You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Uncategorized' category.
I hope is everyone having a wonderful 4th of July! Yes, I AM on vacation, and in spite of the gray and cool weather I have been enjoying every minute of my time; celebrating my daughter’s graduation from the University of Chicago, my own birthday, and today, the birthday of our country. I added the last of the classroom photos to my ‘09-10 file and I couldn’t help but reflect. Your children grew in so many ways over the course of the year and so did I. I can honestly say that the diversity of learning abilities in this class provided more challenges and opportunities for my own professional growth than any other in my 26 years of teaching. I was amazed and encouraged at the many ways the children in this class showed empathy and patience with classmates who were learning and socializing along a time line and in styles very different from the norm. While it may not be your child that is getting service from the special education department of Seattle Public Schools it is in the best interest of ALL students that parents are aware of the changes being made. The new system of delivery that will serve many of our special needs students is called an integrated comprehensive services delivery model. Educators and parents of the students being served will often referred to this model as ICS. You can read a list of frequently asked questions here. The integration of special needs students into regular classrooms has an impact on all students. In order for it to become a workable system we (parents and teachers) all need to be aware and willing to give feedback to teachers and administrators. The collegiality of the Sanislo staff, collaborative planning with Ms. Parker, the support of the Instructional Assistants, Tutors, and Parent Volunteers (you are SAINTS!) were all a part in making this year a successful learning year for the class of 09-’10. I hope you are reading to your child EVERY DAY and that as“> role models of reading, you have summer reading of your own. How many trips to the library have you made? Strive for one a week; our downtown library is spectacular but the Southwest, Delridge, and White Center certainly have enough open hours to serve southwest Seattle’s reading needs.Here are some parting photos:
Here we are getting ’suited up’ in our life jackets and learning how to hold our paddles.
Here are some of the happy crew in the umiaq. They quickly learned that paddling is exercise!
Some of us got more than a little bit wet, but we kept our smiles.
O.K. I must say that this group, the first ones on the water, look pretty well drenched! They didn’t really complain too much to me. But then you don’t see me in the boat. Honestly, I didn’t plan it that way!
Until we got back to school and unpacked the soggy coats I really didn’t realize just how hard it had rained. One of the advantages of going first was that this group saw seaplanes taking off. The second group didn’t get that experience.
Here we are listening intently for directions on how to make our model boats.
We had lots of grown up helpers; grandmas and moms! They helped us hammer nails, drill holes, tie strings, and add decoration to our boats.
Look who was first to write numbers up to 1000 on his number scroll! He was very diligent, even taking home grids to write numbers at home. Did he stop at 1000? Oh no! Last I checked he was up to 1200.
It was really catorce de Mayo but the mood was festive all the same!
Delicious food, lively music, colorful attire, and enthusiastic performers made for a well attended performance by some of our Latino students and Los Oaxacans, a guest mariachi band. Guests were greeted at the door with mariachi music, tables in the hall were laden with food, and the gym was the dancing floor for the performance.
That’s Mrs. Rojas crouched down in front. She practiced AND PRACTICED with Los Polittos for this performance!
Here we are with our best audience manners, listening to the Talking Tree. I think the adults in attendance were impressed with all the knowledge about trees and the environment that we already had! Hands were raised quickly to answer questions and usually the answers were ‘right on’.
Here is M. Amy, the naturalist who was our guide on the hike. She is talking to us about Douglas fir cones and how they can be identified by the little seed casings that poke out of the creases in the cone, looking much like the tails and hind feet of little mice.
Here are the boys, hands all washed and ready for lunch!
The girls are ready to eat too!
How come food always tastes better on a field trip?
The whole group of us, after eating. I fussed with editing the photo quite a bit but still did not totally capture the beauty of the blue sky, the new green of the leaves and the sparkling of Lake Washington with Mt. Rainier in the distance. I just couldn’t pull the mountain into view, no matter what edits I chose. You’ll just have to believe me; it was a spectacular day!
Proud artist!
Proud builders!
The designers of this town insisted I take a picture. They were so industrious that they used every block on the shelves!
Joyous dancing!
