A New Math Game: Garbage!

Today during Math I introduced a card game that was new to most members of our class: Garbage (you may also call it "trash").  It was quite a hit and I was asked to keep playing it all day.  I thought that I would share the rules in case your child wants to play at home (or you are wondering what they are talking about...)!  

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… Jokers 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! 

A Rainy Tuesday

We began our day with Writer's Workshop and listened to the book A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen for inspiration.  The little boy in the story wants to write words like his big sisters but he tells her there's a problem.  He knows letters but he doesn't know any words!  His sisters encourages him to start with a letters and he is able to create an amazing story!

Kindergarten writers are really working hard and beginning to think about adding words to their stories just like the boy in this book!

During Math we continued work on 1 less playing a game with a partner where a dice was rolled and students said the number that was one less. 

Our read aloud today was Todd Parr's The Earth Book and Kindergarten shared ways that they can help to protect our Earth!  During Reader's Workshop we have also been focusing on matching words that begin with the same initial sound.  One of our favorite ways to do this is through a Bingo matching game.

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week and Thanksgiving if your family celebrates.  Today was a wonderful Monday in Kindergarten.  We began our day by talking about what we notice about the illustrations in Todd Parr's books.  Kindergarten noticed that Parr uses bright colors and does the outline of his pictures in black.  We used this as inspiration for some art work this morning during Play.

During Math we worked on building Math stairs and discussing what we notice when we count backwards from 10 to 1.  We then used the language of "one less" to identify the number that comes before when shown a numeral.  We will continue to work on "one less" this week before moving on to our next Math Module on 2D and 3D shapes.

For Reader's Workshop I read the book It's Okay to Make Mistakes by Todd Parr and observed students taking on this language right away in the classroom.  It's important to understand that it's okay to make mistakes and that this is what helps us to learn and grow!  Two new stations were introduced: "Rhyme Time" where students match pictures that rhyme and an alphabet game: "Race to the Top" where students roll a letter dice and practice writing letters.  Whichever letter is rolled the most 'wins!'

Thursday in the Woods and Turkey Hats!

Thursdays are always a busy day with music in the morning and our trip to the woods!  With Thanksgiving coming up we read a silly story for Reader's Workshop, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, and some students chose to make fun turkey hats this afternoon. 

Peace is...

We began our morning with Writer's Workshop.  Kindergartners are working on telling and drawing stories that are important to them.  Dramatic and imaginative play is a big part of being 5 and 6 years old and we are working on sharing stories that are unique to us.  After having time to work in our drawing and writing books, most days, we have time for at least two students to share their stories.  Today during our share students listening asked questions and gave suggestions for how the story could be even better.  They are really working hard!

During Math we continued working on identifying the number that is one more and then we split up between the three kindergarten classrooms from 10:30-11:00.  The group that worked with me played a fun math game called "Bump."

Our book today was The Peace Book by Todd Parr.  I began the book by asking what is peace and many students had thoughtful responses to share such as peace is everyone being happy and kind, peace is being quiet or calm, and peace is being nice to one another.  After reading the book each Kindergarten student thought about what peace is to them and drew a picture illustrating their sentence.  Their understanding of peace reaches far beyond many.

Math Stairs and Todd Parr

Today we "met" Todd Parr.  Todd Parr is one of my favorite authors and illustrators.  His book teach us all to be who we are, that it's okay to be different and the importance of being kind.  It's important for children to see themselves as readers and writers and to find mentors in the book we read.  Todd Parr's books are not only relatable for children but pass on some amazing messages.  Today we watched this video and read the book It's Okay to be Different. We will continue reading Todd's books for the next few weeks.

In Math today I introduced the concept of "one more," through 'math stairs.' Making a stair of cubes going from 1-10.  After discussing what we noticed students practiced the language of "one more than ___ is ___," and we played a game where we rolled the dice and told the number that was one more. 

Woods and a Math Play!

I apologize for no post yesterday but here are a few pictures from our day:

Yesterday during Math I worked with a small group to put on a play!  First we arranged large number cards in order from 1-10 in a path and then students acted out a math story about walking to a birthday party as I read the story.  It was quite fun!  During play some students also used straws and paint to blow paint on a piece of paper.  We are going to cut these out and add googley eyes and make them into monsters.

Today we began morning meeting with a compliment circle.  We talked about how a compliment is when you say something nice that you like or appreciate about someone else.  It was a great way to start our morning with kindness and think about what we appreciate about our classroom community.

Students noticed that the woods are changing!  The ground is completely covered with leaves.  After the woods and lunch we read our second to last book in our Ezra Jack Keats' Author Study: My Dog is Lost.  Students quickly noticed something different about this book - it had an illustrator that was not Keats.  We talked about how sometimes two people can work on a book together and maybe this is something that Kindergartners will do in the future.