Math Fun

On a daily basis, we have been using ten-frames to help us gain an understanding of numbers as a structure of 5 and 10.  Ten-frames are an arrangement of 10 squares that are organized into two rows - five in each row.  Objects of choice are placed in the squares beginning at the top left corner allowing students to see groups of five and ten.    

Upon entering in the morning, students sign in by placing their mini-self portrait on the ten-frame.  As a class we will count the number of students at school.  Students began by counting each self-portrait individually.  Now many of the students are able to use the knowledge they have gained to see the ten-frame as a unit of 10!  They are realizing that two ten-frames added together make twenty, are counting on, adding and subtracting.  Those students who were/are counting the self-portraits individually are being challenged to shift their thinking and rather mentally manipulate the information.  These ten-frames have meaning to the students because they were excited to figure out how many friends were in our class each day. 

Beginning in January our ten-frames will not only be for signing in but will require students to answer a daily survey question.  Looking forward to seeing all the questions and answers we come up with!

Pizza 123 - Dramatic Play

The dramatic play area is often one of the most visited areas in our classroom.  We love to get creative with the students and co-create the space making it as authentic as possible.  During our conversation about the area we developed a list of possible ideas. Some of the ideas that students came up with were a doctors office, pizza shop, mini classroom, restaurant, toy shop, movie theatre and more.  After voting, the winning idea was to create a pizza shop!  So the planning began.  

Together we brainstormed names for our shop, items that would be found at a pizza shop, potential menu items, and jobs that would be needed to make the pizza shop run smoothly.  Many of the ideas required conversation to further develop and in some cases scale down to be more realistic.  Although we all love sprinkles and chocolate sauce they were not deemed the most practical pizza toppings!  

Through voting and tallying of our results “Pizza 123” was well underway.  We created signs, menus, felt pizza and pizza toppings, gathered beverages and set up the pizza shop with beautiful seating areas.  Order forms were created to take pizza orders and jobs were decided upon.  Students were so eager to begin playing!  Oral language was developing and we heard the shift from “What do you want?” to “Would you like to order some pizza?” or “Can I take your order, please?”  Taking turns and trying out different roles at the pizza shop was very difficult for some and we continue to work on teaching around this. 

  

Pizza 123 was a huge success!  Some SK students wanted to invite friends from other classes to visit (mainly or SK students from last year).  Well, how else do we do this but by writing a letter!!

A group of students took turns writing a letter and then shared it with the rest of the class.  As a class we went to photocopy the letter so we could send it out and welcome new customers.  

However, upon our return to the class we had an unexpected situation….

The health department had made a quick visit and it didn’t go well.  Pizza 123 was ordered to shut down.  Oh no!  The health department found a mess - food on the floor, a sink that was filled with items, pizza toppings all over the counter, milk cartons laying out on the tables.  Students had a mix of confusion, anger, and upset by the caution tape and red sign hanging. 

We discussed that we would need to strategize on Monday ways to reopen and obtain a green pass from the health inspector.  Hopefully this lesson will teach the students that cleaning up matters and taking a shared responsibility for our environment is important - and not only when prompted by an adult.  

We are eager to get back up and running and welcome new customers to Pizza 123!