Attention PRINTS Parents: Season's Greetings!

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Erdkinder "Holiday Faire"

Getting Ready for the "Holiday Faire" in the EK!

We have been super busy in the Erdkinder this week making all sorts of wonderful items for the holiday faire which will be happening this afternoon and tomorrow morning in the PRINTS yard. The students have made holiday cards, ornaments, baked goods, jewelry and many other unique items.

Our baked goods above - we learned that presentation is very important and improves our ability to sell our wares!

We used many pretty baskets to show-off our holiday cards and items crafted from beautiful paper.

Here, Adrienne and Lena are putting finishing touches to ornament-making

An example of a hand-made greeting card - just one of many inventive cards that you can buy!

Please come and support us! We hope to see you there, and wish you a wonderful holiday season!

A Day in the Life: Emeryville Infant Community

I check the soil then I give water 

to the plant if the soil is dry.

土をさわってみて、かわいていたら

お水をあげるのよ。

I wipe the table after pouring water. 

I can see lots of drops of water!

お水のお仕事の後は、テーブルをふくの。

わぁ、あちこちにお水がこぼれてるわ！

Food Preparation for Lunch

Pick the grapes from the stems.

Peel the satsuma oranges.

Mix miso paste and water to make miso soup.

Snap green beans.

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Children's House

 I'm coloring the Puzzle Map of Europe and then I will label all the countries.

 I'm rolling up the clean laundry for the classroom so that my friends can use clean towels.

 This is the cube of 7 chain. I'm counting all the beads.

 I've put together the Puzzle Map of Asia and I'm checking to make sure I put everything in its proper place.

 We are practicing something special for our Winter Celebration on Friday!

 This is going to be a nice surprise for our guests!

A Day in the life: San Mateo Elementary and Erdkinder: A Summary of an Hour of Code

Dear Parents,

 

Thanks so much for the opportunity to spend an hour with the kids today. I wanted to let you know what we did so that you can help nurture any computer science interest that was sparked during our sessions.

 

First, I encourage you to spend some time at code.org. This is a new group that is encouraging Computer Science Education week - a time teach year to encourage children to learn about programming. The date is to coincide with Grace Hopper's [1][2] birthday. She gave us COBOL (the language) and (maybe) the term "bug" for a problem in a computer program.

 

Here's what we did today, in just one hour.

 

- Elementary -

 

We followed the "My Robot Friends"[3] lesson. This had the kids working in teams to write programs (on paper) to run on a robot (another student) to stack paper cups in fun patterns. None of the four teams made it through all eleven stacks, so your kids may want to write more programs to work the other stacks. Or maybe, come up with a stack or three of their own.

 

If your child is wanting to do even more, then follow-on with what we did in the Erdkinder class...

 

- Erdkinder - 

 

The girls paired up on iPads to do some maze navigation[4]. This works well on the iPad browser, though there was a bug on puzzle #9. Bah. All four teams made it to the end well before the hour was up.

 

There are several more exercises and programs at learn.code.org. We downloaded the LightBot[5] game (free) to your iPads and the girls kept up with the "make a robot solve maze problems" theme. I expect that if this is still on your iPad this evening, you might not get it back.

 

Other options:

 

- Scratch animation tutorial, including making an animated Christmas card[6]

- Hopscotch (for iPad) [7]- another Scratch-like system for animation (started by women, including a former female co-worker of mine)

- Code Academy[8]: http://codeacademy.com

- Khan Academy has programming tutorials

- The full 25 hour programming class at learn.code.org

 

Again, thanks so much to Christinia for the opportunity, to your kids for being fantastic students, and to you for keeping your kids interest in this important field burning.

 

--dwf

 

 

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

[2]: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-doodle-honors-grace-hopper-first-lady-of-software/

[3]:: http://code.org/files/CSEDrobotics.pdf

[4]: http://learn.code.org/hoc/1

[5]: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/light-bot-hour-of-code/id749337888?mt=8

[6]: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tip_bar=hoc

[7]: https://gethopscotch.com/hour-of-code

 

Attention PRINTS Parents: San Mateo Erdkinder Holiday Faire

Dear PRINTS Community,

 

The EK will be hosting a Holiday Faire featuring handmade crafts, ornaments, gifts and baked goods for our winter celebration this holiday season!

