Miss Hutchison's Class Blog

OUR LEARNING:

Popcorn Words – Our popcorn words this week were “today,” “play,” and “away.”

Math – We kept plugging along in Unit 5 this week by writing lots of partner equations! For example, if the total is 6, we can write 1+5, 2+4, 3+3, 4+2, or 5+1. We also practiced making equal groups by adding or subtracting numbers. 

Writing – We continued our OPINION writing unit this week! This week, we wrote our opinions about the following topics: beach or pool, summer or winter, and ice cream in a bowl or on a cone. (This ice cream example went along perfectly with our ice cream party!)

   

Reading – This week, we learned about an important part of most stories: DIALOGUE! We explored lots of books with dialogue and practiced changing our voices to match the different characters in the texts. Elephant and Piggie books are a perfect series to exemplify dialogue! Also, on Friday, we read “M is for Mitten” to celebrate our great state. 🙂   

Living & Nonliving Things – We sent our plants home on Wednesday! The kids were so excited to bring them home and watch them bloom/grow. (FYI – here are the seeds in your child’s cup. The letter on his/her cup is the first initial of the seed they picked.) Our caterpillars are growing, too! They are now in their chrysalises. 

  

Fifth Grade Camp: Our fifth grade buddies went to Camp Henry for 5th grade camp on Thursday and Friday. Our class decided to send them off with some acts of kindness. We decorated bags and wrote fun notes to each fifth grader; then, we filled the bags with camp-themed activity packets and some snacks & treats. We even surprised the fifth graders by delivering these bags to their classroom on Wednesday. Our kinders were so excited to do this act of kindness for their buddies! We even snuck into their classroom on Friday and read a story while they were gone at camp. 🙂 

  

American Symbols: This week, we started learning all about symbols of the United States! We started by learning about the American flag (and designing our own flags based on things that are important to us). Then, we learned about the bald eagle and the Statue of Liberty. I wonder which symbols we will learn about next week!

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CELEBRATIONS:

Top Frog – Every kinder will get the chance to be the Top Frog for one more day when they bring home our ESTIMATION JAR! This fun math practice will help us with our number sense skills, and will be a fun game for our class to play each morning with the top frog.

This week, Jayce brought whoppers candies, Elise brought chocolate eggs, Gabe brought Lego pieces, and Quinn brought things from her desk! I wonder what other kindergarteners will bring in next week???

Mystery Reader – Elise’s mom surprised us on Thursday and read two fun books to us – one was written by the same illustrator as “The Day the Crayons Quit.” What a fun connection for our kinders to make! 

Ice Cream Sundae Party: We celebrated our most recent 15 star reward by having an ice cream party! The kindergarteners voted on their favorite toppings for the sundaes, and they got to pick how they wanted their sundaes made. Such a fun afternoon! 

     

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Notes for Parents:

• This year’s Kindergarten Olympics (field day) will be held on Friday, May 31. If you are able to volunteer, please return the gold form! 
• Take-Home Books – This week will be the last week for take-home books! Next week (May 29) we will be collecting all take-home book baggies. Let’s make the most of these last few weeks of reading growth in kindergarten!

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Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 20 – P.E., Take-Home Books
• Tuesday, May 21 – Art, Library (return only)
• Wednesday, May 22 – STEAM, Take-Home Books 
• Thursday, May 23 – Music, Take-Home Books
• Friday, May 24 – P.E., Wear red, white, and blue

Let’s make these last 13.5 days of kindergarten the BEST possible! I can’t believe this week is already our last full week of school! 

Because we think OUR STATE IS GREAT…

Wear clothing from places in Michigan (other states are fine too) tomorrow, Friday, May 17. 

I can’t wait to see all of the towns, cities, schools, and places to visit in our state.

OUR LEARNING:

Popcorn Words – Our popcorn words this week were “by,” “my,” and “one.”

Math – We kept plugging along in Unit 5 this week by writing lots of partner equations! For example, if the total is 6, we can write 1+5, 2+4, 3+3, 4+2, or 5+1. We also practiced writing alllllllll the way to 100 again! Boy, our hands were tired after all of that number-writing.  

