Weekly Newsletters

The Last Days of Kindergarten Special Schedule

Tuesday:  (June 9th)  Step up day- meet your new classmates and teacher.

Wednesday:  (June 10th)-  Make your own campsite (and tomorrow too!)  Children are invited to bring in 10-12 rocks that fit in your palm to create a campfire.  They may bring sleeping bags/blankets and pillows too.  We will complete all our academics at our campsites (including a campfire that they create with real light!)  We have extras so please do not go buy anything.

Thursday:  (June 11th)  Campsite Day continues and Kellogg Hubbard Library visit day.  Learn about summer reading and fun in the Garden and Outdoor Classroom!  Get ready to do a scavenger hunt and enjoy our beautiful garden!  

Friday:  (June 12th)  Puzzle Day- bring in your favorite puzzle to share.  Please check the pieces and label the box with your name. 

Monday:  (June 15th) Board Game Day-  bring in your favorite board games to share.  Check to be sure all the pieces are accounted for! 

Tuesday:  (June 16th)   Summer Birthday Celebration.  We will take a special walk and celebrate summer birthdays (Jackson, Gus, Theo, Tenley, Austin, Evaan). Kindergarten will watch our 4th and 5th graders have a “bridge crossing” ceremony (12:00-12:10) to celebrate the 4th and 5th graders as they move to their new school building next year.

Wednesday:  (June 17th)  

Families are invited for the whole day (8:45-12:30) or any portion you wish! Level 1 paperwork available for anyone who hasn’t already filled it out to spend time in school.

9:00-9:30 All School Morning Meeting with 6th grade slideshow

9:30-10:00 Snack in classrooms- Teacher’s Choice Awards Time for kindergarten

10:00-11:30 Field Day

11:30-12:00 Lunch (all together)

12:10-12:20 Gauntlet Run:

• Lap 1 = 6th graders

• Lap 2 = 4th, 5th, and 6th graders

• Lap 3 = 6th graders

12:30 Dismissal

This letter below came home from Sharon, our guidance counselor.  Please check it out.

5/21/26

It has been very busy in kindergarten!  We have enjoyed sunny spring days, outdoor snack time, LOTS of hard work in math, reading, spelling, and science.  You will see several photos of our engineering design projects.  Children worked in collaborative groupings to conduct hands-on activities that replicated real life situations. We continue with our study of birds with each child caring for a bird stuffed animal.  Our calendar pieces also have a bird of the day.  We have sorted birds by identifying attributes like color (head, body, breast, wings), shape of beak, kinds of feathers (tufts, crests), color variation, spotting, size comparisons, etc.  We visited the VINS eagles  most  days  to check in on little VIN2 who is getting sooooo big.

Another force and motion activity was how would you prevent a giant boulder from coming loose, rolling down a hill and destroying your house.  Children worked together to place push pins in cardboard to make the "rock" (ping pong ball) go the way you want it to go into the big "truck" (cup) at the bottom of the hillside.

As part of our bird unit we use binoculars to look for birds, nests and evidence of animals.  We also listen to the Merlin bird app while we are in the forest to determine which birds we are hearing.  It is so much fun!

Reading to the class with our birds, moving about and reading Scholastic News to them too.

Concrete wall science activity.  This replicated when the Berlin wall came down and how the wrecking ball would need to break down the wall but not destroy the houses on the other side.  This is an important exploration in force and motion.  How high do you life the wrecking ball to make it break down the wall and not go too far?

Making flowers for special people, checking on our Marigolds and building with sticks and clothespins.  All of these activities are good for our fine motor control and strength.

We love our bird stuffies!  We dance  with them, teach them how to count to 100, read to them, help them learn trick words, eat snack and mostly more facts about birds.

Below you will find a poster from an older Rumney student who is available for babysitting.  You can contact her with any questions.  She is always hugged and loved when we see her!

5-1-26        To see the VINS eagle cam, please click this link  Windsor and Dewey Cam 

This week we had a very special visit from Ananda's Garden and Munay's dad, Patrick.  He heard that we were planting Marigolds and wanted to come and share about all the work that goes into working the land in central Vermont and how to provide your local community with fresh produce.  We had many questions and even got to sample soooo many delicious snacks.  Munay did a presentation in the morning as well.  Ananda's Garden has a CSA and a farm stand option on Thursday and Friday afternoons on Horn of the Moon road across Wrightsville Dam.  

