The Last Week of School!

I want to clarify the schedule for the last week of school as there were a few questions about this. 

May 28th - 1/2 day only for graduation and recognition 

May 29th - 1/2 day only for report card issuance - no parent teacher interviews

May 30th - 1/2 day only. This is not a mandatory day for the students to attend. This is only if you would like your child to come. 

I have had a few parents mention to me that they will be leaving for vacation after the graduation. If this is the case for your family, please just leave me a note in the communication book so that I know whose report cards I need to prepare a day earlier. Also If you do not intend on sending your child to school on the 30th could also please let me know. I will prepare small activities and want to know how many kids I need to plan for. 

Lastly, the foot and mouth virus is going around, so this means I am being extra cautious about keeping the kids hands clean. Please help your kids get more sleep, and be aware of them.washing their hands more at home. If they do get this virus, please make sure to contact the school right away. If they have a fever or are not feeling well, it would be best for everyone for your child to stay home so not to pass this terrible virus on. I hope everyone stays healthy! 

Thank you, Ali

Week 36 and Homework

Hello,

We are getting so close to the end of the school year, so there are a few things I need to go over. Sorry, in advance, for the long post.

First, a few parents have suggested that we have a party. I have certainly planned this. I would like to invite you all to come. We will have this party on the afternoon of May 23rd at 3. I will purchase pizza and some drinks, which will be lots for the kids to eat. If you feel inclined to bring something, to share, please consider a treat that can be brought home and be eaten at a later point. I know the party is early, but the following week will be busy and will not provide the time.

In the morning of the 23rd, we will have our May Crowning and closing mass. K1, along with K2, will be the sponsors. For K1 this simply means that a few of the students will walk down the aisle and deliver offerings of flowers, bread and fruit to the Father. I will be sure to tell which students will make the offerings in case you would like to attend.

May 28th, in the morning, is the K2 and G5 graduation as well as the recognition ceremony for the other grades. The students will be dismissed to go home after the ceremony.

May 29th, the students will come in the morning and they will receive their report cards and be dismissed at 12.

May 30th is an optional day of school,  essentially a play day. They are not expected to attend school, it is your choice. The students will again be dismissed at 12.

This week in writing we reviewed nearly all of the previously learned words from the year.

In phonics we reviewed more of the learned words, sight words and we also read some more advanced decodable books.

In language arts we continued to write sentences. This isn't easy for them, but they are doing well figuring it out.

In math, we did many different counting activities, and number order activities.

In social studies the students learned about holidays,  and the names of different holidays in Taiwan.

In science we talked about this that are the same and things that are different based on size, shape and how we use them.

Finally, for homework, please complete pages 33, 45 and 48. On page 33 they need to write 'I like       ' and tell me something they like. They should be able to write 'I like' by themselves, but will need help with the other. You can make the sound of each letter and they should be able to figure it out one at a time. Page 45 they can write A or M for the words that start with those letters. The words are monkey, ax, alligator, motorcycle, mittens and ambulance. Page 48 they need to connect the sense with the proper item. Nose - flower. Hand - cactus. Eye - fireworks. Ear - trumpet. Mouth - ice cream. Finally write a sentence saying ' I smell      ' and something they smell, or taste, see, hear or touch.

Have a good weekend everyone, let's hope the weather clears up!

Week 35

This week was a bit of a long week... A lot of the kids were feeling sick - coughing, sneezing, running noses. Please help your kids get some rest this weekend so they can feel better soon.

In writing we wrote vest, watch, xray, yogo and zebra.

In phonics we reviewed the words we had previously learned. That is what those sheets were that the kids brought home. They can just slide the first letter to the end sound.

In language arts we learned about sentences. They know that words are made with many letters and that sentences are made with many words. They wrote a few sentences with prompting.

In math, we reviewed some past material - left and right. We also started learning addition.

In social studies, the kids learned about the passing of time referring to seasons.

In science we started learning about matter - solids, liquids and gases.

