Post Office Field Trip

 

 

 

Throughout December we have been learning about different Christmas traditions. One that we discussed was mailing Christmas Cards, so on Tuesday we took a walking field trip to our local post office! Monday we prepared our cards. The students learned how to address their cards to their moms and dads and then wrote their own address. They learned how important it was that they had each piece of information so that the mailman would know where to deliver their cards.

Once we got to the post office, each student got to purchase a stamp and then learned where to place it on their envelope and then dropped their Christmas Card off into the mailbox!

We discussed how the letters are sorted and then put onto the trucks for delivery to their homes.  alsolearned that some people come to the post office to pick up their mail instead of having a box at their house.  We got to see several blue mailboxes on the way to our trip and the students also pointed out a mail truck out delivering mail! It was a great way for them to learn about this important job and review what we learned about this great community helper back in the fall.

 

The children were very excited for their parents to receive the cards that they had prepared and were very proud of themselves for addressing and mailing them on their own.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

 

And a very special thanks to Coyt's Grandmother for providing our stamps!

Math Review Centers

This week we took a break from our regular math curriculum to do a little bit of fun review! To practice all of the concepts we have been studying in math, we had math centers each day. Each center focused on a topic we have covered up to now. The children had a fun time learning while playing!

 

 

At this center the children had to pull number cards out of a bag and then match the number to a number on their Christmas Tree page. Once they covered up all of the numbers, they were finished. This was a great way for them to practice recognizing and saying numbers from 1-20. 

 

 

At this center, children were asked to make joining stories (simple addition sentences). Each card had Christmas Trees with two different colored ornaments on them. The children had to count each color and then make a number sentence to show how many ornaments they had in all.

 

At their next center, the children were asked to count objects on a ten frame and then write the number and the next two numbers that follow. This helped to review one to one correspondence, counting, and number order.

 

This center may have been the favorite! At this center, students had to roll two dice and then stamp the number that was rolled. The students loved getting to roll the dice and then use fun holiday stamps to mark their answers. This helped to reinforce counting as well as number recognition as the students had to match the dots they counted with the actual number in order to stamp the correct space.

The challenge center was called "Reindeer on the Roof". At this center, the children were each given 5 Reindeer and a Gingerbread House. They were asked to come up with 5 different ways that they could make 5 and then complete the number sentences. This required students to try out different ways and move around their reindeer to make a new sentence. This was an opportunity for them to use critical thinking skills in addition to learning about the commutative property when they found that they had 4+1, but could also make 1+4. This was a great learning experience for them and will benefit as we move on in our studies!