May 21-25, 2012

Although a little sad, the children were very excited to let our butterflies go this week! They've been having such a good time watching them in the classroom, but it was time to let them live out their lives in their natural habitat. We let them go in front of the school where there are lots of flowers and they would be able to find food, lay eggs, and complete the life cycle of the butterfly.

Another exciting event this week was the Dance Festival of course. The children's personal style shined through with their renditions of Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel." They had been practicing for this moment the whole year and they did a wonderful job. Congratulations!

Hope everyone had a restful and wonderful long weekend!

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!

March 19-23, 2012

Let no one think that real gardening is a bucolic and

meditative occupation.  It is an insatiable passion, 

like everything else to which a man gives his heart.  

~Karel Čapek, The Gardener's Year, translated by M. and R. Weatherall, 1931

With the start of Spring, we're taking this quote by Czech author Karel Capek to heart. We welcomed spring this week with many activities. We dug into the literacy garden with The Gigantic Turnip by Aleksei Tolstoy and Niamh Sharkey as we wondered and discovered what a turnip is! In Language Arts, the children sequenced the characters who tried to pull out that gigantic turnip, read the classroom, and played a round of Alphabet Parking Lot. In Buzz Groups, we discussed what our favorite movie is - Tangled was at the top of the list!

In Math this week we finished up learning about patterns with beautiful bracelets as well as sticker and shape patterns. Check them out on the walls outside the Kindergarten classroom!

We continued to celebrate Spring in Science by learning about the parts of a plant as well as what a plant needs to survive: soil, sun, and food. The children also got their hands a little dirty by planting their own grass. We will continue with this unit over the next few weeks.

We also said good-bye to all things winter and welcomed in Spring with a water color painting for our monthly art project.

Reminders: Monday is a minimum day

A bit of trivia: Did you know that the Czech author Karel Capek created the word "Robot" in his book RUR?

March 12 - 16, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day! This week, the kindergarteners were in the St. Patty's Day spirit. In Language Arts, the boys and girls completed a Wet Weather / Dry Weather Sort, and polished their vowel sound skills with an activity where they had to pick pictures and write the word under the appropriate vowel sound. They did a great job! We began patterns in Math, and the students had fun creating and comparing color, shape and growing patterns! The kindergarteners also concluded their unit on Nutrition. They enjoyed learning how to be healthy by eating proper foods that will help them grow big and strong!

On Thursday, the boys and girls did a wonderful job performing "I'm a Little Leprechaun" and "I'm a Little Shamrock" at the St. Patrick's Day Assembly in the gym. We came back into the classroom to find that we received a visit from none other than Seamus, the notorious STM Leprechaun! Our room was chaos! Chairs were turned over, shamrocks and candy were everywhere, the calendar was in disarray, and our behavior chart was upside down! He was a very tricky leprechaun! The kindergarteners had so much fun looking around to see what tricks he had played.

Thanks again to the Room Moms, Carol and Melissa, for helping out with the Saint Patrick's Day festivities! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

March 5- March 9, 2012

The students have been learning a lot this past week! In Language Arts, the kindergarteners participated in three centers, Reading Rhymes, Missing Letter Sounds, and Phonics. They are really getting the hang of sounding out words and rhyming! They also took their very first spelling test on Friday, which went very well. In Math, the students have been practicing their subtraction, and took their Topic 7 Test. They also had fun playing different Math Games with each other! Science took us into the world of healthy habits and nutrition. The students were really interested in learning about the different food groups.

A production of Oliver Twist came to STM on Monday. The kindergarteners were very well behaved and really enjoyed the show! On Friday, the school had a Fitness Assembly in the gym. The speaker brought various types of games and fun fitness toys to promote healthy living. He even had some great tips for leading a positive lifestyle, like being kind to everyone.  The students loved it because it was interactive and high energy!

Reminders for next week: No school on Friday, March 16.

Thank you!

February 27 - March 2, 2012

What an exciting week we had! Not only did we learn subtraction, we started Tech, celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday, and learned about leprechauns! In LA we did a fruit/not fruit sort, visited the -ap word family and played -ap, -an, and -at word family Go Fish!

Hope everyone is out enjoying the gorgeous weather this weekend!

February 21-24, 2012

Mikey as the Magical Dew Fairy!

Eldrich and Alexa playing "Father" and "Mother".  Father is frightened as he has just learned the Hansel and Gretel have gone to the Ilsenstein Forest, where the evil Gingerbread Witch lives, to look for strawberries.

The Witch (Conner) popping out of her Gingerbread House to find Hansel and Gretel eating goodies from it!

This week was filled with Fairy Tales! 

In Language Arts the focus was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Students did story sequencing as well as writing story sentences with the correct grammar and punctuation. 

On Wednesday all received ashes at a special Ash Wednesday Mass. Religion this week was also focused on Lent. The children brainstormed ideas on how they could be more like Jesus - helping others, being kind, and praying for others. Next week we will go "fishing" for ways we can be more like Jesus and do one of these kind deeds each day.

We wrapped up Topic 6 with our Topic Test and got a taste of Topic 7 - Subtraction.

