This week to prepare for our Science test and Vocabulary test, the classes worked on review sections in their Practice Books and Grammar Books. Almost every day we would review some of the vocabulary from Weeks 1-6 and the students either tested each other or we played vocabulary games on the board.
The Science test was given mid-week and the students were able to finish quite quickly. The test included materials from chapters such as , Planets, Moons, and Stars. The students have a good understanding and interest in Science materials.
The vocabulary test was given on Thursday and Friday. The test didn't take as long as expected which means students know most of the vocabulary. The scores so far look promising.
This week we've also read a new story called "The Bremen Town Musicians". It's about donkey and his animal friends, who are being abandoned by their owners because they are too old. They then make a journey together to Bremen Town in hopes of being in a band. However, on the way they find a house with robbers in it. They scare away the robbers and make the house their home. This story touches on certain morals about how to treat animals and "old age". The students had fun learning about the different sounds that animals make (Ex. Cock-a-doodle-do!).
On Thursday and Friday, we also had their Reading Unit Test. It fwas focused on reading comprehension and listening. The students had to read 2 stories and answer questions, as well as listen to a story read by me and answer the questions for that. Overall, hard-working week for everyone. Three tests completed (Science, Reading, Vocabulary) with results coming in next week. Good job everyone!
Class 1:
Austin- Understands certain materials/questions better than other students.
Lily- Needs to put up her hand when wanting to speak. Sometimes disrupts the class with random opinions.
Lauren- Well behaved; can practice voice projection when reading.
Samson- Only one in the class with a perfect score on his vocabulary test! Good stuff!
Harris- Focused; not affected by other kids speaking out.
Class 2:
Arvin- Never loses his concentration; focused.
Chanel- Sentence structures are stronger than expected.
Chloe- Remembers past materials taught, more-so than others (Ex. what quotation marks are)
Sam- Understands instructions and questions well on his own.
Joshua- Often able to finish work before others, however, sometimes needs to be told to settle down.
Allen- Needs to try and focus more; easily distracted. Read instructions first before asking teacher.
Wow, time flies ! Have a good weekend and see you all next week!
Teacher Annie~
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Into the Cosmos...
Dear Parents,
Howdy! Let me start by introducing myself! I'm Teacher Annie and I am substituting for Teacher Andy this week and the week after.
On Wednesday it was great meeting the kids and I noticed how well they could understand directions and the materials being studied. Even though at first, some of the students tried to push the envelope a bit by behaving in a way they don't usually behave, it was great to see that after some discipline and serious talk, they were able to get back into learning and studying productively.
This week in "Science" we finished both the "Stars" lesson, as well as the "Planets" lesson. They learned that a 'star' is a hot ball of gases and that 'constellations' are patterns or pictures in space made of stars. They seemed to be able to remember the word "telescope" quite well and enjoyed looking at the pictures of different constellations such as "Big Dipper" and "Little Dipper".
Some new vocabulary that might be confusing for some of the students, taken from the "Planets" lesson may be 'orbit' and 'rotate'. It both means to spin or go around, but orbit means to go around the sun while rotate means the planets spinning on its 'axis'. We've done plenty of practice in their work books so they should be able to see the difference between the two words. Perhaps parents can go randomly test them to see if they understand the difference.
For their Student Journals this week, we read "Quilting Memories" which is about the different ways of 'preserving' memories and things from the past. Some of the students finished their in-class work early on Friday and so had a head-start on their Journals homework.
Class 1:
Chloe: Always very concentrated on her work and often finishes ahead of her classmates.
Chanel: Very neat and detailed when doing work. This is good to develop a habit of being organized.
Sam: Willing to share with his classmates (when a classmate forgot their book he offered to lend his to them). Good understanding of materials.
Joshua: In class on Friday, he seemed to be distracted and had to be reminded several times to
focus on his work. It was good to see though he is very willing to ask questions and double checks his directions and answers.
Arvin: Always very attentive and does his work quietly. Always first to be in class and ready to
learn.
Allen: Sometimes he is very easily distracted and needs to be told to re-focus. I find for some of
the questions, he does know the answer, but does not take the time to read over the question carefully before answering.
Class 2:
Lily: Sometimes in class she will speak out randomly which could be distracting to other
students. However, it is clear that she has a good understanding of the materials studied.
Lauren: Quiet and reserved but takes her time to make sure her work is done neat and properly.
