Birthday Cake

He is placing the candles on the cake.

She is busy adding the candles to her cake.

She is singing Happy Birthday.


At small group time each student was given a piece of play dough, rolling pin, and some crayons to use as candles. I started out by telling them that we are going to have a birthday party and they needed to help me make the birthday cake. The students then rolled our the play dough into their birthday cake and added the candles. We sang happy birthday and then the students blew out the candles. I had the student count the number of candles in their cake and asked if that was how old they were. Some students used the same number of candles as their age and others used more candles.

Content Area: Number Sense & Operations

Topics: Comparing & Ordering (Quantity) and Counting

Iowa Early Learning Standards: 11.1 - Comparison and Number

NAEYC: 2.F.02 - Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to build understanding of numbers, number names, and their relationship to object quantities and to symbols.

COR items:
B - Solving Problems With Materials
P - Singing
BB - Counting

Sorting Beads

At work time today one student picked out all of the gold beads to place onto her pipe cleaner. She told me, "I am finding all the gold ones." She then placed all the beads on her pipe cleaner and made it into a bracelet.

COR items:
S - Using Complex Patterns of Speech
Y - Sorting Attributes

Colors

She is placing her symbol in the pink row.


During planning time we are graphing the color of shirt we are wearing. Each student places their symbol on the graph next to the color that they are wearing. After they have placed their symbol on the graph they get to tell the teacher what their plan is. For example: I am going to go to the block area and build a house for the animals. At the end of the week I will have the student help me count the number of pink shirt, blue shirt, etc. to find out what color shirt we wore the most.

Content Area: Data Analysis

Topics: Interpreting & Applying, Organizing & Comparing, and Representing

COR items:
A - Making Choices and Plans
R - Using Vocabulary
S - Using Complex Patterns of Speech

Where Did You play?

There are 8 areas in our classroom.




All week long during recall time we graphed where we played. We placed a star on the graph at the area that we played.

Content Area: Data Analysis

Topics: Interpreting & Applying, Organizing & Comparing, and Representing

COR items:
BB - Counting
CC - Identifying Position and Direction

Alligator ABC

Here's a yummy M.

Whew, Glad it wasn't me.



During large group time each student gets a turn being the monkey in the tree. We then sing the rhyme:
One little monkey sitting in the tree.
Feeding the alligators ABC's.
Here's a yummy ______. Just as tasty as can be.
Snap.
Whew, Glad it wasn't me!

COR items:
V - Using letter names and sounds

How Far Can I Jump?

Picture of our graphs.

Measuring with the "feet."


During small group time we did a measurement activity. The students jumped from a starting line and then we measured how many "feet" they jumped. We had little, medium, and big feet. The students then marked how many "feet" they used to measure their jump on the graph.

Content Area: Measurement

Topics: Comparing & Ordering (Attributes), Unit, Organizing & Comparing, and Representing (Data Analysis)

COR:
L - Moving in Various Ways
Q - Listening to and Understanding Speech
AA - Comparing Properties
BB - Counting

NAEYC: 2.F.05 - Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that help them understand the concept of measurement by using standard and non-standard units of measurement.

Iowa Early Learning Standards: 11.6 - Measurement

Dot Cards and Motions

Counting the number of dots on the card.




Every day during Greeting time we count the number of dots on a card and then do a movement that number of times. For example: Touch your toes and count to 10, stand on one foot and count to 3, or 6 jumping jacks.

Content Area: Number Sense & Operations

Topic: Counting

COR items:
L - Moving in Various Ways
BB - Counting

Iowa Early Learning Standards: 11.1 - Comparison and Number

What's Your Favorite Book?

We went and saw the play There's An Alligator Under My Bed at the Rose Theater. The students really enjoyed it. We then talked about what our favorite part of the play was. There choices were: There's An Alligator Under My Bed, There's A Nightmare In My Closet, or There's Something in the Attic. Each student told me what their favorite one was and then they placed a picture of the book on the graph. We found out that 8 people like There's An Alligator Under My Bed, two people like There's A Nightmare In My Closet, and four people like There's Something in the Attic.