We also celebrated President's Day with an introduction to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. The students made a Star Spangled Wreath as well as a fun activity book. 

On Friday we got a special visit from the SF Opera with their Sing-A-Story program. The children learned about what makes an opera (singers, an orchestra, costumes, etc.) and got to perform Hansel & Gretel. They had so much fun as you can see!

We also had a special assembly about litter. We learned that a plastic bag floating in the sea looks just like a tasty meal of jelly fish to a Sea Turtle. Unfortunately, a Sea Turtle only eats when it's hungry and if it's belly is full of plastic bags, it will starve to death. It was an informative assembly that hopefully will make everyone more responsible and conscious about litter.

Hope everyone had a good time at Cioppino!

February 13 - February 17, 2012

Happy Valentines Day! The kindergarteners had a great week! On Monday, we received a visit from Olive the Storyteller. She regaled us with stories about friendship, love, and taught us some new finger play songs. After lunch, we were able to see the fifth grade's American Revolution Museum in the gym. They did a wonderful job informing the kindergarteners about this important time in our history. Great job fifth grade!!! Tuesday was filled with hearts, love, and Valentine cheer. During our Valentine festivities, the boys and girls decorated their own Valentine bags, made cute Valentine message hats, and assembled delicious Fruit Friendship kebobs. Thank you for sending in the yummy fruits and marshmallows! The students had a blast!!

In Language Arts this week, the boys and girls continued the fun with Valentine's Day themed centers - Valentine Spelling Sticks, Valentine Beginning Sound Sort, and Journal Writing "Roses are Red". The students picked Valentine themed words written on spelling sticks, and matched each letter with the appropriate clothespin showing the same letter. They had fabulous time working together to find their clothespin letters! At the Valentine Beginning Sound Sort Center, the students needed to find pictures  that started with each letter in the word "Valentine". They cooperated as a group to find violin, vacuum, apple, lamp, and many other picture words. The kindergarteners started counting to see which letter in the word "Valentine" had the most pictures under it, or as they said, "which letter had won"! They loved it! The journal writing center allowed the children to explore their poetic side as they thought of people who they love in their lives. They wrote down their ideas to fill in the blanks to the "Roses are Red" poem. Many of them said that they love the people in their family. It was so cute!

In Math, the kindergarteners have been exercising their addition skills. They have been doing an excellent job! We completed their practice pages, and had fun solving problems on our white boards. We have been practicing solving each problem by drawing out counters, and then writing down the sum. They are really getting the hang of it! The topic 6 test is next week.

In Science, the students concluded their unit on the Five Senses with Smell and Taste this week. On Monday, the children were presented with six different smells. Each smell was in a covered container, and the students had to guess what the smell was. They had so much fun trying to decipher each one, and many of the students were correct in their guesses! The boys and girls also learned about their sense of taste. We went over the four main tastes, salty, bitter, sweet, and sour. The students were transformed into "taste testers", and were able to try foods that fell into each category. They then had to describe each food they were tasting as one of the four main tastes. It was fun watching their faces as they tried the each taste, especially the lemon slices! The unit was concluded with a Five Senses Game. Each student cut out the pieces to their game, and played with a partner. They had a spinner, and whichever sense it landed on, they had to find a corresponding picture to place on the game board. If you got three of the same sense in a row, you won! The kindergarteners enjoyed playing it over and over again!

We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day Week! Enjoy the long weekend!

Reminder: Next week, the students will be attending Ash Wednesday Mass instead of the usual Friday Mass.

100 Days Smarter! February 6 - 10

100-Day Trail Mix

100-Day Fruit Loop Necklaces!

Stella having a good time!

Alana with her 100-Day Crown!

Stringing 100 Fruit Loops!

One Hundred Days of school have come and gone! We cannot believe how fast the year is flying by! Thank you, again, to our wonderful room moms, Carol Cristobal and Melissa Radoc, and parent volunteers for all of the fun activities the kindergarteners participated in on Tuesday. Also, thank you to the Spiegel family for donating the delicious pizza lunch! You all really helped make the day special and memorable for the boys and girls.

This has been a very busy week for our students. They started off the week with the Family Mass on Sunday. The kindergartners did such a wonderful job at church. Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered during the mass, as well as all of the families who were able to join us in celebration. We really appreciate your support!

The boys and girls have been working very hard in the classroom as well. In Language Arts, the students used their "stamping skills" and participated in centers focused on beginning sounds, spelling, and handwriting. The students picked out stamps with different pictures and only the ending sound of each word. They then had to figure out the beginning sound and write out the whole word. The kindergartners also used letter stamps in the "Graffiti" Center to spell out different words, write the word, and draw a picture. They came up with a lot of great words! The students continued working in their handwriting books, as well, practicing uppercase and lowercase letters "F" and "E". They are really excelling in their letter formation!

In Math, the kindergartners took their Topic 5 Test, and have now moved on to addition. They are having fun joining two groups of objects and figuring out how many in all!

We wrapped up our Lunar New Year Celebration with our own parade around the school. We had  dragons and lots of Chinese Lanterns, and made a lot of noise with musical instruments.

Parading around STM for Lunar New Year.

