The Week

The Week:

Family Volunteers- an integral part of our classroom.  Sigh.

More family- bringing in Grandpa for "sharing".  Warm fuzzy.

Math Workplace Collaboration.  Pride.

He swore there was logic ... Hmm.

More Math Workplace Activity

Collaborative Engineering.  Future.

Buddy Read- these two have been eagerly hooking up all of this week for Buddy Read.  Joy.

Word Work- Broke out the Banana Grams.  Focus.

More Word Work- part of our Daily 5.  Independence.

Love.

A fabulous morning at Hubbard Park!

-Thank you for the firewood, the fire tending, the cold hand warming, and the snacks.

21st Century Thinkers

Collaboration
(scroll down for more photos)

Hi Folks-

I've been dying to share with you some of the math thinking that's been going on in our class.  Your children never cease to amaze me with curiosity, diverse ways of thinking and seeing, and their ability to express this in so many ways.

Due to a number of scheduled pre-Thanksgiving events  our regularly scheduled "Math Work Places" had been postponed a number of times.  Let's just say, the children were NOT HAPPY!  When we finally had a day with no changes in our routine, I gave them  extra Math Work Place time.  Interestingly, I found that the longer they had, the better able they were to really immerse themselves into what they were doing.  Honestly, after an hour, they didn't want to stop and they couldn't have been more eager to share their "math thinking."  When we shared our thinking and discoveries at the end of the session at the carpet, it was the longest time that the children had sat completely and fully engaged in everyone's sharing.  Heart swell.

We've been working on "Showing Your Thinking" in math, both in writing and orally. Here are a couple of quotes from my soon to be engineers, architects, neurologists, actuaries, and  computer programmers:

B: while building with polydrons (which he does EVERY DAY), "I noticed that the structure I built looks like it has more sides, but when I traced it, it was only four sides.  Like a square.  I also noticed a repeating pattern in the crown I made.  It was sets of three."

Y and E:  "We were adding and estimating what the answers would be. We weren't always close."

A:  " I built a structure with dominoes and tried to estimate how many dots were in my structure. It was hard.  I lost count.  I think I might group them next time."

D:  "I showed that there are a lot of ways to make the number 15.  I added and subtracted."

N:  "Mrs. F, the secret to stacking these dominoes is balance."

This is only a smattering of what they shared and were excited about .  They slay me...

Enjoy the pictures from previous Math Workplace sessions:

Ownership

Pride

My girls have been erecting "fairy castles"

Symmetry

Beauty and Simplicity

A budding architect

ECO Trip II

What a day!

Today took our maiden voyage to Hubbard Park.  Everything about the day was fantastic:  parent support, the walk to and from, the learning, the bagels, the games, our ECO instructors, and...  WE HAD FUN!

Said goodbye to our Vermont Animal Nature Names and explored the woods searching for our new names.  This year's focus is on Vermont Bugs.  We've got quite the range.  Everything from spittle bugs to cercropia moths.  Oh, and no major slip and falls this time... Enjoy!

We get into the zone with drumming and music

She sings like an angel

Our new ECO friend, Ken

Circling up and listening for directions for playing "Ants on a Log"

Zack and "Sir"

We shared our new bug names with the "talking stick"

L-O-V-E this little "dragon fly"

I've WAY more photos but my computer keeps telling me all my space is used up and it won't let me post anymore.

Aniket??  Aniket??

The Maiden ECO Trip, Math Exploration, and Fire Prevention (a week or two in pictures)

ECO

What a great trip to Harrison Field (with the exception of a colossal wipe out*). We marched off to Harrison Field with Lindsay and Zack for some predator games and self portraits made from river clay, leaves, seeds, galls, and flower petals.  Before our trip we had a class meeting about our 3 CARES:  Self, Others, Nature and how to be safe (they seemed to get stuck for a little while on "the no stick" rule.  We then shared our favorite animals.  They ran the gamut from cheetahs to kittens, great white sharks to "my dog Leia."   For our next trip (on the 26th), we'll be venturing off to Hubbard Park...

Somebody noticed that her outfit matched the foliage

Zack and Lindsay explain how to play our predator game

And they're off!

Planning our escape

And we're off again

*The colossal wipe out (look at their faces)

Priceless...

We've got a great parent community

Beauty

Engagement

Wonder

Team work

Self Portraits

Group Exploration

Collecting our materials

Creativity

Add caption

Looks just like him!

Symmetry

Herding Cats!

Silly