Mrs. Barrera's Pre-Kindergarten : May 11, 2018

This week, we introduced some new Montessori lessons - the Golden Bead Material and Large Number Cards. These lessons are designed to help the children recognize and name units, tens, hundreds, and thousands. While we have been using the Golden Beads all year long to count how many days we have been in school, now we are using the material as a separate lesson to take a more in-depth look at the concepts.

Caleb, Kevin, and Alexa learned how to match the numeral
to the correct quantity.

Nolan, Kent, and Priya counted by units to 10, by tens to 20,
by hundreds to 1000, and by thousands to 9000.

The Golden Bead Material and Large Number Cards are also used in the Bank Game, where children learn to exchange smaller quantities for larger ones (e.g.: 10 units for 1 ten bar, 10 ten bars for 1 hundred square, 10 hundred squares for 1 thousand cube). We have introduced this concept to the students when we count the days of school each morning, but this will give them more opportunities to work on it. The Bank Game is something our friends in Kindergarten enjoy in their math classes.

The Pre-K students have especially loved STEAM class the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, the students had investigated water with the Sphero robot and learned that water is made up of different things. Last week, they guessed how many drops of water would fit on top of a penny and were surprised how many drops the penny could hold. They discussed surface tension and were able to examine it up close. (Learning about surface tension at 4 and 5 years old? Only at HCA!)

This week in STEAM class was extra fun. Mrs. Zwilling held class outside and we got to blow bubbles! She told the students that adding soap to water helps the water stick to itself to form the bubbles. She made various shapes (triangles, squares, rectangles, and cubes) using the Zometools from the lab. The students were amazed that even though there were various shapes, all the bubbles that they blew from them came out as circles!

Can you see the square inside?
It formed because of the
surface tension!

The bubbles were just as much fun to wash

up with!

The beautiful weather this week has given us so many chances to play outside with all our early childhood friends!

The Class of 2027 loves playing
together outside!

Bet you didn't know we could run

in slow-motion 😉

Just a reminder that there is no school on Tuesday, May 15 (Election Day). The teachers will have an in-service day.

Congratulations to our friends in 2nd grade who made their First Communion at the Ascension Thursday mass yesterday. It was a beautiful liturgy and we were so happy to be able to celebrate with everyone.