In Science this week the students focused on the sense of Touch. We came up with a lot of words describing how things feel. This helped us to describe what we felt in the "Mystery Bag." It was so much fun to see them cautiously put their hands into a paper bag to feel a "mystery" object and then see their faces light up when they discovered what it was! Ask your child about some of the objects.

On Friday, the students, along with the 1st graders, received a visit from the Museum of Craft and Folk Art, and participated in an activity called "Terrific Trash". We had a guest speaker come to our classroom, and show us extraordinary works of art made entirely of simple, everyday materials. The kindergartners were "Ooooooing and Aaaahing" at each slide she put up. They  loved it! During the activity portion, the students were able to make paper bag hats using a variety of materials. Thank you for sending in the bags and materials! The students had a blast creating their own works of art!

We truly appreciate all of your support in and out of the classroom! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Reminder: Tuesday, February 14 is Valentine's Day. Please have your child just sign their name on thirty-five valentines (one for each student). They do not need to be addressed individually. More to come... Thank you!

Special Visitors: Jan. 30-Feb. 2 2012

We've had a lot of special visitors in our classroom in the past 2 weeks! First, Author Michelle Diaz Cannon came to our classroom last week to read her book Ben Not A Puppy! The children enjoyed the sweet story and Mrs. Cannon was very impressed with how the children were engaged and asked great questions. Everyone got a coloring page and a sticker!

This week we had some visitors near and dear to our hearts - our Grandparents! When they arrived we headed off to the gym for our hot dog lunch. Afterwards we went to recess. When we came back into the classroom, we made hand print flowers! And then up to the library for some shopping at the Book Fair. I think the Grandparents had as much fun as the kids!

This week in Language Arts the theme was mittens. We started by reading The Mitten by Jan Brett. Our center activities included cutting and pasting and writing the names of the animals that squeezed into the mitten, The Mitten puzzle, Winter Sight Words, and some extra activities such as Color Mitten Match, Alphabet Mitten Match, and Mitten ABC's.

Math this week consisted of 2 More and 2 Fewer. We will finish up Topic 5 with our Topic Test next week and then onto Topic 6 - Addition!

We've been practicing and preparing for our Kindergarten Family Mass on Sunday, February 5th. We hope to see all families there. Don't forget to stop by the classroom for Open House after Mass. Hope you enjoyed the lovely weather on your day off.

Next Week: 100 Day Celebration on Tuesday, February 7th!

Mad Science! Week of Jan. 17-20, 2012

It's alive! This week we continued with our Five Senses and focused (literally) on our sense of sight. We began by making our own I Spy class book to focus on the details. The children worked with a partner and carefully placed several items on a tray. Then they wrote how many items could be found on the tray. Well see who has a sharp eye as we take a closer look next week. We also had a chance to look at items such as shells and coral borrowed from our Science lab. The children used hand lenses to get an even closer look and sketch what they saw. Next week we will learn all about our sense of hearing.

The students rotated through the LA Centers this week creating their own Letter Factory by stamping letters and tracing. They also created our new bulletin board "We Are All One And The Same" by making  their own crayons with the writing prompt: I am special because I can...  based on the book The Crayon Box That Talked which conveys the simple message when we all work together, the results are much more interesting and colorful.

In Math we finished up Topic 4 with a Topic Test. It wasn't all work and no play though. The children got to use gummy bears to practice sorting and graphing. It was a test of their will to not eat them until all were sorted and graphed! We will begin Topic 5, Comparing Numbers, on Monday.

Unfortunately our guest Author, Michelle Diaz Cannon, was not able to make her visit this week but has rescheduled for the same time next Tuesday (1:10 p.m., January 24th).

Enjoy the much needed rain this weekend!
Go Niners!

Week of January 9 - January 13

Happy New Year! We hope you all had a happy and restful Christmas break. The kindergarteners are back in full swing as they enter into 2012. One major change that the boys and girls have experienced is no naps after lunch! But, they are keeping their energy high until the very end of the day. They have also been adjusting wonderfully to two new subjects, Social Studies and Science. The students have been learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in preparation for the holiday on Monday. The kindergarteners listened to the story, Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport, and have written and illustrated some themes from the book. In Science, they have been introduced to the amazing world of the Five Senses which will be an ongoing unit throughout the month of January.

Math and Language Arts have also been keeping the students very busy.  In Math, the boys and girls have been working on their numbers and learning how to correctly write them in proper form. They have a topic test coming up next week! In Language Arts, we have started "Learning Centers". This week, we had a Phonics Center, a Journal Writing Center, and a Match It ABC's Center. Two tables concentrate on one center per day, and we rotate the centers in order for each table to participate in all three centers by the end of the week.  The students did a great job with the new routine!

Another change to our schedule is that, each week, the kindergarteners attend Friday Morning Mass. Our buddy class, the sixth grade, have been helping our students adjust to going to church with the rest of the school. Ms. Haas and I are impressed with how well behaved our class has been, and what a great influence the sixth graders have had on our students. Thank you sixth grade!

Reminder: No school on Monday, January 16 in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Have a wonderful long weekend!!!