A Sunny Week.....

Hello Families,
     What a great week of sunny weather we had!  In Kindergarten, the students were practicing the letters m and n, releasing the last of our butterflies, investigating the pattern on the calendar, estimating how many cubes we collected in Number Corner, meeting Big Buddies for the first time and working to demonstrate the Learner Profile traits of "caring" and "risk taker".  We made another class book using our new sight word: is.  The Mystery Bag went home today for the first time with a Kindergartner.  It is a way to share something special from home in a guessing game format that the children love.  Look for the Mystery Bag to be coming to your house in the next couple weeks. 
     A reminder to send a water bottle to school with your child to use throughout the day and enjoy some photos from the week. 

The Learner Profile traits

Partners work to describe each other's shoes to the class

Tricia visited from the Ilsley Library, read a story and made boats with the kids.

Building numbers on the 5 frame

Playing Name Soup

More Name Soup!

Building puzzles together

Friday morning greeting:  Hello, Hello, Hello

Building a sentence to make a class book page

Our new class book will be B-3 Is Here!

Using our manipulatives to create tops

New T-Shirts!

Hello Families,
     Friday was an exciting day as the Kindergartners received their brand new Mary Hogan Hawks t-shirts from MESA, our school parent group.  Thanks MESA!  The whole school is invited to wear their Mary Hogan shirts to All School Assemblies and our first one is on Monday.  So the shirts are at school and we will change into them for the assembly and then wear them home.  You will get a reminder when the next assembly is so your child can wear their Mary Hogan shirt for each assembly.  If you are on Instagram, you can follow Mary Hogan School and see a picture of us gathered for our assembly practice in the gym and a picture of us receiving our shirts. 
     As we dive into our first IB unit of inquiry, How We Organize Ourselves, our focus has been on our classroom agreements and the Mary Hogan school wide agreements and how these agreements help us all learn and be a community.  The Learner Profile is posted in our classroom and this week we talked about what it means to be "principled".  After we played a group game in the classroom, we discussed how well it worked because everyone was being principled.  You may have noticed the Learner Profile on the wall at Open House, but if you missed it, I will send a photo to you soon.
    Picture Day is Thursday the 19th and Tricia from the Ilsley Library will be visiting our classroom on Monday.  Our first visit with our Big Buddies, a 6th grade class, will be this Friday.  Big Buddy time is always a favorite with the Kindergartners and it is a great way to build our school community connections.  Enjoy some photos from last week!

  
Practicing names in shaving cream (makes the room smell lovely!) and partner letter work at the Independent Station

  
Exploring ways to make shapes with our bodies and with manipulatives

  
Playing a shape game at Math Workplace time and more letter practice!  I sent home a note about letter formation and the writing grid we use in Kindergarten to practice letters with the Sky Line, the Plane Line, the Grass Line and the Worm Line.  Those can be used for practice at home so you will know the language we use in school to learn the correct formation for the letters. 

The 2019/2020 Kindergarten Year is Here!

Hello Families, 
     I wanted to share some photos from our Team B-3 learning as the year has begun for us.  We are practicing routines, learning about each other and figuring out what will make our classroom feel like an organized and caring space.  First, I wanted to let you know that the students are encouraged to bring water bottles to school.  We try to have regular water breaks after recess and PE.  Also, as the weather starts to get a bit more like Fall, please make sure your Kindergartner has an extra sweatshirt or layer in the backpack.  The students have met many staff that work at Mary Hogan to contribute to their learning environment....Ms. S and Ms. Claire in the Art room, Mrs. Palmer in the gym, Mr. Lester and Mrs. D for Guidance, Mrs. Lee is our Social/Emotional Leader, Mrs. Kravitz is our Principal, Ms. Julie and Ms. Liz in the library.  They are meeting new people everyday who are all here to support the Kindergartners here at Mary Hogan!  This blog is a great way to communicate with your student about school.  Look at the pictures together and ask your child to tell you about school.  Have Fun!

 
 
 
 

The Countdown

Hello Families,
     We started our Last 10 Days of Kindergarten today....here is a photo of our countdown envelopes.  Each day the teacher assistant will open the envelope for the day to see what special something is happening that day.  Today was our walk down to the Ilsley Library for our movie trip that we won during the Readathon.

 

Here we are trimming our Grassapillars...

  

Working together on a math activity...


And working on a Mystery Picture math challenge...


