Buttons

There was lots of learning going on today as we played with an oldie but a goodie: buttons! Thank you, parents, for sending in your old and extra ones. You contributions, no matter how small, really help each week in our classroom! (Please continue to check the Wonderful Junk listings in the left hand column of the blog, where new items needed in the classroom are listed for each week.) When we added up all our buttons, we got a very special and exciting math activity...

I started by laying out a couple of puzzle bases with construction paper shapes underneath...

 Then just added buttons!

It was very interesting to see how many directions the interests and learning went in. Of course, some friends wanted to see how many buttons there were all together...

Many got busy choosing a shape and using it to create in some way, discussing as they went... 

Some wanted to see how many buttons would fit on top of a shape...

 

 Others worked to outline their shapes...

 Some built shapes around other shapes...

Some patterned on their shapes...

And nearly everyone found a few extra special buttons to talk about...