Writing – We started our OPINION writing unit this week! We first learned the difference between a fact and an opinion, and we learned that everyone can have their OWN opinion…opinions don’t have to be the same for every person. We played some kids “Would You Rather?” to get our opinion brains thinking. On Thursday, we tried our hand at our first opinion writing paper: slide or swings! 

Reading – We explored lots of fiction and nonfiction texts during reader’s workshop this week. We are also working on our STAMINA: our ability to focus and do something for a long time even when it might challenge us! So far we are able to read for 14 minutes! Also, I loved your kiddos’ crazy hair on Friday since we’re crazy about reading!  

 

Living & Nonliving Things – Our plants are sprouting! Almost every type of seed has begun to sprout! We will be sending these home this week for you to plant or keep watching at home. The kids made a diagram of a plant to bring home on Friday as a culmination of our living & nonliving things unit. Our caterpillars are growing, too! They haven’t made it into a cocoon yet, but I think they will this week. 🙂 

 

Field Trip: We had an awesome field trip to Hemlock Crossing and Hager Park on Wednesday! If you didn’t catch my email, here is a folder full of pictures from the trip! 

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CELEBRATIONS:

Top Frog – Every kinder will get the chance to be the Top Frog for one more day when they bring home our ESTIMATION JAR! This fun math practice will help us with our number sense skills, and will be a fun game for our class to play each morning with the top frog.

This week, Kayla brought 7 little people in the estimation jar, Christian brought 26 animal crackers, and Colton brought 81 small candy pieces! I wonder what other kindergarteners will bring in next week???

Mystery Reader – My mom, Ms. Sherry, came in as a mystery reader on Thursday and gave every kinder a book to bring home! Then, later that day, Gabe’s mom surprised our class and read one of our absolute favorite books: Green Eggs and Ham! 

Outstanding Kinders: This week, 4 of our kindergarteners were recognized by Mrs. Reagan and Miss Hutchison for outstanding choices in the classroom, at specials, or on the playground! 

Teacher Appreciation Week – This week, our class wanted to spread lots of love to those in our school who are integral to our success! We passed out cards and treats to our bus drivers, Eagle’s Nest workers, Mrs. Straub, Mrs. DeGroot, and Mr. Rob (our amazing custodian). Also, THANK YOU so much to those of you who shared kind words and tokens of appreciation with me last week – I truly love my job and am so grateful to teach your little ones this year!

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Notes for Parents:

• This year’s Kindergarten Olympics (field day) will be held on Friday, May 31. If you are able to volunteer, please return the gold form! 
• Spring Sports – If your kindergartener is participating in any spring sports (baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, dance recitals, etc.) PLEASE send me some dates when I could come cheer them on! I love getting to watch our little ones do what they love, since they watch me do what I love every day (teaching them!) 

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Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 13 – Music., Take-Home Books, Dominic‘s birthday
• Tuesday, May 14 – P.E., Library
• Wednesday, May 15 – Art, Take-Home Books 
• Thursday, May 16 – STEAM, Take-Home Books
• Friday, May 17 – Music, Kindergarten Olympic Volunteer forms due

Since we are “CRAZY ABOUT READING,” we will be celebrating tomorrow by having CRAZY HAIR DAY! I can’t wait to see the fun and crazy hairstyles our kindergarteners wear!

Also, tomorrow is an early release with a 12:15 pm dismissal. If your child needs a sack lunch tomorrow, please email me TONIGHT, since I will not be at school tomorrow. 

 

We are on our way to HAGER PARK for lunch and play time, and you are welcome to join us! Hooray for no rain yet! 

Our field trip is tomorrow, Wednesday, May 8!  

We will be at Hemlock Crossing Nature Park for the morning.  The bus will leave around 9:15 a.m. and arrive at Hemlock Crossing by 10:00 a.m.  Chaperones, please plan to either meet us at Hemlock Crossing or come here and you are welcome to follow the bus out that way. 

The bus will be leaving around 11:30 a.m. from Hemlock Crossing to take us to Hager Park for our picnic lunch and play time.  We plan on arriving at Hager Park around 12:00pm.  We will be eating our picnic lunch at the picnic tables. The kinders will have some time to play on the playground after lunch before returning to Georgetown. 

