Catching Up

I am sorry I am way behind in blogging! As a way to try to catch up, here are a lot of pictures from before the winter break. I will try to do better in 2018-- happy new year!

In math we've used this model called a "number tree" a lot to help us see parts and the whole (total goes on top and the parts down the branches).

We used our number racks a lot. We found so many different ways a number could be represented, using one or both rows. The number racks have a total of 10 red and 10 white beads. Students have to subitize (see and recognize quickly rather than count) groups of 5 and 10 to quickly build or know a quantity shown.

We played a game 50 or Bust a number of times (and it is still in rotation as a Workplace game).

We made mkekas (em-KAY-kuhs), woven Kwanzaa mats. The weaving was challenging and highly engaging!

We enjoyed a tradition of Hanukkah by playing dreidel. The students loved this game. We also saw how to make latkes and got to sample them with applesauce and sour cream!

We read three versions of The Night Before Christmas, and wrote about which one was our favorite-- our first experiences with paragraphs and with opinion writing.

We've been working so hard on strategies for reading nonfiction, and we are getting smart about a lot of topics during reading time.