Day 65- Learning through play

I never really understood that phrase until I witnessed my students today. With the start of a new topic in math, geometry, we are studying shapes. Yesterday we found shapes in the room, today we made shapes.

I started by having the kids look at our Power of 10 chart.

We made this chart at the beginning of the year to show students that 10 is made of different, smaller numbers. It was a good reminder, that smaller things make up big things.
The lesson of the day had students making larger shapes out of smaller ones. So, in order for my students to learn, my students had to play. Let's face it, they were going to play anyway. But it's better when they have permission!
I gave them 2 min of 'play time' before we officially started the lesson. 20 seconds in, I was hearing, "Mrs. Delk come look at this!" "Mrs. Delk, come see what I made!" So I pulled out the camera.

 As I walked around, I watched how my students chose to 'play'. I noticed lots of flowers and people shapes, but I also noticed some of my students sorting shapes by their attributes, and some making patterns. I love seeing how their brains work!
 But it wasn't all fun and games, we learned through our 'play'. Did you know:
1. A hexagon can be made of 6 triangle, or 2 trapezoids, or 3 rhombuses, or a combination of the 3 shapes
2. A trapezoid is made of 3 triangles, or a rhombus and a triangle together
3. A rhombus is made of 2 triangles

It was like a race! Who can find a different way? became the question of the day. They were creative! They were focused! They were glad when we finished 8 min ahead of schedule and I let them explore their shapes some more. :)

This wasn't the only 'play' time today. During centers we created silly pictures to match some silly rhyming sentences. The task was to read the sentences with a partner, circle the rhyming words, and create a picture to match.

 We also cut and pasted pictures to words from the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie story.

 And we reviewed compound words. Cut and paste on the front, words in sentences on the back. My kids are good!

You'd think with how camera-crazy I was today, I'd remember to get a picture of the Daily Brain. (after all, I've done it for 65 days now) However, with tonight being Parent's Night, along with my 3 children who had to come with me, I forgot.

On a bright note, the 3rd and 4th graders in the play tonight did wonderfully! I am so proud of how well they worked to get to tonight's performance. Mrs. Jackson (3rd grade teacher) and Ms. Harris (music teacher) did a great job working with the kids after school. It was a huge undertaking, and everyone did well!