What happens when you sand wood? Can you change the shape of wood by sanding? Those were the focus questions for this Science activity. This is one of those rare activities that keeps a kindergarten class absorbed and quietly intent on the work that is in their hands.
Kudos to Raeya,
the one and only science fair exhibitor from 102A!
What could be more fun for a kindergartner than exploring two and three dimensional shapes using toothpicks and marshmallows?
Yes, we have made it to day 100 in school! This afternoon the air was thick with the sweet smell of fruit loops and cheerios as the children counted the cereal into groups of ten and then industriously strung 100 of the toasty Os onto yarn to make a necklace. I’m always surprised at how quiet the class gets for this activity.
February is such a busy month! We welcomed the Year of the Tiger be reading information books to the children about Chinese New Year and on Friday, in their journals, they wrote one or two facts on how this holiday is celebrated. We also surveyed how many children in our class were born in the lunar year of the Monkey and how many in the year of the Goat. Of course they loved making these dragon masks and getting ‘red envelopes‘ from me at the end of the week!
Excitement was high on Friday as everyone gathered in a circle to exchange Valentines. 24 of our class of 25 brought Valentines to share. I do not think there were any two alike; from hand made to store bought with Power Rangers or Princesses and pop culture stars that are unknown to me, all the cards were appreciated. The little girl closest to me very dramatically said, “You know Mrs.Goethe, I had to write my name on these every night to get them all done!” which made me smile because that repetitive practice is so good for her handwriting skills and I am glad that her mom spread it out over 3 or 4 evenings.
Did you like the narcissus flower your child brought home on Thursday? They should be in bloom by now and filling the air with their sweet scent. We have Jay Potratz, a Sanislo parent, to thank for taking the lead on this planting project.
Hopefully you have checked your child’s backpack for homework to be done over the break. It includes a word list, some math activities to do together and a reading calendar. Don’t forget to send your child’s 100 collection to school on Monday the 22nd if you have not done so already!
There was room for plenty more of you to join us! I enjoyed stopping by the lanes on my way home to see these enthusiastic bowlers. Maybe some families will go bowling over the Mid Winter break. It is so easy now days when all the scoring is done for you.
Our investigations have moved on from fish to snails. If you find a common garden snail (We have plenty here in Seattle!), observe it with your child. Some of the vocabulary we have introduced in our snail studies: shell, mucus trail, foot, whorl, tentacles and radula. If you are perplexed about some of these terms you can visit this site for more kid friendly information on snails: kiddyhouse.com
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!
We made it through our first full week! The children are learning how to listen from our friend ‘Impulsive Puppy’, a lively puppet that was introduced to the class at our Second Step meeting on Friday. Second Step is a curriculum for teaching children empathy and anger management. In simple words; how to express our feelings and show respect. Ask your child to tell you the 5 points of good listening:
-
Hands to yourself.
-
Ears listening.
-
Mouth quiet.
-
Eyes looking at the person who is speaking.
-
Raise your hand and wait your turn to talk.
On Friday we also talked about safety and practiced our fire drill and earthquake routines. Parents and guardians, make sure your emergency medical forms are turned into our school office!
This class sure loves to sing! We sang Miss Mary Mack and they are learning some funny, new verses. This week’s letter was mM. Be sure to save the letter book your child brings home each week and read them over and over. I suggested that the children collect the letter books in a folder or empty shoe box at home.
Who will I see at Thursday night’s Multi-ethnic Potluck? ALL of you, I hope!
Has your child taken home the wrong jacket by mistake? Is your child missing a jacket? This lonely gray sweatshirt is missing its owner. Be sure to write your child’s name on the tag inside his/her jacket.
Sorting, counting, and making patterns; all of this along with sharing and taking care of materials are a big part of Math time! See for yourself:
Learning about shapes and making designs and more importantly, learning to share.
Sanislo Elementary
The Goldfinch Team
September 14, 2009
There were very few tears the first 3 days of school but everyone sure looked tired by Friday! Be sure to get your child in bed by 8:00 now that they will be in the classroom all day everyday. Learning all the routines of the classroom and playground, and making new friends, is exciting and tiring.
