Playing board games or cards is a great way to teach children self-control and how to deal with upset. Learning how to lose or win gracefully is a really important life skill. It also can teach them to keep trying even when they are losing or behind.
Concentration is great because it couples all that with memory skills and focusing on remembering where you last saw a card. Our concentration games also have sight word recognition or rhyming skills featured. We have one game that has pictures of each student in class and the whole class. Concentration can also be played with a normal deck of cards.

The class was very excited to have Alex as an extra helper in school today. They wanted her to do a puppet show for them so at the end of the day she did a quick one. I wish I could post a video so you could hear their laughter.

The first graders began the unit on place value last week. Place value has been an on going topic during calendar every morning since the beginning of the year.