"That's a sentence! Awesome Job!"

I think the greatest line from a kid today was during writing time.  One child read to another what he had written in his journal.  The second child responded, "That's a sentence! Awesome Job!"  It was so cute and funny and awesome at the same time.  Kids can soak up so much information and then turn around and use it appropriately.

Today we spent a lot of time building two digit numbers on our decimal street mats.  We talked about how each numeral in the number represents the quantity of items in each house (ultimately: place value).  I think we've finally made the connection.  We can now read numbers like 53 as 5 tens and 3 units.  It will still require work and is a concept not expected to be mastered until kindergarten, but we have a great foundation in understanding place value.