Photos from the Ananda's Gardens!  Below Munay's favorite bark pile, lettuce and cleaning up apple tree trimmings.  We are also doing a force and motion unit in science so the large machines on a farm are part of the science concepts that we are learning.

Sampling local produce, planting and caring for Marigolds.

Our literacy centers are all about reading, including words that are CVCe (pile, note, lane, mule)

Windsor and Dewey care for their new eaglet, Vin2 who arrive over our April vacation.  We have learned so much about teamwork and how birds care for both their eggs and their babies in the harsh Vermont springtime weather.

In math, we are learning mental math addition strategies.  For example, if you roll 5 and 4 you should hold the larger number in your head (5) and count forward to 9 in 5+4=9.  We played 2 new games called Egg Head and Addition Rainbow.  We are also learning about subtraction and recognizing how to identify the difference between addition (+) and subtraction (-).

Geoboard shape creation, eating morning snack outside and our bead caterpillars for Earth Day.

4/16/26

Even though the weather was gloomy this last week, our spirit week was very exciting!  We had decorated backpacks, PJ day, pizzazz day, temporary tattoos and “Go Rumney!” every half hour.  The biggest excitement for me as a teacher this week was that we began writing information about our animals that we each chose to research.  In kindergarten, research can involve looking at a photograph and identifying what they saw.  For example, in a Chimpanzee book, a baby was sucking on their thumb.  The student was able to write “Baby chimpanzees sometimes suck their thumbs.”  Also, we have used a short video to learn if they choose a unique animal that we don’t have access to any books on that topic.  I wish you could have heard and felt the energy in the room as children flipped through several informational text animal books to write down the 3 top animals that they were interested in learning more about.  They then took a few days to think about it and finally this week zeroed in on their top pick.  We began writing our sentences today with our first illustrations too.  Watching them put together full sentences about something that they are excited about is simply magical!

Short sleeves, no winter gear, no snow and the joys of the outdoor classroom in spring.  We noticed that the Beech trees STILL have their leaves on, there is moss and lichen on all the sticks that were buried and we love having the freedom to move and explore with sneakers on!!

Animal research.  We love the books, magazines and conversations about our animals.  It is incredible to hear them learn and share what they have learned with one another.

Whole group parusing books for research.  The last day before vacation was a YOU choose day.  I offered about 6 Earth Day activities and children get to plug in which they wanted to complete during 4 separate blocks throughout the day.  The bead and pompom caterpillars were of course a hit.  Thanks to Sadie for donating the googly eyes and pom poms as I didn't have any.

We got our final stats on our cow Marigold at her 6 month update.  We also got to see a LIVE interview of our farmer Marissa from Laggis Farm in East Hardwick, VT.  Marissa asks many questions and she had both Marigold and Sunflower with her.  She is one of many farmers across the country that participates in the wonderful program.  Marigold was very busy during the interview and we learned all about what happens to her as she grows and becomes a mom herself in about another year or so.

Free choice explore time is a time to collaborate and navigate social situations each day with our classmates.  We have many creative opportunites that change from time to time.  This old favorite from my recyling- HUGE cardboard box pieces was a hit.  These kiddos are using their free choice time to write- what could make the teacher more excited?!?!

Our favorite California eagle couple, Shadow and Jackie work together during a spring time storm to keep their 2 baby eaglets dry and fed.  They are a testament to what it takes to raise youngsters through teamwork, persistence and personal sacrifice.

The last of our precious syrup is lined up and ready to be stored for future use!  Pure VT Gold!!

