Week 2 of Kindergarten!

What another great week with such a wonderful group of kindergartners! We are continuing to settle into our routines, get to know one another, and explore all that kindergarten has to offer.

This week, we continued practicing how to use a variety of classroom materials. We worked with scissors, Unifix cubes, and wooden pieces that are helping us begin to notice the shapes and forms within letters. We also drew Mat Man, who helps us remember to include all of the important body parts when we draw a person. These activities are all part of building those important early skills while having fun and creating!

At the start of kindergarten, children are learning many new social skills, including how to navigate being close to others and keep their hands to themselves. We are gently reminding children to use their words when they don't like something, when someone is too close, or when someone is touching them. If they have used their words and the behavior continues, we encourage them to find a teacher for help.

The beginning of kindergarten brings so many teachable moments as we learn how to be kind friends, respect one another's space, solve little problems, and safely navigate being part of a busy classroom community. Thank you for helping reinforce these important skills at home! 

A little note about next week: This Thursday and Friday, we will have a guest teacher in the classroom while I take a couple of days away for my daughter's wedding on Saturday. Thank you so much for your understanding! In the blink of an eye, my baby girl is off on her own journey. ❤️ 

Important dates:

9/7  Labor Day

9/9  Early Release 

9/10-11 Guest Teacher

9/14 Scholastic book order due!

9/21 No School

9/24 Picture Day

9/25 Zucchini Run

Hello and Welcome to Kindergarten!

We had a wonderful three days together this week! Thank you for all of your encouragement and positivity as we begin this new school year. By day two or three, I was already hearing your children express so much love and excitement about our new class—and that gives any teacher a very warm heart! ❤️

This week, we began introducing classroom routines and exploring the materials and spaces in our classroom. We will continue practicing and learning these routines throughout the first few weeks of school. The first six weeks are especially important as we focus on building connections, relationships, and a strong classroom community.

As part of building our community, we talked about Whole Body Listening and what it means to Follow the Group Plan. Being part of a classroom community means learning how to work together, listen to one another, cooperate, and make choices that help our whole group.

Snack & Lunch

It may be helpful to chat with your child before they leave for school about snack and lunch—especially if they are bringing food from home or eating school-provided meals.

Please know that there may be times when the Chef needs to change a food item from what is listed on the menu. Talking with your child about the importance of being flexible can be helpful. You may also want to pack an extra snack or a lunch as a backup.

Volunteers

There may be a few volunteer opportunities throughout the school year, including classroom activities and field trips. If you think you might like to join us, we encourage you to complete the volunteer form. One important reminder: the cutoff for completing the volunteer form this year is December!  Volunteer Sign-Up Form     Volunteer Expectations

Thank you for helping us make such a wonderful beginning to our kindergarten year. I am so excited about all that is ahead! 🌿

  

                                                          A note from the PTO

Our first 3 days together!

This blog will arrive in your inbox weekly or biweekly!

Thank you,

Amy

 

***Summer read-aloud here!***

Last Blog of The Year

This post is always met with mixed emotions—joy for all the summer fun ahead, but also sadness as our group prepares to go their separate ways. I have no doubt that each of these students will continue to be successful as they move forward!

Your child came home with quite a bit in their envelope yesterday, including a Father's Day card, a report card, a book of our class adventures, and, for many students, some high-frequency word practice ideas.

It has been an absolutely wonderful year together! Thank you for supporting your child throughout the school year. I know firsthand what a big job it is to wake your child up, make lunches, read through everything that comes home, pick out outfits, and get them ready for school each day. It is no small task, and I truly appreciate all that you do to help make your child's success possible.

Thank you for a fantastic year, and I wish you and your family a fun and relaxing summer!

❤

Field Day Fun

 Greetings,

Enjoy a peek into our last full week! 

• June 15th: Music with Buddy in the Classrooms

• June 17th: Move-Up Day (8:30-9:00 a.m.)

• June 17th: Student Last Day of School

Cave Reading, Insect Masks, & Writing, Oh My!!

Students had a wonderful week exploring why the world needs insects! Insects are an important food source for many animals, and without them, food webs around the world would be disrupted. So, the next time someone says, “Why do we have to have so many bugs?” (probably a direct quote from many of us!), we can remember that insects play a very special role in our ecosystem.

