We love to celebrate in Kindergarten. Birthdays, holidays, people, successful work, ANYTHING! I love a good excuse to have some fun and learn in the process. Well, we have been doing a LOT of that in the past few weeks!
The kids have been working so hard in math. We have been learning all about what it means to measure. We had a huge discussion at the beginning of this unit a few weeks ago about what we already knew about measurement. I love to let the kids explore and discuss freely. This gives the students a chance to really think critically about the given topic and to truly investigate the concept. Our Singapore math program really pushes the kids to come up with these realizations on their own rather than the teacher telling the information. The concept truly sticks with them this way.
The conversation started flowing.
"I know that you can measure how tall you are!"
"Yeah! Like at the doctor's office!"
"You can measure snow!"
"What about those things? (pointing to the scales) They measure how big you are."
I then pulled out a huge bucket full of different sized objects. I told them I wanted to measure how tall the object was (referencing the student who told about the doctor's office) & that I wanted to put them in order from shortest to tallest. I asked them how we could do this. Some kids said to stack the stuff on top of each other. Others suggested putting them in a line on top of each other. We discussed why these options wouldn't work & why. I kept bringing up the doctor's office idea & asked how they measure people. They mentioned the scale you stand on and also the "thing" that they put on top of your head to see how tall you are :) They then realized that you had to be up against something, like a wall, when they measured how tall you were. I asked the question of why that was so important. Why did they place you there? Some interesting answers were given but they finally came to the realization that it was to get the best, most accurate, measurement.
Then, the light bulbs started going off. The kids were telling me we should put all of the items next to each other to see which one was taller/shorter. At first, they just wanted to place them on the rug, not paying attention to where on the rug they were placed. I kept asking why that wouldn't give us the best measurement (again, referencing the doctor's office & how they place you against a wall). More light bulbs went off. They wanted to stand the objects up against the wall. However, they soon realized that a lot of the objects wouldn't stand on their own. More and more ideas were given until someone noted that there was a line on the rug we could use. YES!!! We talked about why this was so important (multiple kids said because if we didn't use the line then we would think something was taller than another object that wasn't really taller - they needed the line to have a base, like the floor at the doctor's office) They then each got a turn to come up & decide where the next object should go on the line. It was a long process but one that they did ALL by themselves. It was such a cool conversation to be a part of because THEY were coming up with these ideas on their own based off of what they already knew from their own life experiences.
The kids have been working so hard in math. We have been learning all about what it means to measure. We had a huge discussion at the beginning of this unit a few weeks ago about what we already knew about measurement. I love to let the kids explore and discuss freely. This gives the students a chance to really think critically about the given topic and to truly investigate the concept. Our Singapore math program really pushes the kids to come up with these realizations on their own rather than the teacher telling the information. The concept truly sticks with them this way.
The conversation started flowing.
"I know that you can measure how tall you are!"
"Yeah! Like at the doctor's office!"
"You can measure snow!"
"What about those things? (pointing to the scales) They measure how big you are."
I then pulled out a huge bucket full of different sized objects. I told them I wanted to measure how tall the object was (referencing the student who told about the doctor's office) & that I wanted to put them in order from shortest to tallest. I asked them how we could do this. Some kids said to stack the stuff on top of each other. Others suggested putting them in a line on top of each other. We discussed why these options wouldn't work & why. I kept bringing up the doctor's office idea & asked how they measure people. They mentioned the scale you stand on and also the "thing" that they put on top of your head to see how tall you are :) They then realized that you had to be up against something, like a wall, when they measured how tall you were. I asked the question of why that was so important. Why did they place you there? Some interesting answers were given but they finally came to the realization that it was to get the best, most accurate, measurement.
Then, the light bulbs started going off. The kids were telling me we should put all of the items next to each other to see which one was taller/shorter. At first, they just wanted to place them on the rug, not paying attention to where on the rug they were placed. I kept asking why that wouldn't give us the best measurement (again, referencing the doctor's office & how they place you against a wall). More light bulbs went off. They wanted to stand the objects up against the wall. However, they soon realized that a lot of the objects wouldn't stand on their own. More and more ideas were given until someone noted that there was a line on the rug we could use. YES!!! We talked about why this was so important (multiple kids said because if we didn't use the line then we would think something was taller than another object that wasn't really taller - they needed the line to have a base, like the floor at the doctor's office) They then each got a turn to come up & decide where the next object should go on the line. It was a long process but one that they did ALL by themselves. It was such a cool conversation to be a part of because THEY were coming up with these ideas on their own based off of what they already knew from their own life experiences.
Fast forward a few days later & we had the chance to celebrate Native Americans! We learned all about the tribes, Squanto, the pilgrims, the Mayflower, the Atlantic Ocean, England, and North America. We read a fantastic book called Thanksgiving is.... by Gail Gibbons. The kids found out that what life was like back then was nothing like it is today. We discussed the type of boat that the Mayflower was (nothing like the fun Disney cruises we go on :) ), what ocean they sailed on, where they came from & why they wanted to come to North America. They had a blast making papooses for their babies, arrows & quivers, "Buffalo Hide" vests full of different symbols, & headdresses.
The fun didn't stop there! The very next day we were able to celebrate Pilgrim Day! The kids made "log cabins", wrote with ink & a quill, played Jacks & Tops, weaved placemats, made butter, & even learned what kinds of chores the pilgrim children had to do. They were also given a "Passport" where they had their very own pilgrim name & different destinations they had to "stamp." After all the fun, we listened to an amazing read aloud called Stone Soup & we made some of our very own in our crockpot. We had an absolute blast!