4/3/26

The  weather this week has been quite dreary but excellent for sugaring.  We joined Ben and the 5th graders for our ECO time this week and collected tons of sap that will be used for the community boil on Saturday April 4th at the Rumney Sugarhouse.  Watching the older students assist the kindergarteners was very sweet (no pun intended!)  The collaboration and teamwork really made for a quick collection process.  On Monday we had a wonderful event called Reading to End Racism where we had a whole school meeting followed by each classroom having a volunteer read a story and an activity.  We had a fabulous retired librarian named Beth come and read Amos and Boris.  She brought a 50 foot rope to show how long the whale was and each child made the sweetest little mouse (Amos).  See the attached photos of the event! This week we also continued to discuss bird migration and visited the VINS eagle cam to see Windsor and Dewey as well as the Cornell lab to see what birds are arriving in the New York and Vermont area.  We are reading a Smithsonian Institution book series about animals and how they behave in New England.  Each story has an animal that lives in a neighborhood and it shows the predator and prey relationship which allows us to talk about the life cycle particularly during the spring birth time.  In math, we are working on addition and subtraction within 10.  Any opportunity to make number stories aloud is helpful- for example “there were 5 blue birds and 4 Cardinals so I know 5+4 is equal to 9”).  Children are asked to complete number sentences like 5 + ____ =9  “So if you have 5 pencils and you need 9 total, how many pencils do you need?”  We use many manipulatives like yellow/red counter chips, unifix cubes, domino pairs and any counters like plastic bears, etc.  We are really working every day on writing complete sentences.  Our sentences need a WHO, DO and a WHAT and/or WHERE.  So, the dog (WHO) runs (DO-verb) to the park (WHERE).  For children who have the basic sentence down I would have them add a what like:  The dog runs to the park to play catch with a ball.  This elaboration of sentences will continue on as writers grow through 1st grade.  We are hoping that the sun comes out and that we can shed more and more winter gear soon.  Please continue to send snow pants as the ground is still very wet. 

Measuring how long the whale would be and it went all the way across our room and into the next room!  Beth is reading Amos and Boris about an unlikely friendship and how different types of  "people" can be helpful to one another across settings.

Reading to End Racism display showing all the wonderful stories that can help us learn!

Sugaring with our 5th graders.  So much teamwork!  Using tools to help us and splitting and stacking wood (we stacked, not split of course) to prepare for The Community Boil on Saturday.

3/14/26

March means Sugaring season and reading!  We had a couple adventures across the road and into the Rumney sugarbush over the last week.  Matt helped us tap some trees and this week during ECO, we went over and there wasn’t much sap running.  We brainstormed all the reasons that we thought that could be:  temperature, amount of sunshine on the trees, the direction that the taps were facing, how much snow cover there was on the ground and when the last class before us checked the buckets.  This is also the time of the school year when we are learning that we can apply all our phonics skills to reading books.  Every day we all read books on our “just right level” and also work in centers that are designed for each learners skills.  In math, we are working on number combinations of the numbers 6 and 7 (yes- the program put 6, 7 together- OY!)  I look forward to meeting with each family over the next week to discuss the growth of your student.

Reading with partners and alone.  We also headed to the Rumney sugarbush,

Collecting, and taking some breaks in the snowbanks if needed.

The climb back up was pretty steep but a fun adventure.  We learned about the arch and what happens inside the sugarhouse.  This sled was designed and created by a current Rumney older student to be used to move supplies and sap.  We work together to dumpe buckets into the storage containers that are along the main trail.

We use plastic buckets to carry from the trees to the storage buckets.  Look at these sugar makers!

We enjoyed the trip with the 1st and 2nd graders to tap trees and learn about what happens after the sap is collected in the buckets.  We also know how to take a break in the snow!

3/6/26

Spring has come and made us all so happy!  We enjoyed getting back together and spending this shorter week remembering routines and hard work in all areas.  In reading we are working on digraphs still (sh,ch,wh,th) and our daily calendar work involves words with a silent e (CVCe) like:  note, kite, bake, flute, Pete.  This is our first formal learning that involves long vowel sounds which is the sound that is the name of each vowel.  In writing we are still working on opinion pieces and this week we wrote "my favorite lunch is...".  The focus of this writing is stating your opinion and brainstorming 3 pieces of evidence of reasons for that opinion.  We also are hoping to have capital letters begin our sentences and ending punctuation ending with nice spaces between each word.  Writing is the area that has the most cognitive load for young learners.  It pairs so many skills and there is also a social emotional component when you have to organize your thoughts, persevere and focus the whole way throught the process!  We are learning all about sugaring here in VT in the spring and will visit the Rumney sugar house next week.  The temps are looking perfect and I love this part of spring learning soooooo much.  This will be our science focus for the next month.

2/9/26

Skating!  I was so impressed with the perseverance of every single skater regardless of whether they have ever been on the ice.  It takes so many skills to move on skates and these are the perfect years to learn.  They would fall and get back up again!  Over and over.  I know that skating can certainly be a life long experience and I am happy to be a part of them all learning.  