For homework this week, please your child compete p. 41 and 46. On 46please help your children read the sentence about taste and touch. They can then draw one picture of something they can taste. Help them write this. On page 41 they can write like or I, then circle the thing they like best. Help them to read the sentence.

I wanted to let everyone know that I will not be returning next year, but also, Ms. Scott will not be either. At this point I do not know who the K2 teacher will be, but i will be sure to let you know as soon as I hear.

Have a great weekend!

Homework and Apologies

Good luck in the science for also to Betty's and Sean's brothers, G1 Benson and G3 Anson!

The homework this weekend will be pages 43 and 50. For page 50, the images are toaster, table, window, tea, ladder and telephone. They only need to write for the words beginning with T. Page 43 they write the word 'see.' Then you can read the short sentence and have them repeat after you. Finally, you can read a story with them.

Have a good weekend.

Week 34 - April 21-25

Welcome Back!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week off. We are now into the final weeks of school. Only 5 weeks left!

This week Tim won the Angel of the Week. He has been doing a great job encouraging his friends and classmates when they are sad, or when they do a good job. Thank you Tim.

The kids enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt. Good job to Jinny, who found the special golden egg!

Starting today, the upper grades are putting on a science fair. Good luck to the older brother of Allen in G3 and Kevin's sister Grace in G1! We will be sure to stop by to visit to wish everyone luck and see what everyone has done. This is something that the K1 students will be doing in 2 short year!

This week in our lessons the kids will be learning:

Language Arts - words that describe when things happen: this afternoon, tonight, in the morning, this weekend.

Math -we are counting to 11 and 12 and reviewing counting all the way up to those numbers.

Writing -  we are practicing writing the whole word for: queen, ring, swing, tent and umbrella. They are practicing leaving a space between words and making sure they can use the whole line.

Phonics - we are learning words that end with -ad: bad, dad, had, mad, pad, and sad. I think that they are starting to understand how to sound out every letter and put them together.

Social studies - we are continuing with using a calendar to identify different holidays.

Science - we are also continuing with moon phases. The only phases they need to know are full moon, half moon and crescent moon.

Finally, today I am sending home the kids Wild Things and the dream catchers we made last week. The book we have read is "There is an Alligator Under my Bed." This was a story about something a child is afraid of at night. We talked about what they are scared of at night. The dream catchers are from the aboriginal people of Canada and the United States. They are said to catch bad dreams and only let in good ones if you hang it close to a bed at night.

Have a great week, and maybe we will see you at the science fair!

Homework

Hello everyone,

This week the kids worked hard on learning to read words that end with -am. On the right side of the page are the first letters in the word. They have to draw a line from the letter to the matching picture the images are ram (the goat), Sam (the bow), Pam (the girl), yam (sweet potato), ham (meat) and jam. I have helped them by putting one hand out to say the first sound, another hand out to say -am and hands together to say the whole word 'r, am, ram.'
Then you can read the book together.

Have a great long weekend everyone! 

Week 31 - March 24-28

Hello,

Another successful week. It was nice to meet with those parents who were able to make it in to the parent teacher interview. To the parents who were not able to make, please know I'm always available to meet by appointment if you have any concerns that come up.

As we are really starting to get into reading now, I am finding that most students need some extra work remembering the sounds of each letter in the alphabet. I looked in to some phonics games for iPad. The app that I read about that sounded good is called 'Hairy Letters.' I am not able to try this, so I hope it is good for your children.

Next week we are only at school for Monday and Tuesday.

This week for their motor skills we wrote the words 'eggs, fish, goat, hat and igloo.' All of your children have very strong hands now, and are writing very neatly. Good job K1.

In phonics, the students learned to read words that ended in -at. Rat, mat, bat, hat, cat, and fat. By the end of the week, each student was very successful at recognizing these words.

In math we did numbers 7 and 8. We also did review of counting all other numbers up to 8.

In language arts we discovered different words for sounds - howl, roar, whistle, drum, growl, tweet, meow. The kids did a good job coming up with the sounds of other objects, or animals, like the sounds we make when eating, car sounds, ambulance sounds, etc. We also came up with different words for how this feel - rough, soft, cold, hot, bumpy, crinkly, sticky, wet, dry and squishy.

