November 6, 2009
We are excited to kick off what we know will be another great year for the San Francisco Day School’s 2009-2010 Annual Fund. The entire parent community has already received the Annual Fund package in the mail. We hope you can help us reach our goals of $1.1 million and 100% participation.
Posted in Faculty & Staff Voices
November 6, 2009
The Halloween Parade is a treasured Day School tradition. Check out some of the wonderfully creative costumes in this photo gallery!
Posted in Photos
November 6, 2009
On Friday, October 16, 8th grade music classes were treated to a visit by Lotfi Mansouri, former director of the San Francisco Opera. Mr. Mansouri spoke with students, not only about his experience as an opera director but about his life experiences and choices. A native of Iran, Mr. Mansouri’s father sent him to UCLA [...]
Posted in Around the School
November 6, 2009
With President Obama in office, the White House celebrated Diwali for the first time. But at SFDS—as always, we were ahead of the curve and held our fifth Diwali celebration. As part of this year’s celebration colorful displays providing details of the festival were mounted on the bulletin boards, children made paper lanterns (diyas) in [...]
Posted in Around the School
November 6, 2009
Kindergartners went to the Tunitas Family Farm where they each got to choose a pumpkin to bring back to school and, eventually, home. Before the trip, students participated in an inquiry lesson about farms and pumpkins. Each kindergartner was asked to make a connection between what he or she knows about pumpkins and farms [...]
Posted in Around the School
November 6, 2009
First graders discussed ways to tell how a person is feeling, specifically by looking at his or her face to read an emotion. They felt and described what their faces do when they are sad, happy, confused, excited, scared, angry, or shy. They read the book “How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods” by Saxton [...]
Posted in Around the School
November 6, 2009
In science, second graders have been learning about transportation; while in social studies, they have been learning about San Francisco. What better way to combine the two courses of study than by learning about cable cars? San Francisco cable cars are the nation’s only movable monument. The students learned about pulleys and levers and how [...]
Posted in Around the School
November 6, 2009
Skull Island, Candy Island, Penguin Wildlife Park. These are some of the imaginary lands that the fourth graders created and meticulously mapped. Students started by building an island out of clay, and then they flooded the island one centimeter at a time. With each addition of water, they traced the outline of the remaining land [...]
Posted in Around the School
November 6, 2009
Fourth graders warmed up for art class by doing 20-second gesture drawings of Grady Gordon, associate art teacher. Gesture drawings are quick drawings that capture the shape and motion of a subject. Students are encouraged to get the general movement and essence of the subject and not be concerned with details.
Posted in Around the School
November 6, 2009
In their second Brainology unit, fifth graders learned about neuron function in contrasting learning environments. When you feel safe, positive, and focused on a task, neurons function like powerful learning machines—talking to each other in a network of trillions of connections. When you feel threatened, negative, and focused on grades, neurons don’t work as well. [...]
Posted in Around the School
