Happy Hallowe'en!

Hope you have a happy Hallowe'n!

Pumpkin Seed Count

We counted our pumpkin seeds this afternoon with some very interesting results!  Students predicted that the biggest pumpkin would have the most seeds and they were right!  The interesting part was that the largest pumpkin had only 4 more seeds than the smallest pumpkin!  The students put pumpkin seeds on ten frame sheets (100 seeds on each page) to help make the counting easier.
Here are the final results:

1. Large pumpkin:  396 seeds

2.  Medium Pumpkin #1:  213 seeds


3.  Medium Pumpkin #2:  365 seeds

4.  Small  Pumpkin:  392 seeds!!

Pumpkin Carving!

This afternoon we worked in groups to cut and carve our pumpkins! (I did the cutting and the students pulled out the seeds and slimy stuff.) We predicted which pumpkin would have the most seeds.  Tomorrow we will count the seeds by putting them into groups of ten on ten frames and see whose predictions were correct! 
After all the seeds were collected, students drew faces on their pumpkins and I cut them out (see last picture).

Pumpkins and Math Practice

Yesterday we had a drawing lesson on pumpkins in Art.  The students used oil pastels to color their pumpkins.  Even though everyone had the same instructions, it is interesting to see how all the pumpkins are special and unique in their own way!

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by during the last two months.  Report cards will be going out shortly (November 10) and I will be doing a lot of assessing during the next two weeks.  Here are some things you can be doing at home to help your child practice skills and concepts we have been working on in class:

• Math - counting forwards and backwards to 20 (starting at different numbers - e.g. start at 7 and count forwards to 19, start at 17 and count backwards to 5), writing numbers to 20, reading number words to 20, filling in the missing number in a counting sequence, showing numbers in different ways (8 can be 5 and 3 or 4 and 4), identifying how many on a ten frame or in a collection of dots without counting (see past post for youtube video link to practice this).
• Language Arts - reading stories and sentences with all our "heart" (sight) words, reading and spelling simple 3 letters words with short vowel sounds that belong to the word families we've learned (-at, -ot, -it, -ap, -an, -og)

Tomorrow we will be cutting open several different pumpkins.  The next day we will count seeds to see which pumpkin has the most seeds!  If you have any pumpkin tools (for scraping out the seeds), please send them to school tomorrow.  Please label your tools.  I will provide the knives.

I apologize for the error on the Halloween note that was sent home last week.  Our Halloween activities will take place on Monday, October 31, not Friday!

Thanks!

Ways to Make Ten

Yesterday we read a story called Mouse Count. (Ask your child to retell the story to you!)  We used the book as a springboard to explore all the ways that we can show 10 in two groups.  The students discovered that there are 11 different ways we can make 10!  (0 and 10, 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 6, etc.)  We used cubes to represent the mice, a plastic cup to represent the jar and green paper to represent the grass.  Students worked with a partner to see how many different ways they could show mice in the grass and mice in the jar (like the story).  Here are a few pictures of them at work:

Margy Reid Author Visit

This morning we were very fortunate to have a local author come and visit our school.  Margy Reid read two of her published books:  Lexi's Magic Clothes and A Crazy Day.

 Students really enjoyed both of her books! 

A few other bits of information:

• Today your child is bringing home their "Heart word" booklet (sight words).  Please have him/her read the words and sentences for extra practice.  I will be assessing each student's sight word recognition this week. A green sheet will come home tomorrow with the words and sentences for Lesson 3.
• Students will be bringing home two notes tomorrow.  The orange note tells about our Hallowe'en activities on October 31.  The yellow note asks for your help with a writing activity that we are working on at school.

Math Information

One of the learning outcomes in math for our Numbers unit is that students are able to recognize (at a glance) familiar arrangements of 1 to 10 objects, dots or pictures.  This skill is called "subitizing".  For example, a child who is subitizing can instantly tell how many dots are on a die without counting.  Subitizing helps a child form mental pictures of numbers and to realize that a number can be represented in many ways.  The ability to see the components of numbers and the relations between numbers will help children develop addition strategies and  learn and remember basic facts later on in the year.

In class, we use "dot cards", "ten frames" and games using dice to practice this skill. 

Here are some good websites with similar activities that your child can do at home to practice these skills

This first website helps students recognize how many counters are on the ten frames.  We have practiced this at school and students know how to do the first 3 activities (we'll do the adding one later on in the year).
http://illuminations.nctm.org/activitydetail.aspx?id=75

These next two websites are videos that help to practice instant recognition of ten frames and dot cards.

Practice identifying the numbers before they disappear!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRR9LK3zfho&feature=related

Practice number recognition with these dot cards with numbers 1-10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRv5SYlaufY&feature=related

Hope these are helpful!

First Week of October

We have had another busy week! We painted fish, turkeys and started new units in Math and Science. In Science we are learning about Characteristics and Needs of Living Things. Today we sorted pictures of animals into groups (mammals, fish, birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians).
Our new unit in Math is all about numbers to 20. We spent the last two days learning how to read number words from zero to ten. We played a game of Memory (see pictures in slideshow below). You can play this at home too! We've also been trying really hard to form numerals correctly.
I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Please remember to listen to your child read their little book and the poem called "Five Little Turkeys".
Enjoy the pictures below!

Picture slideshow made with Smilebox

The Finished Product!

Here are the pictures of our fish - outlined and framed!  See if you can find your child's picture!

Our First Paintings!

Today we made our first paintings! We learned about primary and secondary colors. Students were given "palettes" of blue, yellow and red paint and used these colors to make secondary colors. Ask your child to tell you what primary colors make orange, green and purple. (There are a few students who didn't get their pictures in the slideshow below - my camera battery died just before I could take the last pages. My apologies!)

This digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox