First Graders Explore Restaurants
First grade has been studying about the different people that make a restaurant work, like chefs, waitpeople, and customers. They have also learned about things that can be seen in a restaurant, such as menus, plates, silverware, money and, of course, food. Soon they will be serving real food!

Second Grade Hosts Victorian Tea
The second grade's Victorian Tea celebration was a great success. Along with Victorian etiquette, students learned the history of tea, how to taste the difference between several types of tea and, most importantly, how to make, 'a proper cup of tea,' at a temperature of 100°C. During the tea, parents served tea sandwiches, scones, fruit salad, cookies, and, of course, tea.

Fifth Graders Teach Reading Skills
Fifth graders began a spring service-learning project at the Tenderloin Community School. SFDS Fifth graders have each been paired with a first grade Reading Buddy at the Tenderloin School. They work one-on-one with their buddy, reading to them as well as helping the first grader to develop their reading skills. The first visit was a huge success and everyone is excited to return after Spring Break!

Fifth Graders Bake Geography
As part of their study of China's geography, fifth graders constructed a topographical map of China out of sugar cookie dough. Mount Everest became a Hershey's kiss, nestled into the Himalayan M&M mountain range; the Chang Jiang and Huang He rivers were blue twizzlers; and the fertile farmlands were colored by green sprinkles.

Sixth Graders Make Aboriginal Music
Inspired by assembly presenter and Didgeridoo player Stephen Kent, 6th grade music students created an authentic-looking instrument from ABS pipe, bee's wax and earth-toned paints. Students read about and discussed Aboriginal history, culture, and art. Then using their newly acquired circular breathing skills, they worked on keeping their instruments buzzing while adding sounds from Aboriginal nature. 

A Well-Deserved Retreat
With the high school application process over, eighth graders headed to St. Dorothy's Rest where they wrote poems, made art, relaxed, and played sports. They held a talent show featuring singing, guitar playing, Harry Potter trivia, and skits performed by each advisory. Students also wrote reflective letters to the seventh grade letting them know what to expect in their eighth grade year.

Spoken Word Artists Visit SFDS
Native American high school students from the Santa Fe Indian School spend a day at SFDS performing poetry, teaching writing, and talking to students. In kindergarten, an intriguing question was posed to the visiting students,  “Are you African American?” This simple question opened up an important discussion about Indians, Native Americans, pueblos, reservations, and the diversity of native tribes in the United States. 

March 14th - Pi Day
Pi Day began with a contest to see how many digits of pi students had memorized. The winner memorized 159 digits! The days activities also included trivia contests and pi relay races in which teams had to write down of as many words as they could that included the letters "pi." Contest winners all received pieces of pie.

Pi Day also featured recitations of "pikus" which are similar to haikus but with a 3,1,4,1,5 structure.

April Artist of the Month
This month our artist has been San Francisco’s own Barry McGee. Projects have revolved around a study of letter art, geometric patterns and whimsical portraits.  Barry often combines all three in frames which he uses in installations.