In social studies, we learned about calendars. Calendars show months, and days and weeks. They have numbers and they have different pictures, or symbols, to show special days.

In science we identified things we see in day skies and night skies. We talked about the colour of day skies and the colour of dark skies.

Finally, in story time, we are reading a book called "There's An Alligator Under My Bed." The kids really like this story. We will keep reading about it and the scary things they think are under their beds, and what they can do to get rid of them.

For the homework this week, please help your children complete p. 36 and 44.

Have a good weekend!

Homeowrk

Hello,

Yesterday was such fun! The kids were so well behaved, on the bus and at the aquarium. I am really proud of the K1 class. I will upload pictures at a later point.

We have finished all of our letters, so homework will be a bit of review. Please complete p. 34. #1, the children should identify sun and soap to start with S. They can write S on the lines beside the pictures. Next, #2, they should identify picture and tell you if it starts with the S sound or not. The pictures are apple, sandals, sock, tiger, sandwich and sea horse. They might not know the vocabulary for sandwich and sea horse, so you can help them with this. They can write the letter S for each picture that starts with S. After you can ask them if they know other words that start with s.

Finally, please read another book with your children. Please let me know how this is going for your child in the communication book. Reading it a few times will help them really know the story, and can eventually read it from memory - a building block of reading!

Week 30 - March 17-21

Hello,

First I would like to mention the field trip on Thursday. We will be going to the aquarium as you know. For this day, please send your child to school with a back pack that they can carry on their back - no wheelie bags please. Please pack the following items:
* full water bottle
* sunscreen
* hat
* small towel
* fruit only snack as usual
* one small treat
There is a shallow pool there, as I understand. I will allow the children to play in the water some. Because of this, if you could send your child to school wearing shorts, that would be preferred. I will bring the spare uniform that I have here in order to change them out of any wet clothes. It would also be ideal if you could please put sunscreen on your child at home in the morning, at I will re-apply throughout the day.

Second. Please consider donating a bag of rice for 'Rice Bowl.' The school is hoping to obtain 500kgs of rice to send to a Dominican association in Thailand. You can give the rice to me directly, or to the office staff, and we will make sure it is delivered.

This week we have just a few assessments to complete due to my absences last week, but I am going to get right into new subject material.

In language arts we are going to be learning descriptive words. We will describe food by calling is sweet, salty, sour, hot, cold, spicy, yummy, yucky, and so on.

In math this quarter we are learning to group items from 6-12, and learn how to write these numbers also. While the students can easily count these numbers and higher, it is more difficult for children this age to understand that the number 6 could mean 6 things. We start with the number 6 this week.

In writing we will go back to the beginning of our writing book and write the words that start with the letters we have already learned. This week we will write 'ant, bat, cow, and duck.'

In phonics we will learn the end sound -am. I will prepare different activities for them to learn different -am family words.

In science the children will learn about the day and night sky.

In social studies we will learn the terms yesterday, today and tomorrow. They will understand that there is a sequence to events based on these days.

We will not have story time this week, as we will be at the aquarium.

Have a good week everyone!

Homework

Hello,

This week we completed the letters Q and X in phonics. Our homework will be those letters, p. 11 and 22.

Please also read another short story with your child, doing the read and repeat. Again, that means, you read one line following along with your finger and then help your child to read along as well.

Have a good weekend, Ali

Week 28 - March 3-7

Hello,

Next week will be our quarterly assessments, so we are finishing up some units and reviewing others. Next week the upper grades have their final exam, so Friday March 14th will be a half day for kindergarten.

In writing we are on our final letter, Zz. The prompts I use for upper case Z are 'top, across, slide, across.' For lower case z, the prompts are 'middle, across, slide, across.'

In phonics we are quickly doing two letters that are low frequency letters. Xx and Qq. For x they will hear the x sound at the end of box, fox, ox and six. For q, they will hear the q sound in queen, quill, quilt, quarter and quail.

