Something to Say from 102A

and a little bit of that make for  a mighty tasty snack.  To end Unit 4 in Everyday Math the children measured 1/4 cups, 1/2 cups and tablespoons of various ingrediants to make a mighty fine ‘celebration snack’.  You can see the recipe propped up in some of the ‘toolboxes’ on their tables. When it comes to food, they are all business. I think that they all can appreciate the concept of a “heaping tablespoon” after watching them at the m&m station! This week the results of the Unit 4 assessment will go home with your child this week. Continue to work on measurement at home through February and into March. It will be the focus of Unit 5.  Have your child cook with you: measure the amount of water used to boil noodles or make oatmeal. You could even measure the 1/3 or 1/2 cup of milk that they pour on their breakfast cereal. Pace off the length of their bedroom: how many adult feet long is it and how many kid feet. Make sure they  count the steps  walking heel to toe.

They are SO excited to sing ‘Happy Birthday Dr. King’ at today’s assembly! Here they are practicing for teacher ‘J’ who is quite charming as she tells them not to start until she says “1,2, 3″ You know how as parents you hear yourself in your children? Well that happens 25 times over for me! They are priceless; especially when I can sit back and be like a ‘little mouse’ in the corner of the room (which of course is a rare opportunity). I’m glad I captured this sweet moment.

You are probably looking at this post and wondering if you have the right month and the right place. Sunglasses in December? In SEATTLE? Let me explain. In early November we finished our Science unit on fabric and each of the children sewed a pocket. They were none too pleased that we wouldn’t allow them to take their sewing project home on that day but we had a surprise planned for using those pockets. We bought these exotic animal frame sunglasses and tucked one into each ‘pocket’ along with a packet of hot cocoa and a candy cane. They were SO delighted! They raced from one desk to another to see who was wearing frames just like their own.  As you can see they loved posing for the camera! Principal Seevers’ visit only added to the excitement as they posed for his camera too. Not to worry, all these lions, tigers, and bears minded their manners,  said “Thank you!” and “Merry Christmas” as they headed out the classroom door to begin the L-O-N-G winter holiday break.

Be sure to look in your child’s backpack for their homework. Spread it out over the two weeks to keep their learning curve going up, up, up! Pay special attention to practicing the handwriting of their name, learning the sight words, and of course READ EVERYDAY! I highly recommend a family trip or two to a public library.

Peace and happiness in the New Year to everyone this holiday season.

A tailor and seamstress at work

and The ‘Wild Things’

Well, there were a few crushed looks on faces Friday afternoon when the final winner of the Food Drive was announced. Mr. Apostol’s 5th grade blew us all out of the water, when, in the afternoon one parent brought in boatloads of food. They ended up with over 800 lbs of food. WE WERE the winners up until noon, with over 400 lbs of food for our class. The exact numbers escape me just now but you can see the results for yourself if you look at the PTA board in the front office.

In talking to the class I focused on complimenting the team effort they gave to the drive and the fact that collecting food for our community is such a great way to show they care about other people that we may not know but are living in the Sanislo neighborhood. The organizer for the food drive said the school as a whole did such a fabulous job that all students will get some type of reward (but the coveted ice cream party goes to 5th gr)

This event really brought our class together. When food was brought in, they all shared in the job of bringing it into the hall to be weighed. I think it helped them to find their place as an important part of the school community. They really liked the surprised faces of older students watching all the kindergarten kids troop into the hall with their food. Thank you all for your generosity!

On Friday our Second Step Lesson (this is the anti-bullying curriculum) was about how to be helpful and caring to someone who has a problem. I told them they were to find one way to help/show caring at home this weekend. We will talk about what they did on Monday. Some ideas: watching a younger sibling so mom or dad can cook, helping to carry groceries from the car so you have to make less trips, if something is lost, helping to find it; I’m sure you can think of many more!

Last week we read lots of Gingerbread stories. Here is the class listening our librarian, Mrs. Horsley, read  The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.  In class they heard The Gingerbread Boy by Robert Blair which is a traditional version,  The Gingerbread Man, retold by Toni Gunnerson in which an alligator eats the unfortunate cookie and The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School by Joan Holub and in this version a smart dog gets the last bite! Monday we will read them a Gingerbread Man story that has it’s setting in a big city.

Looking at our books before we leave the library.

One favorite pastime of this class is pretending to be the teacher.  This little girl is reading one of the Gingerbread stories to her classmates.  Other times someone will take out one of my big books  that are a song and they REALLY get enthusiastic! BINGO is a favorite.

So, what do you think; does our hair look crazy or cute? I have no hesitation in saying that my own ‘do’ is decidedly crazy. A student suggested the photo of me and even took the picture! I think she did a good job. These photos also give you a glimpse of lunch time in the classroom.

This is the last week for bringing in clothes and school supplies for Uganda, so clean out those closets and bookshelves!

Next Tuesday, 11/17 is picture retake day and the photographers will be retaking our class photo. Here’s the shot that was captured on my camera. I do notice there are some turned heads and a few comical expressions but that’s the nature of kindergarten!

Look at the Pages section of the blog! Do you see the November Parent Letter? Click and read to get an early scoop. The hard copy will go home on Monday.