 

Our Holiday Faire will be held:

• Thursday, December 19 2:30-4:00 p.m.
• Friday, December 20, 11:30-1:30 p.m.

 

We will host the event in the PRINTS yard if the weather is fine. If it is raining, we will be in the EK hallway.

 

All of the items on sale have been made by the EK students over the last four weeks. You will not want to miss this chance to buy some truly unique items!

 

Please join us!

 

The EK Students

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Infant Community

I am making rice balls. 

                                                             I am putting sauce on the pasta.

Attention PRINTS Parents: Annual Spring Festival

Dear PRINTS Families,

The sixteenth annual PRINTS Spring Festival Celebration will take place in the auditorium of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Temple Hill in Oakland on Friday, February 7th at 10 a.m. All family members and friends are cordially invited to attend. The cultural fee paid with the registration includes two electronic tickets per student. Additional tickets can be purchased in the Management office: children 5 – 15 years: $5, under 5 : free, Adult : $20.
All students aged four and up will attend the Spring Festival’s dress rehearsal in the auditorium of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Temple Hill in Oakland from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 6th. Transportation details will be sent out by email and will be available on the PRINTS website.

Attention PRINTS Parents: Winter Break

Dear PRINTS Families,

Winter Break is from Monday, December 23rd through Friday, January 3rd.
School will be closed for two weeks beginning December 23rd, 2013. All classes will resume on Monday, January 6th, 2014. We wish you wonderful holidays and a happy new year!

Attention PRINTS Parents: Emeryville Winter Celebration

Dear PRINTS Families,

Our Winter Celebration is on Friday, December 20

This celebration is an opportunity for families to share the school experience together.  Parents, grandparents, families and friends are invited to visit in the classroom as the children show their favorite work.  We'll also all join in a holiday sing–a–long.

Infant Community: 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Children' House: (please check list posted outside classroom for group A & B)

Group A: 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Group B: 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

Elementary Class: 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Whole school sing-a-long: 10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in foyer

We look forward to seeing you then!

Attention PRINTS Parents: San Mateo Winter Celebration

Dear PRINTS Families,

Our Winter Celebration is on Friday, December 20th
Parents/Guardians and siblings are invited to join our Winter Celebration. Songs and poems will be featured in each environment. Please see below for the schedule of each level in San Mateo:

Infant Community: 12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Children’s House: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Elementary Community: 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
High School: 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

We look forward to seeing you!

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Infant Community

I am busy with a gluing activity.

Oh, the mirror is getting clean.

Attention PRINTS Parents: Half-day Friday, December 6th

Dear Parents,

All classes except at the High School will end at 12:30 pm on December 6th. Lunch will be served at 11:30 am. Childcare is available for those enrolled in the After-School Childcare Package.

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Erdkinder Thanksgiving Preparation



Thanksgiving Feast Preparation

This week, the ErdKinder class was incredibly busy. Not only were we finishing up our science competition video entitled 'Compost Gone Viral," but we also had to make and bake 15 pies for the school's Thanksgiving Feast! 

Xiao Zhang bought us a box of 80 apples from the farmers' market. We set to work ... some of us peeling, coring then chopping apples for the pies, while the rest of us were busy making pastry crusts.

We used 16lbs of flour and 8lbs of butter (we needed extra butter for inside the pies and greasing the pie pans). We set the chopped apples in water in a covered bowl, and wrapped each crust and placed the balls of dough in the refrigerator overnight.

On Tuesday, we filled each pie crust with a mixture of chopped apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar and a tablespoon of flour. The filling smelled fantastic!

Here is a finished pie straight from the oven!

Pies to the rear of this photo are waiting their turn to go into the oven. The whole building smelled heavenly as the pies were baking.

