2025/2026 Room 103

Dear Families,

We are already at our 32nd day of kindergarten! Time flies when you are having fun!

Fall has just started with its chilly mornings and rainy days. Please, send your child to school in clothes that will make their recess time warm, dry, comfy, and more enjoyable despite rain or wind.

Now, our students have made a lot of new friends. They learned about their daily routines. They know what to do and how to do it, which makes our transition times shorter and allows more time for learning and exploring of new things.

What happens in our classroom? During our literacy lessons, we learn and play with letters and sounds. We also learn how to make letters out of Play-Doh and write them on the lines. We started our literacy centers this week where even more hands on learning is taking place.

In Language Arts, we are almost in the middle of Module 1 “Five Senses” of our district adopted curriculum “Wit & Wisdom”. We read and learned from the books “My Five Senses” by M. Miller and “My Five Senses” by Aliki. We will also read “Last Stop on Market Street” by M. Pena, “Rap a Tap, Tap” by D. and L. Dillon, and “The Snowy Day” by E. J. Keats. During our lessons, we work on building good reading habits and strategies that help us to learn from our reading. We pay attention to the words we don’t know and talk about their meanings.

In Math, we learned what numbers are, as well as how to represent and write them on paper. We just finished Unit 1 “Position, Height, Length, and Sorting” of I-Ready Math (district adopted curriculum), and will start Unit 2 “Numbers to 5, Shapes, and Weight” next week. We are on week 2 of our hands on math centers and this week they had a good time reviewing all the concepts we have learned so far.

We have a lot of fun, too! We dance and sing during our Wiggle Breaks. So far, for most of our students, their favorite parts of their day are recess and play time. Every other Wednesday, we have a special treat. Mr. Jesse brings his guitar, and we have our Sing Along with Mr. Jesse.

Our students LOVE it!

Mark your calendar:

10/18/25 - Courtyard Clean-up and Cider Press Event- I HIGHLY reccommend coming to this! It is really fun!

10/22/25 - Early Release @11:50 (Teacher PD)

10/27-29/25 - School Spirit Week

10/30-31/25 - Planning and Grading Days (no school days for students)

11/11/25 - Veterans Day (no school day)

11/24-25/25 - Parent Teacher Conferences (no school days for students) Please sign up here: Conferences will be taking place on 11/24 and 11/25. They are a 20 minute time slot to come (with your child if you can) to check in about how your little one is doing so far. Pleases sign up for conferences here: https://calendar.app.google/RPtvm9sZLDetkFCX6

11/26-28/25 - Thanksgiving Break (no school days for students)

The Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

We will go to Topaz Farm on Sauvie Island on October 29th.

Please complete a parent permission form and return it to school. I have not gotten a lot of them back so please send them home if you have not already.

The total cost of the field trip is $18 per student. It includes transportation ($12) and the farm admission ticket ($6). Please, send the money - cash or check to Peninsula Elementary, with specific directions to give the money to the teacher. You also have an option to pay online. Use this link: https://pps.schoolpay.com/pay/for/Peninsula-Kindergarten-Field-Trips-/SchTkRr.

Email or text me via Parent Square so that we keep track of the money in case your child forgets about it.

If you have financial hardship, please let us know privately, and we will help. If you are willing to donate more money than the cost per child, we will be very grateful for your generosity.

Volunteers

If you want to volunteer in the class and/or come to our field trip as a chaperone (We need 4 chaperones minimum- I already have 3 chaperones) please be sure to sign up to be a volunteer ASAP. It takes some time for it to clear. Visit the PPS Volunteer page and follow the steps to “Becoming a Volunteer”

Parent Volunteering Opportunities: Parent volunteers are invited to come in and join our class. Some available times we would love the support are: 10:00-10:45 for our math centers (you would be at one table helping the kids do that center), 11:50-12:30 for our Literacy centers (you would be at one table helping the kids do that center), and from 1:45-2:15 for our Guided Play time. Last year we had a parent who would bring in a train set to play with the kids. If you would like you can just join us and or bring in something you would like to play with the kids! Please make sure you have volunteer clearance before you come in and always check in at the front desk in the office. Thank you so much. We look forward to having you join us!

Please let me and the office know if your child misses school. Call the office or email Sara Solomon ssolomon@pps.net

Please see below for pictures and also Spirit Week dress up!