Beginning today your children will be at school from 9:25 until 3:30 dismissal. Thank you to everyone for adjusting your schedule and picking up your children after lunch last week. We were able to test very nearly every child in both classes because of the half-day schedule. The results of the assessment help to guide our instruction. We typically share the results with you, along with follow up assessment, during the November conference time. Many parents tell us their children can’t remember what they did at school. That is a pretty typical response; especially at the beginning when they come home exhausted and just SO ready for ‘down time’. I will fill you in with a few of last week’s activities: We began the routines of calendar time, recess rules, and our lunch system. In literacy we read stories to the class about starting school and talked about “always trying our best” and “It’s o.k. to make mistakes, because that is how we learn.” We sang a song called Be Kind Careful and Caring. Ask your child to sing it to you. The children had a brief introduction to both our Art and P.E. specialists. We introduced the rules for respectful listening: Eyes on the person speaking, hands in lap, ears listening, body still, mouth quiet and talked about the meaning of ‘respect’.
We will begin reading groups next week. For this week everyone will work together as we introduce the letter mM. Your child will be taking home a little booklet about mM. Please have your child read it to you. Save this booklet. Your child will get one a week for each letter of the alphabet. We will read books about starting school and making friends. They will learn how to write a sentence or draw a picture in their Literature Journal to show understanding of the stories we read. In math they will do activities in measurement comparing length, sort buttons by differing attributes, practice their counting, use pattern blocks to explore shapes as well as take part in daily calendar routines.
Your child’s first homework is going home today. Have your child do one page each evening and read EVERYDAY for 20 minutes or more with your child. Sign your initials in each day that you and you child read. Return the reading record and completed homework in its folder on NEXT MONDAY.
Remember, if your child is assigned a bus but you do not want him or her to ride it until a later date please tell us in writing or call our front office 252-8380. If we do not hear from you we assume you want your child on his or her assigned bus.
Thank you for the boxes of crackers and fruit that you have been sending in for class snacks. We could use a little more if we are to have snack every day. The children really look forward to snack time. Please be sure to send water bottles too. This is especially important because our water fountains are broken and although the custodian has put in a work order, at present they are not an option for drinks of water. Thanks too for the boxes of facial tissue and antibacterial wipes for table cleaning.
Forms to complete for classroom volunteering will go home today and we will contact interested persons by the end of this month. Do not expect to start volunteering until October.
With Smiles,
Sanislo’s Kindergarten Teachers
Here are some dates to mark on your calendar:
Sept. 15th , Tues. 6:30PM PTA Meeting; childcare provided
Sept. 30th , Wed. 1:30 Student Dismissal; teachers have meetings
Sept. 24th, Thurs. 6:00PM Multi-Ethnic Potluck
Oct. 9th No school for students
Oct. 22nd Curriculum Night
Oct. 28th 1:30 Student Dismissal; teachers have meetings
…or so it seems. In fact, it has been plenty of hard work (with some fun thrown in) for the kindergarteners of 102A to get from abc and 123 to reading and writing words and sentences and adding and subtracting and skip counting by twos, fives, and tens and much, much, more! They really were a fun bunch. Please keep them reading and writing over the summer so their learning doesn’t lose any ground. Thank you so much for entrusting them to my care and instruction. You’ve been nothing but supportive! Please stop by to say “hi”in the fall.
Oh my but the sun felt hot! I supervised the chalk station along with two other teachers and volunteers. I did wear sun screen but how I wish I had remembered a water bottle! The kindergarteners scattered here, there, and everywhere having a great time with the freedom of the situation. Thanks to the many parents who manned the barbeque, supervised games and children, and passed out popsicles at the end of it all.
I actually envied the teachers who volunteered to be in the dunk tank. The weather couldn’t have been more different from the cold gray day we had on last year’s Field Day.
First grade Ellie makes a basket!
First grade Bao is a great chalk artist. Just look at that menacing dragon!
One of our reading groups did a little skit on plant growth. Here you see the seeds, roots (laying down), stems leaves and flowers. The ’surprise’ was hands full of cotton balls to represent seeds which the flowers tossed at the audience. We only performed for the rest of the kindergarten team but they took it very seriously. It was supposed to be readers’ theater but most of them had the lines memorized. To view the pictures in a larger format click once on a photo and then click again to enlarge it even more.