And Monday was the 100th day of school.  That’s a BIG deal for kindergarteners.  We had a special visit by Zero the Hero who stopped by with his super hero outfit, worked out with us counting to 100 and read us a great book about the power of zero in our place value number system.  On 100 day we build with 100, ate a special snack using 10 groups of 10 snack foods to create a yummy 100 treat.  We are working on counting to 100 by 1’s and 10’s, teen numbers and partners beyond 10.

Look at us learning to skate.  On the second visit so many kindergarteners didn't use the crates.  Young skaters learn quickly.

10's frame counting clowns, linking 100 chain pieces, 100 dabber dots, building with 100 cups.

100 cubes, Reading "It is 100", our 100 piece snacks, more 100 cup collaborating building!

Thank you for the food donations and to Miss Tanna for helping us make a yummy treat without getting it full of germs.

Building, cups and dots!

Zero the Hero flying in for exercise, learning about place value and just good old fun!

1/23/26

The kindergarteners have worked sooooo hard since we got back from break on assessments.  They completed online math diagnostics, paper and pencil “show what you knows” for math and writing and several one on one assessments in all areas of literacy, math and general parts of kindergarten like speaking and listening.  It has been my pleasure to watch their growth since the beginning of the school year.  We have moved from learning letter names and sounds to reading CVC words and NOW reading phrases and whole sentences.  We are reading BOOKS too!  Each child is reading at the exact level for their skills right now.  We are really invested in our book series the Kingdom of Wrenley and are on book 12!  I love teaching them new vocabulary like:  satchel, dory and island for example.  Children are learning that good readers go back and try to remember where they left off on a chapter book if they haven’t read for a few days.  They are predicting, retelling parts and discussing how characters change over time as well as the basic story elements of character, setting, problems and solutions (resolutions).  They beg for me to read it everyday after lunch.  I know many of them have you reading this series at home as well.  Watching budding readers is one of the most magical parts of my job.  Please congratulate your child on all their hard work with assessments and you will get details on your child’s report card coming home soon.  

Reminder:  skating begins next Friday.  Your child is encouraged to bring their own skates and helmets to use if they have them.  Many children are concerned about not knowing how to skate and I assured them that this is why we all are going to go- learning is what we do!!  A big thank you to Grammie Mary for our headbands.  Look how good we look!!

The snow creation was Theo falling back and carefully getting out to leave an imprint!

1/9/26

Welcome back to this wonderful new year!  We have so enjoyed the snow on our playground and in the outdoor classroom.  We are looking for tracks in the snow and checking on our bird feeder that we hung just before break to determine who may have visited.  We enjoyed all the snow play!  As part of our science investigations we are learning all about snow- how it is made, where in the world it falls and how humans “deal” with snow, recreate in the snow and what each of us enjoys about using snow here in Vermont.  Our math concentration has been on reviewing the numbers 6-10 with writing, counting and the value of each number.  We also are learning about the composition of shapes, how shapes can be put together in order to make other shapes (ex.- you can use 2 trapezoids or 6 triangles to make a hexagon, 2 squares can create a rectangle and 2 triangles can create a rectangle).  We use hands on pattern blocks for most of this work and collaboration with partners.

12/19/25

Drumming!!  I am sure that you have heard about all we are learning with the Taiko Drumming Residency.  The children are learning a bit about Japanese culture, some Japanese words and the art form of drumming.  They were focused, patient and attentive during all the practices.  I hope that you all enjoyed the performance!  We visited the outdoor classroom on Thursday and hung a woodpecker log for our bird friends.  We are hopeful that our study of hibernation has allowed us to believe the bears are sleeping and won’t get into it.  I shared the Cornell Feeder Cam and we saw:  Chickadees, Northern Flicker (male), Hairy Woodpecker (female and male), Cardinals (female and male), Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, Nuthatch and several Blue Jays who kept flying in to snag a peanut and move on.  We will investigate birds for the remainder of the school year.  It is a passion of mine that I hope the children learn from and find themselves immersed in the hobby.

