Sorting

Yesterday in math we combined classes with Mrs. DeLorbe. She teaches a 6th age math group as well. We talked about sorting. There are many ways to sort- by color, shape, size, touch, sound! We used smores goldfish and animal crackers for this sorting project. First we sorted by color, then shape, then size. It was fun working with new friends in math!

Summer Reading challenge

Each summer the faculty completes required school reading. This summer there were two choices- Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax, M.D., PhD. as well as Girls Will Be Girls written by Joann Deak. Both were fabulous reads, with insightful information regarding childhood growth and development.
In the boys book, I walked away with a ton of valuable information. Sax explains the need for young children to have play time included in their daily regimen. He also explains that most often boys will gravitate towards play that requires building, while girls will gravitate towards games that include coloring and cutting. I thought it would be interesting to break this norm! Every morning the children are allotted playtime after a small project has been completed. This playtime is pretty unstructured, allowing for the children to float between groups and choose their own games. This Friday, however, I told the children that during this playtime the boys would need to do the following: stencil, color, cut, or play with dolls; and vise-versa the girls would need to play with legos or build with blocks. Some of my students were EXTREMELY SKEPTICAL! But let's be honest- if I did not schedule playtime in these areas- the boys/girls may never utilize them! All I have to say is...the students did an absolutely superb job in each area. I witnessed boys stenciling works of art! I witnessed girls building tall towers! YAY, 6D!

Smartboard and Estimation

Today in math we used the Smartboard! We completed a dot-to-dot from 1-50! A clue revealed that the dot-to-dot image would show a shark's friend. Our first thought was that the friend would be an octopus...


...and we guessed correctly!
The second game we played was a fish counting game.

We estimated today in math as well. Our estimation was Twizzlers! Two friends guessed exactly with 13! Afterwards we were able to each eat a Twizzler.


Here is another photo of a friend extending a geoboard pattern!

Photo of Your Family

Sharing is a special time in 6D! If it is our turn to share, we are allowed to sit in the rocking chair and wear a special crown. If we are listening to a friend share, we make sure to sit quietly in a circle on the rug- crisscross applesauce, eyes opened, ears opened, lips closed. Here is a photo of a friend sharing a photo of his family.

Patterns!

In math we talked about patterns! We used our bodies to make patterns: one friend stood tall while the next person squatted. This is called an AB pattern. We continued this pattern until everyone in the room was sitting or squatting. Next we made sound patterns in an ABB pattern. At the end of class we extended patterns using geo boards and rubber bands! This was a challenging activity but we did a nice job! Look at the picture card with the pink outline- this was our initial guide before we extended the pattern.

Listen, Listen, loud and clear!

We have been learning our color words in reading. Yesterday we colored in a color word rainbow! Look at our works of art!

Today we played a game where we had to listen for the beginning sound in a word. First we chose an object from a magic hat. After the object was in our hands we recited this jingle: Listen, listen- loud and clear- what's the first sound that you hear? Then we had to produce the beginning sound of this object. For example, if we chose a fish from the magic hat, we had to produce the F sound. At the end of the game, we paired with a friend whose object had the same beginning sound:

ribbon and rock

plate and paint

domino and doll

book, bandana, balloon, and block

tape and toothpick

6th Age Math

Today was our first ESTIMATION FRIDAY! We learned how to estimate using our eyes, instead of counting with our fingers. Our first estimation objects were cubes. The student with the closest estimation gets a photo taken of them on the blog each week. This friend ESTIMATED EXACTLY- her estimate was 30. Stay tuned for more estimations each week!