Estimating and Solving Problems

Today in Math, we were learning about some fancy guesswork called estimating.  An estimate is just a guess and we discovered that sometimes guessing is hard for us!  We kind of like to be right, so we talked about observing and making a reasonable guess.

Mrs. Kurt had 100 plastic sea creatures in a grocery bag - only we did not know how many there were! She would reach into the bag and pull out a bunch and put them on the floor.  We would observe the group and then estimate how many we thought were in the group.  Next, using our counting mats (that look like ten frames), we counted to see exactly how many there were.  Finally, we would compare the exact amount to the estimates to see how close we were.  By the end of the activity, our estimates had gotten much closer to the exact amounts.

We participated in our Math workplaces after lunch and even had some Free Choice Time.  Life is good!

Our Social Studies chapter this week is titled "How Do I Solve Problems With Others?"  Most of our read alouds have centered around this theme.  Today we discussed that everyone gets angry, but it is how you handle this anger that really matters.  We talked about the concept that our words and actions are ours...they belong to us and we control them.  Sometimes when we get angry, we might say and do things that we don't mean.  When we get angry, we need to calm down.

We discussed and role played five different strategies for us to try to help us calm down when we are feeling angry.  They were:

1.  Sit quietly.
2.  Take 5 deep breaths.
3.  Count to 10.
4.  Do 5 jumping jacks.
5.  Hum a tune.

Of course, there are many other things you can do to calm down.  Take some time to discuss these and other strategies for calming down with your child