Hey Kinder Friends,
Fall is in the air and we are beginning to feel it. So, naturally we were excited to get busy with a little bit of fall fun. As the leaves begin to turn colors we were busy talking about Spookley the Square Pumpkin. I knew my class had not heard the story before so I was excited to get out the book and dig right in. It gave us a good reason to talk about how we are alike and different and begin the discussion about bullying.
You can still get this book from Amazon and if you want to get it on video that is available too. I like reading the book because I think it delivers the message better than a lengthy video. The kids were super excited to make Spookley and we will be writing about Spookley this coming week.
When I saw these counters I knew I had to have them for my class. I thought they would be perfect for the counting buckets we had in class already. As soon as I got them out the kids wanted to use them right away. I found them at Hobby Lobby and bought three bags but I really wish I had bought four!
We had been talking a lot about counting, counting strategies and organizing our count. These I knew would be perfect for practicing that skill. I knew we needed to review that before moving on to greater numbers. Once we were working with them we discovered that these could also be used for sorting by size, shape and color. And now I am wishing I had about five bags instead of three! As the children were counting the fall objects with the buckets, I was able to notice the different counting methods my class uses. Some children count and move the objects as they count. Some put everything in a row and then count. Some use the bucket and empty it and count as each one goes in. And a few had no method at all. These were perfect for a discussion about ways to count. As they went off to independent work they asked if they could use them on counting mats. Take it from me you will want more than three bags because three was not enough for our counting mats. We added apple counters and the problem was solved. But I still want...more!
