Woods Exploring

Hello Families,
     On Monday we took a short walking trip into the woods right behind school to look for ways that  the woods environment had changed from October.  We were lucky to still have snow on the ground at that point and found tracks right away.  Then we were very lucky to discover that beavers had been busy in the stream and on land in the woods.  We investigated a tree that had been chewed on, a beginning of a lodge being built and spots where the beavers had climbed out of the stream and moved around on land.  We were so excited!  Then we went up into the fields and rolled some gigantic snowballs and formed a caterpillar.  As we were walking back towards Mary Hogan to get ready for dismissal, a Kindergartner spoke up and said, "Hey Mrs. Schondube, we can change the environment, too, with all our snowballs we made in the field!"  Connections are so awesome!

Welcome December!

Hello Families,
     I know that December is going to fly by so I wanted to let you know some important dates coming up for our students.  This Thursday the 5th is the Readathon Closing Celebration at 8:45 in the gym.  Parents are welcome to join us and the children are invited to wear their Mary Hogan t-shirts.  There is an all school meeting on December 12th so students can wear their t-shirts that day, too!  Spirit wear...I love it!  The Mary Hogan Winter Sing Along is on December 19th at 1:30 in the gym.  Parents are welcome to attend this event, as well.
     During the next few weeks, we will be finishing up our learning of all the lower case letters of the alphabet and ending our unit, How the World Works.  Our focus in this unit has been how living things can change the environment.  We just watched a video of a man building a cabin in the woods by himself and discussed what he would need to survive.  The Kindergartners asked some thoughtful questions and really showed curiosity about this idea!  Next we will be watching a video about beavers and thinking about how they change the environment and why.  Finally, the students will work together to brainstorm some ideas about how other living things change their environment.  They are being inquirers!
     Our December calendar has us thinking about positional words (behind, under, beside, etc) and how to know if a number is a double.  Finally, I am going to share a picture of a world map that I posted in the classroom to follow the travels of a Middlebury College student named Thi.  She was interested in sharing her story with us as she embarked on a semester at sea.  She sent us postcards and we posted red stars on the map to show where she was in the world.  The students really enjoyed receiving postcards in the mail!  I hope to have Thi come visit our classroom when she returns. 

Cold weather news

Hello Families,
     Now that cold weather is upon us and students are bringing winter gear to school, there are some reminders to share.  Students should have shoes to change into if they wear their boots to school.  Some parents have their child leave a pair of sneakers at school during the winter months.  Please label your child's winter wear.  We often have several pair of black snow pants in the room and they can get mixed up easily!  Nurse Becky wants all families to know that the school can support your family with winter gear if needed. 
     We have an All School Meeting on Thursday this week and all students are invited to wear their Mary Hogan Hawk t-shirts.  Also, this Friday is Book Character Dress Up Day!  As we continue to celebrate reading this month through the Readathon, this is an event where we get to celebrate some of our favorite characters from books.  Please have your child bring the book to school that has his or her dress up character in it.  Julie Altemose takes a picture of everyone dressed up while holding the book.  I love seeing all the creative ideas that everyone comes up with for Character Dress Up Day!


Mrs. Kravitz was our Mystery Reader this week!


Sorting letters and numbers with a partner.


Making observations about our pumpkin quilt required us to be thinkers....the students noticed interesting patterns and designs in the quilt.

Firefighters, pumpkins and Readathon...oh my!

Hello Families,
     We had a busy, fun filled week with visits from the firefighters, a Fun Run, the Readathon Kick-Off,  Halloween anticipation and pumpkins.  Parent conferences are scheduled for this week.  If you cannot make the scheduled time or you need to reschedule, please call my school phone at 382-1458.  We have an Early Release Day on Wednesday, November 6th.  School will be dismissed around 12:50.  If your child has a different plan for dismissal that day, please send in a note.  Now for some info about the Readathon....
     Everyone brought home the yellow reading log in the red folder last week.  That is where you record your child's daily reading minutes.  Lots of reading counts.....someone reading to your child, listening to a story on a device, your child reading to you....any sort of reading outside of school counts.  It indicates what days on the log to return the log to school so our mighty minute counters can tally up everyone's weekly minutes.  The Kindergarten classes will have Mystery Readers come to our rooms to read to us once a week and we get to add those minutes to the reading logs.  That is a great way to get 100% participation so that we are all celebrating reading!  The money that is pledged to all the readers at Mary Hogan helps to build our classroom book collections and other classroom supplies for units, along with funding field trips and special programs.  Thanks for your support!

 
 




The children were super excited to climb through the fire truck and share what they know about fire safety.  With Halloween on everyone's mind, we worked on a counting and number writing activity called Write Around the Room, experimented with a pumpkin to see if it would sink or float (uncarved, then carved), and drew what Mrs. Schondube should be for Halloween.  Those always make me laugh!

Fall Hike

Some photos from our fabulous Fall Hike today in Battell Woods....it was gorgeous weather and the class had a great time exploring, climbing and collecting.  We have started our new IB unit "How the World Works" and our hike was a great opportunity to explore more about living and nonliving things.

 

 

 

 

Short Week of School

Hello Families,
     I wanted to remind everyone that there is no school on Friday, October 18th and Friday, November 1st.  I will be sending home the scheduled parent conference dates and times this week in the red folders.  I am holding conferences on Nov. 5, 7 and 8.  Please let me know as soon as possible if your scheduled time does not work for you and we can reschedule.  My classroom phone is 382-1458. 
     Here are some pics from Team B-3!


graphing goldfish!


cooperation and teamwork =  cool building


The 4 Kindergarten rooms swapped some choice time items
and the magna-tiles are very popular!


Independent work station during literacy


pattern building and recording at Math Workplaces


Number Rock song




Morning Greeting using key words


practicing 5 Little Pumpkins with a partner


Hearing a story with a great Big Buddy

All School Meeting Coming Up

Hello Families,
     Our next All School Morning Meeting is this Thursday, the 10th.  We invite all students to wear their Mary Hogan Hawks shirts on our Meeting days.  This meeting will be run by 6th graders....the Kindergartners will be excited to spot their Big Buddies up front leading the group!
     We are finishing up our first unit, How We Organize Ourselves, and the children have worked hard to create, understand, practice and explain our classroom agreements, our routines, our classroom organization and our community roles.  Our letter focus this week is o and g....so of course our key word this week is "go"!  The Kindergartners are working on combinations of 5, patterns and number formation at Math Workplaces.  Take a look at the kids in action last week!


Measuring the long cube train that was created during math workplaces


Playing Go Fish!


Partnering up to build letter puzzles


Each student created an apple family tree

 
Creative building with recycling and wooden blocks!

 
Kindergartners love their Big Buddy time!

Routines and Structure in B-3

Hello Families,
     We have had 22 days of Kindergarten and we continue to develop our routines and structure in our classroom to help guide our learning time in B-3.  Routines like, how to transition from one place in our school to another, how to organize our Choice Time items, how and where to store our Math Tools, practicing our classroom agreements and developing work time habits, all contribute to our overall positive structure for school.  If your child has mentioned GoNoodle, it is a fun and active part of our day that we use to take movement breaks and learn mindfulness techniques.  You can access it online and check it out home, too. 
     We have an Early Release Day this week.  Students are dismissed at 12:45 and busses run regular routes at the end of the day.  Mary Johnson Afterschool Program DOES NOT run on Early Release days, so please send in a note to let me know what your child will do after school instead.
     Now for some pictures from last week's learning:  letters a and c practice, apple taste test, combinations that make 5, being inquirers with a sink or float apple activity, and more!