While we were busy playing, the learning snuck in

At the beginning of every month we change our Math and Daily 5 "on your own" tubs. They tend to be seasonal based themes. Some activities are a review of lessons taught in small groups, others are a small twist on previous lessons. We had such a great time with a few of our new tubs.

Feed the Sneaky Squirrel

Feeding our sneaky squirrel was fun to watch. The children had to roll the die (or dice 

depending on how high they are able to count fluently) and count out the correct amount 

of nuts. The best part was watching the kiddos try to use tweezers to pick up all the nuts.

Ten Frame Race

With a partner, the children rolled a die and colored the correct amount of spaces. 

Our focus with this game was to use math vocabulary. We modeled the sentences 

"I rolled ____" "I need ____ more to make 10". 

And our favorite...

Hidden Words

Taped under table 2 are several seasonal words. The children have white boards, markers and erasers. They get to slide under the table and copy the words. The help build vocabulary, pictures correspond with the text. It is a fun way to practice handwriting and it also encourages 'reading'.

We practiced how to safely go under the table, putting only the top half of our body under the table. Watching their strategies on how to best complete this task was amazing.

Some children brought their boards under the table with them.

Others kept their boards on the table. They looked under the table for words, 

were able to remember the letter, and then write them. 

Alex is so proud of his work!

(and gross little painty fingers have obviously been wiped under our table)

And more pictures from our Jackson Pollack painting activity...

I seriously love these duck feet.

Love these expressions. They were so into the painting!

In addition to our new learning tubs, we also added a few new toys to the room. 

I like to rotate toys so the children do not become bored. 

We are enjoying our marble run set. We also have new pirates and knights.

James and Jeremiah worked very hard to create a marble run. It was so cool that we saved it for the next day. Having this set up by our door could have been disastrous, but the children really wanted to play again the next day so they were mindful to enter and exit our room carefully.