Avoid the Summer Slump

Summer is just around the corner, so I wanted to warn you about the "Summer Slump" a.k.a "Summer Slide."  Research shows that students who do not maintain their reading skills over summer have a difficult time in the fall.  Your student has made tremendous progress this year, and we want them to retain their skills so they can have a great start to first grade.

Of course, summer is and should be a fun and exciting time for children.  However, reading and fun goes hand in hand.  Here are some tips for making reading a fun activity for your child over the summer:

1.  Treat your child to their own library card and make weekly trips to the library.  Maybe couple the trip with a visit to the ice cream parlor for a fun routine.  Getting a library card is free and easy.  Click here to sign up for a card at the Santa Clara Library.

2. Set up a tent in your backyard for a fun reading place.  One of my fondest childhood memories was hanging out in our backyard tent with a flashlight on summer evenings, while my parents read to my sister and me.

3. Visit a story hour or meet an author at your local library or bookstore.  Independently owned Hicklebee's Bookstore in Willow Glenn regularly has famous authors come to visit.

4. Sign your child up for a summer reading incentive program.  Just ask your Santa Clara librarian about the Summer Reading Club.

5. Encourage your child to read the books that went home in homework over the year.

6. Help your child find books that interest him/her.  Click here for a group of book lists.

7. Treat books as a portal for discovery.  Next time your child asks a question like, "Why is the sky blue?"  Respond with, "Let's go find out more by reading a book!"


See the research of "Summer Slump" and more great tips at Read To Me International.

THANK YOU!

Dear Room 36 Families,

Thank you for the best Teacher Appreciation Week ever!  I was so touched to receive so many flowers, thoughtful cards, and gifts.  The most fun part was seeing how excited the kids were to give me little treasures that they made.  Also,  a BIG THANK YOU for the lovely surprise baby shower at Maywood Park.  I was so honored!  No class has ever done anything like that for me before.  I am so lucky to have such a sweet, thoughtful, and kind class.  Finally, thank you for the Babies R Us and American Express gift cards.  Teaching kindergarten this year has been a wonderful experience.  The kids make me laugh everyday and I love to see them grow as learners.

3D Shapes

We recently finished our unit on 3D shapes.  Students learned to identify spheres, pyramids, cones, cylinders, and more!  They made their own 3D shapes with Straws and Connectors and toothpicks and marshmallows.  They also made their own book to show 3D shapes in real life.  Please help support your child's learning by encouraging them to share their books with you.

Diary of a Silkworm: Part 3

Dear Diary,
All of my friends and I are now in cocoons!  Don't be fooled...I am not sleeping!  My body is going through many changes right now.  It is a good thing that my cocoon is keeping me nice and safe in my pupa stage.  I cannot wait to see what I will turn into!

Diary of a Silkworm: Part 2

Dear Diary,
Well, I am stuffed!  I am ready to make a cocoon and never eat again!  Today, one single strand of silk began to come out of my mouth.  In a figure eight pattern, I began spinning the cocoon with the silk from my mouth.  It will take me a whole day to finish the cocoon!  The students have been very respectful and have not disturbed me as I am working.

Diary of a Frog: Part 4

Dear Diary,

I have almost completely lost my tail! I look like an adult frog.  I am eating like an adult frog, too!  I like to eat little flies.  I must be a tree frog, because I sure love to climb!  Mrs. Riccomini says I am almost ready to be taken back to my natural home in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Diary of a Froglet: Part 3

Dear Diary,
I now have front legs, too!  Now, I have a tail AND four legs to help me swim.  Since I have four legs now, I can start walking on land.  I guess that is why Mrs. Riccomini built me a new habitat with a shelf.  Check it out!  It is so much bigger!  You may also notice that I have a stripe down my body.  I am looking more and more like an adult!

I still eat algae, but I am starting to get tired of eating just algae all the time.

Look at me climb!  I have special pads on my toes that help me stick to the walls!  That must mean I am a frog!  Frogs have sticky pads on their feet.  I also think I am a frog, because I have smooth skin, not bumpy skin like a toad.

Diary of a Silkworm: Part 1

Dear Diary,
Today was a very interesting day!  My friend, Audrey, put me in a box at her house, and when the box opened again, I was in Mrs. Riccomini's kindergarten class!  The kindergarteners have been very nice to me.  They are very gentle and compassionate toward me.

I am so glad that there are three mulberry trees in the Eisenhower kindergarten yard!  I LOVE to eat mulberry leaves.  In fact, my only job right now is to eat as many mulberry leaves as possible!  I am a very hungry caterpillar!

Diary of a Tadpole: Part 2

Dear Diary,
I am growing so quickly!  I now have two back legs!  

Just a little while ago, my legs were only little numbs...now they look like frog legs?  Or maybe toad legs?  What do you think?

