May 14 - 18

The kindergarteners had a fun, but busy Spirit Week! They enjoyed showing their school spirit by dressing up each day. Even with all of the fun activities like Field Day and the Talent Show, the students still got plenty of work done. In Language Arts, the students worked on Word Work, and the "u" Vowel Sound (both long and short). We read the book, The Z was Zapped, and they had so much fun figuring out what happened to each letter of the alphabet in the story. In Math, we started Topic 14 which focuses on Time. 

We also had some visitors this week, due to our Community Helpers unit in Social Science. The fire department came on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we had to cut the visit short due to a call the fire fighters received. But, the students got a chance to see what happens when they need to respond in an emergency.  On Thursday, Officer Rich from the San Francisco Police Department came, and spoke with the students about safety. He showed us all of the tools he uses on a daily basis, and the students asked some very important questions.

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!

Week of May 7 - 11

This week the students were hard at work! In Language Arts, they put their letter and sound skills to the test, and played Word Baseball. They had so much fun scoring home runs! They also found the missing letter sounds with their sound stamps. In Math, the kindergarteners finished up Topic 13 in Math which focused on weight and capacity.

We had a visit from the Lizard Lady this week, as well. She brought in her boa constrictors, various types of lizards, a python, and  a sixty year old tortoise! The students had a great time learning about these animals, and they even were allowed to pet a few of them!

April 30 - May 4, 2012

As you can see from the pictures, we had a great time on our Field Trip to the Academy of Science this week. We saw butterflies, snakes, poisonous frogs, sharks, rays, penguins, and the albino alligator. Thank you to our parent chaperones.

For Language Arts we continued to learn about long and short vowels with the letters "I" and "O". We started Topic 13 - Capacity and Weight -  in Math this week. We learned how larger objects can hold more linker cubes than smaller ones. We tried this out with several different size objects and recorded our results. In Science, we learned about solids, liquids, and gasses and made Ooblek - ask your child if it's a solid or a liquid!

And the winner is…

Timothy!

Miss Haas didn't do so bad herself eeking out a win by one basket over Mrs. Wong! Congratulations to all who participated!

Farm animals was the theme of this week. We read Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown and drew and labeled farm animals in our very own barn book. We also practiced rhyming. We wrapped up our math unit on measurement with a Topic Test on Thursday. The kids did very well on their spelling test on Thursday as well. Great job everyone! We've been observing our caterpillars and they are huge! Perhaps they will be in the third stage of metamorphosis when we return on Monday - ask you child what they look like! In Religion we talked about how everyday is filled with making choices and how God wants us to make good choices.

We have a field trip to the Academy of Science on Thursday, May 3rd. Snack will be provided that day and we will return to school in time for lunch.

April 16 - 20, 2012

Last week, the students were hard at work in the classroom! In Language Arts, the students focused on the long and short vowel sounds of the letters "a" and "e". They completed "Word Work" in order to figure out if the vowel sound was long or short. They did a great job! In Math, the students started a unit on Length and Measurement. The boys and girls loved walking around the room and measuring objects with cutouts of their own feet! The kindergarteners also began learning about butterflies in Science. They took turns observing the caterpillars in the classroom that will soon turn into Painted Ladies!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

April 2 - 6, 2012

We hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Easter vacation! The boys and girls had a wonderful time last week gearing up for the big day! The week was filled with fun crafts like making Easter bunny baskets, dyeing Easter eggs, and going for an Easter egg hunt on the lawn in front of school. The kindergarteners had so much fun!

They also managed to buckle down and get some work done as well. The students completed their Topic Test on Shapes last week. The students also listened to the story, Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, and put their ideas and imagination to the test with their own purple crayons.

Thank you to all of the families who were able to bring in hard boiled eggs for dyeing! Have a great day!

March 26-30, 2012

Overheard in the classroom...
"My mama thinks I'm a good artist"
"You are a stupendous artist!"


In Language Arts this week the children learned their Ch-, Sh-, and Th- sounds by filling in the missing sound to create a word.

We started a new topic in math - geometry. During math centers the children traced geometric shapes, built structures with blocks and drew them, as well as shape sticker art. We read Pezzetino by Leo Lionni which means "little piece". The children then created a work of art by using little pieces of squares.

Science continued with the parts of a plant as well as their function. The children made flower art using paper plates for the flower, pipe cleaners for the stem and brown yarn for the roots. They also got a chance to observe and draw a seed in their science journals.

Note: Due to the short week we will not be having a spelling test this week (April 2-6) nor will reading book bags be sent home!