Ms. Autenrieth said there were over 2000 pieces of student art work on display for the gallery walk and that certainly is believable! It was fun to mix and mingle with Sanislo families listening to the children proudly share their artistic accomplishments. Here are some kindergarteners next to their work: line drawings of people in action, self portraits, overlapping shapes, and cool colored ‘Starry Nights’. This is only a sampling; just wait until you see the full portfolios they will be bringing home at the end of the year!
“Row, row, row the umiak!” We bucked a good breeze but had fun paddling away on Lake Union and then building our boats in the Center. The weather couldn’t have been finer and I couldn’t have asked for more parent assistance. Seriously, I am somewhat of a ‘basket case’ the night before a field trip, worrying about all the details. Much to my amazement NINETEEN parents/grandparents joined us on this field trip! That is a record for me and I hope you all had a wonderful time. I certainly did not need to worry about a thing once we arrived at the CFWB. A parent even reminded ME to pick up my hat and sunglasses just as I was reminding all the ‘kinders’ to remember their belongings! That figures! In all honesty, having all those parents who adjust their schedules to be with us on Friday was the biggest show of teacher appreciation of all of the many gifts bestowed on me this week. THANK YOU!!
It looked and smelled like a floral shop in our clasroom yesterday as child after child brought me lovely bouquets along with notes of appreciation. The begonias I took home and placed on our front porch but the other bouquets will stay on my desk where I can appreciate them through Friday. Thank you all so very much. The Sanislo parents always do a great job of celebrating teachers during ‘Teacher Appreciation Week’. Today I get my car washed by kids and parents! Yipee! It needs it.
Today is Walking Wednesday and that is exactly what I would be doing if it weren’t for the fact that my car needs that washing! Also, school is out at 1:10 for students today. Teachers have professional development.
Tomorrow afternoon is our all school Jog-A-Thon. Make sure your child wears shoes that are good for running.
Friday is our field trip to the Center For Wooden Boats. According to the forecast we will need sunscreen, not umbrellas! The bus will leave Sanislo as close to 9:20 as possible. Make sure your child remembers a lunch from home (unless you preordered from the school lunch program). If you are volunteering to help supervise just come into the classroom with your child at the usual 8:50 bell. Volunteers can expect to be back at Sanislo Between 12:15 and 12:30. Please remember, as adorable as younger brothers and sisters are, we ask that you do not bring them along on field trips. We want the volunteers to give their undivided attention to the kindergarten children. What a busy week! We will all be needing the three day holiday weekend.
The Talking Tree field trip was a huge success. The weather wasn’t exactly warm but it didn’t rain us. The children listened intently to the woman dressed as a ‘Talking Tree’. She taught the importance of trees for the quality of the air we breath, the products we get from trees and the animals that rely on trees for their habitat and/or food. She was VERY engaging for the children to listen to; they especially enjoyed passing around her animal puppets. On the short hike, our guide, Chris, showed us a huge maple that had been struck by lightning and was charred on the inside of it’s trunk yet it was still living and branches with new green leaves were springing out from it’s sides. He also showed us a redwood and douglas fir. See the picture below where the kids are hugging the redwood? My favorite part of the field trip: We are in the woods, I’m holding the hand of one of our youngest. He’s looking up into the treetops, turning every which way. I whisper to him, “What do you see?” He answers with the question, “Where’s the Talking Tree?” I say, “But the lady inside who shared her puppets was the Talking Tree.” He looks at me, wide eyed and innocent, “But the REAL ONE, where’s the REAL ONE?” I don’t know if the look on his face was one of relief or of disappointment when I explained that the costumed lady was the only Talking Tree he was going to see.
I came back into the classroom just in time for the ‘gallery walk’ that Ms. Autenrieth does after each lesson and was able to take some photos of the Starry Night oil pastels that the children finished on Wednesday. They have been studying the artist Vincent van Gogh and the use of cool colors. Next they move on to warm colors and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers paintings will be their inspiration. I’m SO impressed by the growth I see their art work as well as their reading and writing!
