Cool Math 4 Kids!

Check this out!   Thursday afternoon our class used one of our school computer banks to play a cool math game called "Marble Lines"!   First I showed the entire class on our big screen how to navigate Ms. Baker's web site to find the link "Cool Math 4 Kids".  I then showed them how the game worked, and then we went to town!   It was amazing to see how well the kids navigate the computers and follow along to get to the correct game.  Do you see Lily in the top picture?   She had just completed the first level and was super excited.  It was fantastic to hear all the excitement and fun in the classroom.   The game is one of many awesome games on the "Cool Math 4 Kids" website, which you can click on right from this blog (on the right side) or from Ms. Baker's InfoTech website.  Hopefully the kids will remember how to get to the game, but if not, once you find the Cool Math web site, click on Math Games at the top.  Then click on Colors/Shapes near the top.  Scroll down and find the game.  We have also played "Feed Fribbit Colors" in our Math RtI centers.  Please take some time to allow your child to show you these neat games and explore some other games!

Other news:
Thanks to our wonderful PTO, we will be able to go to Nyboer's Farm to visit the pumpkin patch!   We will be going on Thursday, October 20th mid morning and return before lunch.  The kids will be able to choose some farm goodies to take home with them.  We will spend the afternoon doing some math activities with our goodies.  We will guess and measure the circumference of a pumpkin, weigh a gourd against pennies in a balance scale, and determine the area of a piece of Indian corn.  The kids will be taking their goodies home that day.  The cost of this trip is only $4.00 per child because our PTO will be paying for the bus and driver costs.  Unfortunately, this trip will not allow for parents to join us.  There simply is not enough room on the wagon.  Any and all parents will be invited to join us for our spring trip to Teusink's Farm in May.   Please send in the $4.00 admission fee with your child before next Friday, October 14th.   If the admission cost is a problem, please let me know.  We want all the children to be able to attend.

WEB begins next week Wednesday.  Look for information to come home on Tuesday along with a book from our classroom for your child to read to you.  Each night a different book will come home at your child's independent level because the goals are to build confidence, read fluently and work towards using expression.  Please take the time (10 minutes) to sit down with your child and listen to him or her read to you.  Record the time spent reading on a pink "Hour Readers are Great!" slip.  When one hour is reached, send in the pink slip and start a new slip.  The goal is for your child to turn in 3 or more hours each month.  We record hours turned in on a bulletin board in the classroom each month.  I will be placing one sticker (of the 3+ required) on each child's paper leaf to give credit for reading the word strips the past few weeks and because we are starting mid October.  Again, please look in your child's backpack on Tuesday for more specifics about WEB/ Book It in our classroom.

Next week is National Fire Prevention Week!   We will be doing some discussion along with various activities to review important prevention and safety concepts.  We hope to visit the Hamilton Fire Station sometime in October.  Fire Fighter Heuer, one of our interventionist's husband, will be showing us the fire trucks, a short video, and there will hopefully be a special guest as well.  If you are looking for a neat activity, there is an awesome fire truck parade in downtown Holland on Saturday morning.  The trucks even park at Kollen Park afterward so that children can climb on them, meet fire fighters and pick up some activity books, stickers, pencils, and more. 

We will also be learning about Christoper Columbus next week.  Along with that, we will be doing a mapping unit in which the children learn about the North and South Poles and the Equator on a globe, directions (N,S,E,W) on maps, how to read simple maps, and more.  The kids in past years have really enjoyed this unit and really learned a lot about mapping. 

Check out my paper newsletter in your child's Friday Folder for specific areas covered in the classroom this week along with our show and tell topic for next week and homework for the weekend.  Have a great weekend everyone!  Enjoy the beautiful weather!