Harris: Great reader and well composed most of the time. Am able to remember vocabulary
learned from the past.
Samson: Always a smile on his face; may need more time when reading.
Austin: Attentive and concentrates on his work to get it done correctly on time.
Great to meet all of the students this week! I am happy to see the friendships they have built here and am very impressed with their ability to understand what is taught in class (all of them take action to ask questions if they dont' understand, which is so important when learning new materials).
I look forward to another week with them! Have a good weekend everyone!
Annie~
Howdy! Let me start by introducing myself! I'm Teacher Annie and I am substituting for Teacher Andy this week and the week after.
On Wednesday it was great meeting the kids and I noticed how well they could understand directions and the materials being studied. Even though at first, some of the students tried to push the envelope a bit by behaving in a way they don't usually behave, it was great to see that after some discipline and serious talk, they were able to get back into learning and studying productively.
This week in "Science" we finished both the "Stars" lesson, as well as the "Planets" lesson. They learned that a 'star' is a hot ball of gases and that 'constellations' are patterns or pictures in space made of stars. They seemed to be able to remember the word "telescope" quite well and enjoyed looking at the pictures of different constellations such as "Big Dipper" and "Little Dipper".
Some new vocabulary that might be confusing for some of the students, taken from the "Planets" lesson may be 'orbit' and 'rotate'. It both means to spin or go around, but orbit means to go around the sun while rotate means the planets spinning on its 'axis'. We've done plenty of practice in their work books so they should be able to see the difference between the two words. Perhaps parents can go randomly test them to see if they understand the difference.
For their Student Journals this week, we read "Quilting Memories" which is about the different ways of 'preserving' memories and things from the past. Some of the students finished their in-class work early on Friday and so had a head-start on their Journals homework.
Class 1:
Chloe: Always very concentrated on her work and often finishes ahead of her classmates.
Chanel: Very neat and detailed when doing work. This is good to develop a habit of being organized.
Sam: Willing to share with his classmates (when a classmate forgot their book he offered to lend his to them). Good understanding of materials.
Joshua: In class on Friday, he seemed to be distracted and had to be reminded several times to
focus on his work. It was good to see though he is very willing to ask questions and double checks his directions and answers.
Arvin: Always very attentive and does his work quietly. Always first to be in class and ready to
learn.
Allen: Sometimes he is very easily distracted and needs to be told to re-focus. I find for some of
the questions, he does know the answer, but does not take the time to read over the question carefully before answering.
Class 2:
Lily: Sometimes in class she will speak out randomly which could be distracting to other
students. However, it is clear that she has a good understanding of the materials studied.
Lauren: Quiet and reserved but takes her time to make sure her work is done neat and properly.
Harris: Great reader and well composed most of the time. Am able to remember vocabulary
learned from the past.
Samson: Always a smile on his face; may need more time when reading.
Austin: Attentive and concentrates on his work to get it done correctly on time.
Great to meet all of the students this week! I am happy to see the friendships they have built here and am very impressed with their ability to understand what is taught in class (all of them take action to ask questions if they dont' understand, which is so important when learning new materials).
I look forward to another week with them! Have a good weekend everyone!
Annie~
Friday, March 13, 2009
How High The Moon....
Dear Parents,
We had a very fun and productive week this week in the Egyptian class. In science we continued talking about the Sun and it's family and learned about the different phases of the Moon, like New Moon and Full Moon. They learned that it takes about 28 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth.
We read a Time, for Kids article in our reading books about bats. This story talked more about how conservation groups help protect bats. They also teach people that bats are actually helpful mammals who kill insects that hurt crops. If bats kill insects that hurt crops then farmers won't have to use as many poisons on the crops.
The early class (2:00 to 4:00) went outside to the park on Friday to the park to read the take-home readers. It was a beautiful day but the mosquitoes made us come back early. Too bad there were no bats around to help. The take-home reader this week is called "Thomas Adams Invents Chewing Gum". Students learned that gum used to be made from wax.
Today we are going to a batting cage for Fun Day. Baseball has become very popular here in Taiwan so I'm expecting the kids to have a wonderful time today!
All the best,
Teacher Andy
INDIVIDUAL COMMENTS:
-Allen: brought up his science test score a lot when he re-took his test. Good improvement but study harder the first time and you won't have to take it twice.
-Arvin: brought up his science test score a lot when he re-took his test. Good improvement but study harder the first time and you won't have to take it twice.
