Weekly Newsletter #9

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Dear Parents,

This has been a very busy week, and the May Holiday could not have come at a better time. Both students and teachers are very exhausted after our first two months of school, and yet I think we all feel good with how things have gone. We have learned a lot of English, written a lot of tests, and memorized A LOT of words and phrases. Time for a break and a fresh start after the holiday.^^

On Tuesday we had our field-trip, and it was a lot of fun. The students were well behaved, and some even came home with fish. I hope to post pictures on the class website next week.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we had our exams. They were definitely not easy, and I am still in the process of marking them. I have finished marking the first exam, which was Spelling/Vocabulary. The class average was very impressive with 81%. 5 students scored in the 90’s. I was surprised, as I thought I made the test very difficult. Good job guys! Keep up the good work!

Parent teacher interviews are on May 9th and 10th. I hope to see you there. The report cards will also come out that week, and you will be able to view every mark up until the May holiday.

Since most of this week was spent with exams and the field-trip, there isn’t much to report. Here is what we did this week:

Reading/Comprehension

We wrote the exams for the stories “Wilson Sat Alone” and “Days with Frog and Toad.” The students should have completed up to page 30 in the workbook before they come back from the May holiday. Thanks to the library books Mr. Smith has been importing from the USA, we also were able to read the complete book about “Frog and Toad.”

Oral/Vocabulary

Due to exams, we did not have Daily English or the Weekly Spelling.

Writing/Grammar

I have yet to see many “Rewrite Journals” from the students. After the May holiday, journals will not be optional, and will be mandatory. The next newsletter will have information about this. Please encourage students to write in their journals at least twice during the vacation.

Science

The homework for the May Holiday can be seen on the attached page. If you want to use a different box, feel free to do so, but I think this size is ok. At first I wanted bigger sized boxes, but bigger boxes means more work!

I think the Science Project idea will be fun for the students, and I look forward to seeing what they make.


Here is the Daily English and Weekly Spelling for the week after next. The spelling list features words we have already learned with “prefixes.” I hope to teach them how to make words negative or positive using these.

Spelling List


1. science project
2. research
3. creative
4. impolite
5. unclean
6. disrespect
7. unimproved
8. unpopular
9. unexciting
10. reinvented
11. disorganized
12. nonfiction
13. infamous
14. unchanged
15. unafraid
16. examination
17. replay
18. remake
19. retest
20. rewrite


Daily Eglish

These daily English phrases intend to promote basic conversation.

1. Do you have any plan for the weekend?
2. I had a (adjective) weekend. How was your weekend?
3. If you have time, would you like to see (movie name) with me?
4. Do you know where to find a good (food name or country name) restaurant?
5. Would you like to grab a bite to eat with me?
6. How are you doing today?
7. I’m doing (adjective)! How about you?
8. Let’s keep in touch. What is your email address?
9. It was really nice meeting you. See you again soon!
10. If you ever need a hand, feel free to give me a shout!
11. During my holiday, I __________________________________________________.


Have a great holiday everyone! See you next week!

Regards,
Mr. Garrioch