In math we are using the words more, less and equal to (the same as).  Children are counting quantities 0-10, comparing the values by lining them up and determining which has more or less.  We will continue to learn addition and subtraction through hands on games too.  We are reading CVC words, writing basic sentences and working on memorizing heart words by noticing which parts of the words are tricky.  Next week we will work in small groups with our first and second graders to create gifts through our primary Gifts for Giving.  Children will bring home their gifts on Tuesday and be ready to share in the spirit of giving. 

12/5/25

I hope that you all enjoyed the holiday break with family and friends!  We had an amazing week back together and have almost completed all 26 alphabet letters.  We read CVC words every day and are also beginning to read sentences with some of our "trick" words like:  the, is, see, I, a, etc.  Today your child will be brining home a gingerbread person that can be decorated in any way that you see fit.  I told the kiddos that they can use craft materials, items from your kitchen and things laying around the house and that purchasing items is not necessary unless you want to.  The page has some examples but I also told them they should be unique and something that they thought of!

Please don't worry if you don't have the items or time to do this as I can get it done here at school or let me know and I can send home a baggie with craft supplies to use.  I aim to give them something fun to do with you at home but not to cause stress during this busy time of year.  We are discussing family traditions from now until the upcoming holiday break as well as enjoying one of my favorite book collections written by author Jan Brett (who I had the pleasure of meeting when she came to Bear Pond Books back around 2006).  We also did an activity called “write the room” where your child went around the room and found 18 traditions words like “candle”, “peppermint”, “snowman”.  The purpose of this activity is to help children learn that written words (print) has meaning.  This also has them focus on first letter sounds and looking for clues like how many words were listed (snowballs compared to candy cane).  

We had the BEST day in the forest classroom in deep powder looking for tracks and made it inside right before the snow squalls!  Our science unit that ties to our forest animals is all about how each child's Vermont animal prepares for winter.  We did a class chart and listed who migrated, hibernated and who adapted.  We found out that most of the animals adapt, grow thicker fur, store food and stay outside in the Vermont winter.

We love our ECO time each week!  Be sure to pack all gear every day!  Long socks are helpful!

Snow much fun looking for animal tracks!  We are reading every single day and loving it!

Write the room allows us to move our bodies, find words and read them!  We also visited the school's sensory pathway and each child got a turn moving their bodies through the tasks.

11/9/25

It has been amazing to chat with families about all the things that have happened in kindergarten during the first 50 days of school!  I look forward to meeting with the remaining families tomorrow.  We had a busy week adjusting to the time change, full moon and the Halloween aftermath.  On Friday we got to see a Discovery Dairy watch party to see which of the 83 adopted cows won.  We were thrilled to see that Marigold made the top 9 on the first day of voting.  In the end, Elsa was the winner.  We had a rich conversation about the power of democracy and voting.  We still love Marigold very much and are proud of her.

We have completed 15 of the alphabet letters and spend a great deal of time each day either orally segmenting CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant) words like cat, top, bag, pet, tip, sun.  The ability to segment helps not only with writing and spelling but also reading words.  Children are really loving that they can read words.  Daily centers will be designed for the needs of each child whether they are beginning to read or learning the letter names and sounds of the alphabet.  In math, we are investigating subtraction.  Addition is combining 2 groups of numbers together (part+part=whole) and subtraction is starting with the whole and breaking it into the 2 parts (whole-part=part).  Students should be able to identify the following 2D or flat shapes- circle, rectangle, triangle, square and hexagon.  Noticing these shapes in our world is the best way to learn them.  For the next 2 weeks we will learn about turkeys through informational texts and fictional stories.  We will begin writing facts and having many conversations about what we are thankful for!

We have an early release (12:30 dismissal) on December 10th and May 13th. 

Watching guest farmers, Marigold in the top 9 and the grand winner- Elsa!!

Rice table with construction vehicles, fine motor work using fingers and tongs to move pom poms to match the paper.  Fun with friends and small toys, an ABC puzzle and mini ABC books.

Dramatic play with puppets, building with blocks and fun in the outdoor classroom.

10/24/25

Conference are coming up.  I have heard from the majority of you, but if not, please use Fair Fall Conferences link to choose a time for us to meet!

