Welcome to Kindergarten

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Mrs. Hill

I grew up in California and moved to Idaho in 1999. I returned to school in 2019, earned my B.A. from Boise State in 2020, and then was certified through the ABCTE program in 2021. I joined the Falcon Ridge family the first year it opened in 2005-06, and have held a variety of positions at the school such as classroom EA, bus driver, and janitor. I began the best position ever – teaching kindergarten and elementary keyboarding – in 2021.

One of my favorite activities is taking my two dogs, Abby and Henry, for a walk with my husband almost every day—it’s such a delightful way to unwind and enjoy the fresh air. During the summer, I love spending time camping, swimming, and paddle boarding; there’s nothing quite like being outdoors and soaking up the sunshine. When I have a bit of extra time, I enjoy finding new, delicious recipes to try out and make special treats for my family. These little joys make every day a bit brighter and more fun!

My husband and I have two amazing sons together. Both of them attended Falcon Ridge and thrived during their time at the school. Our oldest son attended Boise State on a speech and debate scholarship, graduated in 2020, and currently lives in Boise with his beautiful wife. Our youngest son is currently attending Boise State working towards a degree in exercise science. Parenting is the most rewarding job I’ve been blessed with; a lot like teaching in many ways.

Welcome to our kindergarten classroom! It brings me so much joy to be a part of each child’s learning and growth journey. I absolutely love seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter every day. I’m incredibly proud of how hard they work and the progress they make. It’s truly wonderful to watch them explore new things and develop their skills. Thank you for letting me be a part of this special time in their lives!

This year we will focus on the following areas:

Number Sense and Building Math Minds-Calendar

Every morning we will meet for calendar time to work on number sense and building our math minds.

Calendar Activities this year will include, but are not limited to: days of the week, date, months, how many days we are in school, counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s to 100, practice with dot cards, dominoes, card games, dice games, ten frames, 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes, colors, money, scavenger hunts around the room, I have…who has.., addition and subtraction activities, greater than, less than, number recognition and much more.

Social and Emotional Skills and Growth Mindset

One big focus this year will be in the area of social and emotional skills.  It is important for my students to understand that it is ok to feel emotions, be able to identify how they are feeling and learn what to do with those feelings.

In our classroom, we will read picture books and practice scenarios of real life events that they might face. We will talk about different cultures and what makes each of us unique. It is my desire that our class is a family that takes care of each other and encourages one another.

We have a calm down spot in the classroom, where your child can go and sit, calm down, take a deep breath and prepare to rejoin or talk through something that bothers them.  They will have cards that will give them ideas of what they can do to calm down. I believe that this is a safe way to work through their emotions and know what to do next time when they feel that way.

Other things that we do to calm ourselves and do our best at school are brain breaks, giving others words of affirmation/air fives etc. and directed drawing.

The Power of Yet-  One of the qualities that we need as an adult is perseverance.  That will obviously look a lot different for a 5 or 6 year old, but it is very possible.  When faced with a new challenge or task you might hear your child say…

“I don’t get it” or “I’m not good at this” or other similar phrases.  By adding “yet” on to the end of the phrase it opens them up to the possibility of learning how to do something.  It allows them to make a mistake and try again.  I am attaching a video for you to watch with your child.

Secret Stories-Phonics

“Secret Stories are the “secret” reasons WHY letters get together and make the many different sounds that they do.  They offer logical explanations for letter sound behavior that learners’ brains crave!”

-Secret Stories

I used this program last year and I could not believe how much clearer and easier it was for my students as they started  writing and reading new words.  They love the fun stories that go with the letter sounds and they are able to apply it to a lot of different words, instead of just memorizing a list of words.  We will start our secrets folders at the end of September, but you will hear me share a few of the secrets as we start our ABC Boot Camp.

Letter and Sound Practice for Reading and Writing- ABC Boot Camp

ABC Boot Camp combines an introduction to the letters and sounds, fine motor skills and fun, as we learn and practice all 26 letters in the first 26 days of school. 

By introducing my students to the letters in the first month, they will have seen and played with all of the letters and we can go deeper, much quicker.  This is key as we start looking at cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, sight words and dive into the secret stories.

We will be using cutting, coloring, drawing, play dough activities, handwriting practice, scavenger hunts, songs, funny videos and repetition as I introduce all of the letters and their sounds at the beginning of the year.

STEM

As your child’s teacher, I face the challenge of preparing your learner to be a successful problem solver. STEM gives my students the opportunity to explore real-world problems through hands on activities.  It encourages problem solving, perseverance, collaboration, sharing ideas, creativity, and flexibility.

My hope is that we will be back in the classroom very soon and we will start weekly STEM activities.  Until then, I will provide STEM activities that can be done in your home with normal, household items.