Please be sure to dress your kinder for trail walking and the weather (RAIN especially). Also, don’t forget their labeled sack lunch and disposable drink! 

Younger siblings are welcome to join in the fun at the park, too! If it rains, we will still go to Hemlock Crossing, but we will NOT go to Hager Park…we’ll come back to our classroom instead, and you are welcome to join us at Georgetown for a rainy-day lunch. 

If you have any questions, please contact me at ahutchi@hpseagles.net.

OUR LEARNING:

Popcorn Words – Our popcorn words this week were “have,” “on,” and “of.” We also learned how to break big words apart by writing each syllable (or chunk) one at a time.

Math – We kept plugging along in Unit 5 this week by writing lots of partner equations! For example, if the total is 6, we can write 1+5, 2+4, 3+3, 4+2, or 5+1. We also practiced writing alllllllll the way to 100 again! Boy, our hands were tired after all of that number-writing.  

Writing – We wrote a few more how-to stories this week! First, we wrote about how to make cookies. Then, Miss Hutchison brought in all of the ingredients to make pizzas and we wrote “How to Make Pizza.” Finally, the kindergarteners wrote ALL by themselves about how to wash your hands. 

   

Reading – We continued to be avid POETRY readers this week! Avid poetry readers read the words, think about the poem, and match the beat of the poem. We put lots of new poems in our poetry binder this week! We also loved reading all of our JOKES on Friday!!! The kids got such a good laugh. 🙂 

Living & Nonliving Things – On Monday, we got to plant our own seeds to see if they will sprout. We got to pick between 4 types of seeds: alyssums, nasturtiums, radishes, or lima beans. So far three of our plants cups have begun to sprout! We can’t wait to watch our plants grow. This week, our class also welcomed in another living thing: CATERPILLARS! We are going to watch these caterpillars turn into butterflies right inside our classroom! The kids are so excited for these two science projects! 

 

Rocks: This week, we learned all about rocks! Each day, we learned about a different type of rock AND we made replicas of that rock type. For sedimentary rocks, we used marshmallows to create sandstone. For igneous rock, we melted chocolate chips (like lava) then let them cool. For metamorphic rock, we used heat and pressure to combine two colors of play-doh.

   

Then, on Friday, we also explored our rock collections! We worked together to find igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rocks in our own collections. Then we made a rock investigation journal for ONE special rock from our collections!  

   

Pizza Lunch: We had a yummy pizza lunch on Friday! Thank you to those of you who ordered on Jet’s Pizza night in April!! 

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CELEBRATIONS:

Top Frog – Every kinder will get the chance to be the Top Frog for one more day when they bring home our ESTIMATION JAR! This fun math practice will help us with our number sense skills, and will be a fun game for our class to play each morning with the top frog.

This week, Henley brought jelly beans in the estimation jar, Harper brought 25 skittles packets, Liam brought lego pieces, Jordan brought 14 hot wheel cars, and Claire brought 71 Shopkins! I wonder what other kindergarteners will bring in next week???

Mystery Reader – Dominic’s grandma came up from Ohio to surprise our class on Friday – what a special treat! 

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Notes for Parents:

• Our field trip is THIS week on Wednesday, May 8. I will be sending home a preparation checklist to make sure that your kindergartener is ready for our big day! IF IT RAINS, WE WILL NOT BE GOING TO HAGER PARK FOR OUR LUNCH – we will eat our sack lunches in the classroom, and you are still welcome to join us for that! 
• This year’s Kindergarten Olympics (field day) will be held on Friday, May 31. If you are able to volunteer, please return the gold form! 
• Spring Sports – If your kindergartener is participating in any spring sports (baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, dance recitals, etc.) PLEASE send me some dates when I could come cheer them on! I love getting to watch our little ones do what they love, since they watch me do what I love every day (teaching them!) 

