Our first Thursday in the woods!

Today was our first morning in the woods!  We started with a meeting at the 'famous' Chestnut Tree, which one Burlington's Awesome Tree Contest last year for being so rare.  Today I read the book A Log's Life by Wendy Pfeffer at our woods meeting and talked about how logs our both shelter and food for animals.  Kindergarteners then had time to explore and found slugs, chipmunk holes and mushrooms!

We also had Music, PE and learned a new math game: Garbage.

Playing Garbage 

2 players use 1 deck of playing cardsA-10 are in playJokers are Wild CardsKings and Queens are Garbage which means your turn is over!3 players or more use 2 decks of playing cards

1) Dealing:

Shuffle, then deal each player 10 cards face down, no looking!Like this (it looks like a ten frame!):

The remaining deck is placed in the middle.The point of the game is to line up your cards from Ace (1) through 10 before you opponents do.

2) Playing:

The first player draws a card from the center deck.  If it’s an Ace through a 10, place that card in its correct location.  For all remaining turns, each player chooses from the deck or the discard pile.Example: In this photo, I drew a 2, so I am flipping up the card in the 2 position…..

Whatever card you flip, may also be played!  I just flipped a 3 that I can use as well in the 3 position… 

Jacks are wild and may be played anywhere in your hand at any time.You keep flipping cards like this until you get a number you cannot use, then discard and your turn is over.

Example: Under the 3 position was an 8 I didn’t need because it was already filled with a flipped 8, so I discarded it and my turn was over. 

If you flip over a King or Queen you have "Garbage," your turn is over and the card goes in the discard pile.

3) Winning A Round:When a player has assembled all cards Ace through 10 in front of her, she wins that Round.

Remember, you can win with Wild Cards in place too! 

I read the big book Mrs. Wishy-Washy twice and Kindergartners helped me read it the second time around.  I then talked about how sometimes readers write about what they read and we wrote what about what happened first in Mrs. Wishy-Washy.