This week was full of learning!  We have focused on the letters d and s and have covered 13 to date.  We are now blending CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) like: mat, cob, dig, etc.  Tapping and reading through these words with automaticity is a key building block to reading.  In math we did addition within 5 with models of 2 colors.  We begin with words like 2 and 3 is 5.  We then substitute the plus sign + for “and” and the equal sign = for “is” and then write 2+3=5.  During science time we continue to learn about weather patterns and more specifically the cycle of seasons.  We also chose our forest animals this week!!  Ask your child what they chose.   Some other questions could be “how does your animal move?  What do you think they eat?  Are you concerned that other class animals could be a predator and want to eat you?”  We keep all conversations age appropriate not to scary anyone.

Next Friday we will have an all school Halloween costume parade at 3:00 (parents are welcome to attend and see all the fun!).  Children are encouraged to wear a costume (not scary) if they choose to.  This is optional!  We will have a special snack around 1:30 before we have PE class and then the parade at 3:00.

We will be hosting our annual community meal on Thursday, November 20. Students' meals are free. Adult meals cost $7 and you must bring cash or check with you on that day. We will have 2 seatings:

K-2 11:40-12:10

3-6 12:10-12:40

Please complete this form so we can get an accurate estimate. 

Meet Marigold!  We participate in the Adopt a Cow program in kindergarten and this year our cow was born just a few miles away at Laggis Farm in East Hardwick.  See a photo of her cute face and her stats below.  We will get monthly updates and do many fun things as we watch our beautiful Jersey cow grow.

Hello families,

I will be updating the class website every week or 2 and usually by Friday night or Saturday as I have so many cool photos to share.  This week we enjoyed the Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet show at the beautiful Flynn Theater, worked on adding numbers together to 5 and the letters Aa and Gg (both that have a fancy version- ask your child about that).  We investigated why the canopy look different this week, why the forest floor is "littered" and why Beech trees still have so many leaves.  We also handled chestnuts and brainstormed why their outer shell would be so pointy, bumpy and prickly.  A few reminders:

1. We have a snack daily in the morning and lately at 2:50 as they are growing!!  I sometimes have snacks but often run out.

2. We had a discussion this week about out of school parties and I explained that not everyone gets invited to all parties and therefore it makes sense to not talk about it in great detail here in the classroom.

3. Every child can leave a sweatshirt or sweater here for an extra layer and definitely dress for the weather on Thursdays as we head to the ECO classroom for over an hour.

4. I will be sending a google link in a few weeks to sign up for our early November parent conferences.  Be on the lookout for that.

5. Your child is bringing home a weather data collection sheet to be used for any 4 days that you can manage.  It is optional and goes along with our Mystery Science curriculum lessons.  You do not need to return it, rather have a conversation about weather elements and how to dress for the conditions.

We are having so much fun learning and growing together.  The massive growth that I have witnessed with each child is a daily joy.  Thank you for sharing them with us each day.

Have a glorious VT fall weekend!

Field day!  Kindergarten were all in purple shirts!

Balancing bears and more outdoor fun at EMES.

Arriving at the beautiful Flynn theater.  And sidewalk work excitement.

Observing the canopy and wondering why Beech trees keep their leaves all winter.

This is our word cloud describing how we felt about the all elementary school field day at EMES!

10/3/25

We have visited the outdoor classroom a few times, but this week we got to go for our very first ECO time on Thursday.  We were able to review the boundaries, learn about how to use the swing, the outdoor kitchen storage area and have our first mini lesson called “stick safety circles”.  The class did such a great job during the first 20 minutes that I was able to expand the boundaries to the area called the U-shaped trail.  This trail is a loop that covers a short distance around a stand of small conifers which children LOVE to explore.  This area allows children to feel adventurous and use their imagination for various reasons.  Children in past years have raised “dragon’s egg”, mixed potions and cast spells, collected various natural resources and made all sorts of food, created group projects of cooperative learning in the U-shaped trail.  In math, we completed a unit on comparing the numbers 0-5.  We used words compare, more, less, more than, less than.  Children are learning to count objects with one to one correspondence, use numerals to express a quantity and compare amounts.  Our fundations lessons this week centered around the letters i and u.  We now have 3 vowels which we can use to make CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words like:  fit, bun, tin, mit, bit, etc.  Next week we will focus on the letters c and o.  This is a very exciting time in kindergarten as we start to make the strong connection between written and spoken language.  PJ and stuffed animal day was very exciting and loved by all.

Adventures in ECO. Even the Curious George stuffed animal ended up in a tree!