It was a very busy project! We look forward to enjoying the delicious fruits of our labor!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A day in the life: San Mateo Infant Community Thanksgiving Preparations

                                                       I am putting oil on the pumpkin.

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Infant Community

I cut the tofu and I'm using the tongs.

I am peeling the tangerine. 

A day in the life: Emeryville, Infant Community

We baked "oatmeal honey drops"

First, put the oatmeal into a bowl.

 我把麥片放在盆里。

 Then, add some olive oil.

我把油倒在麥片里。

 Add honey and stir well.

 我把麥片和油、蜂蜜攪拌在一起。

Finally, drop the batter into the mold and bake in the oven.

我把攪拌好麥片放在烤盆里。

Today is my turn for baking!

 

A Day in the Life: Thanksgiving Preparations in Emeryville Children's House

Although our Thanksgiving feast is not until next week, the Emeryville Children's House began preparing food weeks ago! It all began with our bumper crop of pumpkins in the organic vegetable garden. In September, we began harvesting, roasting, peeling and mashing the pumpkin and freezing it for our eventual pies.

In October, a surfeit of apples brought for snack led us to prepare three bags of apple pie filling that also went into the freezer. Earlier this month, a family surprised us with a two-pound bag of fresh cranberries, and we cooked them and... yes, put them in the freezer. (Our freezer has begun to get a bit full.)

This week, our tasks have been to make pie crust, roll it out, line the pie tins, and freeze them (we just managed to squeak them in)...

 ...and to make three loaves of sourdough bread for the herbed bread stuffing for the feast.

 

 Our sourdough starter is "fed" twice a day, at 8:30 and 4:30. The children mix a thick paste of flour and water and stir it into the jar with a wooden spoon.

 

 Learning to knead the dough is a lot of fun, and harder than it looked. Lift, push down, turn, lift, push down, turn.

 Our square "loaves" of bread may look a bit unusual, but they will be easier to cut into cubes to make our stuffing next week!

A Day in the Life: Poems for Rainy Days

In the Emeryville Children's House, we have been studying three poems about rain this week. We would like to share them with you.



April Rain Song
by Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night.
And I love the rain.


The Song of the Little Ducks
by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold
(adapted from the French)

Oh，
give us a flood of water.
Let it rain tomorrow and always.
Give us plenty of little slugs
and other luscious things to eat.
Protect all who quack
and every one who knows how to swim.


The Red Wheelbarrow
by William Carlos Williams

So much depends
upon a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Erdkinder's visit to the Legion of Honor

The ErdKinder's Visit to the Legion of Honor

Last Friday, the EK class traveled to San Francisco to visit the Legion of Honor.

We met with our docent who gave us a tour of the classical antiquities, including Syrian and Greek pottery. As we have studied the Greeks this year, we recognized much of the symbolism and art in these pieces.  Afterwards, we went upstairs and visited the Medieval through Renaissance Galleries.

The Medieval galleries were very exciting as we recognized a lot of the images and ideas about life, death, Catholicism, heraldry and aspects of daily life described in our current literature book set in 1290, the Middle Ages. The book is called Catherine Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman.

Since we couldn't take photos in the galleries, here is a picture of us enjoying our lunch break! We ate a very good lunch in the museum café.

Thank you to Emily's mom and dad, Richard Hom and Laurel Mousseau for driving!

The EK Class

A Day in the Life: San Mateo Erdkinder at the Farm

This week at the farm, the EK students engaged in an incredibly creative project: filming scenes for a video about compost! The impetus for this project is both scientific, in that they have been learning about soil science and decomposition both on-site at school and at the farm, and also creative in that they will be entering their finished movie into a competition run by the online educational site K-12.com. The class has the chance to win computers and tablets for the Erdkinder, so they are very motivated to produce an excellent and amusing piece.

 

We were incredibly lucky with the weather; it started to rain JUST as we were finishing our last scene!

 

We hope that you enjoy these photos...

Building our flowerpot sets!

We will be showing the final result of our work before the holidays!

The EK class.