Rotations and a Toy Party!

As I've mentioned before, a part of our day is spent doing Rotations. Here is a little bit more about how that looks: 

Students are divided into 4 groups with 2-3 students in each group. Each day, they look at the chart that I project onto the whiteboard to see at which area they are that day. They work at their stations the entire time. If they finish one activity, they can clean it up and get out another one. When the timer dings (or I ring my chime) the students immediately stop what they're doing and put their hands on their head and wait for my directions. The students clean up their areas and return to the Peanut Gallery (carpet area) or their tables while I check to make sure everything was put back neatly.

One area is literacy, in which the students can choose from a few different activities pertaining to reading/literacy. Right now they address letter identification and letter formation.

This activity was just a basket of letter stones and a tray--it's up to the students to decide how they use the materials. This student noticed that there were large stones and small stones and she decided to sort them into two lines! She saw that the big stones were uppercase letters and the small stones were lowercase letter. All without teacher prompting! I love seeing their minds at work!

She wanted to spell 'GABBY' but could only find one uppercase 'B'. She worked together with her partner and they decided to use the lowercase 'b' for the second B in her name! What great problem solvers!

 In math, we have been exploring patterns. After we read the book

the students were noticing spirals all over the place! At the math table during rotations, students place items on the white lines to create a spiral. It's so fun to see how they all choose a different approach with how they create it! 

In construction, students have been exploring balance and gravity as they create tall towers!

At the Creation Station, students use colored pencils, copy paper, and pencils to create what they want. These two were collaborating to create their own stories about knight and mummies!--such detail! 

At the Math Shelves, students can choose from a variety of activities related to math:

they can follow the pattern to use pattern blocks to create numbers 0-10,

(This student discovered that if he turned the 4 sideways, it was a J! 

Where literacy and math collide ;)

they can hook the correct number of links onto the corresponding number,

use cubes to create the patterns on the cards, 

or sort buttons into a muffin tray.

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After getting all of the gems in the jar (the class earns gems for walking in the hallway nicely, working really hard at something, getting a teacher compliment, etc.) the students voted to have a toy party. Each student had a turn to show the class the toy they brought from home and then the students had the opportunity to play with them.

He was showing off his magnet and they were so engaged with trying to figure out what it would stick to--maybe a magnet inquiry/investigation is in our future?? ;)

The kindergartners did a great job of sharing, taking turns, treating each other's things with respect, and using kind words!

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A student brought in a dead dragonfly from her garage (she assured me it was already dead when she found it ;) so each student got a turn using the magnifying glass to look closer at it! They talked about things they noticed: "There's holes in the wings" and "It has stripes like a bee."

I love how excited they are to explore and learn about new things!