Hi There!
Firstly, my name is Turner Fortner, and it is a huge honor to be working with you and your child this year. This is my second year teaching kindergarten and my second year at OES. I graduated from Clemson University in May of 2014 with an Early Childhood Ed. degree. I am currently pursuing my M.S. Ed. from Purdue University in Special Education. I guess you could say that I love to learn (and teach!) If you are interested in learning more about me, please click the "All About Ms. Fortner" tab at the top of the page. It is also kid friendly with lots of pictures if you would like to show your child a little about me as well.
Can you believe it's already time to start thinking about back to school? I hope you and your child have had a wonderful summer together before they start BIG KID school!! :-) I know this is a BIG transition (whether this is your first kindergartener or your tenth... kindergarten is a big deal!) and I want you to know that I am here to make that transition as easy (and FUN!) as I can for your little one. Take a look around my blog and see what fun we got into last year. In our classroom, we do a lot of what is called Project Based Learning. This is a really fun way (I mean, REALLY fun!) way to learn lots of neat things. Last year, just to name a few things, we built a teepee, did candy experiments, had classroom jobs (and got paid!) AND we hatched... ducks! Yes, real, live ducks!
Kindergarten can often make little ones anxious at the idea of meeting a new teacher and a classroom full of new friends, so I encourage you to come meet me at our Meet The Teacher night on August 12 from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. We will be able to talk about expectations for the upcoming school year, as well as any concerns or questions you may have. If you already have your school supplies, please bring them to Meet the Teacher night! I will have areas for you to place your child's supplies. This helps our first day flow smoothly by having our supplies ready to go!
Speaking of supplies, here is what you will need for kindergarten this year!
- #2 pencils
- student scissors
- 2 boxes (8-24 count) of crayons
- 2 large pink erasers
- 6-8 white glue sticks
- pencil pouch
- clipboard
- 1 bottle of white glue
- 1 pack of dry erase markers (black, fine tip)
- 2 marble (black and white cover) wide ruled composition books
- 2 spiral, wide ruled notebooks
- tote bag
** For the supplies in bold, please write your child's name in permanent marker. We will go ahead and place your child's supplies in the correct drawers/baskets for them for the first day. It will help us a lot if their name is already on their supplies.**
If you can, we are also in need of these optional supplies. We go through these like CRAZY through the school year (especially during cold and flu season). If you can, please help our classroom stay healthy and ready with these items.
- baby wipes
- ziploc bags (any size)
- hand sanitizer
- kleenex
- clorox wipes (We clean our tables every day!)
If you are able or interested in supporting our classroom in another way, at the top of this page is a link to our classroom Donor's Choose page. We currently have a project for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) materials and alphabet manipulatives to use for this school year.
If you need it, here is the link for the calendar for this school year:
(Please note that this calendar could always change regarding inclement weather days)
I use this blog, email, and an app called Bloomz (on the Apple App store) to communicate with you. If you'd like, please go ahead and download the app, bookmark my blog and ensure my email address is not flagged by your inbox. I will give you more information about these methods of communication when we talk at Meet the Teacher. If you are like me and like to be "on the ball" please use this google doc to send me your email address. This address is what I will use to communicate with you through email and how I will invite you to our class on the Bloomz app. Also, if you're on twitter, follow our class at@MsFortnerOES.
I use this blog, email, and an app called Bloomz (on the Apple App store) to communicate with you. If you'd like, please go ahead and download the app, bookmark my blog and ensure my email address is not flagged by your inbox. I will give you more information about these methods of communication when we talk at Meet the Teacher. If you are like me and like to be "on the ball" please use this google doc to send me your email address. This address is what I will use to communicate with you through email and how I will invite you to our class on the Bloomz app. Also, if you're on twitter, follow our class at
I believe that covers it, for now! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me, I will gladly answer them. If you don't have questions, I look forward to meeting you on August 12 at Meet the Teacher!
