October 16, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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School picture packets are coming home with your child today! If there are any issues with the contents of your order, please contact Geskus Photography. (Their information is on the back of your child’s picture booklet.)
Picture retakes will be next week on Thursday, October 26th.
Their smiles in these pictures are absolutely adorable!
October 15, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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OUR LEARNING:
Popcorn Words: This week, the words me, be, we, will, and the color words black and white popped into our classroom. We practiced spelling these words, using these words in sentences and finding these words in books that we read. We read Eric Carle’s Panda Bear, Panda Bear and made our own fork-painted pandas!
Split Lit: Split Lit is a time when our class splits into different groups to learn specific literacy skills and strategies. This week, we practiced beginning sounds and rhyming by playing games and doing fun activities on our whiteboards.
Math: We concluded our first unit of math this week and took our very first math test. Our kindergarteners felt so important when they got to use their own “offices” (a folder separating them from their neighbors) while taking the test. The class did an incredible job trying their best and following directions during the assessment!
Reading: This week we continued the process of learning about “Powerful Partnerships” while reading. We learned about four different things we can share with our partner during our shared reading time. We can tell our favorite part of a story, an interesting part, something we learned, or a connection that relates to our experiences. The kindergarteners are doing an amazing job at sharing new learning and thinking with their reading buddies!
Writing: During writer’s workshop this week, we wrote about each of our four specials: music, art, STEAM, and gym. We brainstormed what we do during each special, drew pictures and added practical labels, and then wrote a shared sentence together to describe each of our pictures.
Handwriting: This week ,we wrote four new “Frog Jump” letters in our Handwriting Without Tears books. These are letters that we have to pick up (frog jump) our pencil to make (the letter is not one continuous stroke). We begin with learning how to write these letters in uppercase form. After we learn all of the letters in uppercase form, we will then learn them in lowercase form. This week, we practiced the letters D, P, B, and R.
Fall Fun: This week, our class read a Scholastic magazine about autumn leaves and went on a nature walk “leaf hunt” to find some colorful leaves right on our school grounds! We then investigated these leaves to learn more about the colors, sizes, and features of them. The kids loved being scientists and discovering the awesome nature around us!
CELEBRATIONS:
We loved having Colten as our Top Frog this week! Brianna will be our upcoming week’s Top Frog.
Our class was lucky to have two mystery readers this week! On Thursday, Grant’s mom and sister came to read to our classroom. Grant’s sister, Katie, is a fifth grader at Georgetown this year. Thank you for the wonderful surprise!
NOTES FOR PARENTS:
Pumpkin Supplies: If you need any specific supplies for your child’s pumpkin book report (paint, markers, paper, etc.), please do not hesitate to contact me!
Headphones: In STEAM class, your child gets the chance to use a computer. As part of this time it is very helpful if the students have a pair of headphones to use. I would love for each of our students to bring a pair of headphones to use in Mrs. Totten’s STEAM classroom by Monday, October 23. The style of headphone is up to you, as long as your child will wear them comfortably. A wired headphone is best, one that can be plugged into our computers. No need to spend a lot on these – I know I have seen them at Five Below before. Please mark your child’s name on these headphones with a permanent marker before sending them in to school. Thank you in advance!
Fall Party: Our Fall Party will be on Friday, October 27. Thank you so much for all of the volunteers who have contacted me about volunteering or donating to our party. Our kindergarteners will be walking with other Kindergarten classes in an indoor parade before the party at 2:00 p.m. ish. Our party will be in our classroom after the parade and end at 3:15 p.m. This is such a fun time for our Kindergarteners! Your child is welcome to wear their costume to school and wear it the whole day or bring it in a bag if they would prefer to wear it only for the parade or party. If you have any questions please email me at ahutchi@hpseagles.net .
UPCOMING DATES:
October 12, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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Here are three important reminders for tomorrow!
Tomorrow, Friday, October 13, is an early release day with a 12:15 dismissal time.
If your child needs to order a SACK LUNCH tomorrow, please send in a note or email me so I can get his or her lunch ordered tomorrow morning.
Don’t forget to dress your child in black and white tomorrow to celebrate our popcorn words from this week!