Greetings Families,

It is so AMAZING to watch all of your children build relationships with one another. They are having fun. They also have been learning from one another and have been the first to help if someone gets hurt or sad. We are very fortunate to have this beautiful group of kind and caring kinders!

Mark Your Calendars

10/7/25 - Picture Day

10/10/25 - Statewide Inservice Day (no school day for students)

10/8/25 - Walk-n-Roll to School

10/18/25 - Courtyard Clean-up and Cider Press Event- I HIGHLY reccommend coming to this! It is really fun!

10/22/25 - Early Release @11:50 (Teacher PD)

10/27-29/25 - School Spirit Week

10/30-31/25 - Planning and Grading Days (no school days for students)

11/11/25 - Veterans Day (no school day)

11/24-25/25 - Parent Teacher Conferences (no school days for students)

11/26-28/25 - Thanksgiving Break (no school days for students)

The Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

We will go to Topaz Farm on Sauvie Island on October 29th.

Please complete a parent permission form and return it to school. It is in Friday Folder that went home yesterday.

Email or text me via Parent Square so that we keep track of the money in case your child forgets about it.

If you have financial hardship, please let us know privately, and we will help. If you are willing to donate more money than the cost per child, we will be very grateful for your generosity.

Volunteers

If you want to volunteer in the class and/or come to our field trip as a chaperone (We need 4 chaperones minimum) please be sure to sign up to be a volunteer ASAP. It takes some time for it to clear. Visit the PPS Volunteer page and follow the steps to “Becoming a Volunteer”

Conferences Sign Up

Conferences will be taking place on 11/24 and 11/25. They are a 20 minute time slot to come (with your child if you can) to check in about how your little one is doing so far. Pleases sign up for conferences here: https://calendar.app.google/RPtvm9sZLDetkFCX6

Playdates

Do you want to have a playdate for your child? I will be sharing to your email a playdate sign up sheet that will be available for parents to see so you can have each other's information to make playdates. It is optional of course.

Snacks

Thank you for all the snack donations. I really appreciate it! They are loving all the different snacks to share. Also on a side note- for personal snacks please do not send candy for snacks. Save those for treats at home if you will. Thank you!

Panther Paws/Rewards/PBIS

Rewards in Kindergarten? Do they work? We are a PBIS school. PBIS schools use many different techniques to help build community and promote a healthy school community. One aspect of PBIS schools can be rewards- which is the case at Peninsula. They come in the form of Panther Paws. Having said that, when I have done rewards in kindergarten it has really squashed the intrinsic motivation of my students. I have also seen kindergarteners in hysterics because they did not have enough panther paws to buy a big item prize from the prize store... So, in kindergarten we want to focus on building intrinsic motivation through building community, routines and celebrating as a whole classroom. We do whole class panther paws. When we all work together we celebrate together as a community. We have special days like pajama day, extra play time, bring a stuffie to school day, an extra Danny Go!, lunch with Ms. Roxy, and sometimes (okay often!) the entire class can get a special prize. In kindergarten if a panther paw comes home (because your child may get one from someone else other than myself) please celebrate this with your child. In later grades you will see Panther Paws being used regularly. For more information on Responsive Classroom (my approach) and why I do not use rewards please visit the following links:

Absences

Please let me and the office know if your child misses school. Call the office or email Sara Solomon ssolomon@pps.net

New Students

Welcome to our new students Jaine and Goldee. Jaine has been here a while but I am not sure I formally welcomed her here. And Goldee started last week. We are very happy to have them both!

Class Wish List

Ms. Roxy and I are doing centers for our students to learn in fun ways. We currently are in need of some center materials for our five senses unit. If you can donate they are as follows (Hopefully you have some of this stuff just already at your house that you can round up for us): 8 balloons, a piece of sandpaper, 1/4 cup beans, 1/4 cup rice, 1/4 cup raisons, paper cups, 6-13 plastic easter eggs, 2-4 large grapefruits, one jar of pickles, 6 lemons, and 12 paper lunch size bags. Thank you in advance.

Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns, always!

Picture Carousel: Please take a look at life in kindergarten!

9/19/2025

Hello Dear Families,

Thank you for all of the snacks! We are loving them. The chocolate chip granola bars were especially popular, but they have liked all of them!

Thank you for coming to back to school night.

Make sure you are signed up on Parent Square to get reminders from school. Portland Public Schools should have sent you an email about Parent Square. Please check your spam folder if you did not get it.

