Is your number less than 43?

We were excited today to finally connect with Mrs. Langhue's class from Portland, Oregon. We were supposed to connect last Friday but due to technical difficulties (yes, even in a tech room, tech can sometimes be problematic) we weren't able to complete our connection.  We spent a bit of time learning about each others communities and found out that they are 2 hours behind us. When we connected at 12:30, we had already had recess, eaten lunch, and been to specials and their class hadn't even eaten yet. We used Google Earth to get a close up look at their city and their school as well. We were amazed at how large their city is compared to Pulaski. 
We then played a game of Mystery Number Skype where each class picks a mystery number on a number grid from 1-100 and we then use or math brains to ask mathematical questions to help us zero in on their number. We asked questions such as: Does your number have a 5 in the tens place? Is your number greater or less than a certain number? This is a fun game to help us practice our place value skills and number sense on a number grid while also giving us the opportunity to meet other first graders around the U.S. 

This would be  a fun and easy game to play at home as well. All you need to do is print off a 100 grid (or even a 120 grid). You can find one here, pick a mystery number (shhh.. don't tell your child) and then have them ask you questions to figure out your number. Their questions should be asked so that you will just answer yes or no. As you tell them yes or no, they will cross off numbers on their grid to figure out your number. See if they can guess your number is 20 questions or less. Have fun!

GoNoodle is still our favorite brain break activity and we have definitely come across many favorites! This week, we were beyond excited when a package arrived with the GoNoodle logo on the outside. When we opened it, we found a GoNoodle poster and some awesome stickers for us to enjoy! Thanks GoNoodle for making our day!

Last but not least, here's a picture of our playground from recess today. Can you see the small lake forming as the snow melts? Needless to say it's not warm enough to swim and it's too wet to build a snowman, so we are on the blacktop only until our playground dries out a bit. This picture really doesn't show how soupy it is, but we'll spare you the wet socks, pants and dripping snow pants.