Fire Prevention Week and Artist in Residence Visits

Did you hear about our "zigger zagger" week?  Wow.... were we busy! It is always one of our favorite weeks at here at HMS...the week that the Artist In Residence visits us. This year we were fortunate to recruit Allison and Hunt Smith from Nelson, NH to share their love of folk music and traditional dance with the elementary students and faculty. Hunt and Allison's residency is supported in part by a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. This week we listened to Hunt and Allison play on traditional instruments and learned dances that would have been familiar to residents of Hopkinton 200+ years ago. Our kindergartners enjoyed two assemblies and two morning sessions learning new dances with every student in kindergarten.   Our students really enjoyed the experience!

Artists in Residence Allison and Hunt.

Kindergartners moved to the music and practiced
freezing when the music stopped.

Kindergartners danced "down the ally" while singing
about the Grand Ole Duke of  York.

We learned a line dance and danced with friends from other classes.

And of course, every good dance ends with a bow
or a curtsey.

We found some time during our busy week to enjoy the amazing weather. Our creative kindergartners used sand toys to rake up a leaf pile to jump in!

Our favorite recess activity this week!

Soaking up the beautiful fall weather...

....and jumping in the leaf pile!

We continued with our introduction to the computer lab and building our mouse skills.  Our time in the computer lab was spent on a fun math game that involved counting and sorting.

We are getting the hang of the brand new computers in the lab.

Chana and Hayden count and sort fuzz bugs using the mouse.

We ended our very busy week with a fire safety presentation from the Hopkinton Fire Department.

Firefighter Martel and Firefighter Delude taught us all
about fire safety.

We learned what a firefighter looks and sounds like in their gear.

We also learned to never hide from a firefighter if there
is a fire.

Firefighter Andrew taught us about different tools on the fire truck.

We enjoyed checking out the fire truck,....

...all of the equipment and the tall ladder.

We learned how much water comes out of the hose.

Eden and Lily wait to check out the ambulance.

Charlotte and Izzy

Autumn and Brylee

Lucy and Jack

Noah and Chana  

In our classroom, we  learned how to stop, drop and roll.

It was a fun and exciting week in kindergarten  Thanks to Hunt and Allison for the dances...AND... thanks to the Hopkinton Fire Department for their fire safety presentation!

A Big Week of "Firsts"

We've been hard at work in kindergarten!  This was a week of firsts for us: first visits from our librarians, first visit to the computer lab and our first nature walk!


We enjoyed a visit from our favorite town librarian, Mrs. Maynard!  She came to share some new stories that are available and teach us about some of the programs happening at the town library!  Our class loves a good story!

Mrs. Maynard read us a silly book about a dog
who shares his ice cream with dinosaurs!

We also welcomed our two school librarians, Mrs. Marino and Mrs. Bolhman into our class this week! They introduced us to  the books that were nominated for this year's Lady Bug Book award. There are 10 books nominated for the award.  We will be reading them all over the next few weeks and voting for our favorites books in December.

Mrs. Marino and Mrs. Bohlman act out
Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins. A very silly story
about a bear and baby geese.

We had a beautiful afternoon to go outside and observe some of the signs of Fall. Our class really enjoyed exploring outside which makes me think they will love snowshoeing this winter! Each kindergartner kept track of what they found using a scavenger hunt checklist. It was a perfect afternoon to end the week!

Our class has done an amazing job learning our classroom routine and expectations.  We've come together as a community and are working well together! Learning centers is a wonderful time to witness how students are working together.

We also visited the computer lab for the first time this week.  The focus of our first few lessons in the computer lab will be getting students comfortable with the mouse. We began our formal phonics program this week, Fundations. (More information to come about Fundations as we get the program rolling.) We also continued to work in our math books with the focus being on numbers to 10 and same and different.

Finding the Gingerbread Man and Highlights of the Week

Did you hear about the gingerbread man? He kept us on the go most of the afternoon one day last week. After reading The Gingerbread Man, a strange puzzle piece dropped out of the back of the book. There was also a clue, the first of many! The clues led us on a tour of the building as we tried to figure out where the gingerbread man was hiding. At each stop there was also a piece of a puzzle. We visited the library, the arts (music and art) room, the MPR, the office and the nurse's office! The last clue led us back to the classroom where we discovered that the gingerbread man had left us our own mini gingerbread people to decorate.

One of our favorite books so far...

We found these clues all over the building.

We searched high and low in the MPR..

The gingerbread  man left us a clue in the kitchen.

When we returned to our classroom,
the gingerbread man left us our very
 own gingerbread people to decorate.