October 7, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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OUR LEARNING:
Popcorn Words: This week, the words to, do, you, and the color word purple popped into our classroom. We practiced spelling these words, using these words in sentences and finding these words in books that we read. The Kindergarteners LOVED hearing the song One Eyed, One Horned Flying Purple People Eater, too! They really enjoyed making their own one eyed, one horned flying purple people eater monsters.
Math: We continued to explore Unit 1 in Math. The Kindergartners practiced their number recognition, number writing, adding numbers, and telling math stories this week. On Tuesday, we looked for shapes in different snack foods and sorted these shapes before enjoying our math-tastic afternoon snack! On Friday, we reviewed our math skills by playing 4 math games with our friends.
Reading: This week we started the process of learning about “Powerful Partnerships” while reading. Each kindergartener has been paired with a partner that they get to build a reading partnership with. We started by learning how to read back to back with a partner during read-to-self time. Then we learned how to read with our partner by sitting EEKK (elbow to elbow and knee to knee). We learned how to both read the same book together, how to take turns reading the same book and then how to share our favorite parts from the books we read.
Writing: In writing this week, we have practiced shared writing. As a class, we draw a picture together, label the picture and come up with a sentence about the picture. On their own, the kindergarteners have also practiced drawing pictures, labeling them, and tracing words (that make a sentence) on a page about their picture. This week we wrote about our snack, the firefighters, and the color purple.
Handwriting: We have started to work on writing our letters this week using our “Handwriting Without Tears” books. In handwriting, we start with what we call “Frog Jump” letters. These are letters that we have to pick up (frog jump) our pencil to make (the letter is not one continuous stroke). We begin with learning how to write these letters in uppercase form. After we learn all of the letters in uppercase form, we will then learn them in lowercase form. So far, we have written F and E.
CELEBRATIONS:
We celebrated Nora’s 6th birthday on Friday. Thank you for the awesome gifts, Nora! Happy birthday!
We loved having Karsten as our Top Frog this week! Colten will be our upcoming week’s Top Frog.
Our class was lucky to have three mystery readers this week! On Wednesday, Brianna’s grandma came with her blue fun bag full of books to read. Then, on Friday, we were surprised by Annie’s grandma and her brother James, who is a first grader at Georgetown. Thank you to our wonderful readers!
NOTES FOR PARENTS:
Headphones: In STEAM class, your child gets the chance to use a computer. As part of this time it is very helpful if the students have a pair of headphones to use. I would love for each of our students to bring a pair of headphones to use in Mrs. Totten’s STEAM classroom by Monday, October 23. The style of headphone is up to you, as long as your child will wear them comfortably. A wired headphone is best, one that can be plugged into our computers. No need to spend a lot on these – I know I have seen them at Five Below before. Please mark your child’s name on these headphones with a permanent marker before sending them in to school. Thank you in advance!
Fall Party: Our Fall Party will be on Friday, October 27. Thank you so much for all of the volunteers who have contacted me about volunteering or donating to our party. (I will be contacting you with more logistics this week.) Our kindergarteners will be walking with other Kindergarten classes in an indoor parade before the party at 2:00 p.m. ish. Our party will be in our classroom after the parade and end at 3:15 p.m. This is such a fun time for our Kindergarteners! Your child is welcome to wear their costume to school and wear it the whole day or bring it in a bag if they would prefer to wear it only for the parade or party. If you have any questions please email me at ahutchi@hpseagles.net .
UPCOMING DATES:
October 6, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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We did it again – we earned another 10 stars from class wins and “Outstanding’s”! This time, our reward is going to be a Pajama Day. The kiddos were SO excited to earn another celebration! Students are welcome to wear pajamas or comfy clothes to school on Monday, October 9. I’m so proud of our kindergarteners for making green choices in school!
October 5, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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Remember to wear PURPLE tomorrow!! We have been talking about the color word PURPLE this week and want to celebrate tomorrow, Friday, October 6, by wearing PURPLE!
October 3, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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RAZ-Kids is an AMAZING reading app that Georgetown PTC sponsors for our classroom! I highly encourage you to download this app on your phone or tablet for your kindergartener. We do not have personal devices (such as ipads) in our classroom, so this is a great way to give your child exposure to digital literacy skills at home while reading books that are on his/her specific level!