Remember! Field trip on this Friday to Seward Park. Have your little one dress for the weather. Look under the blog header for a link to the May parent letter for more upcoming events!
On Friday in Math, future architects were busy in 102 A creating 3D sculptures with toothpicks and mini marshmallows. Do you see the little boy holding his “flying house” ? We are in Unit 7 of Everyday Math and 3D shapes have been part of our lessons for the past two weeks. The children have also been writing and solving story problems on a regular basis. There sure is a lot of enthusiasm for math in 102A. I’m impressed with the number of children who return the monthly math challenges assigned by Mrs. Henton, our math coach.
O examines all the switches and buttons on the second graders’ robot. We have second grade teacher, Mr. Femiano, to thank for being the leading force behind the Science, Math, and Technology Fair.
It was enthusiastically attended and I am certain we all want to have a second fair next year.
D and his ‘Patterns’
J and ‘Footprints’
M and ‘Where Wheat Grass Grows the Best’
S and ‘Solutions for Cleaning Pennies’
J2 and his Rocket
K and his Volcano display (Kyle proudly informed me, “My volcano was a BIG hit!” This picture was taken the day after and the volcano was at home.)
O’s mom helping at his exhibit; ‘How Many Pumps To Pop a Balloon?’ The sudden loud POP! made more than one attendee jump!
The happy exhibitor of ‘How Beach Glass Is Made’
L’s ‘Magnified Looking’
Z’s exhibit about her goldfish Clara
E’s (and brother A’s) exhibit on ‘How Temperature Changes Inflation in a Balloon’
The ‘Foam Explosion’ on the grassy circle caused lots of glee!
Sanislo is so lucky to have an active PTA! Our auction raised $30,000. after expenses for our school this year. That is phenomenal, especially considering the state of the economy right now. It is wonderful to be part of a community that puts so much time, energy, and hard earned money into enhancing the education of their children. Kindergartens’ project was two lovely floor mats which garnered close to $800. for our school. We are grateful to Jenny Sapora, Otto’s mom, for coming up with the idea and materials and to Tanya Knannelein, Kate Goodman, Angie Erdman, Gillian Allen-White, and Laurie Milodragovich for assisting the children in painting the colorful fish that adorned each mat.
Edublogs just wants to mess with my head. It took me forever to get the above two photos uploaded. I was so diligent that I ended up with FOUR of each photo. I also had three written paragraphs which have vanished. Go figure! It seems that Seattle School District only sanctions dot orgs and not dot coms so I will fork over the $39.95 for another year with Edublogs. But saving and publishing had better improve once I am a paying customer.
Now as for 102A, aside from a lot of sniffles, runny noses (my own included) and a couple kids who were out with fevers everything is rolling along just fine. On Friday Sanislo celebrated the children’s author Dr. Seuss. In the photos above you see Hannah and Emily engrossed in their reading. On the whiteboard behind them are the Cat(s) in Hat(s) the children made after hearing The Cat In The Hat. On the back of each hat they wrote a list of words that rhyme with cat. With Thing One (Eli) and Thing Two (Otto) along with me as ‘Cat’, we had half of the characters in the book covered!
Have you turned your clocks ahead? I want to see everyone at school tomorrow on time. Now that the evenings are light longer it can be difficult to corral your younguns’ and get them into bed. Please be consistent in sticking to a bed time of no later than 8:00. The well rested child is a much more attentive and eager student in the morning.
Hey ‘pardners’ sure hope you’ll join me at the Sanislo Jamboree, our auction, on Friday March 20th at 6:00. The auction items are real deals, the vittles are tasty, and the company is lively too! So mosey on into Sanislo’s front office before or after school and buy yourself a ticket or two from our PTA. Now, more than ever, your children need the financial support a successful auction brings to the budget of the school.
