More than pennies

We did an activity with money today, and it became very clear that many are still not very clear which coin is which or how much they are worth. Everyone is very clear what a penny is and how much it is worth. But we will definitely be working on recognition of coins and correct names and values.  At home let your child play with a handful of coins. Ask them to sort them by size, value, tell you all they know about each one, or make a particular amount for you. The more practice the better.

We learned more of the clapping song, which is now available for your listening pleasure on the lingt site.

And now for just a slice of the humor that is my day as a first grade teacher. Today I was in front of the class teaching when a little girl came hurrying back from the bathroom and breathlessly up to me to tug on my shirt. Normally when I'm in front they know they can't just walk up to me and talk; I make them go back, sit down, and raise their hand. But she looked so distressed and urgent I let her speak.

"Mrs. Chipman!" she whispered. "There were boys in the girl's bathroom!" Oh no I thought, and asked "Who was it?", to which she replied " I don't know. I didn't see them. But there were three of them!" "How do you know?" " I walked in every stall and the seat was up in all three!"

The bathrooms had just been cleaned. But know your children do pick up on the way the world is.

There were two pages of homework sent home today. I hope they are pretty self explanatory. The chinese one is for practice writing characters. On the back of one, have your child get some coins and draw and label them, including the value of each.

News from the state dual immersion people.... Workbooks have been ordered for every child. They should be here by Friday.

I also thought it might be helpful for you to know what we are learning in Math for the month of October. (From the state core). We are doing this all in class, so don't feel like you need to teach your child all of this, it is just so you are aware.

Number sense: Model, count, read numbers up to 40. Matching numbers to numerals.

Estimation: Estimate quantities up to 10

Addition and Subtraction: Model, act out, write +/-

Sorting: One attribute sort

Patterning: repeating patterns

Money: Penny, Nickel, Dime- Introduce name, value, attributes

Measurement: Length, non-standard units

Graphing: Horizontal bar graph, how to make/read