N is for Numbers- Week 1

Hi Mom!

Our letter of the week was Nn, so our art project for the letter was to make Noodle Necklaces. Some of us used  colored beads mixed in to create patterns as we strung our necklaces. I was so proud to wear it home and show everyone!

Our main focus this week was Numbers! We practiced counting things and recognizing and writing numbers 0-7 all week! (We will finish 8-10 and work with all the numbers 0-10 next week.)

First we counted things up to ten- especially our 'treasures' that we brought from home to work with. We sat in a circle and Ms. Marianne played the song on her keyboard while we sang and dropped our things into the bowl. We each got many turns and then we all did it together.
The song goes like this:
"One little, two little, three little treasures.
Four little, five little, six little treasures.
Seven little, eight little, nine little treasures.
Ten treasures in my bowl!"
(to the tune of Ten Little Indians)





Each of us got a dry erase board, marker and eraser to use while we learned the rhymes that teach us how to write the numbers we worked with this week. We recited the rhymes time after time as we practiced writing them on our boards. Our favorites were zero and one, but Ms. Marianne liked the rhymes for two and seven the most! We all had fun making the train sounds for "two two!" I brought a paper home on Tuesday with the rhymes on it so we can practice at home. 

For snack one day, Ms. Marianne called out a number and we counted out piles of Cherrios to eat. That was fun... I don't usually get to play with my food!
We also did lots of movement and music this week where we counted a steady beat to music and played it with our instruments. We did exercises and stretches with numbers where Ms. Marianne would show us a number and we'd call it out and then do that many repetitions of a particular exercise. We recognize our numbers really well so far!

We practiced our names more with our Name Kits too. I'm getting so good at writing my name! Ms. Marianne listed to each of us read our Name Books to her and then watched us write out our names to help us get better. I'm sure by the end of the year we'll all be writing our names very well.

I think my favorite thing that we did this week was Dot Painting. We are making Number Books and each page has a template that we used Dot Painters to fill. I got to do any color that I wanted! Some of us tried our hand at patterns again- and we're getting better! The book will be done late next week and sent home later in the year. We have lots more activities to do with it in our adventures with numbers.

We also used the salt boards to practice writing all the letters we've learned so far... I need to be practicing those at home as much as possible so that I can remember their names and what sounds they make. I'm so excited to be learning my letters- I am always raising my hand with a huge smile on my face when Ms. Marianne asks us to identify a letter on the Letters We Know Wall. :) Just a reminder- the letters we've seen so far are: Ss , Mm , Rr , Pp , Cc , Bb , Nn.

Next week will be Week 2 of Adventures with Numbers. We'll finish 8-10 and practice with all of them. Ms. Marianne has some fun, hands-on projects that I will be doing and using in class for part of the rest of the year. We're also going to start doing class read-alouds with sentence strips next week. We're great listeners, and now we're going to start budding and then blossoming as readers!

Love,

Your Child

and

Ms. Marianne