-Chanel: needs to remember to always bring her vocabulary book so she can copy the new words and begin learning them when the other students do.
-Chloe: seemed to really enjoy reading and learning about bats.
-Joshua: is super helpful to all the other students in class.
-Sam: is always very attentive in class.
-Austin: was really interested in learning about bats.
-Harris: has gotten very careless when doing class assignments and taking tests and gets lots of questions wrong as a result. please encourage him to focus more.
-Lauren: has gotten much better with her handwriting. I'm pleased to hear that she takes such an interest in the class and the stories.
-Lily: I'm pleased to hear that she takes such an interest in the class and the stories. That's great that she likes to read at home too!
-Samson: really good at learning new vocabulary!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Going Batty!
Dear Parents,
This week we read a story called "Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats" that did a great job of teaching the students that people don't need to be scared of bats. Bats have a special way of hearing called echolocation, in which bats make high-pitched beeps that echo off objects. This is how bats know what their surroundings are and how they are able to fly very well. We spent a lot of time talking about echoes, pitches, and sounds. Bats help reduce the number of insects because that is what they eat. And bats don't really turn into vampires!
We learned about irregular verbs that have special forms in the past tense, such as go/went, do/did, see/saw, say/said, sing/sang, give/gave.
The students took their chapter test on the Earth in science class this week. Some students were confused between orbit around the Sun and the Earth's rotation, which causes day and night. We began learning about the moon this week too.
The take-home reader for this weekend is called "An International Food Fair" about a family that learns about different foods from different countries.
The students will take a vocabulary test on Monday on the words from week 4. Please help and encourage them to study!
Have a wonderful weekend!
All the best,
Teacher Andy
INDIVIDUAL COMMENTS:
-Allen: Did not do so well on his science test. He needs to study and re-take the test on Monday.
-Arvin: Seemed to confuse "rotation" and "orbit" in science and so didn't do so well.
-Chanel: G0t very involved in our class about the moon.
-Chloe: Have a great time in Hong Kong! I'm a little upset you didn't take me with you.
-Joshua: Continues to be up-and-down when it comes to paying attention.
-Sam: Scored 100 on his science test! Only one in the class to do that, terrific!
-Austin: Scored 100 on his science test! Great job!
-Harris: Performed very beneath his ability on 2 science tests! Needs to focus and stop being careless.
-Lauren: Has been wonderfully attentive all week, showing improvement in getting class assignments done.
-Lily: Shows lots of interest in the stories we read in class, lots of enthusiasm.
-Samson: Beginning to get more comfortable with the Grade 2 workload. Remember to bring your glasses!
This week we read a story called "Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats" that did a great job of teaching the students that people don't need to be scared of bats. Bats have a special way of hearing called echolocation, in which bats make high-pitched beeps that echo off objects. This is how bats know what their surroundings are and how they are able to fly very well. We spent a lot of time talking about echoes, pitches, and sounds. Bats help reduce the number of insects because that is what they eat. And bats don't really turn into vampires!
We learned about irregular verbs that have special forms in the past tense, such as go/went, do/did, see/saw, say/said, sing/sang, give/gave.
The students took their chapter test on the Earth in science class this week. Some students were confused between orbit around the Sun and the Earth's rotation, which causes day and night. We began learning about the moon this week too.
The take-home reader for this weekend is called "An International Food Fair" about a family that learns about different foods from different countries.
The students will take a vocabulary test on Monday on the words from week 4. Please help and encourage them to study!
Have a wonderful weekend!
All the best,
Teacher Andy
INDIVIDUAL COMMENTS:
-Allen: Did not do so well on his science test. He needs to study and re-take the test on Monday.
-Arvin: Seemed to confuse "rotation" and "orbit" in science and so didn't do so well.
-Chanel: G0t very involved in our class about the moon.
-Chloe: Have a great time in Hong Kong! I'm a little upset you didn't take me with you.
-Joshua: Continues to be up-and-down when it comes to paying attention.
-Sam: Scored 100 on his science test! Only one in the class to do that, terrific!
-Austin: Scored 100 on his science test! Great job!
-Harris: Performed very beneath his ability on 2 science tests! Needs to focus and stop being careless.
-Lauren: Has been wonderfully attentive all week, showing improvement in getting class assignments done.
-Lily: Shows lots of interest in the stories we read in class, lots of enthusiasm.
-Samson: Beginning to get more comfortable with the Grade 2 workload. Remember to bring your glasses!
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