buddies from the community school came today. We worked together to write stories. Our buddies wrote down our words. Next time we have big buddies, they are going to bring our typed stories back for us to illustrate!

After we were done with our stories, we enjoyed the sunshine, got some exercise and honed our motor skills by playing outside with our big buddies!

We built a road and buildings in the sand...

We created music in the music garden...

We painted with water all over the walls and concrete...

And we worked together to build an obstacle course for all of us to enjoy!