Shannon Hilyer: Kindergarten Teacher

Hi! My name is Shannon Hilyer and I teach Kindergarten at The Mountain Community School. We learn a variety of poetry, read classic fairy tales, as well as study math, reading, science, history or geography, every day. The children learn about the continents, five presidents, important people in science, the solar system and much, much more! We go even farther than our math book to learn about money, telling time, addition and even some subtraction. Kindergarten at The Mountain Community School is Cool!

Our day starts out with calendar work, we say the pledge, have a story, then they get to tell the class something about what they did yesterday, then Math. Snack follows, then Language Arts and Reading. Recess and lunch period, history or geography is followed by rest time for a half an hour. Science is followed by playtime. On Fridays we have fifth grade "Kinderpals" - usually an art project or the fifth graders read to them. We use Saxon Math - its a very basic course and we usually go way beyond this program with other things - we can add and subtract, they can tell time. I try to work on the highest possible level. We do a lot of extra stuff.

The students are so energetic and I don't want to stifle them, so the thing I try to do is redirect or channel that energy. Sometimes things happen and you just have to stop and laugh. You just can't help it!

I have had great parental cooperation. That is one of the strong points of our school. Small class size makes so much difference. You are allowed to do things you could never do in a large classroom. You are able to really know them and when you can know them, you are able to love them.

The size of our school - not just the class size - is important. We all know each other. I know the brothers and sisters of my students and their families. I have learned how important this is in the way we are able to communicate. We are like a community here.