After much research and religiously checking PetFinder on the computer Ms. Parker found herself the perfect pup. He is a one and a half year old Bichon Friese from a Humane Society shelter in Longview, WA. Charlie Chung is as soft as a lamb and just as gentle. He is a big hit with the kids and no trouble in the classroom. We haven’t even heard him bark and he has the enviable positon of napping well over half of the day. Charlie is even the subject of independent writing. This is Jesse writing about Charlie. There are 4 drawings separated by lines and below it says: Charlie is cute. Look at Charlie. He can run. Ms. Parker is walking Charlie. Jesse is in the midst of writing: Kids are petting Charlie.
Mind you, Jesse wrote this during a rainy day recess. Click on the photo to see what ‘Best Guess Spelling’ looks like. We have lots of motivated writers, they are growing up right before our eyes.
I’ll bet your little ones are eyeing up all the red and pink boxes of cards in the stores as they anticipate Valentine’s Day. Please read the letter going home tomorrow, 1/27, that describes our expectations for Valentines Day. Also going home is a permission slip for our first field trip which will be to a puppet show at Northwest Puppet Center on February 12th. The show is Monkey Goes Fishing which is a Chinese folk tale. Please sign the form and send it back to school along with the $7.00 admission as soon as possible. Attached to homework you will see a request to talk with your child about his/her place of birth. This is part of our classroom study of maps and our school wide interest in ‘mapping’ our Sanislo community on the big map in our hall.
It was a pleasure to see some of you at math Night last Thursday. We hope you continue to play Cover Half, Shishima, Tug’o War, and the Number Grid Game at home. Thank you to Kyle’s daddy for donating a humongous box of filled with dice for Sanislo classroom math games.
A big thank you and kudos to Jenny, Otto’s mom for volunteering to take the lead on our auction project, a floor mat which will incorporate student art work. It will be designed with an aquatic/sea life theme in mind. She needs other parents to step up and help her. Please call the classroom at 252-8389 (or Jenny Sapora who is on the classroom phone list) if you are available to assist in the auction project.
I have taken several very cute pictures of your hard working children but Edublogs is giving me difficulty accepting them. If I had more time I would transfer over to another blogsite, but that is not possibly right now. So, you will have to be content with the written word.
Today was such a lovely weather day! I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow and maybe the rain will hold off for one more day!
is a subscription to Edublogs. I don’t even need a full year, just 6 months. Not that I am happy with Edublogs; quite the contrary. My personal blog has been on Blogspot for over 4 years now and I do not pay a cent and they do not have advertising and I rarely if ever have trouble uploading photos. It has worked like a charm. So NEXT fall, I am doing my classroom blog via Blogspot. I didn’t start there because I was all anxious and what not about being professional and wanted to be in a community of Educators… “Yadda, yadda, yadda.” Well, I have come to the conclusion that Edublogs is just like a lot of other businesses, it is out to make a buck off educators. What’s worse is that it wastes a lot of my after school hours because uploading photos is tedious and confusing and to top it off I have had to reset my password twice this school year and both times it was a headache. OK enough of the complaints.
Did you see, I have the December parent letter in the Pages above the posts. One important bit of info was left out; this Tuesday at 6:30 is Math night at Sanislo. Be there or be square (the best know quadrilateral which has 4 sides of equal size). In addition to 3 math games you will be able to play with your child, we will give you the password necessary for your child to play Everyday Math Games at home on the computer.
This week in the classroom we are reading yet one more version of The Gingerbread Boy and on Thursday the children will be frosting and lavishly decorating Gingerbread cookies which they will devour in record time I am sure. Also this week we will read about the African American celebration of Kwanzaa and the Jewish Hanukkah holiday.
Thanks to all of you who sent in food for the Food Drive last week. We collected well over 2000 items and the children will be treated to a popcorn party this week as a reward for increasing the contributions of food.
Brrr…it is cold in Seattle today but I do hope you and your child bundled up and enjoyed the snow at least a little bit. Who knows, we may get more of the white stuff later in the week. Personally, I love this weather, as long as it happens only once or twice a winter. Be sure to read the Snow and Ice pamphlet we sent home last week, it gives numbers to call to check on traffic updates and school closures during severe winter weather. I think your best bet is to watch the TV newscasters or listen to the radio.
