The Butterfly Song, Puppet Play, and Religion Class

Sight Words and Decodable Words For Kindergarteners

Your child should be able to read the following sight words and decodable words. Decodable means that the child is able to sound out each letter to form a word, therefore making the word decodable. Please practice these words with your child each week. It is necessary for them to be able to read these words in preparation for 1st grade reading. Thank you for your time and dedication to your child's successful educational career.

Sight Words/High-Frequency Words (Words most commonly seen in reading materials)

a, an, it, in, and, are, for, go, have, he, here, I, is, like, my, play, said, see, she, he, the, to, red, black, brown, black, yellow, orange, go, big, here, that, there, where, what, who, why, when, have, get, little, the, not, you, they, them, this

Words with short a

at, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, Nat, Pat, rat, sat, vat, an, ban, can, Dan, fan, Jan, man, Nan, pan, ran, tan, van

Words with short i

bit, fit, hit, it,kit, lit, pit, sit, wit, big, dig, fig, jig, pig, rig, wig, zig

Words with short o
cot, dot, got hot, jot, lot, not, pot, rot, tot, box, fox, ox

Words with short e

bet, get, jet, let, met, net, pet, set, vet, wet, yet, Ben den, hen, Jen, Ken, men, pen, ten

Words with short u

bug, dug, hug, jug, lug, mug, rug, tug, but, cut, hut, jut, nut, rut 

Words beginning with Blending sounds:
ch, sh, st, th, tr, wh, 

Question Words:
Who, What Where Why When and How 

Our New Classroom

Our classroom is off to an adventurous start!! The kids have been hard at work to make our classroom look homely. They have made beautiful works of art to make our second home a colorful one. It would be awesome to have our families bring in colorful bouquets of flowers for us to put in vases on our tables. Hopefully we can have our friends and families come in to volunteer during the year. We would love to learn about something interesting or do a cooking or art project of your choice. Please email Mr. B to come in at anytime. Please remember that if you would like to volunteer you must do your background check/fingerprinting, and do your online Shield the Vulnerable Course.

Self Portraits: Pure Cuteness!!

Our self portraits allowed us to really express ourselves and the way we think we should be portrayed. You can see that all of us have our very own unique personalities, creativeness, and so many god given talents. We challenge you to try drawing your own self portraits. Our parents will get a chance to draw themselves when they come to our Back to School night on September 5th at 7pm.

Our Teacher Mr. Ballesteros

Mr. Ballesteros comes to us from the Big Island of Hawaii. A long way from home, Mr. Ballesteros grew up on the beaches of Hawaii, though much of his time was spend playing competitive soccer, tennis, baseball, and golf. When not in school he spent much of his time doing community service projects and serving his local parish as an altar server and greeter. A tennis scholarship brought him here to San Francisco to attend Dominican University of California. After graduating with his degree in Elementary Education Mr. Ballesteros worked in the first and fourth grade classrooms of West Portal Elementary School. In 2003 Mr. B headed off to Lopburi, Thailand to teach English for two years. While there he instructed Elementary, Secondary, and University students in Listening and Speaking as well Conversational English. In his spare time he taught at private institutions as well as Thai Army Bases, and a Chicken factory. Two of Mr. B's most memorable treks through Thailand included riding elephants down the Bridge over the River Kwai, and hiking into underground Temples in Northern Thailand. Upon his arrival back in San Francisco Mr. B excepted a pre-kinder position for Marin Day Schools. That year he received the "Most Creative Curriculum" award for the Western Regions Pre-K program. In 2007 Mr. B taught Kindergarten at St. Anthony Immaculate Conception School in the Mission district before coming to St. Mary's School. Mr. B has now been the kindergarten teacher at St. Mary's for 5 glorious years. When Mr. B is not teaching, he is busy hosting the school luau, assisting for the school's Italian Night, and putting on the ever popular Fall Festival Haunted House for Students as well as Families and Friends. Our Kindergarten Teacher Mr. B also coaches tennis at Sacred Heart Cathedral, gives private tennis lessons at public courts, and tutors students.  

Welcome 2012-2013 St. Mary's School Kindergartners

Our school year got off to a great start this week. We filled our desks and cubbies with great learning materials and took an opportunity to take a tour of our classroom and school. Each of us got a chance to create our own self portraits to show just how cute we are. Reading books about all kinds of children around the world gave us an opportunity to establish that there are many similarities and differences between all children. It was the first day of school for many children all over and each of us shared anxieties and happy thoughts alike. In Art we created beautiful water color paintings to brighten up our classroom. In Chinese class we learned how to write and say our names in Mandarin. In celebration of, "Aloha Friday" we read a book about the meaning of the word, "Aloha." Aloha has many meanings, but most of all, it means love, and/or hello and goodbye. In Language Arts we have been learning to use sign language to learn the alphabet. We also sang songs to learn our rhyming words. Overall it was a very eventful first week of school. Keep checking our class blog for updates on our happenings! Aloha!

Happy 100th Day of School!!!

Our kindergartners celebrated the 100th day of school yesterday to everyone's enjoyment. Everyone brought in 100 items to count with the class. We took the time to count by 5's and 10's also. The M&M project allowed us to count to 100 on a map of numbers, as well as eat some delicious chocolate. Our 100th day stories and stickers added to the fun of the occasion. Congratulations to all the Kindergartners on making it through 100 days of School!

Water Color Fun! A great way to release some artistic energy.

Occupy the Oven: A Ginger Bread Tale, performed by the Kindergartners for the School Christmas Show.

A Time to Give Thanks!! A multi-cultural Turkey Stuffing Potluck for all Kinder families.