In math, we will continue with solid shapes. They will recognize that a solid shape has similarities to plane shapes and that everyday objects are made with solid shapes.

In language arts we will be reviewing the more recent shape, colour and size shape words.

In social studies we will different types of land and the kinds of houses that are there.

In science we will review a few topics from the past quarter.

Story, we will read 'where The Wild Things Are. '

Homework

Please complete pages 12 and 21. For page 21, please read the story together. Have them repeat what you read first and point to each word with your finger so they can see what the words look like that they are saying. The box on the left, the children can draw their favorite person from the story. The box on the right, they can draw where the story is happening.

I hope you all have a great long weekend, Ali

Week 27 - February 24 - 28

Hello everyone, 

First I want to remind you that Friday there will be no school because of the Memorial day weekend.

Please return the permission form for the aquarium by tomorrow, Wednesday the 26th.

In writing this week we are working the letter Yy. The prompts 'top, slide to the middle, top, slide to the middle, bottom,' for the uppercase Y and for lowercase I say 'middle, slide to the bottom, middle, slide under.'

In phonics they have a lot of words to hear the r sound in - rain, racoon, rabbit, rainbow, rocket, robot, rug, ring, and rope.

In math we will learn to describe solid shapes by whether they have curves or corners or slide or roll, and what objects looks like solid shapes.

In language arts they are learning to identify and write size words - big, small, and medium.

In social studies they are continuing their learning of maps - that maps are like pictures you look at from up high. Also that their are pictures on maps to tell us what things are.

In science we will know what cold windy days look like and what hot days look like. We'll draw pictures.

In story time we are reading a very famous book called 'where the Wild things are.'  At first the students thought the book was scary, but soon they found the wild things are very nice.

I will update the homework for the weekend on Thursday!

Have a great week! Ali

Week 26 - February 17 - 21

Hello,

I think K1 had a lot of fun this week. They had a great time in Ms. Chen's art class, working on our new craft from our story time book and of course having moms and dads participating with them in Sports Day was a hit.

As an update, Ms. Hsu was asked to cover the Chinese classes for Mrs. Lu, who is off on maternity leave. This means its just me and the little ones!

This week in Language arts we started learning how to read and write different colour  words - red, blue, yellow and green.

Writing - we worked on the letter Xx.

Phonics - we were learning the Gg sound. They needed to identify that the G sound is in goose, gate, game, gorilla, guitar, girl and goat. They also practiced writing this letter.

Math - we continued learning about making predictions and recording information in graphs. We also started learning about solid shapes - which we will carry on with for the next two weeks or so.

Science - we learned about cold weather and what we need to wear, and what winter looks like in different places.

Social studies - mapping, this was a little bit hard for them, but we will work on it again next week.

For homework this week, help your child complete the Gg page.

Have a good weekend!

Week 25 - February 10 - 14

Hello,

This week in language arts we were reading stories that had repeat sentences, so that they can predict what is to come. They did a very good job with this.

In writing they did the letter we. They have learned this one before and they were very successful and writing nicely and they knew if they'd have to erase it and try again.

In phonics we completed the letter Nn. They had to identify the N sound in nest, net, needle, neck, necklace, nine, nose, nut and nail. we also completed a craft activity to help reinforce the Nn sound.

In math this week, the students continued learning equal parts and furthered that by learning halves.

In social studies we played with a globe, so that they could see that all the countries in the world were on one globe.

In science we talked about winter and how cold it is. They needed to tell me about what kinds of clothes we need to wear to keep warm in winter.

In story time we read the book 'I Like Myself.' The kids really liked this story. It taught them that many people might not like things about us, but it doesn't matter, as long as we do.

For homework, we have pages 6 and 13. Page 6 is the letter Nn. Page 13, you must first read the small book I am sending home. Help them to read with you. This is something we have done in class, so they should know what to do. On page 13, have them draw a picture of their favorite person or thing from the story, and then a picture of themselves doing the same thing.