Tomorrow is our School Picnic...if you are joining us, we eat at 11:00 and we will gather right outside our back classroom door.  Thursday, June 6th,  is our last All School Morning Meeting...all the grades are assigned a color to wear that day so that we look like a rainbow sitting in the gym!  We are supposed to wear red.  Next week is Spirit Week...I will send home a reminder about what special theme we have for each day. 

Still Having Fun in Kindergarten

Hello Families,
     I am keeping my fingers crossed for more days of sun as we move into the final weeks of school.  First, I wanted to tell you that I mentioned the wrong date for the School Picnic in my last post.  It is on June 4th.  Families are welcome to join us on that day at 11:00 to eat lunch with your child and his or her classmates.  We gather on the little playground area right outside our back door. 
     This week we will be walking to the Ilsley Library for story fun and exploring the library more with Tricia.  She will be chatting with the kids about the summer reading program that happens through the library.  More info to come about that.
     The Kindergartners had an opportunity to be leaders of the school at the whole school Morning Meeting last week.  Here is a picture of them leading the school in one of our classic songs, Icky Sticky Bubblegum!


     We have been talking about Spring and plants and the needs of plants.  We watched a Mystery Doug video about how flowers bloom.  Then we tried out an experiment with paper flowers and water.  Here are some pictures of students being observers.
 

     And I think I forgot to post the video of the class singing about Earth Day...here it is!

The Month of May

Hello Families,
     Here we are on the last stretch of Kindergarten...it is hard to believe we have 29 days of school left together!  Within those 29 days, we will be finishing up the "How We Express Ourselves" unit, having our last 2 yoga visits, visiting Tricia at the library, attending Spring Into the Arts at Middlebury College, taking a field trip to Shelburne Farms, enjoying our School Picnic on June 10th and meeting the first grade teachers before our last day on June 14th.  All this while still working on our literacy and math skills, visiting our specials classes, listening to stories together, questioning and investigating the ocean book area in the classroom and building our social skills through play and choice time.  Kindergarten is busy!
     Our Shelburne Farms trip is on June 5th and this is a great trip for parents who want to join us.  I would ask that you meet us there, as the bus can't accommodate all the parents who wish to go.  Mrs. Sommer's class will be going the same day.  A permission slip will be coming home within the next couple of weeks. 
     We have an Early Release Day on Tuesday, May 7th.  After the students go home, the Kindergarten teachers will be welcoming the incoming Kindergarten students as they have a visitation.  Some of the students were remembering this day for them last year!  It is always a joy to meet the "new crew" and realizing how far these current Kindergartners have grown over the past year! 


Biking in P.E.


Role playing with Mr. Lester...how do you handle disappointment?


Practicing quick recall of our key words with a fun game!

 
Exploring the new ocean books with a Book Circle


With our ocean books, we have been discussing living and nonliving things and fiction vs. nonfiction.

April showers....

Hello Families,
     Last month we learned about the saying, "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb".  At the end of the month we counted up our lamb and lion days we recorded as we checked the weather each day and found that it was about even...9 lamb days and 10 lion days.  Now we have moved on to, "April showers bring May flowers."  Our bulletin board in the hallway is full of Kindergarten-made flowers as we hope to help bring Spring to Middlebury!
     An important part of our learning together in Kindergarten is practicing ways to calm our bodies and redirect our attention.  As I have taught the children several ways to practice different ways to breathe to calm your body and mind, the children have also taught me several different ways.  Then we get to teach others in our community, like Mr. Lester and Mrs. Urban.  We have the opportunity to learn some yoga, too, in the next few weeks.  Prem Prakash from Green Mountain Yoga will be visiting our Kindergarten classes to lead the children through a half hour of yoga.  It will be a great connection to what we have been discussing around ways to calm and settle our bodies.
     I look forward to seeing you at parent conference time in the next couple of weeks.  If you are unable to attend for any reason, please let me know with a note or a phone call and we can reschedule.  My number at school is 382-1458.  There is an Early Release Day this week on Wednesday the 10th.  Our trip to the Flynn Theater is Monday, April 15th and Spring Vacation is the week of April 22-26. 


Friends enjoy building together in B-3.


The latest Art project with Ms. S...texture crowns.


Looking at different places in our community as we get ready to explore jobs and what we want to be when we grow up.



Our Who We Are projects are hanging up in the classroom - we have learned so much about each other and what makes us who we are.  I hope you have a chance to look at them when you come in for parent conference time. 

April showers bring May flowers.....