Kindergartners Study Feelings
Kindergartners worked together to generate a list of feeling words: happy, elated, proud, accomplished, nervous, brave, scared, left-out, angry, furious, ferocious, surprised, and frustrated were just some among them. If children can learn to use more explicit and specific feelings words, such as, "I felt angry, or, lonely when ____," it helps them to truly understand one another's experience, and encourages positive conflict resolution. Encourage your child's descriptive feelings vocabulary language at home, as well!

First Graders Interview SFDS Community
The first grade is studying our school as a community.  Each first grader randomly selected an adult staff member to interview by drawing a name out of a hat. We worked on writing interview questions for our selected person, then introduced ourselves and took a picture. The responses and a picture of each student and their interviewee is coming soon to a bulletin board near you.

Second Graders Study San Francisco
As part of their year-long social studies unit on the history of San Francisco, second Graders ventured beyond the SFDS campus to explore Mission Dolores and Wells Fargo Bank. The outings provided students with concrete examples of San Francisco living history and complemented classroom activities such as the creation of model stagecoaches and reading picture books about the history of San Francisco. Next time you're walking around the city with your second grader, point out an important landmark and find out what they know.

Third Graders Navigate the Wharf
The third grade is studying mapping and using compasses. To put their skills to use in the real world, they are heading on a field trip around San Francisco and using compasses to navigate around Fisherman's Wharf. Also, both classes will visit The Bay Model in Sausalito and get a bird's eye view of our wonderful habitat! Which direction is Alcatraz? Ask your third grader.

Fourth Graders Get Tech Savvy
Fourth graders embarked on a year long project, creating a digital diary of their work in all academic courses. Using iMovie, students are learning to combine video and photographs to produce a visual document of their progress. They are crafting voice- over narratives that describe their projects, including the process they need to take to complete their projects and their reaction to the work. This reflective, interactive project will culminate at the end of the year in a complete digital portfolio.

Fifth Graders Shop on a Budget
Fifth graders learned about how math applies in the real world by going grocery shopping. They kept track of what they ate for a week and used that information to estimate their monthly dietary needs. Students then researched their favorite foods online and produced budgets in Excel. Next time you are shopping with your fifth grader, test them on their comparison shopping skills or ask them to calculate the change when making final purchases.

Sixth Graders Go Greek
Greek Night was amazing and truly reflected a hero's journey of research, writing, group work, rehearsing, and sharing. Students in the Wax Museum delivered monologues describing the life of important Greek historical figure. Their classmates roamed the festival, playing the role of Greek gods and goddesses. Dramatic skits of well-known moments in Greek mythology and Greek musical performances rounded out the evening's mesmerizing multimedia production.

Below are a couple of birds that are regulars at our feeders. Can you identify them? Ask a sixth grader for help if you can't!

Eighth Graders Perform in Final Soirée 
The Eight Grade Soirée culminated nearly six weeks of preparation (not to mention eight years of music classes!). Students chose a performance piece from the musical theatre tradition which gave students an introduction to the kind of work they will be doing for the end-of-year musical. We are so proud of the work they did and that every student in the grade stepped up to take a vital role in this group effort. Bravo Eighth Grade! 

Students Shine at Thanksgiving Assembly
The Thanksgiving Assembly featured each of the choral ensembles, as well as the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 8th grade classes.  We were pleased to spot David Jackson singing and dancing along in his seat! 

In follow up to the assembly, ask your child about his/her performance. Did he feel nervous?  Was she happy about the accomplishment of being on stage? What was her favorite part of the event? Also, mark your calendars for our next festive Holiday Assembly on December 21st.

Geography Bee Motivates Upper School
The Upper School prepared for the National Geography Bee which will be held on January 9th and 10th.  Through their lessons they learned that studying geography is more than simply memorizing capitals and rivers. It is a way for us to gain greater insight into an ever-shrinking world in order to appreciate other countries, cultures, and customs. 

Following are links to on-line activities Day Schoolers have been exploring.  We encourage you to participate with your children to help promote this event.

http://www.quia.com/pages/
sfdsgeoafricasia.html

http://www.quia.com/pages/
sfdsgeoamericas.html

Rock & Roll Musicians Visit SFDS
Guitarist Josh Clark and pianist Trevor Garrod, both from the band Tea Leaf Green, put on a stunning show for the sixth and seventh grades in the Upper School music room. The artists showcased their talents and shared some of their experiences as touring musicians. Our students were outstanding audience members and thought of great questions for the performers. It was an honor to have musicians of this quality take time out of their schedule to share their passion with a younger generation.

Organic Fun at Alemany Farm
On Sunday, November 18th, over 15 families showed up to weed, hoe, rake, compost, and run around the incredible Alemany Farm. Day School families worked alongside volunteer organic farmers and got a chance to see how a real organic farm works. Preparing the crops for winter using recycled cardboard, composted mulch and lots of sweat--we got closer to the land and had fun getting dirty! Look out for announcements of our next farm work day in January.