Here are the steps to get started! This will take you less than 5 minutes. 🙂
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1. Download the app: Kids A-Z (also known as RAZ-Kids) Free Download! |
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2. Open the app and type in the following username: ahutchison16 |
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3. Find your child’s name from our class list. |
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4. Your child’s password is the apple icon. |
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5. Once logged in, go to the “Level-Up” section. |
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6. Now your child can choose any of the stories on the app to listen to, read independently, then answer comprehension questions. |
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I’m sure it won’t take long for your kindergartener to be self-sufficient with this app! Your child will be growing as an independent reader in no time. 🙂
I will receive a “weekly report” with notifications about each student’s use of the app, which is incredibly helpful when planning future lessons for your child. I can’t wait to see your child develop as a reader this year!
October 3, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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This morning, four Georgetown Township firefighters came to visit our school! Firefighters Todd, Paul, Al, and Mike talked with our class and Mrs. Bohl’s class about fire safety. Our kindergarteners were in awe of the firefighters’ uniforms, tools, and knowledge!
Here are some of the fire safety tips that we learned about today:
The firefighters also showed us all of the components of their heavy uniforms.
We even got to see the fire truck and all of it’s secret compartments that store special tools. The firefighters sprayed water for us, too!
If your child would like to spend more time with the Georgetown Firefighters, they will be having an open house celebration this THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5 at 6:30 PM at FIRE STATION 1. There will be popcorn, the children can sit in a fire truck, and firefighters will be there to answer questions!
Thank you, Georgetown Township Firefighters, for a great visit!
October 2, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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This month’s Scholastic Book Order catalogs came home in your child’s FROG folder today. If you would like to place an order, you may do so online (by following this link) or by returning the forms to school by the due date: October 20th. Thank you for supporting our community of readers!
Also, don’t forget to send in your child’s library book tomorrow so he or she can check out a new one!
October 1, 2017
by Miss Hutchison
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OUR LEARNING:
Popcorn Words: This week the words “is,” “his,” and “this” popped into our classroom. We also learned the color word green. We had a lot of fun reading the book “Little Blue and Little Yellow.” While reading the book, we used play-dough to discover that when you mix blue and yellow together, you get green! We also made green frogs – they are hanging up to decorate our classroom!
Math: We finished our number writing books this week after writing 8, 9, and 10! We continued making towers and rows to compare numbers 1 through 10 by asking questions like: “Which tower is taller? Which number is bigger/smaller?” We were also introduced to more shapes this week, including squares and rectangles. Our kindergarteners sorted shapes by size, number of sides, etc. We concluded our week by playing fun math games to review our learning!
Writer’s Workshop: In writer’s workshop we continued to work on telling stories. We told stories to a partner, out loud as a class, and even drew our stories. We also labeled our pictures so our readers can better understand our drawings. I am so proud of these writers!! Some of them are getting really brave and sounding out words to label their pictures. This week, we wrote about recess time, art class, and our favorite part of school. We will continue to work on sharing and writing small moment stories next week. The Kindergarteners will be adding more details as they grow as writers.
Reader’s Workshop: We concluded our first unit of reader’s workshop this week! We reviewed essential concepts of print such as: reading the words from left to right and top to bottom, starting at the front cover and reading page by page, and pausing at punctuation marks.
CELEBRATIONS:
Top Frog: Next week’s top frog is Karsten! We loved having Nora as our Top Frog this week.
Mystery Readers: We were lucky to have two mystery readers this week: Katherine’s mom and Karsten’s mom! Thanks for supporting our love of reading!
Our Middle School Helpers: Every Thursday morning, Kenzie and Emily will be coming to our classroom. This week, our kinders got to play some fun get-to-know-you games with our 8th grade friends. We can’t wait to see Kenzie and Emily again next week!
Pizza Party: We had lots of fun at our “10 Star Reward” pizza party on Thursday!
Super Fans: Some awesome high-schoolers and our eagle mascot came to visit Georgetown and get us pumped up for Friday’s homecoming game! Our class even got a picture with the eagle. 🙂
Fall Party Update: Thank you to all of you who have volunteered for our Fall Party on Friday, October 27. We will be having our party from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. We will have a parade with our other Kindergarten classrooms around 2:10pm. It is a big hit to see our Kindergarteners in this parade! Our party will be a center-style party with the kids rotating around to centers where they’ll be playing games, making a craft and then enjoying a snack together. I can’t wait for this fun event! Please let me know if you would like to help with the party – we are still in need of more volunteers!
NOTES FOR PARENTS:
UPCOMING DATES:
