It is hard to believe that the first quarter of kindergarten is over! Report cards were sent home yesterday--please be sure to read the letter explaining the standards-based reporting system that was included in the report card envelope. Thank you for your support and efforts at home.
We began our week by learning about Christopher Columbus and the holiday that is named after him. Ask your child about Columbus' discovery and the voyage from Spain on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. This week we also studied about families, sharing about the members in each of our families and how they contribute to the family unit. Each honeybee created a family crest illustrating himself, his family, his home, and his best friend. The children shared about the responsibilities they have at home and how each member of the family is important and needed. We ended the week with our High-Touch, High-Tech program "Rock and Roll", where students learned about rocks and soil. The class observed, sorted, and classified rocks as they looked at color, size, texture, and hardness.
Jj was the letter of the week. We worked on identifying the initial /j/ sound in words and correctly forming the upper and lower case letter. The honeybees continued to develop their writing skills by using pictures, phonetically spelled words, and sight words to convey meaning. We focused on conventions in our writing, too! Students were reminded to begin each sentence with a capital letter and to space between each word. In guided reading, we worked on leveled texts. Drawing on prior knowledge of a subject, using picture clues for unknown words, recognizing and reading known sight words, and applying letter and sound knowledge in context are all strategies that your reader is learning to use!
In math, we completed our chapter on numbers 0-5. During this unit, we explored number concepts, practiced numeral formation, made mathematical comparisons (=, <, >), and demonstrated our understanding of key vocabulary words (equal, more, more than, fewer, fewer than, and estimate). In our next chapter, we will continue these math concepts with the numbers 6-10. Next week the letter of the week will be Bb and the orange rainbow words will be black and brown.
News from our classroom:
- Congratulations to Madelyn, our current Honeybee of the Week. The class loved the poster, snack, and lightstick necklaces.
- Our class is scheduled to visit the Media Center on Tuesday, 10/21. Please return any outstanding library books by that morning.
- All Box Tops are due by Wednesday, 10/22.
- Square One Art orders are due by Monday, 10/27.
- Kindergarten students will be allowed to dress-up in their costumes on Friday, 10/31. Please remember that after arriving at school, your child must be able to independently put on his costume. Scary costumes, masks, and weapons will not be allowed. Participation is strictly optional.
- If you have not yet sent in a family picture, please do so for our hall display.
- Specials next Friday will be P.E.
Enjoy the weekend with your family!
Janie Hutcherson
The Thanksgiving season is here and the honeybees have much to be thankful for! 
Items of Interest:
Our school week may have been short, but the honeybees were hard at work in our classroom! We began exploring the history of 
The letter this week was 
The honeybees have had a pumpkin of a week here at Garrison Mill. We enjoyed seasonal literature about 
The letter of the week was 
Please note:
The letter of the week was 
