Ask Me About Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Today we talked about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  We watched a short video and talked about how he was a leader who tried to change what was unfair in our country.  We talked about segregation and how not all people were treated the same.  We will continue this discussion this week as we learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King and how he lead people to create change that is still happening today.  Ask me to tell you what I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We took a look at our mealworms today.  The mealworms we got two weeks ago are changing.  The mealworms are the larva of the darkling beetle.  Most of our mealworms have molted, and some have gone into the pupa stage of the life cycle.  Molting, larva and pupa are words we are working with in science.  Ask me to tell you what I noticed changing on our mealworms.

We had a great time in math today.  We are learning some new strategy games involving ten.  One game is called Tower of Ten.  The object of the game is to build the tallest tower of ten frames you can.  The players take turns rolling dice with ten frames on them.  They can take the piece that would help them complete a ten frame, trade a piece, or pass.  It's important with strategy games for students to play them many times to develop their own strategy so this is a game they will play often.  
The other game another group learned today is called I Sea 10!  This game has discs that are all turned face down at the beginning of the game.  Most of the discs have numbers on them, but some have sharks.  We play the game taking turns turning over the discs and leaving them face up.  As students take turns turning over the discs, any player can say "I see 10!" and pick up 2 or 3 discs that added together make ten.  This game can also be played just picking up 2 discs which would help them with addition facts for ten.  If they turn over a shark, they lose all the discs they have collected.  
Both these games are a lot of fun families would enjoy and can be purchased on Amazon, but the Ten Frame Tower game is a little expensive! 

I added a tab to our website.  I know it's so cold your children have probably been inside, and it looks like they made me inside a little longer with the possibility of a snowstorm this weekend.  So I have some fun, and some education, links under "Just for Kids."  I'll just warn you, don't get pulled into the HIghlights hidden pictures yourself.  I found myself spending a lot of time looking for pencils and apples instead of cleaning during the last cold, wintery weather we had last year.

Violet's mom e-mailed me about a great museum to visit.  The Renwick Gallery has reopened after a renovation with a great exhibit called Wonder!  Here's a link if you are interested in checking it out.  The Renwick is a nice size museum for visiting with little people, and this exhibit would really get them wondering, which is just what we want our little learners to do.  Check it out!

Most of this week we will be reviewing and finishing up assessments as we finish the first semester.  Homework will be a review of reading and spelling word wall words introduced so far, as well as math sites we have already visited.

Have a nice evening!
​Juliet