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Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 6 – Music., Take-Home Books, Claire‘s birthday, Culver’s Night from 5-8 (Miss Hutchison will be serving from 6-8!!!)
• Tuesday, May 7 – P.E., Library
• Wednesday, May 8 – FIELD TRIP! Pack a sack lunch. 
• Thursday, May 9 – STEAM, Take-Home Books
• Friday, May 10 : Music

Two reminders for tomorrow:

We would love for your kindergartener to bring in a joke to share with the class. You can write your joke on any spare piece of paper and send it in their frog folder. Here are a few good websites with kid-friendly jokes: 114 Kids Jokes, 137 Hilarious Jokes, and Funny Kids Jokes.

ALSO, our class won the Jet’s Pizza lunch from April’s fundraiser! We will be having pizza, a snack, and juice boxes for lunch in our classroom tomorrow. You do not need to pack a lunch for your kindergartener tomorrow!

Looking forward to a fun Friday with your sweet kindergarteners!

A BIG packet with tons of IMPORTANT information is coming home with your kindergartener today! Please take some time to read through all of these papers – many are time-sensitive! Here is what you’ll find:

May Calendar

Fun Reading Fridays

Field Trip Details

Kindergarten Olympics

Scholastic Book Orders

Popcorn Words (March-May)

 

OUR LEARNING:

Popcorn Words – Our popcorn words this week were “come” and “some.” We also learned the 4 different ways to spell the sound /k/.

Math – This week was all about TEEN NUMBERS! We’ve been counting stars, finding groups of ten hidden inside teen numbers, and written equations for teen numbers. 

 

Writing – This week we started a new type of writing: HOW-TO writing! We brainstormed a list of things we know how to do, then we began writing stories that give people step-by-step directions of how to do something. We wrote about how to make a PB&J sandwich and how to carve a pumpkin. 

 

Reading – We learned about how to be avid POETRY readers this week! Avid poetry readers read the words, think about the poem, and match the beat of the poem. We put lots of new poems in our poetry binder this week! 

Living & Nonliving Things – In preparation for our field trip to Hemlock Crossings in a few weeks, we began learning a new science unit: Living and Nonliving things. We also have been learning about what living things need to grow….we made a flipbook about the 4 things a plant needs to grow. We will plant our own seeds and try to grow them later this week! 

Earth Day: On Monday, we celebrated Earth Day by learning about ways to take care of the earth! We talk about reducing, reusing, and recycling. We also drew pictures of earth for a hallway display! We even went and checked out our school’s “Paper Gator” recycle bin! Ask your kindergartener about ways to conserve energy and help our earth!

 

Spring Fun: On Monday, we had some surprise chicks hatch in our classroom! Each kindergartener got to “adopt” a chick and tell us all about their special peep. We also painted some special bunnies that will be coming home tonight. 🙂 

 

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CELEBRATIONS:

Top Frog – Every kinder will get the chance to be the Top Frog for one more day when they bring home our ESTIMATION JAR! This fun math practice will help us with our number sense skills, and will be a fun game for our class to play each morning with the top frog.

This week, Nathan brought 22 crayons in the estimation jar, and Dallon brought 44 lego pieces! I wonder what other kindergarteners will bring in next week???

 

Mystery Reader – Claire’s grandpa and sister surprised us as the mystery readers on Wednesday! Then on Thursday, Colton’s grandma came to our classroom to read to us! 

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Notes for Parents:

• Our field trip is next week on Wednesday, May 8. I will be sending home a preparation checklist to make sure that your kindergartener is ready for our big day! 
• Our class won the Jet’s Pizza lunch from this past month’s “Jet’s Pizza Night.” We will be celebrating with our pizza lunch on Friday, May 3. If you would be willing to send in drinks or snacks to go with the pizza, please email me! 
• Spring Sports – If your kindergartener is participating in any spring sports (baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, dance recitals, etc.) PLEASE send me some dates when I could come cheer them on! I love getting to watch our little ones do what they love, since they watch me do what I love every day (teaching them!) 

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Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, April 29 – STEAM., Take-Home Books, rock collections due, Dallon’s birthday!
• Tuesday, April 30 – Music, Library
• Wednesday, May 1 – P,E,., Take-Home Books
• Thursday, May 2 – Art, Take-Home Books
• Friday, May 3 : STEAM, Jet’s pizza lunch
• Monday, May 6: Culver’s Night from 5-8 pm
• Wednesday, May 8: Field Trip to Hemlock Crossings! (pack a sack lunch)