Ten Black Dots Sparks a LOT... of creativity!

This book is an inspiration! It's about numbers! It's about rhyming! It's about imagining and inspiring! And kids took off making their own visions come to life on paper this week. Check out the pictures below.

 

Rosie's Walk: Literacy Math & More

We are wrapping up Unit 4 with a little Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins. Little did we know how much our kids would LOVE Rosie the Hen (um...rooster?). Regardless of her official animal classification, the kids loved engaging in SHARED WRITING and MATH GAMES.

 

Check out some of the instructional learning our kids did this past week!

Mrs. Sibley's and Mrs. Bratcher's Rhyme Makers.
Saying, Sorting, and Writing Rhyming Words.
 



Loving Rosie's Walk board game. These little boys LOVED getting stuck in the bees. AHHHH!
With subitizing, counting, and one-to-one ...not to mention comprehension of what happened to Rosie on her walk, this game was a WINNER!

 There are two components of subitizing; conceptual and perceptual. Perceptual subitizing is the instant visual recognition of a pattern such as the dots on a die. Conceptual subitizing is recognizing smaller groups and adding them together, such as two dots plus two dots equals four dots.

Building log cabins? Constructing a General Store? Making Rosie's Hen House?  Regardless of the structure, these young engineers are using their measurement, weight, and balancing understandings to make something from 'nothing." 

Letter and letters. Communicating with others is
what it's all about, right?

Putting letter learning to use! Sounding out
I   LV   U is one message worth searching for- I bet Mom would agree. :) 



Shared writing with Rosie's Walk.



Making Stories with 5+ word Sentences!

Ms. Cheek's literacy love is enjoying some time playing with letters in the literacy center!

Unit 4 Week 1 Learning and Fun

From Making Numbers to Making Campfires (like life long ago) Fun, kids at OCP are learning and playing with important concepts. Check out what is happening in some of your colleagues' rooms this week. What can we add to show off your learning and fun with Unit 4?

Making 5...or 7...or 10. It's all about differentiating to grow each learners' understanding of numeracy.

Campfires bring to life the "ways of long ago". These campers were fixing a lantern that "burnt out" and were just about to tell "Once Upon a Time" stories by their "cozy, warm campfire".

How would you break apart the sounds in this word- pat? /p/ /a/ /t/. Yes, let's move the chip each time we say a sound!

Oreos are fun to work with as we make 5. Too bad she couldn't eat them!

Blending sounds. Here are two pictures, what word am I saying? /c/ /a/ t/- Points to the cat. Says "cat".

Making 5 three different ways with beads and glue. Notice the fine motor skills being developed. Oh, and each wrote their very own name on the back. :)

Valentine's Day as the Hook for Math & Literacy Learning

It would not take but a second for anyone to walk into Oldham County Preschool and know that it's nearing Valentine's Day. But stay a minute longer and you will see that it's not all "Hearts and Fluff" when it comes to meaningful learning for our students.
 
Teachers took this week to consider their TSG math and literacy data and create meaningful learning experiences for their individual classes. Notice the needs being met in the small group learning experiences below.
 
 

Mrs. Honeycutt's kids are working on fine-motor skills by cutting Valentine's and writing messages to loved ones.  Whether she supports the child sounding out letters, or offers to trace students' requested words, there is a lot of literacy going on in this center!
 

 

Ms. Prather supports her student as he places 4 hearts in graduated order. She is then taking data to ensure that she is tracking the students' successes and areas to revisit with additional instructional.



 


Mrs. Bratcher supports students in making I LOVE YOU Valentine cookies. Students match letters to print and then bake their cookies in the play oven. Mrs. Bratcher then requests certain letters she would "love to eat!"







This friend in Mrs. Ziegler's room is matching right quantity of tiny hearts to the numeral on the big heart.



 

 

Mrs. Ziegler facilitates her group as they cut and create Valentine cards for loved ones. He could not wait to show off his I "heart" u" card that will go home to his mom.

