Beginning Number Sense

This week we officially started our number sense journey. The first two weeks of school we worked on position words so students would be able to follow directions. This week we kicked off our study of numbers. We know that we will be practicing numbers for quite sometime because it's the foundation for future math skills! We began our study by discussing the difference between letters and numbers. The rest of the week we will be practicing numbers 1 and 2. Here are a few photos of the students working with a partner to sort letters VS. numbers.

Too Much Glue!

This week we read the story Too Much Glue. In the story, the character uses too much glue at school and gets tons of things stuck to him which turns him into a masterpiece! To practice using glue bottles we practiced gluing on dots. We used glue to trace our names and then covered them with sand. Today we made masterpiece t-shirts! The students colored their shirts and chose different objects to glue on their shirt. They did such beautiful work.

 The book, Too Much Glue.

The students sand names.

 The objects for gluing.

 The students choosing their objects.

 Such beautiful shirts!

Self Portraits

This was our first official week of school. We chose to read some "All About Me" books to encourage our students to feel good about themselves. We did two mini projects to go with our stories.  One day we did a shared writing titled: "I like my..." Each student then chose something about themself they liked best.  I took pictures of their favorite part (ex: teeth, hair, hands) and we made a class book called The Best Part of Me.

We also worked on self portraits. On Wednesday my co-teacher worked with the kids on using mirrors to look closely at their face. Each student used a mirror and made a sketch of their face. On Thursday they used multi cultural crayons to color their face and chose a background color. On Friday they used watercolors to paint their name which was a bonus because they also got to work on their fine motor skills.  I think our display turned out really nice!

 Our portrait wall.

 Some of our best part of me pictures.

 "I like my nose."

 "I like my lips."

 "I like my legs."

 "I like my hair."

 "I like my eyes."

 "I like my fingers."

"I like my teeth."

Our Classroom Design

I meant to post pictures sooner but with setting up and pre assessing students I forgot to take pictures! These are photos of our room after the first week of school.

One set of computers and we have started learning our colors.

 This is our block area. There are unit blocks as well as nature blocks and sticks.  Each area also has clipboards for students to plan on.

This is our science area. There are different items found in nature there right now as well as tools for the students to explore with.

This is our loose parts area. Right now we have different beads and gems along with pipe cleaners and sticks for the students to make different creations.

 

This is our math area. Right now we have sorting activities, basic counting activities and pattern blocks for the kids to try.

 This is our sensory table. Right now there are different noodles in the table and different size pans and measuring cups for the students to use.

This is our art area. We don't have our paints out yet but this is where the students will paint and draw.

 This is our play-dough area. Right now we have basic tools as well as letter and number cookie cutters.

This is our home living area which is currently set up as a kitchen.

This is our project and intervention table work space.

 This is our writing area. Right now we have basic writing tools, letter stamps and paper.

 This is our reading area. We have big books and ABC, number and back to school books on the shelves.

 This is our whole group carpet area where we learn and do calendar.

 This is our desk area.

 This is part of our carpet area too.