Last but not least; don’t forget that school is dismissed at 2:05 on this Friday . To those of you who celebrate: a very “Merry Christmas!” and to all of you; I hope you are fortunate enough to enjoy at least a little time together with family and friends during the two week break. School resumes on Monday, January the 5th.
I took a short video of the children singing ‘Oh Little Liza!’ at Thursday night’s performance with Joe Craven. I was trying to march alongside my end of the line of kids to help them keep time. Marching and trying to focus a camera don’t go together; the quality leaves much to be desired and then I went to upload it and woe is me, the file is too big! So here is a photo or two from our rehearsal:
About 25 of the kindergarten team showed up to shake their ‘Y’ sticks and belt out the chorus to ‘Little Liza Jane’. A few bottle caps came unstrung and went rattling across the stage but they went ‘on with the show’ in professional fashion.
Needles in the hands of five and six year olds could be a recipe for disaster but thanks to many adult helpers we needed nary a band aid as they all sewed polar fleece hats for the culminating activity of our Science unit on Fabric. Thursday we sewed and Friday we cut the strips for the tassels. We also began our unit on Food and Healthy eating. We read the book Lunch by Denise Fleming, followed by a discussion and tree map of fruits and vegetables.
On Friday I read the book Bread Bread Bread to the class. It has fabulous photos of bread in many forms from all around the world. Afterwards we had a bread tasting. As our graph shows, raisin bread was the favorite followed closely by soft pretzels.
Thanks to all of you who sent in bottle caps and Y sticks. After flattening the bottle caps (another heroic effort with parent volunteers) the children strung them on wire and volunteers attached the wire to the Y sticks. We have Amy Wolk and Antje Potratz, parents of older students here at Sanislo, to thank for extending a hand to our kindergarteners or we would never be ready for our music workshops with Joe Craven the first week of December. You can see the kindergarteners shaking up a storm with their Y sticks on stage either at Sanislo at 6:00 on December 2nd or at West Seattle H.S. on December 4th at 6:00.
Jason and Benson: Making Patterns
Did you know that the young diver who had an accident on November 1 off Alki beach at Seacrest Park was Benson’s daddy, Duy Tran? On November 6th Duy passed away. As you can well imagine, his death has taken a great toll on Benson’s family. Duy was only 30 years old and ran a wooden flooring business. He had a smile that just lit up the room, no matter if it was 8:30 in the morning or 6:00 in the evening when he was picking up his children. Everyone from the cook to the CDSA childcare providers at our school have fond memories of Duy’s exuberant and generous personality. Benson and his sister Irene now attend a school south of Seattle closer to their mother’s home. The children in 102A miss their friend Benson and have drawn pictures and written notes to him which I mailed off to his new school. If families would like to donate funds to help defray the medical costs incurred, you can do so at a PayPal account set up at the website of Lila Tran, Duy’s younger sister. If using PayPal the email contact should be: tranlila (at) gmail (dot) com
They love the simple things, especially if chanting, singing, or a reason to move is incorporated. Last week was Pp week and Pease Porridge Hot was the poem. We did a read aloud of the traditional Three Little Pigs folktale and a seasonally perfect story entitled Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington. After listening to each story, they did a picture sequencing activity of the events. Sight words that you should be practicing at home: boys girls the is and this can you at look see a red yellow blue green orange purple brown black
In Science we investigated what happens when you put drops of water on fabric. Vocabulary words you might try to incorporate into conversations at home are: absorb soak spread waterproof beaded (in reference to when water does not absorb but instead forms a bead on the fabric). They also labeled items around the room that were made of fabric. It was obvious to me that they already had some experience with this in their homework. They really scoured the room trying to find as much fabric as possible.
OH YES! We are very aware of the rapid approach of Halloween. In fact, I was in Burien today for lunch and saw a Sanislo student trick or treating along with other ghosts, goblins, fairies, and super heroes of many sorts. I imagine that more than a few of my students were doing the same thing in the West Seattle Junction. Please read the parent letter in the ‘Pages’ toolbar above this post to find out what we are doing in the classroom for Halloween.
This is my first attempt at using a video clip from my camera in a post. I think it is ok for a first attempt. The “Good job!” I say at the end of the clip was as much for me as for any of the children.