Week 24 - February 5 - 7, 2014

Hello Parents,

The first week back was a bit of a busy one, but we had a lot of fun. I'd like to welcome our new classmate, Luca. It's nice to have an equal number of boys and girls now. All of the students have welcomed Luca, making sure to help him learn the rules and even with some school work. It's very nice to see.

This week in writing and in phonics, we were learning the letter Vv. For writing, my direction was to start at the top, go to the bottom and back to the top for the upper case V. For lower case v the direction was to start in the middle, go to the bottom and back to the middle. For phonics, the words they were learning were violin, violet, volcano, vest, vegetables, vine and van.

For math, they were learning about equal parts and not equal parts. This used their knowledge from the previous lesson of symmetry.

Science we learned how to take care of the earth by recycling, cleaning up outside and saving energy.

Social studies they learned about how goods move through the world. I told them there are no banana trees in Canada, but we still eat them. So how do bananas get from Taiwan to Canada, and now they know they came by boat.

In story time we read a new story, Monster Musical Chairs.

For homework this week they are doing page 19 - the letter Vv. They must circle the Vv in the alphabet, then write Vv on the line and finally circle all the Vv's in the square. Also page 31 - writing the word like, then they must circle the picture that matches what they really do like.

Finally, I want to wish both Allie and Sean a happy birthday. They both celebrated their birthday on February 6th. Thank you to both families for providing a cake and treats for the kids.

Ali

Happy Chinese New Year!!

This is very short, with our holidays beginning on Wednesday. All day Monday will be spent rehearsing and making sure the costumes fit. Tuesday morning we will be doing different activities with the school, that I'm sure the kids will love. In the afternoon we have the concert that will start at 2. Please have your child come to school with a white long sleeve shirt on under their uniform.

I hope you all have a good and relaxing week off, and we'll see you back at school the following Wednesday.

Happy New Year!

Week 22 - January 22, 2013

Hello,

The kids are doing a great job preparing their dance for Chinese New Year. They are doing a great job and are looking forward to you coming to see. We have been counting down how many days until mommies and daddies come.

This week:

Monday:
Writing - Uu - Like last week the prompts I use for upper case U is "top, down, around, up." For lower case u I say "middle, down, around, up, down."
Phonics - Ll - Students will listen to a poem called Two Little Lambs. They must then go through the poem to find all the upper and lower case l's.
Dance class
Language Arts - What do school workers do? - students will learn what it is that the lunch lady, librarian, custodian, bus driver, teacher and secretary do.
Math - symmetry

Tuesday:
Writing - Upper case U
Phonics - Ll - students will learn to write upper case L and lower case l. My prompts for the upper case is "top, bottom, across." For the lower case I say "top, bottom."Students will identify the l sound in log, ladybug, lizard and leaf.
Language Arts - What do school workers do?
Math - symmetry
Library
Social Studies - How food gets from the farm to the table.

Wednesday:
Writing - lower case u
Phonics - Students will hear the l sound in lion, lemon, lobster, log, leaf and leg. They will also hear that there is no l sound in fish, tiger, peanut, duck, mouse, and bear.
Language Arts - What do neighbourhood workers do? - students will know what police officers, garbage men, mail carriers, fire fighters and dentists do.
Christian Living
Art

Thursday:
Writing - students will learn to write and recognize the sight word under and up
Phonics - Students will identify the l sound in lamp, ladder and lock
Science - Bodies of water - students will know the difference between oceans, lakes and rivers
Math - symmetry
Story Time - Clark the Shark - arts and craft activity

Friday:
Writing - students will learn to write and recognize the sight word us. Review of other sight words
Phonics - Art activity to reinforce learning of Ll
Science - Bodies of water
Math - symmetry
Social Studies - how food gets from the farm to the table
Music

Homework: p. 3 and p. 18 - this page is on the sight word "the." Because the "th" sound doesn't match the first letter, this is a harder word for them to recognize. But they have learned it. Once they have written "the" on all the lines, have them read the sentence. They might not recognize some of the pictures, so please help them. They are drum, trumpet, piano. So they will say "I like the drum." They know how to read "I" and "like."