My back legs do not move much yet, but soon they will be very useful and will help me swim through the water.  I still eat algae everyday so I can keep growing!

Hidden Villa Trip

Thank you to all the chaperones who came with us to Hidden Villa!  It was a very memorable and exciting trip.  Our kindergarteners did great as they toughed out the drizzles, mud, and clouds.  Below are some pictures taken from the trip.  Thanks, Richelle for sharing the pictures you took!  Seeing the animals we have been studying in a real farm setting has deepened their understanding.

Students got to see a worm compost bin.  Some were even brave enough to hold a worm!

As students fed the chickens, they discovered that chickens like to peck to get their food.

Students saw how chickens lay eggs and how chicks are raised in farms.

Students saw that pigs come in many different colors!  Not just pink!

Cows are not just white and black.  They can be brown, too!

Some sheep have all their wool, some sheep have been sheared.

Farm Unit

We are getting ready to go to the farm!  Hidden Villa Farm, that is!  Last week, we began our Farm Unit and practiced the reading comprehension strategy of visualization, or "making movies/pictures in our minds."   First, we visualized as we read Cook-a-Doodle-Doo and Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.  We continued to practice visualizing with non-fiction books.  Students were asked to visualize an animal before they read and then again after they read.  They found that reading and paying close attention to details in books allows you to make a better picture in your mind.

Visualization of a goat before a student read.

Visualization of a goat after a student read.

This week, we are reading more non-fiction books about farm animals.  Before and as we read, we create "I wonder..." statements.  Good readers ask questions as they read, so they become more curious and focus more on the text.  We are also learning about the Table of Contents and bolded words.  We are gathering the answers to our wonderings in graphic organizers.

We will continue to work on the Farm Unit for several more weeks.  Check back later to see more work!

Diary of a Tadpole

Dear Diary,
I must be about 14 days old today.  Wow, I need to tell you about my weekend!  On Sunday, I was swimming around the pond in a principal's backyard when someone with big boots came near me!  Next thing I knew, I was swimming in a bowl with three of my friends in a kindergarten classroom!  And guess what?  There are no fish here to worry about gobbling me up!  Mrs. Riccomini, the teacher in the classroom, said we are just visiting, and once we are big we will go back to our home.  By then, I think I will be able to hop away from fish!  I also heard her say that it was a former 3rd grade Eisenhower teacher, Ms. Cuenca, who saved us from the fish.  Thanks, Ms. Cuenca!

I love to swim around and find algae to eat.  I feel like I need to eat a lot since I am growing so quickly!  I bet I will look different the next time I write to you, Diary.

ABC Book

When I was a kindergartener at Cumberland Elementary School in Sunnyvale, I made an ABC Book at the end of the year.  I was so proud of it!  For me, writing the book meant I was all ready for first grade!  I dedicated it to my dog, Auggie, because he did not know his alphabet, but I did!

 My cover

My "e" page

I have always thought this book was important and have saved it.  The book gave me an idea...have our kindergarteners complete a similar book!  A book to show so much of what they have learned...a book they could be proud of.  Thanks, Mrs. Brown, for the great idea!

Kindergarten is a bit different nowadays, and we are asking them to do much more than I did as a kindergartener.  I am always amazed at how fast they learn and how much they are able to do.  You may notice that they are writing their own sentences, while I dictated my sentences to my teacher.

The students are completing about 2 pages a week, and will continue to work on it until the end of the year.

Color Wheel Flowers

Students learned about primary and secondary colors with this wonderful art project I found on Deep Space Sparkle.  Students mixed red, yellow, and blue to make green, yellow, and orange.  They then cut out petals and put them in the order of the color wheel.   Thanks, Deep Space Sparkle!

Most Innovative Garden

The SF Flower and Garden Show results are in...both AM and PM classes won for Most Innovative Garden!!!!!  Congratulations, kinders, on all your teamwork, ideas, creativity, and hard work!  I am so proud of you!

Here are our ribbons....

Some more pictures of the innovative gardens...

Oops...I think they accidentally gave us the blue ribbon at the show!

Horton Hears a Who Garden:

 Here is Vlad-Vlad-i-Koff flying over the field of covers in Horton Hears a Who.

 Horton at the Jungle of Nool in the cool of the pool.

Field of clovers and Who-ville.

The cage to capture Horton.

 Whickersham brother

The Lorax Garden:

 Thneed Factory

Once-ler's House and the Lorax

The Lorax, Swamee Swan, Humming Fish, and Truffula Trees

By the way, three ribbons were given out for "Most Innovative."  Two out of the three went to Room 36, and the third went to a middle school class.  Just goes to prove what kindergarteners are capable of.  Our beloved Horton was right...size does not matter!