Money, Money, Money!

Over the past few weeks, I have incorporated our review of skip counting and place value with counting coins.  We have discussed who is on each coin, the names and values, and special tricks to figure out which is which. The last coin I introduced was the quarter, since counting by 25's can be tricky at first. After a couple of lessons, I decided to back off and focus on counting the pennies, nickels and dimes in mixed values as the quarters were a little too tricky at the moment.  Today however, giving the students an open-ended task of formulating 50 cents as many ways as they can, I was surprised to see all of them incorporating the quarter in with the other coins. I guess they just needed to sleep on it! Anytime you have any loose change in your pocket, have your child count out its value.  This is a skill that needs ongoing practice to be secure.

Feeling Thankful

This week we will talk about things we are thankful for.  On Wednesday, the entire school will come together and each class prepares a food item for our feast as we share our ideas.  Each student this year made poster of themselves that expressed all the things to be thankful for.  Last week, we started working on writing directions on how to catch a turkey!  We started with a plan, then wrote out the details into three steps.  Below are their directions.

We Welcome a New Bumblebee!

Last week, we welcomed a new friend to our class! JG came to us from Lowell and has fit in well to our Seabury setting.

We also have made some huge accomplishments.  We have been learning place value into the hundreds, and experimenting with larger numbers.  The ability to read the larger numbers correctly will come in time with more practice, but so far off to a great start.  In writing, we created a story board to organize our ideas about our favorite season.  I am very impressed with the level of detail that each child wrote and I hope you enjoyed their stories.

The next few weeks will fly fast, as we come closer to the Thanksgiving and Winter holidays. In class we continue to build the concepts around community by creating our own businesses.  In addition, the Bumblebees have loved doing puzzles and many of my puzzles are of maps of the country and world which is sparking a new interest with maps.

JG and JF are using special dice that show the value of each digit.  They have to put them in order and write it in the standard form, then compare who has the larger number.

Pumpkin Math!

How many different ways can you measure a pumpkin?  Circumference? Height? Weight? Last week the Bumblebees were doing just that.  Using their own pumpkin and manipulatives, they got to know their pumpkin really well.  Later, we were invited to the Navigator and Explorer classrooms to make estimations about the number of seeds in each pumpkin.  The students had to clean it out, sort and determine a strategy for counting all the seeds.  In the end, the Bumblebees wrote their work out in their sketch journals. It was a great opportunity for these kiddos to work with cross-grade peers and use problem solving skills.

Food Bank Deposit

Last Wednesday, the Bumblebees helped me load up 400 pounds of food collected during our food drive and we delivered it to the Edgewood Food Bank. Besides walking into the giant freezer, the kids were surprised to hear that the food at the food bank is given out for free.  We unloaded the car, weighed our total and even helped put the food on the shelves. It was great for them to see how they can make a positive impact to the community.

We practiced skip counting and tally marks by grouping food items by 5's.

Weighing the food

Pumpkin Patch!

What a beautiful day to enjoy nature during Fall!  We ventured to Spooner Farms where we learned about pumpkins, tested their buoyancy, navigated through a rope maze, and found the perfect pumpkin to take home.  Tomorrow the Bumblebees will explore everything they can about their pumpkin while using math and science skills.  In addition, we have an huge sunflower to examine with magnifying glasses and microscopes. We were already using our sketchbooks as we made new discoveries with each pulled seed. 

This week, we will also be going to the food bank to deliver our school donations.  The bumblebees have been collecting, sorting and graphing what has been brought in. 

A Busy Start to October

We have been traveling all through the town learning about our community and the people who help us.  We went to the Hylebos Wetlands Park and took a hike through the forest to observe this unique habitat to birds, tadpoles, and even coyotes (no worries, none were spotted on the journey!!).  Last week we went to the firehouse and climbed all over the fire truck.  Yesterday, we ventured to Seattle to see Pippi Longstocking.  The Bumblebees loved it!

Back in the classroom, we are applying our math skills to keep track of our food drive donations.  The Bumblebees have sorted, counted and tallied mark each food item to date.  They get so excited walking around the school collecting donations. In addition, we are also exploring place value, understanding the value of each number in our base 10 system.

There has been a new addition in our classroom this week.  The Bumblebees have been so interested in having a post office so we built one!  Costumes included.  I hope to take this group to the Post Office this week, as well as having them help transport our donations to the Edgewood Food Bank to be weighed and shelved.  More info as I finalize dates and times for these events.

Getting into Motion

On Friday, we put our bodies into motion as we rode around the playground.  The weather was nice and the Bumblebees would have ridden all day if I had let them!  Afterwards, we noticed there was many different types of bikes and helmets and we gathered data and put our results into pie graphs. The Bumblebees conducted their own surveys on helmet colors. 

A large component to our project based learning is learning to collect information that will spark questions and interests.  Just like in college, we had to read articles, etc. before starting on our writing assignments. We provide the students experiences which they make their own, whether they draw, take pictures with the camera, or construct a model.  At the same time, they are using observation skills that promote higher level thinking skills. Questions and investigations stem from these observations and they want to understand the "why" behind how things work.

This week, I have constructed a house and pulled out a big box to make a vehicle. Immediately, it was decided that it would be a mail truck.  We gathered keys from the Navigators room, and took a quick bus ride and noticed that we needed mirrors and buttons and sunroofs (even though we have a convertible!) This is based on their interests.  As we continue to learn about ourselves and our community, we will pay special attention to how the mail moves from one place to another. 

Motion is everywhere!  Signs on the road tell us how to move and we can do amazing things with our bodies.  As the year progresses, we hope to build on these concrete understandings as we move more abstract in our ideas.

Welcome to a New Year!

We are off to a .great start!  I have been busy getting to know our bumblebees and structuring my program around the their needs and interests.  Being small this year, each child gets lots of one-on-one instruction at their level.

To kick off our concept of "motion," we will begin by examining the world around us.  The bumblebees were eager to build a town that is always in motion with change. Over the next few weeks I am anxious to see where the interests lie and the questions that come up.

I hope to see you at Back to School night this Thursday.  I can better explain what we are working on and the direction I hope to lead your child in reading, writing and math. Below are a few snapshots of our first couple of weeks.

Our ongoing, ever changing community

Observing our neighborhood (did you know there's over a dozen stop signs in a 3 block radius??)

JF using non-standard measuring tools to find the length of the branch.

KF using Cuisenaire rods to make equations

MK using counters to write number stories with three addends

The smartboard provides fun interactive activities

Tillicum Village

Last week the Sharks boarded a boat bound for Blake Island.  Upon arrival, a delicious salmon lunch was prepared and the students were entertained by the Native American dancers and their masks (one weighed 55 pounds).  The Sharks loved exploring the island and finding the totem poles. Overall a successful day!