Mixing, collecting and creating with natural objects.  We love using kitchen tools to explore.

The small trees in the U-shaped area provide us tons of fun and responsibility of adventure.

Stick safety with friends, swinging and general fun in the fall woods.

The new balance beam was a hit and students love to show how strong they can be.

This week's new centers:  balancing bears, ocean puzzle, art creations with markers.

Our pre- ECO activity was to work in collaborative groups and find natural objects to place upon 12 matching colors.  The lavender gave us a challenge, but we did find shades of purple that were close.

More bear balancing as well as some babies that needed to be cared for and fed.

Here are the current parent Math letters:  Counting objects and comparing at home is helpful.

9/26/25

What an exciting time of year to be in kindergarten!  We have released all 7 Monarch butterflies with a grand total of 4 males and 3 females.  If you see them flying around it could be Spot, Baby, 2nd Baby or Spot Jr. (yes- one must name each butterfly- so fun!)  In math we have moved into lesson 4 which is all about numbers 0-5.  We are counting, writing and organizing numbers to 5.  Children participate in collaborative math games each day to practice those skills.  Any counting or writing of numbers at home is always helpful.  In phonics we now have covered the letters:  t,b,f,m,n.  Ask your child what they know about m and n.  They will blow you away with the understanding of how those letters make their sounds.  Next week we will learn our first vowel and be able to make some words.  Each day we play with words (phonological awareness) like rhyming, beginning and ending sounds, splitting words into chunks, the ABC song and so much more.  You will see photos of the Rumney Fall Hike school portion.  I was stationed here today and will not have photos until later on.  You will see that here we went on a nature walk, collected leaves to make Leaf Man art based on the book we read, ate our lunch in the forest classroom, made applesauce and made new friends from other classes.  We live in a splendid spot during the fall.

Fall Fun with applesauce, Leaf Man art and a scavenger hunt.  

We ate lunch in the outdoor classroom and hiked beyond for our scavenger hunt.

Some classroom creations earlier this week.  Building with blocks and cooperative puzzles.

9/13/25

This week was all things Monarch Butterflies!  We have worked really hard to feed our Monarch caterpillars milkweed, watched them turn from a larva (caterpillar) to pupa (chrysalis) and then noticed that about 12 days after becoming a chrysalis, they emerge.  We have sadly missed all the emerging and think that they wait until we are not looking!  We have still enjoyed figuring out if they are male or female based on whether or not they have 2 dots on the bottom wings (male).  We have released 2 females and 1 male.  We have named them (per kindergarten tradition) Spot, Gigi and Baby.  We will welcome more butterflies this coming week.  In math, we have completed 2 units all about above, behind, taller, shorter and longer, etc.  We will be exploring how to sort, count and compare objects based on attributes (color, texture, position, shape, size)  We completed the Kissing Hand series by Audrey Penn and created a graph depicting our favorite book out of the 5 that we have read.  This coming week all students will get the opportunity to visit with many Rumney and district teachers as part of a kindergarten assessment.  Children will show their literacy, math, fine motor and speech and language skills.  We will all use this information to gear our instruction for each student!

Welcome to kindergarten!  We have had 2 fun filled weeks of learning experiences.  We have learned so many new routines that allow us to enter the classroom, prepare for snack, lunch and packing to go home.  We have had learning opportunities like how to hold a pencil, crayon, marker and scissors.  We got our own glue sticks and learned how to best use those so we don’t get all sticky.  We have enjoyed the Audrey Penn Kissing Hand series and I hope you all hold your kissing hands close by when you are missing your student.  I still have my son’s from preschool and that was 20 years ago.  If your child misplaced theirs, ask them what it means and I bet they can explain!  We are closely watching our Monarch caterpillars and about 5 have spun their chrysalis.  In math we are learning the positional terms:  above, below, beside, between, under, over, etc.  A unit parent letter came home on Friday.  To date, we have learned to explore the following centers:  blocks, small explore table materials (legos, animals, etc.), the dramatic play area, art shelf, rice/water/explore table, puzzles, reading/cuddle with puppets and the painting center will open soon.  We are also really enjoying hearing from 2-3 students each week as they share the "All About Me" bags.  Thank you for sharing your amazing children with us at Rumney!  Enjoy some photos from our first 2 weeks.  Next week- 5 days so get some sleep.