Students also had so much fun creating glowing insect masks this week! On Friday, Ms. Neeson brought in her black light. We viewed them under it, and the room was filled with laughter, cheers, and excitement as everyone admired their creations.

Our kindergarteners are doing an amazing job with their writing. They are working hard to use uppercase and lowercase letters appropriately, tap out words to hear all of the sounds, and add details to their writing. On Friday, students wrote lovely poems outdoors, inspired by the world around them.

In math, we continue to build teamwork skills through partner games. Students especially enjoyed playing Going to Boston, where they practiced adding multiple dice and comparing their totals.

• June 8 Biking in PE

• June 11 Field Day!

• June 15th: Music with Buddy in the Classrooms

• June 17th: Move-Up Day (8:30-9:00 a.m.)

• June 17th: Student Last Day of School

Calling All 2026-2027 Kindergarten Students

Hello Incoming Kindergarten Families! 

We are thrilled to welcome all incoming Kindergarten students and their families. We look forward to seeing you on Monday, June 8th, for our Family "Meet & Greet" event from 8:15-9:00a. We will start in the multipurpose room (by the main entrance) and then make our way down to the classrooms to visit both spaces and allow you to meet both Amy Poor and Kathy Cowan (our two amazing Kindergarten teachers).

To help you get to know UCS and meet some of the wonderful members of our Kindergarten team, please enjoy this introductory video. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! Enjoy your week. 

David Marlow

Shelburne Farms

 

Yesterday, we ended our week with a special service project: planting the marigolds we have lovingly nurtured over the past six weeks! We hope they will thrive over the summer and welcome us back in August.

We began our week with a fun field trip to Shelburne Farms. We saw many of the farm animals and ended our visit with a picnic on the lawn. It was a beautiful day! Thank you to the chaperones who joined us and helped make the trip a success.

In Literacy, we continue to practice recognizing short and long vowel sounds and continue to work on those tricky power words.

In Math, we have been counting quantities and collecting data. As we calculate how many noses, fingers, feet, and other body parts are in a group, we are beginning to use skip-counting by 1s, 5s, and 10s to find our totals more efficiently.

6/1 We will be having a celebration! Students have been working hard on listening and have earned cave reading, aka blanket forts, and reading inside them. Kiddos are welcome to bring in blankets, stuffies, and flashlights for this!

6/3  Wednesday: Guest Teacher

6/11 Field Day

6/17 last day of school

This week we had a wonderful time together! We took a lovely walk in the woods and searched for spring ephemerals — those early-blooming flowers. 🎕

In math, students enjoyed playing Teen Bump, counting games, and an “I Am, Who Has?” game using 10 and 20 frames. These frames help students recognize numbers quickly and build strong number sense.

In literacy, we explored the lives of spiders! These eight-legged, eight-eyed creatures are truly fascinating. 🕷

This time of year is always exciting because we have so many special events happening at school! Students sang beautifully at our music evening under a bluebird sky — thank you for coming to support your child! Later in the week, we enjoyed a performance from the chorus and band from Browns River Middle School. Finally, on Friday, students from Mt. Mansfield visited our UCS students and helped around the grounds during their service day. We are so lucky to welcome these visitors each year!

Wishing everyone a safe, relaxing, and meaningful Memorial Day weekend with family and friends! 

Tuesday 5/26 Shelburne Farms Field Trip  9am-2pm (Please bring a lunch or order one, sweatshirts, & a water bottle)

Attributes and Social Insects

This week, students were troopers with the rainy and cold weather. I hope they get outside this weekend and soak up the sunshine!!

In Math, we focused on identifying attributes that two or more objects share. We used those attributes to sort sets of objects in different ways and then described and compared the data in each category. We continue to practice place value and focus on teen numbers. Kindergartners had fun playing a game called Guess My Number! Students ran around the numbers until it was time to stop and find a number. They did not want to land on the two numbers I called out! It was all in fun and a great way to practice teen numbers.

In Literacy, we immersed ourselves in the hives and hills of social insects! Our readings taught us how these insects work together and have different roles. Students have done well in retrieving facts from the books we read and expressing those ideas in their writing.

• We will be taking a field trip to Shelburne Farms on Monday, May 26th! Here is the permission form, and we plan to send a paper copy on Monday.  Please sign and send it in as soon as possible.
• Art & Music show will be this Thursday, 5/21!
• Memorial Day 5/25 - No school