DUH! (This one's for Indy & Bobbie)

This week at preschool, the kiddo's are counting to 30 and learning about comparisons, similarities, things that are exactly the same and things that are opposite. The funny thing is that they don't seem to get that 30 items can take up alot or a little volume and still be 30 items. So I suggested a "Guess It" jar the teachers can start so the kids can estimate how many objects are in it, and whoever's closest can take it home to refill it with something else and bring it back for the next guessing game.

Until then, I thought it would be fun to pop into the class with two stacks of 30 plastic cups, in 3 oz size and 6 oz size. I had the kids guess which stack had the most. Of course they thought the taller stack. So we counted. Imagine their surprise when my little stack equalled their tall stack. Then we built towers in the block centers with the cups and blew them over when they reached 10 stories high. That is, if we could get them 10 stories high! We experimented with different foundations and found the square to be quite stabilizing for all 10 stories. I think we could have gone higher except for alot of heavy breathers.

Here's the part for Indy & Bobbie. As I changed groups I had a little gal who is a smart cookie, and I figured since I knew she could count by two's, I'd see if she could count by five's to 30 as well. So I did it real fast so she could see how it worked. She frowns at me like how dare I make this a teaching moment...let's build! So I'm all trying to explain how if you want to count something quickly so you can get to the fun part faster, you do it by two's, which she can do, but even faster and cooler is by FIVE's...ooooh!!! Since they just learned about the human body, I referred to the classic how many fingers on one hand, how many on the other, put them together, now go to the feet, 5, 10, 15.....and she goes, "20 phalanges, DUH!!!!" and rolls her eyes at me! I just had to laugh at that. They just had Pre-K Anatomy; they don't need us.