Introducing. . .the number line!

It was a very short week with the children this week because of conferences.  Conferences were great, thankful for your insightful comments and the commitment you have made to your child's education.  Together, we make a good team!

We still managed to get lots of work done this week.  As always, math is big in the Ladybug room.  Today we started using our giant number line to do addition.  The kids loved it.  We continue to work on patterns, one to one correspondence, attributes and number recognition.

The children are working on the Winter Program during the Performing Arts specialist time.  I expect to hear beautiful music at the program!

Seeds, seeds, seeds

Sunflower seeds for the birds

investigating the inside of the pumpkin

Mrs. Van was reading us a very riveting book during our collaborative time.

after the story, we wrote and illustrated our own stories about water

marble painting is just really fun!

Last week, we thoroughly  invested the sunflowers we had in the room.  We used tweezers to pull the seeds out, we looked at them with magnifying glasses and then this week, we put the seeds in the garden for the birds to enjoy.  Maybe we'll even get a new sunflower in the garden for next fall!

The pumpkins from the pumpkin patch also gave us many opportunities for math activities.  We estimated how many seeds we thought might be in our pumpkin, then we all took a turn counting the seeds and then we added all our counts together for a final seed count.  For the record, there were 210 seeds in the pumpkin.  Two of our friends estimated 200!  They were very close.

Pumpkin Patch

The pumpkin patch is always a fun experience in the pre-k class.  We were lucky with the weather and had a wonderful time exploring the farms and animals there.  The pumpkin fun doesn't end with the field trip, we use the pumpkins for math exploration and science.

We experience math in many different ways in our classroom.  We make patterns using shapes, colors and sizes.  We count pumpkin seeds, measure pumpkins using tapes measures and unifix cubes,  count the lines on the pumpkin and weigh the pumpkin.  We use pattern blocks to explore geometric shapes.  

Designing for the future

Every year, the Early Learning Division chooses a an over-arching concept through which we view the curriculum.  This year (and last) we are using "Interactions" as our concept.   We talk about how we interact as a family, a class and a school.  We also use this "lens" to talk about other types of interactions.  This trimester we are learning about transportation when we get together with the kindergarten and first grade classes.  We are exploring different types of transportation and how transportation affects our community.  This past week the kids were designing a mode of transportation that could use two different ways of moving.  Some children made vehicles that went in the water and on the ground, others drew vehicles that went on the ground and in the air.  We are working toward an understanding of how different types of vehicles function and what their uses are and why we need them.  Check out these interview from some of our Ladybugs about their vehicles.

Enjoying the sun at school!

Field trip to see "The Cat in the Hat"

field trips are exhausting!

working on math concepts, writing and solving equations

making observations in the neighborhood and recording them using tally marks

celebrating the fall harvest of apples

the apples were peeled

and cut up

then added to the muffins we made

when we were finished with the peeling process, we stretched out the peels to find the longest and shortest ones!

The opportunities for learning and exploring are endless in the Ladybug room.  This week we attended a performance at the Seattle Children's Theater to see "Cat in the Hat".  The children were wide eyed through the whole performance.   We also spend some time working with apples.  We graphed our favorite kinds, looked at the star and the seeds in the core, peeled them and compared the length of the peels and finally made apple muffins to go with our lunch.

In math, we used dominoes to start writing addition equations.  Later in the week, the children made survey charts and then we went for a walk in the neighborhood and recorded our observations using tally marks.

Snake Lake

checking out the pond critters that live at Snake Lake

this toad really wanted to get up close and personal with our Ladybugs!

our first field trip on the bus

designing a new mode of transportation using geometric shapes

putting the design on paper

Another busy week in the Ladybugs!   We visited the nature preserve at Snake Lake and learned about the animals and birds that live there.  It was our first trip on the school bus this year and that was pretty exciting too!  We wrote two class books this week and during our collaborative learning time, we designed vehicles using geometric shapes.

Wacky wheels and other adventures!

graphing our wheels

could this be any more fun?

brothers working together on the road map

One of our Ladybugs is on the cross country team!

During our collaborative learning time with the Superstars and Sharks, we have been learning about different modes of transportation.  We have been comparing and contrasting transportation with wheels, wings, feet and those used in water.  We have been sorting and tallying, drawing plans for airports, roads and port docks.  We have been talking about rules that govern roads, waterways and airports; why we needs these rules and what kinds of signs are used to remind us of the rules.  Wacky wheel day was a fun way to have the children work together to make the rules, draw the road and add tally marks as we graphed what kinds of wheels came to school that day.