China

I've already told your children, and I'll be sending a note home tomorrow, but just so you know that what your kids told you I said really is what I said (I know this is sometimes questionable)...

I am going to China. Wednesday. I will be gone the rest of this week and the following week.

I'm not sure what our internet access will be on the trip, but if possible I will give you/your children updates of what's happening as I go.

I am attending an international convention and training on Chinese language teaching. Hopefully I will return with new ideas and materials for teaching your kids.

I also just want to say again how much I love teaching your children and how proud I am of them for working so hard and making so much progress already. Their brains really are working so much harder than most any other first grader. All day. It is incredible to be a part of.

SEP's and Vocab lists

We have typed up a schedule and will be sending it home tomorrow of everyone's times for conferences next Monday and Tuesday. Many were wondering if the kids will still be having school that day. Yes. They will. We will just have subs that day to allow for enough time to meet with everyone. If your conference is Monday during the day, just check in with the office, get your child out of class, and they accompany them back to class afterwards.

Also, sorry if we are/have been slow at answering emails. Our computers have been down, and our email inaccessible.

I saw on many of the returned forms that you would like to see a list of vocabulary words each week and perhaps a composite of what words the kids should know up to this point. I am happy to do it and appreciate the feedback. I did that last year but many parents felt like they were then responsible for teaching their kids the words.

If I send home a list Monday, it will be with words we will be working on that week, so your child won't know them yet. By Friday they should be fairly comfortable with them. But if there are a few they still do not know, please do not feel like you have to teach them. In fact, as kindly as I can say it, please do not try to teach them Chinese :) This is also what happened last year with the lists, and then some kids memorized words incorrectly or had to learn them twice.

To avoid this, I will record the list on lingt so you can hear them and your child can practice them correctly. Also, we constantly review, reuse, and re-teach vocabulary words, so if the words are not sinking in the first week for whatever reason, they will have plenty of chances to absorb.

Thanks for all you do for your kids! I love teaching and spending all day with them. They are doing incredible things daily.

Math

We are all done with Acuity, the math benchmark test to assess how the are understanding the core curriculum for the state. They all did very well! They are tested in English on concepts they have learned in Chinese and had reviewed in English, and almost every single student got 90% or better!

REMINDER: On the back of the math homework this week is the goal sheet and time preference for SEP conferences. Please send it back Friday, as usual for homework, so we can get on the scheduling. Thanks!

Also, we have some artwork I'd like to put in the hall if any of you are close to the school and looking for a volunteer opportunity. It is in the volunteer desk just outside my door.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Part of your child's homework this week is to fill out and return a goal sheet that we will use during these conferences. You will also be asked what time is most convenient for you. We want to set up everyone's conferences for a time that is good for them, so please let us know if there is a specific time you can (or cannot come).

You will notice the paper says Monday all day and Tuesday after school. In order to meet with everyone, Mrs. Cretsinger and I will both have substitutes Monday so we can conference from 8:30-7:00. On Tuesday we will begin directly after school and go till 7:00.

Please make sure to have this returned Friday so we can make up a schedule and send it home the following Monday.

This week in class is all about birthdays. We will be learning how to ask and answer when each other's birthdays are, as well as how to write all the characters for doing so. We will be taking the Fall benchmark test for math tomorrow.