Jack Hartmann 2014

 Jack Hartmann is just fab-u-lous! I just love to see the firsties dance and sing and have the best time ever!

 Jack makes songs to help with reading, math, and even science.  We even exercise to his music. WOW he is so good on his guitar!

The best is the Tootie Ta!  Check out these faces.

Jack was such a sport to pose for a picture with our class and me! Thank you Jack for being you! The kids just love you, can't you see it on their faces.

Joshua's Heart

A small Act of Kindness can go a long way...

~Joshua

 While attending Miami Device I had the pleasure of listening to one of the closing keynote from Joshua.  This inspirational 13 year old totally had me in awe throughout his message. He started a foundation at the age of 4 with $20 from his grandma.  He doesn't want anyone to be hungry.  Seems so simple right.  Please take a moment to meet this inspirational young man.

His website can be found here: http://joshuasheart.org

Sharon Davison teaches K/1 in Vermont and they issued a challenge.  How can we help People that are Hungry? Watch their video here then we tweeted out how we helped @vermontkkids123


The stars aligned and the Wright's Rippers rose to the challenge.  Actually we challenged our first neighbors, Ms. Clutter's class-who can bring in the most can foods in 1 week.  Here we are with our cans.  Good looking group of firsties right...

Well we didn't win since Ms. Clutter's class collected over 150 cans.  Really the winners are all the families we helped with our joint donation.  What a valuable lesson that I hope they take with them as they grow up.  What passion is locked inside these kids as they go into 2015?  I hope I get to be a part of finding out...

Amazing Mathematicians at Work…

We have used ten frames from day 1 and 70 days later I wanted to see if it would transfer over into larger numbers so why not use those DigiBlocks… 

I had my daughter empty out over 500 ones into a copy box lid and you should have seen the firstie’s eyes while I was telling my story. I asked for a guess and one friend said 100 so I asked how many thought less than 100, 100, or more than 100 and thankfully most chose more than 100.  We will have to get some estimating and guessing going but that will be another blog post.

 I asked them to find a way to count them and let me know how many.  There was some talk counting and then a friend said that would take too long.  Put them in groups of ten came up next so I showed them how the DigiBlocks will only close when there are 10 units enclosed.  They quickly found a way to put 10 ones into a ten and then someone figured out putting the tens in the hundred to fill it up.  This time lapse took less than 3 minutes to film and I wish I recorded the ah-ha moments.  It was amazing!  I did record the discourse after so you could hear some magic.

There was a follow up to this lesson the next day.  In the past 64 was 6 tens and 4 ones.  Today we walk through other ways to see 64.  64 doesn’t have to be 64 it could be 54+10, 44+20, etc. depending on what you need to make the math work for you. Let me explain. 

I asked the firsties to make 64 and most made it with 6 tens and 4 ones.  Noah decided to use 5 tens and then count out 14 ones to make 64.  We checked that and counted it and sure enough it made 64.  We talked about other ways to see the same number and most thought let’s turn the numbers around like 14+50=64.  I was hoping for something else and then one friend chirped up “Wait just open the ten and take out the ones.” YES!! 

  We did it and then counted.  64 and I didn’t take anything away or add any more.  We continued the pattern and I recorded for later reference to notice patterns.

One very important ah-ha I found was Victoria counting the tens and ones.  At one point she counted the ten ones-arranged like a ten frame as tens and we had to stop and talk about when they are separated they are no longer a ten even though they are 10 ones.  It was an ah-ha for a few other students and then one friend explained the difference between tens and ones-and what they loo like.  It was a beautiful moment. We made some great discoveries today and I am proud of these firsties.  Can’t wait to see what comes next…