Two Weeks and a Vacation!

The following photos have been collected over the course of the last two weeks.  Recently, I have been taking more time recording my observations (and taking notes) rather than taking photographs.  For this reason, there generally fewer pictures to share.  In any case, I do enjoy documenting classroom activity through photos and they provide a valuable corresponding resource for my observation notes.

In other news, our school is not in session during the week of Thanksgiving.  As I am typing this, it is occurring to me that I never got a picture of the students reciting our "Thanksgiving" poem using the poetry basket which they children have very much enjoyed.  Also, our school took part in a food drive for a local shelter as well as collected toys for Boston Children's Hospital toy drive.  This has been a wonderful source of meaningful conversation with the children about giving and gratitude as we approach the holiday season.  Many thanks to my staff for organizing these community service projects!

And now, onto a much needed break…  Happy Thanksgiving!

Lining up the red and green Knobless Cylinders and comparing their heights.

Working sensorially with the Binomial Cube. 

Refining handwriting skills with the Metal Insets using a more advanced approach - two shapes and two colors.

Exploring shapes with the second box of Constructive Triangles (blue).  Here, the child is sliding the triangles to create new shapes.

Reading cards (CVC words) from our Reading Drawers.

Using grammar symbols with the preposition lesson.

Practicing ending sounds of words with the Language Step Board.

Dynamic Addition with the Stamp game.

Tactile discrimination and writing preparation with the Touch Boards.

Animals of Africa:  Reading and writing with the Object Tray.

Exploring shades of color with the  Third Color Tablet Box.

Number writing practice.

Memorization of addition facts with the Addition Strip Board.

Writing practice with the Sandpaper Letters.

Using picture cards to write CVC words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Using number labels (on table) to make teen beads on the Teen Bead Hanger.

Division with the Division Board.  Here the student has set of the divisor (4) on the board and and counted the dividend (32) into the bowl.  Now the beads are distributed equally among the four skittle.

Reading: Practicing blending sounds with the Vowel Tree.

Painting at the easel.

An extension lesson with the Cards and Counters - tracing the number and coloring the counters.   This activity can be found HERE.

Using the Puzzle Map of the World and learning the names of the continents.

Writing the words from the Reading Drawers.

Using a damper to stop the sound while playing a bell.

An addition lesson with the golden beads and decimal system cards.

Tracing shapes with the Geometric Demonstration Tray.

Sounding out and writing words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Practicing sight words with the Small Moveable Alphabet.

Feeling varying weights with the Baric Tablets.

Beginning reading practice with the Mac and Tab series.

Pink Tower/Brown Stair - so fun!

A sign of what has been and what will  come….!