Look at the picture below. Do you know what these girls are doing? They are using their fingers to show 14. Yes, we introduce place value in kindergarten! Practice with your child at home. Those teens are tricky! Practice counting to 20 by rote and recognizing and giving the names for numbers to 20. You’ll see, yes, siree, those teens are tricky! SO PRACTICE PLEASE!

Our Third Grade friends parading through our room in their very creative masks were a highlight of Friday’s Halloween Activities.  We also enjoyed visiting the pumpkin carving contest in the Cascade Team (4th and 5th grades). In the morning our literacy theme was all Halloween with the story Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. We have a taped version of the story and the voices of the characters and the music are very catchy.  We also went went ‘Looking for Dracula’ along with a tape by by songwriter and singer for children, Charlotte Diamond. Oh, how five and six year olds LOVE to pretend! And of course the thickly frosted cupcakes from Evee’s family were gobbled up in a flash at the end of our day.

Have a safe Halloween with your little ones out in our West Seattle community and set your clock back and enjoy that extra hour of sleep on Sunday morning!

Patterns here.

Patterns there!

We see patterns everywhere!

Hello Kindergarten Families,

Here it is October already.   We are always amazed at how quickly September slips by once school has started.    The Kindergartners are getting into our classroom routines and remembering our weekly schedules.   Of course, they never forget the days they go to P.E..   We will have two changes to our weekly schedules; both classes will now have Art twice a week opposite the days we go to P.E., and we will add our library times to our Tuesday afternoon schedules.  Thank you for seeing that your student gets plenty of rest. When the children come to school rested they are much  more able to learn and have more resiliency for changes and social situations. We have been teaching reading skills since the beginning of school and will very soon  begin our reading groups.   Starting groups have been delayed by the new MAPS testing for both reading and math for all grade levels.  Our classroom aide and tutor were pulled to assist in the computer lab during this time.   Now, all the testing has been completed and we will be able to get our reading group schedules underway.   We have introduced letter names and sounds for mM, bB, cC and this week tT.   You can help your student hear these letter sounds by having them tell you the letter name/sound that a word begins with.   You can also give them words that have that “ending” sound, too.  To encourage independent reading the children should save the little alphabet book that they bring home on Mondays and practice reading the sentences every night.   These little books reinforce the “letter of the week” and introduce the new sight word/s of the week.

In Math we are just beginning Section 2 of our Everyday Math.   This chapter continues with teen numbers (recognition, counting from 1, more, less, equal, longer, shorter, patterning, beginning number stories, graphing and measurement.   Please watch for the small Mathematics at Home activity booklet that we will send home soon.   It is full of  supplemental math activities that relate to activities that we work on in class.

We have begun our Science study of Fabric.   We are looking at 10 different fabrics; knit, corduroy, denim, fleece, organza, seersucker, terry cloth, rip stop nylon, satin and burlap.   The children are directed in observing likenesses and differences of the fabrics and noticing the effects of water on them, etc.   Much of our Kindergarten learning is observing how we learn using our five senses.

Some of you have sent in the classroom volunteer form.   Those classroom jobs will begin this week, if possible.    Mrs. Parker’s class still needs one parent who can commit to at least 10 weeks as a helper in Science on Wednesday mornings, 9:30 – 10:45 ish.

Many of you have returned the “class telephone” list  and it will be ready to send home very soon.    If you have changed your mind about being on the list, please let us know as soon as possible so we can add your name and phone number.

Here are some dates for your calendars:

Oct. 20            PTA meeting in Library – watch Sanislo Newsletter for the time.

Oct. 22            Curriculum Night – watch the Sanislo Newsletter for the times and schedule of grade level meetings with the classroom teachers
and with Mr. Seevers in the Library.

Oct. 31         Halloween (Saturday)  Just so you know, we do not dress up in costumes at Sanislo for Halloween.   Your Kindergarten teachers
have  not yet decided what will be done to acknowledge  this day.

Thanks for helping your children and us off to a great start.

School is Boo-tiful!!!!!!
Sanislo’s Kindergarten Teachers

We have started the Science unit on Fabric and on Friday the children made collages of fabric scraps.  The teachers walked around asking “How does the fabric feel? How does the fabric look?” We are listening for words such as: scratchy, rough, smooth, soft, silky, sheer, sparkly, light, dark, and bumpy. Those are vocabulary words that you can reinforce at home as your children do the homework assignment of attaching labels to household items made of fabric. It is always interesting to learn of  the items the children  identify as made of fabric in their homes.  Here are your little collage artists busily creating:

Has your child been reading the letter books he (or she) has brought home from school?  Please save them and read and reread them frequently. When your kindergartner reads these ‘letter books’ to you, the right thing to do is to have him (or her) follow along with his (or her) finger.  Our sight word list is growing RAPIDLY! Please click on the list in the ‘Pages’ section at the top of this site. These are words to be memorized by sight, not to be sounded out.

Please read our  October letter to families which will be in your child’s homework folder on Monday (10-5). Picture day is  scheduled for this week (I don’t trust my memory to say if it is Tues. or Thurs.!) and Friday is a statewide Professional Development Day for teachers and that means a three day weekend for students!