Ice Skating!

On Thursday, February 18th we (finally!) went ice skating at Wolfe Hockey Development, a rink owned by Emme Wolfe's parents.  We had a blast!  Everyone got to put on skates and get on the ice. The children used "walkers" to help get their balance and the skating instructors helped everyone out.  We also learned about hockey from former pro player Jason Wolfe.  He told us about the history of the sport (tree branches for sticks!) and showed us each piece of equipment.

At the end of our visit we had a special treat.  Kindergarten teacher (and major hockey fan) Erin was suited up in goalie gear to get in the net.  Special thanks to AJ Faust, first female goalie for the University of Maryland men's team for loaning Erin her gear.  Once in net, Jason took several (careful) shots on goal and the children got to see how the goalie pads blocked the shots.  Here are some pictures from our awesome field trip.  Thank you to the Wolfe family and all of the skating instructors!

Wee Mail Wrap Up

Kindergarten postal workers had an extra long weekend to relax after such a busy week!  Last week we counted all the money we made from stamp selling.  We sorted the coins by type and then started counting.  Quarters were put into groups of 4 to make $1, nickels were put into groups of 20, dimes into groups of 10, and pennies into piles of 10 and then into groups of 100.  It was a lot of counting but in the end,we added it all up and we made $133.00!  We have decided to donate this money to Empty Bowl - a wonderful SSFS event to raise money for those that are going through a hard time and need some help getting food for their families.  Great job Kindergarten!

Wee Mail 2016

Wee Mail 2016 was a great success!  We processed over 4,000 pieces of mail in one week and had a fantastic time doing it.  Special thanks to all the parents for getting their children here early for stamp selling and also to the fifth graders for helping us out!  More pictures to come, but here's a peek at what the week looked like!

Call for  Empty Bowl Help….Please Share fresh Celery to Help Others

The Empty Bowl Dinner is coming up soon on Sunday, February 21^st, from 4-7 p.m.in the Westview Cafeteria. Please join us at our 6^th bi-annual event as we help others by fighting hunger. No reservations are needed, and after a simple meal, you will be able to take home a lovely handcrafted ceramic bowl made by someone in the community.  

The kindergarteners have been very busy participating and  learning how they too can use their creative abilities to help others. They skillfully and very determinably used their fingertips by pressing them into the clay to make cute flowers. The lovely draped bowl shapes were then glazed by the 2^nd graders. They also took on the glazing of the 4^th grade made bowls, with attached feet and handles, by learning about and using color families of opaque glazes.

In addition to their creative ceramic endeavors, all the SSFS students are being asked to contribute to our pot of Stone Soup for the dinner! Do you know the fable of Stone Soup?  There are many versions of this old traditional fable, but all conclude with a tasty dinner, made by a little of this and a little of that, all shared with generosity.

A hungry person enters a town and asks for a bit of dinner, however, the villagers deny having enough food to share. So, the man pulls out a stone from his knapsack, and invites everyone to partake in the soup he plans to make with a pot of water and the stone. Amazed, the townspeople start to contribute by adding just a little bit of flavor to his wonderful magical soup made with just a stone: a carrot here, an onion there, and soon, the cauldron is brimming with delicious vegetables. A delicious soup for the whole community made from everyone’s sharing! A version of the story will be read to all LS students before the dinner.

In making our plans for the dinner, we are asking the K’s to each bring in bunches of celery hearts for our soup. We will a have cooler in front of the carpool circle the days between February 8^th -19^th, as well as a box at Pam’s desk.

I greatly appreciate your participation and support with this wonderful signature SSFS project. I look forward to seeing you at the dinner.

Wee Mail is Here!

Kindergarten is super excited that Wee Mail is about to begin.  Although our prep time was cut a little short by the snowstorm, the children and teachers worked hard last week to get everything ready!  The children all designed their own stamps on the Ipad and these have been formatted and printed by Fred and Pam (thank you!)  We will be selling stamps every morning this week from 7:45 to 8:10 a.m. in the lobby. Stamps are 2 cents each!  The children also painted mailboxes for each Lower School classroom, Middle School and Upper School offices, and Scott House.  Posters were decorated and hung around campus and we've been telling everyone we see about Wee Mail!

We encourage parents to send their children letters using Wee Mail.  For the address, write your child's name and KA or KB.  Attach a stamp and put it in one of our Wee Mail boxes!  If you don't normally come to drop off or pick up, let us know and we can help you out!  We also encourage cards for Valentine's Day to be sent through Wee Mail. Your child can bring in money and purchase stamps for these.  Please remember to help your child write the address on each one!  (And no candy!)

The children have also been learning how to write letters.  We wrote a letter to first grade as a class, and learned about the parts of a letter. Then each child wrote letters to their Reading Buddies and Senior Buddies which will be sent through Wee Mail.  Math lessons this past week focused on money to help prepare everyone for selling stamps.  The children learned the names and values of the coins and then played a fun banking game with Lori to reinforce the concepts.  

This week we also looked at maps. We read the book My Map Book which was written by a 7 year old and includes maps she drew about herself.  Kindergartners then created their own personal maps - "Map of My Heart", "Map of My Tummy", etc  The children have loved using Google Earth to find where they live and you can actually see everyone's home!  Later in the week, the children built a 3D map of our campus using blocks and small buildings that a previous class had made.  It was hard work figuring out where each building on campus is,  but it will be very helpful when we are out delivering mail! It's been a busy week but loads of fun!

 Magic 5 

While our snow is quickly melting, there is a good chance we will see more before winter is over. Whenever there is snow on the ground, please make sure your child has Magic 5 for snow play!  All children need waterproof coat, snow boots, waterproof snow pants, gloves/mittens, and hat/hood. Please send in a spare set of shoes as well.  The snow boots are often wet, muddy, and cold when we come back inside and need to be left in the hallway.  Thank you!

Curriculum Highlights

Language Arts  - Learning the parts of a letter, writing letters to Reading Buddies and Senior Buddies, writing a group letter to first grade, post office books and vocabulary

Math -  Money - the names of coins, the value of the different coins, trading coins (5 pennies for a nickel, 2 nickels for a dime), Counting by two's. 

Science -  Snow and ice exploration outside

Social Studies -  Wee Mail! What does a postal worker do?  How does mail get from one place to another? Learning the Wee Mail jobs, advertising and setting up mailboxes for each classroom, creating maps about ourselves, building a 3D map of our campus.