Content area: Number Sense

COR item:
E - Relating to Adults
S - Using Complex Patterns of Speech
BB - Counting

NAEYC: 2.F.02 - Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to build understanding of number, number names, and their relationship to object quantities and to symbols.

Iowa Early Learning Standard: 11.1 - Comparison and Number

Shape Caterpillars

During small group time the students were given 10 circle and 10 rectangles. We talked about each shape and that a rectangle has two long sides and two short sides. I then started a story such as: Once upon a time, there was a very small caterpillar. It was made of... (I then demonstrated a pattern of circles and rectangles). I then had them use their circles and rectangles to make a caterpillar.

Topics: Alternating Patterns and Shape

Content Area: Algebra

COR items:
B - Solving Problems With Materials
Q - Listening To and Understanding Speech
R - Using Vocabulary
S - Using Complex Patterns of Speech

NAEYC connection: 2.F.03 - Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to categorize by one or two attributes such as shape, size, and color.

Marshmallow Shapes

During small group time the students were given tooth picks and miniature marshmallows. The were asked to create different shapes. I demonstrated how to make both 2-D and 3-D shapes. While they were building I asked them questions about what they were making and how they were putting them together. The student's really enjoyed building with the marshmallows and toothpicks so we put them in the art area and they built with these materials for several weeks during our work time.

The topics covered are: Shape and Transformation

Content Area: Geometry

COR items:
B - Solving Problems with Materials
I - Making and Building Models
M - Moving with an Object
R - Using Vocabulary
S - Using Complex Patterns Of Speech

NAEYC connection: 2.F.06 - Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to understand basic concepts of geometry by, for example, naming and recognizing two- and three-dimensional shapes and recognizing how figures are composed of different shapes.

Basket Toss

During Small Group we did an activity Basket Toss. Each group got some bean bags to toss into a large basket. We then counted the number of bean bags that made it into the basket and the number that did not make it into the basket. We then documented the number on a chart. We talked about if more bean bags made it into the basket or onto the floor.

The topics covered: Comparing and Ordering (Quantity), Counting, Number Words and Symbols, and Representing (Data Analysis).

Content Area: Number Sense and Operations

COR items:
E - Relating to Adults
F - Relating To Other Children
M - Moving with Objects
BB - Counting
CC - Identifying Position and Direction

Shape Pictures

During small group we made shape pictures. We had yellow triangles, orange circles, and blue squares. We talked about the three shapes. How a triangle has three sides and a square has four sides. We also talked about if you turn a square on its point that it makes a diamond.
The students were given a large white sheet of paper, glue sticks, and shapes. They were asked to make something using the different shapes.

The topics covered are: Shape, Spatial Reasoning, and Transformation.

Content Area: Geometry

COR items:
B - Solving Problems with Materials
Q - Listening To and Understanding Speech
R - Using Vocabulary

NAEYC connection: 2.F.03 - Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to categorize by one or two attributes such as shape, size, and color.

Button Drop

We did the Math activity Button Drop. The activity took place during small group time. Each small group got 10 buttons and a large cup and a small cup. The students took turns dropping the buttons into the cup. We then counted the number of buttons that went into the cup and that missed the cup and documented the number on a chart. We talked about if more buttons made it into the cup or onto the floor and marked it on the chart.

The topics that it covered are: Comparing and Ordering (Quantity), Composing and Decomposing, Counting, Number Words and Symbols, and Representing (Data Analysis).
Content Area: Number Sense and Operations

COR items:
F - Relating to Other Children
R - Using Vocabulary
BB - Counting
NAEYC connection: 2.F.02 - Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to build understanding of numbers, number names, and their relationship to object quantities and to symbols.