Who does not love chocolate?  Mrs. Clark introduces her small group to a letter matching came. Just match the Upper Case letter to the Lower Case letter and WooHoo you've made a yummy chocolate match!



Mrs. Legg set up her friend with a number and dot matching game. Practicing matching Valentine hearts to the numeral and quantity is key for our little mathematicians.



Mrs. Sibley joins in the fun of matching heart halves. Her students work to make a complete heart by matching the numeral to the right quantity.

Ms. Cheek's student designs a work of art with Name Sticks. Alyssa is very much enjoying writing her name and designing where she would like to place her sticks. (They were in different places just moments before). Revision is key. Let's celebrate her creativity.

 

 
 
 

Win-Win: Infusing Rhyming and Positively Impact Behavior

Struggling to get your gaggle in a line to walk down the hall? 
Feeling like your kids are not as adept at rhyming as you know they need to be?
The struggle is real.


Check out these great Line Up Songs from Ms. Jones' Room (.com)

 

 

 

A Peek Inside of OCS Classrooms: Unit 3 in Action

At Oldham County Preschool students are Exploring Habitats.
Check out these photos of teachers and students making the curriculum come alive!

Mrs.Honeycutt models how to draw their favorite play experience of the day.
At the end of the learning-based play, students will take a few minutes to represent their literacy experience.

Mrs. Honeycutt adds words (her name and what she did) to her drawing- sounding out letters to make words.

These eager learners chose the center where they could begin to draw something they loved from yesterday! After this photo was snapped, this young man decided to add his name and the friend's name to his drawing!

Sometimes animals get hurt in their habitat and kind people take them to the vet. Whether it's the farm animal, rabbit from the woods, or pet lizard, these animal clinic works are here to help! We have receptionists, veterinarians, and nurses at the ready! 

Going to the vet does not happen free of charge. This friend is paying for his visit and making sure to get a receipt for the services provided to his animal.

Farm games are super fun! Counting animals to put into the barn provides a meaningful context for integrating math with the habitats. Notice the dot cards, numeral cards, as well as physical (concrete) objects.

The desert is an interesting habitat, and even more fun when put into a rhyming text. Students in Ms. Prather's room could not get enough of this engaging and informative book about desert animals.

Name Games: Initial Sounds and Extensions

We all know the importance of a learner's ability to say, recognize, and write his or her name. Studies 

http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/pdf/GK-1/P_Final_Part2.pdf

have shown over and over again the power of using a child's name as a building block, or motivation, for meaningful context for sound and letter learning. We often expose students to their name by asking them to say in a morning greeting, sin-in on a play plan, posting it on cubbies, having students place it in the play-based learning center of their choice, or write it on their artwork or writing. But...how often do we intentionally incorporate it into the learning experiences that build additional letter and sound correspondence? What if we played games with names? 

• Rhyming games
• Beginning letter sound games
• Silly word games

While I would never suggest only focusing literacy on students' names, I do think there is a time and place for "playing with and learning" from students' names. Below is one example of a quick game that could be setup in a play center for students to interact with during center time. Maybe they start with their own name, but my hunch is that some will want to work with friend's names, too. 

Idea #1:Have magazines handy for picture gathering, or have a variety of pictures cut out and placed to in envelopes so you could reuse them again and again- no gluing needed here. 

Idea #2: Adhere pictures to magnets  and place on your marker board. Let the students place  their name card, or write their names right on the board. They would then pull down the pictures that begin with the same sound as their names. Snap a quick photo for assessment and you've got data!

Idea #3: Have students write their names and draw pictures of things that begin with the same sound as their name. You could have them dream up the objects, or look "sound hunt" around the room for objects that begin with the same sound. (Sarah- sandpaper, scissors, etc.)

What is your idea? Please share it below!

http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/pdf/GK-1/P_Final_Part2.pdf