The Hunt Was On!

This morning your Kindergartners participated in an old Graland tradition, The Great Pumpkin Hunt.  Thankfully no ears were washed last night and each child still had their orange dot as they entered the classroom this morning.  As the story goes, the Kindergarten building at Graland is on top of an old pumpkin patch.  Skip ahead a bit in the story, only the children bearing an orange dot on their ear can see the Great Pumpkin.  Coach Romero came and picked us up this morning as we followed the clues in search of the mysterious pumpkin.  At long last, the Kindergartners spotted the Great Pumpkin!  Not a single teacher or other child on campus was able to see what these children were running after!

I hope you all enjoy a nice long weekend!  Looking ahead to next week one major important note....WE WILL BE EATING LUNCH IN THE LUNCH ROOM!  Wednesday will be our first day in the lunch room.  There will likely be some transitional woes but after practicing several times this week we know it will be great.  

Comparing and Contrasting Day 2

Today we scooped out, observed and talked about our medium and small sized pumpkins.  Ask your children some of the things they talked with their group about!  Tomorrow we will write about our experience with the different pumpkins!

On Friday we will have our Halloween Parade and Party.  Please have your children come dressed in their costumes on Friday morning making sure to be on time so we can have a quick Morning Meeting before our buddies pick us up for the parade.  We will begin the parade at 8:30 at the field.  We will parade around the field two times and then back to our classroom for the party.  Our buddies will join us for a short period of time and then go on with their day.  Parents are welcome to join the party!  Some parents choose to stay and others depart after the parade.  Whatever works best for you and your child is ok.  Dismissal on Friday will be at 12:00.  Please let me know if you have any questions!  

Not Afraid To Get Messy

This week one of our comprehension focuses is comparing and contrasting.  Today we took our first step!  We cut open our big pumpkins that we have been writing about, dug out the seeds and guts.  Tomorrow we will open our medium and small size pumpkins in order to compare and contrast the three.  We will use the seeds from today's pumpkins later this week during math and enjoy a few to eat!

Fall Is Officially Here

Thank you so much for those who attended Kindergarten Math Night last night.  Shelly Dubose is an engaging speaker who challenged us to see that the activities we may view as easy, below ability level or repetitive are building the foundation for greater mathematical thinking and solving.  If you were unable to join us last night here is a sample problem we were asked to solve:  "John spends 1/4 of his allowance on a book.  He spends 1/3 of his remainder on stationary.  He still has $18 left of his allowance.  How much did the book cost?"  Shelly's presentation last night was filmed and will be posted on the Graland website.

Important Dates And Reminders:

10/24 - Go Green With Graland (Your child brought their ticket home tonight.  Help them get it punched before coming to the classroom tomorrow morning.)
10/30 -  Harvest Dinner
10/31 - 8:30 - 9:00 Halloween Parade (Kids come dressed in costume to school - no weapons or blood)
         - 9:00 - 10:00  Halloween Party in the classroom
        - 12:00 Dismissal - I will be leaving early that day to fly home.  Please let me know if you have             any questions before the end of the day.  Meaghan will be here.
11/1 - 11/4 - Fall Break!  Enjoy!
11/5 - Back to School - Lunch in the lunchroom!!
11/14 - 12:00 Dismissal
11/21 - Go Green With Graland

Content and Curriculum:

As you may know, over the past few weeks we have been observing, drawing and labeling things like pumpkins, corn, leaves and succulents during Writing Workshop.  We have been exploring the outside of these items.  Next week we're going to get a bit messy!  We will open the bigger pumpkins, pull out seeds, write about how it feels and looks.  We will later use the seeds during math as we begin a new chapter focusing on numbers 0-20.  We will count groups of seeds and use them to build tens frames and other activities.

Next week we will also have three lunchroom walk throughs to prepare for November 5.  One day we will simply walk through the lunch line.  Day two we will pick up and carry a tray through the lunch line and day three we will get a tray, snack and water.  Little steps!

This afternoon we made ghosts with our buddies.  Here are a few photos of buddy pairs who finished and were able to get out to "fly" their kites.