Hi families! Here are our videos and activity for today:

 

We have transitioned to sending out our weekly activities on Sunday evening, although today is a bit of an exception. Here is the document with our activities for this week.

 

Morning meeting: Join Teacher Patricia and Teacher Rachel to learn how to make a countdown chain to count down the days until the last day of school.

  • NOTE: This is filmed in the Magnolia room, which could bring up a wide range of feelings for your child, from excitement to sadness to confusion. When you watch this video together, do it when you will have the space and time to meet whatever those feelings might be.

 

Activity: Make a countdown chain. After watching the video and once you have your materials, make your own countdown chain! This project will need adult support. You also might want to review it before you start, as it’s a bit complex — If you have any questions or need clarifications, please reach out. Take your time and do it whenever it works for you! You don’t need to do it right away.

  1. Start by making a loop with the “fancy” piece of paper, taping or stapling the ends together.

  2. Find the strip of paper with a “1” on it, and link it through the fancy loop, securing the ends together.

  3. Then, find the “2”, then “3”, and so on, counting up.

  4. Look at the calendar to see how many links (strips of paper) you will need for whatever day you end up making your chain (i.e. if you make it Thursday, you will have 22 days left of school, meaning 22 non-fancy links). However, you can make it with all the links and then rip off the excess ones as you cross the days that have already passed off of the calendar, as modelled in the video.

 

The number on the calendar corresponds with the number of chains you should have on your chain that day, representing the days left of school. You will rip off the link on the end of the chain as the days go forward, so that the number on the final link of the chain always matches the number on the calendar.

 

Questions to ask / what to say to support your child’s math skills: 

  • Some children might be able to recognize numerals and pick them out from a group of many numerals. “Can you find the number 3?”

  • Some might be able to discern between two numerals, “Which of these numbers is the number 3?”

  • As the numbers get higher, “The number 23 has a 3 in it. Which of these has a 3 in it?”

  • Your child might be able to match numerals. Show them a written number 3 and ask, “Which of these match with this number 3?”

  • “How many days of school do you have left? Let’s count on the calendar. Let’s count the loops on the chain. Are they the same number? Are they equal?”

  • “The numbers are counting backwards on the calendar because we are doing a countdown. Every day, we get closer to the last day of school, and the number of days away gets smaller.”

 

If you would like to participate and have not coordinated pick-up of materials with Rachel yet, please do so!