We have learned the letters f and t so far. We are continuing to learn to write using the Fundations lines- "sky line, plane line, grass line, and worm line." And we are working on continuing our rhymes and our word play. I have heard of many students playing teacher at home doing this! I love that!

We also finished our lesson on position words. They all have done a great job! We did a little bit of button sorting. We start meausurement on Monday. They have already been meausuring things around the classroom with links. What fun!

Our Social Studies Lessons have been going fabulously! We have been continuing to learn about same and different and also about families. On Monday Ms. Roxy will do a lesson on how our classroom is like a family.

Thanks to Danae (Ada's mom) for bringing us the big cord spools, sanding them and also for bringing us some amazing STEM activities to do in our kindergarten yard. It has been so amazing to watch both kindergarten classrooms engage in this kind of play. The peg board/matchbox racing cars and track idea came from The Exploratorium in San Francisco!

Thank you also for all the donations to our school supply list. Here is the link if you want to donate:
Link to School Pay Donation Site

Link to Supply List

I appreciate all of you and hope you have a great weekend.

Best,

Ms. Hilary and Ms. Roxy and Mx. Jay

9/5/2025

We are off to a wonderful start in kindergarten. We had our first four days of all of us together. It is such a joy to get to know everyone and watch your children make new friendships and learn new things.

We have been working on our name writing skills and we learned about the lines on paper and how they have names. There is sky line, plane line, grass line and worm line. I will be sending home our Fundations writing information this next Friday.

Speaking of Fridays- your child got a Friday Folder sent home with them yesterday. Please open it up and you will find a packet. On the last page of the packet is a walking field trip form. Please sign and return that in the folder that comes back Monday. You get to keep the rest of the information.

Thank you to the families that brought a snack to share. Please help us build our community snack reserve. Some good choices are fruit snacks, cheeze its, goldfish, ritz crackers, granola bars, beef jerky, animal crackers, etc. Also great news! On Tuesdays and Fridays we will be getting farm fresh snack! That is usually things like carrots, jicama, tangerines and other yummy fresh treats.

Thank you to the families that donated to our school supplies. Here is more information on that: 2025-2026 School Year Supplies

Teachers request that, in lieu of purchasing supplies for individual children this year, parents make a School Pay donation, giving teachers the freedom to make their own supply purchases. Each grade level will have its own funding source. Consider donating to each grade level fund in which you have a student enrolled. Lists are included in the School Pay link, so community members can see how the money will be spent.

Please do not make purchases from these lists except for backpacks and water bottles. Please make sure your child's backpack can easily hold an 8 1/2 folder.

For more information please click here:
Kinder
Link to School Pay Donation Site

Link to Supply List

Please reach out to me with anything you want to talk about. I am here for you to build a strong partnership.

Thanks so much for entrusting me with your children. They are fantastic and we are going to have an amazing year.

Best,

Ms. Hilary

9/1/2025

We had such a great time during kindergarten ramp up.

It was lovely to meet all of the families and also to have our first day with the students.

What a sweet little group we have.

This week we start off having the entire group together!

Please reach out to me with anything! I am here for you.

-Hilary

Kindergarten Ramp Up Continued:

This week your child will come for their first full day either Thursday or Friday. This means we will be able to have our first day with low numbers because it will be half the class. This helps to alleviate stress and to give us time to connect as a small group.

If your child's last names begins with O-Z, their first full day of school will be this Thursday, August 28th.

If your child's last names begins with A-N, their first full day of school will be on Friday, August 29th.

Please reach out if you need to amend this and I will do my best to accommodate you.

School beings at 7:53 and ends at 2:30. We will go over all of this during the 20 minute meet up.

Please reach out if you have any questions.

-Hilary

Welcome to Kindergarten and our school!

Next week, on Tuesday, August 26th, and Wednesday, August 27th, you are invited to attend our Kindergarten Ramp Up family meeting.

Please, sign up for the time that works best for you. Use this Ramp Up schedule link. If none of these time slots work for you, let us know. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Our class lists are not 100% finalized. We will finalize them after the Kindergarten Ramp-Up Week (August 26th - 29). If there are any changes to class lists, they will be minor. If you have any questions about it, we can answer them at the meeting.

We will also inform you when your child has their first day of school - August 28th or 29th.

We look forward to seeing you.

Hilary Benoit

Pictures!

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