Kindergartners enjoyed decorating their own
gingerbread people.

Our hard working kindergartners!

After deciding the gingerbread man was too quick for us,
we played a gingerbread math game to help us practice
writing numbers.

We were able to celebrate two birthdays in our classroom already.  Happy Birthday Izzy and Eden! We celebrate the birthday student throughout the day in our classroom.  The birthday child gets to be the leader and take home a poster made by the class.

Kindergartners create a birthday poster for Eden to bring home.

Thank you to everyone who came to visit at Open House.  Kindergartners were proud to make projects and get our space ready for families to see.

Wyatt, Taylor and Jack work on our "kindergarden"...

...Lily and Chana help with the finishing touches too.

123, 123...How many friends make 123? We enjoyed this literacy activity this week as we are still working on getting to know our classmates and practicing writing our names.

Students worked together to draw themselves and their friends.

Did you hear about the library?  Our class recently had their first visit.  Everyone got to choose a book.  Books can be kept at home for up to a week but can be brought back to school sooner.  Your child's book should travel back and forth to school in the while Dr. Suess book bags.  These bags were not in during the time of our visit so only children who have brought their first book back have received book bags.  In kindergarten, students may go to the library any day (or every day) during our learning centers.   This month we will be teaching students how to use the library independently.  Once kindergartners get the hang of how to use the library passes and the book keys in the library, they will be able to go to the library with a buddy...no teacher!  It's pretty fun to see them skip down the hall the first time they are allowed to go with just a friend!

Brylee and Corbin check out the reading tent in the library.

We continue to enjoy our sunny playground.  Remember to send a sweatshirt or jacket as the weather gets colder this week.

Enjoying the playground on one of the last summer days.

The climbing wall seems to be a kindergarten favorite this year.

Did you hear we had a visit from a Hopkinton Police Officer?  Thanks to Hayden's dad, Officer O'Connor for stopping in to read us a Curious George book.

Everyone had lots of questions for Officer O'Connor. Thanks for sharing your dad Hayden!

Celebrating the first day of Fall...

...with some silly faces!

Welcome to the School Year!

It has been a pleasure to be back at school with such a wonderful group of kindergartners!  It is going to be another great year of learning and growing.  We are taking the time to learn about one another and how to take care of our classroom. The focus of the first days of school (and this upcoming week too) was building the foundation for a cooperative and caring classroom community. Students explored tools and learning centers that we will be using all school year long.

Rowan builds a rocket ship using pattern blocks.

Taylor explores the rice in the sand table.

Eden enjoys a feast in the dramatic play learning center.

Kingston uses the fancy scissors at the writing center.

Wyatt uses playdough at the fine motor center.

Autumn explores with playdough too.  Thanks to
Lily's family for donating playdough to our class!

Jack reads a story after snack time.

Noah and Hayden play with dinosaurs in the block center.

Connor and Camden share marbles using the marble maze.

Brylee uses the iPads for the first time.

Hayden, Lucy and Lily use the iPads.
Thanks to everyone who sent in headphones.

Izzy sorts animals during center time.

We've also really enjoyed our time on the playground.  Together we are learning about playground expectations and meeting new friends from all of the kindergarten classes.

Chana, Lily and Autumn swing together.

Corbin tries the monkey bars.

Making new friends inside....and outside.

As the year goes on, we will add more text to the blog and have students update the blog with their own words. I will also update the blog with links to websites or other tools we are using in the classroom. On a really hot afternoon this week, students were introduced to TumbleBooks.  The TumbleBook Library  is an online collection of animated, talking picture books that students love.  Harold Martin pays for a subscription to this website but you can use it at home too.  The link is also listed on the right side of the blog.  The username is: haroldmartin. The password is: hms.

This week we will continue to focus on building a strong foundation for our classroom community. Mrs. Jones, our district's numeracy specialist will visit our class for our first math lesson on Monday. We will also get to visit with our school librarians on Tuesday when our class is introduced to the school's library.  On Wednesday, don't forget Open House is from 6:00-7:00. Friday our class will get a visit from our school guidance counselor, Mrs. Kleiner to begin our weekly guidance lessons.  Phew...sounds like our first five day week will be a busy one!

Last, but not least, I would like to thank everyone for their patience as we develop our classroom routine.  It takes time teaching four, five and six year olds all of the different parts of our day.  Soon they all will be very independent and know exactly the type of milk they drink and how they are getting home.  Until then, all of the notes and emails about where your child is headed after school are VERY helpful. 

Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us. I'm looking forward to a great year!