Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Butterfly…oh my!

Wow! Room 203 has been such a busy, fun place to be lately! We have started our living and non-living unit and the students are so eager to learn about the butterfly life cycle. Observing our caterpillars during our afternoon centers is by far the best part of our day! I just love seeing how genuinely excited the students are to observe with their magnifying glasses and write in their science journals.

            Our afternoon centers typically last for 30 minutes each day. The students can complete the assignments at their desks or in a quiet spot around our room. This week, we worked on the following activities:

1.      Butterfly Addition Roll and Write: The students must roll a dice and place counters on the butterfly work mat. Then, they must create a matching addition equation on the corresponding activity sheet.

 

2.      Butterfly Addition Craft: The students were tasked to decorate a butterfly template and add stickers to each wing. After decorating, they used the number of stickers to write an equation.

 

3.      Butterfly Observation Journals: The students act as scientists and observe our caterpillars with magnifying glasses. This center is definitely a class favorite!

 

 

4.      Living and Non-Living Sort: The students must use their new knowledge of living and non-living things to sort a variety of pictures. The tree is always the trickiest picture to sort. We are still working on understanding that although plants do not eat the same food as people, they still have their own food.

For a fun and informative butterfly game, check out: http://www.turtlediary.com/kindergarten-games/science-games/butterfly-life-cycle.html. The students do not even realize they’re learning!

 

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures from room 203!

To add or not to add…that is the question!

Addition is definitely my favorite math concept to teach in kindergarten! We really have so much fun! As with most of my math lessons, I love to introduce this unit through simple picture books. The books allow the students to make real-world connections and begin to grasp this new concept.

Over the past week, we have jumped head first into all things addition! We began our first lesson by reading “Animals on Board” by Stuart Murphy. As we read, we briefly discussed our new vocabulary: plus, equals, sum. After reading, the students enjoyed acting out our own addition problems. “There were 2 brown frogs and 3 green frogs sitting on a log. How many frogs were there in all?” As our friends were busy hopping around the classroom and acting out the problems, we worked hard to create an addition sentence on the white board. This activity is by far a class favorite! There’s just something about being silly AND solving math problems that makes for an afternoon of serious fun!

We also make a new friend during this math unit. Meet “Andy Addition,” our math pal who helps us remember our new vocabulary!

As we continue our unit on addition, the students will learn many different ways to answer a problem. From using their fingers to counting with manipulatives to writing an equation… we will be busy!

Next up on room 203’s agenda includes reading “One Fish, Two Fish” and using gold fish crackers to model our addition sentences. There’s so much learning on the horizon, I can barely stand it! J

Stay tuned for more of our exciting kindergarten adventures! In the meantime, check out this wonderful website for some exciting kindergarten math games: http://www.abcya.com/kindergarten_computers.htm