Have a good week! Ali

Picture Day

I forgot to mention that Friday morning is going to be picture day for K1. The children should come in their uniforms, but please prepare your child however you would like otherwise.

Week 21 - January 13-17, 2014

Hello,

The first week back after the holidays was a good one. We are well on our way into our new subjects and the kids are doing a great job. As I mentioned to those of you who attended parent/teacher interviews, the kids are understanding me really well, and speak to me well, but the next step is to have them talking to each other in English. So if you could all help me by simply encouraging them to use English with their friends. They might say its too hard, but remind them that they talk to me just fine, so they can talk to their friends too. Thanks!

This week:

Monday:
Writing - Tt - I prompt them by saying top, across, middle, down. We will also review sight words "that, there, they, too, this."
Phonics - Uu - they will listen to a short story called Umbrella, then go through the story to find each Uu.
Dance
Language Arts - More action rhymes - "A sailor went to sea sea sea"
Mass Rehearsal

Tuesday:
Mass
Writing - T - sight words that, there, they, too, this
Phonics - Practice writing Uu, and saying the short U sound. Students will listen for the U sound in up, under, and umbrella
Christian living
Math - making patterns with shapes,
Library
Social Studies - resources and what we can make with plants, wood, and what we get from water

Wednesday:
Writing - t - sight words that, there, they, too, this
Phonics - listen for the U sound in up, umpire and under. Recognize that the U sound is not in rainbow and watch.
Language Arts - action rhyme "A sailor went to sea, sea, sea"
Christian Living
Art

Thursday:
Writing - T -  sight words that, there, they, too, this
Phonics - listen for the U sound in umpire, up, under. Practice writing U
Science - what land is made from - sand, soil, rocks
Math - different positions shapes can take, making patterns with shapes
Story time - Clark the Shark

Friday:
Writing - t - sight words that, there, they, too this
Phonics - make a Uu craft
Science - what land is made from - sand, soil, rocks
Math - make a pattern using shapes
Social Studies - resources and what we can get from water, plants and soil
Music

HOMEWORK
pg. 17 and 28 - write the letter Mm for the images that start with the letter M. The top row from left to right are chair, mask, mat. The bottom row from left to right are monkey, tea pot, ball.

January 6-10 Week 20

Happy New Year everyone.

First I want to say welcome to the two new students in our class - Allen and Nison. I'm looking forward to getting to know you and I think we will have lots of fun together.

Today is sports day! I think all the kids will have lots of fun practicing different skills for soccer.

Friday is a half day in order to have parent/teacher interviews. Please write in the communication book a time that suits you best, starting after 1pm. I will do my best to give you the time you request.

Monday
Motor skill - the letter Ss. This one is a little tricky for them so far. I prompt them saying middle of middle, up, around, cross and around.
Phonics - Ww - They must circle the Ww's that they find in a short poem.
Dance Class
Language Arts - action rhymes - "Pat-a-cake"
Math - shapes

Tuesday:
Motor skills - the letter Ss
Phonics - Ww - they must hear the w sound in walrus, well, window and water and practice writing this letter
Language Arts - Pat-a-cake
Math - Shapes
Sports Day!!!

Wednesday:
Motor skills - the letter Ss
Phonics - Ww - They must hear the w sound in the words wind, watermelon, wolf, wallet, web, window, wig, wood and watch
Language Ats - Pat-a-cake and Row row row your boat.
Christian Living
Art

Thursday:
Motor skills - the letter Ss
Phonics - Ww - They must hear the w sound in watch wagon and worm
Science - What our earth is made of.
Math - Shapes
Story Time

Friday:
Motor skills - cutting activity to strengthen fine motor skills
Phonics - Art activity to reinforce the letter W
Science - What our earth is made of
Math - Shapes
Social studies - What are volunteers?
Music

Weekend HOMEWORK - Ww - page 20 from Journeys practice book and pg 30 - have your children draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up. Please label for me.

Have a great week - Ali