From Grade One Teacher Dana Cudney: In October, the first graders embraced the study of numbers with open hearts. They traveled to The Land of Numbers and met Queen Equalaria who rules with a fair and even hand. There are many gnome citizens who spend their days mining gems and counting them, getting them ready to send to the children who live in our part of the earth. These gems are sent to the earth children to help them learn to add and subtract, multiply and divide. They heard how Queen Equalaria and King Equal brought all the numbers down from the stars to the people of the earth. The Queen and King danced with the digits 0 through 9 up in the heavens and created a line of numbers that goes on and on. They led all these numbers down to earth in a number line.
The first graders have also been discovering patterns in the world around them as well as in numbers. They discovered the pattern of the "teens" this week as they worked with "10+" facts. As we practiced our facts, "10+4=14, 10+5=15, 10+6=16", someone spoke up loud and clear, "and 10+waffle=waffle-teen"! Yes! There is a pattern! We also discovered "pancake-teen" and "pencil-teen" and many, many more!
This week the first graders are leaving The Land of Numbers and returning to the study of letters and sounds which began in September.
