Mrs. Hoffman

All About Me

I am a full-day kindergarten teacher at Donald E. Schick Elementary School in the Loyalsock Township School District, Williamsport, PA.  I have been teaching kindergarten for since 1995. I received my B.S. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Penn State University and my M.S. in Education at Wilkes University. I live in Rose Valley and I have three children–Natalie, Owen, and Jace. I like to work out and spend time with friends and family.  I love Penn State, go Nittany Lions!, the color red, and dark chocolate! Yum, yum!

Kindergarten Report Card: Our kindergarten report card is sent home in November, March, and June.  We meet with parents for a parent/teacher conference in November.

Language Arts: We use the Storytown Reading Series published by Houghton Mifflin for oral language, comprehension, and robust vocabulary skills. We use the Fundations program for phonics, and Heggerty program for phonological awareness.

Writers Workshop: We use Caulkins Writers Workshop for our writing program.  Students are taught writing conventions first, and then transition into learning to write informational, narrative, how-to, and opinion books.  They learn to sequence first, next, last; beginning, middle, end; and stating an opinion and supporting it.

Everyday Math: We use the Everyday Mathematics 4 curriculum from the University of Chicago. It offers a spiral curriculum which allows the children to practice each skill many times in order to master it.

Social Studies & Science: We use hands-on, investigative, and inquiry-based curriculum for these subjects.  In social studies, we will be learning how to be good citizens, expanding our knowledge of history and holidays, and exploring the world around us through various units during the school year.  We utilize the Fusion Science curriculum which provides an interactive textbook, as well as, hands on activities and technology based learning.  We also have weekly access to our iPlay lab, a facility that offers technological experiences, and other hands on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math activities.

High Frequency Words

Kindergarten students are responsible for recognizing 54 high frequency words.  The words are introduced during the nine themes throughout the school year. High Frequency Words