This past week we read books and wrote about Fall. Can your child sing the song The Leaves Are Fluttering Down for you? Can he tell you at least 3 facts about fall? We also read information books about spiders which was quite appropriate as it seems that daily a spider finds it’s way into our classroom (or the bathroom!) and causes quite a commotion. I was thrilled with one attentive student who, when the she heard about squirrels storing nuts for the winter, asked: “Like spiders do with flies?” It was thrilling because she was making a ‘text to text’ connection which is an important reading strategy. The previous day they had heard that spiders wrap insects in their sticky thread and save it to eat at another time. What made it twice as exciting for me as a teacher was that this was a bilingual student. Everyone is making gains daily! In math we worked on identifying pennies, nickels and dimes, the ‘Tricky Teen’ numbers, and practicing making patterns. I will try to add pictures of the children working at math activities but I am skeptical. Adding media to this blog has been challenging as of late. Were you at Curriculum Night last Thursday? If not, please stop by the classroom to sign up for a November parent – teacher conference.
Look at all the key patterns that Otto has copied and extended!
Donovan has discovered that he is copying a pattern that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and he knows what comes next: 3 red tiles over 3 green tiles. Below you see Benson who correctly extended his pattern all the way to ten tiles. But do you suppose I could get him to smile for the camera?
Illasia and Sohan are at the Math Table playing Coin Toss. They roll a die that has pictures of pennies, nickels and dimes. They choose the coin they roll and place it in the 1, 5, or 10 cent spot in the egg carton. Whoever fills their carton first wins.
The Lifetouch photographer we had for our group photo is a veteran. Last year we had some ‘newbie’ who forgot pieces of equipment and we ran late the entire day. This year I was happy to see a familiar photographer and I said, “Gee, you have been doing this for quite a while.” She smiled and said “So have you!” BINGO! This is year 26 of contracted teaching for me and it promises to be a good one. So take a look at the sweeties of 102A:
Who can also be very silly! I know, I know; they really shouldn’t put their fingers in their mouth, but it makes for such a great ‘funny face’. Do you see who is my drama queen this year?
Here we are, lining everyone up tallest to shortest for the Lifetouch photographers that were at school on Thursday to take class pictures. Picture day is always fun; lots of freshly combed hair, scrubbed faces, and favorite or fancy clothes. If you are a visitor to my blog and have never been to Sanislo, this photo gives a good view of our open classrooms. You see my class in the foreground and the other kindergarten is lining up too in the background. Click on the photo to get the BIG picture.
Kindergarten is off and running in102A and with next to no tears. On about the fifth day of school I had one very teary eyed little guy holding his milk ticket, sobbing away. I thought surely it was because he was missing mommy and daddy. I told him to put his milk ticket into the ‘yes basket’ and said I would walk him to his seat to help him get started on his early morning coloring activity. But that was not the solution; he did not want to put his milk ticket into the basket. (I had heard his dad say he was to get milk.) I even assured him that he would get chocolate, but still his hand did not budge. I said, “Let’s just forget about drinking milk for now, lunch is a long way off.” With sniffles and a tissue he went to his table, the tears subsided and he easily handled the rest of the day. Oh, he did drink milk at lunch too and it was chocolate.
This year’s smooth start was due in part to the warm and welcoming response I got as I visited so many of your homes before the start of the school year. One of the great perks of being a kindergarten teacher is seeing and hearing the enthusiasm and sense of anticipation that parents share for their child’s educational future. We also had good attendance at last Thursday evening’s multicultural potluck and as always the food was bountiful and delicious!
September’s parent letter is in the ‘Pages’ section at the top of this blog. It is the same parent letter which you get monthly in hard copy and it gives a brief summary of the activities and learning in the kindergarten. One month I write the letter and the next month Ms. Parker writes it.
but keep the old!
I sure do miss my class of 07-08! I just love it when they run up to me on the playground or stop by after school to visit. They are SO much more grown up than in this picture. Didn’t they make great ‘funny faces’ for the camera last October? (Click on the photo to get the larger, much more dramatic version!)
