Math centers

A few of our math centers ths week:

Rolling out play dough to make different complex shapes.

Number line hopscotch

Sorting buttons in different ways- each group came up with some very unique ideas! Sorting by how many button holes, buttons with and without pictures on them, buttons with no holes in the middle, etc. 

The numerals game with teen numbers- counting out a specific amount of objects and stopping at a given number is tricky, especially with teen numbers.

Goldilocks and the three bears

Here are some photos of our prop making and dramatizing.

Build a boat challenge

On Friday morning, we did a sink and float experiment to get us ready for the build a boat challenge for the afternoon science lab. Each child had an object to test in the water, and we first predicted whether each object would sink or float and why. 

For science lab, our pretend scenario was that the bridge was broken and the three Billy goats gruff needed a boat to get across the water to the grassy pasture. Each partnership had to make one boat together that could hold the Billy goats and help them cross the river. Using Popsicle sticks, straws, paper, foam, tin foil, straws, cotton balls, and tape, each pair of students had to design a boat to help the Billy goats. 

After the boats were completed, we tested them under our document camera and projector so that everyone could see the results. We also talked about if your boat sinks, think about how you could fix it to make it float. 

Dramatizing

Today, we began dramatizing The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Which center were you at today?

Props, donuts, and silly putty!

On Monday, we made props for our new story, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We reed some of our materials from last week to make bridges, grassy pastures, and dirt patches. 

For graphics practice yesterday, we made bagels and donuts by saying "down, around close" for each circle. We also added some sprinkles to make them into donuts. 

Thanks to our generous families, we have enough silly putty for each child to put in their quiet time bag. This bag has a cardboard animal to practice sewing, some wiki sticks, and some silly putty for children to use at quiet time. This is a great sensory break for kids, and it builds up fine motor muscles.

Huff and puff houses!

For science lab today, we pretended we were the three little pigs and built houses with a partner. We used Popsicle sticks, straws, and small blocks. We tried to make them as strong as we could so that the wolf couldn't blow them down! We predicted that the straw house would be the easiest to blow down, and that the block house would be the hardest. Surprisingly, some of the stick houses were so strong that they were hard to blow down! It was a great way to work on compromising with a partner, and planning ahead to decide how to make your house.