Weekly Newsletter #14

Friday, June 8th, 2007

Dear Parents,

With the camp finished, and the final month of June underway, I am hoping to make the remaining weeks before vacation good ones. I think the camp was a success, and I want to thank all the mothers who contributed their time and effort to our delicious dinner. Mrs. Choi and I feel blessed to have such a good PTA. As well, our performance at the talent show was very well received by students and teachers who watched. Good job students!

This week was busy. We had our science test, and I was very impressed with the high scores. I think the students enjoyed studying animals, and learned the information well.

Since we are basically finished the science book, I have chosen to use the time for a mix of Social Studies, Geography, and History instead. I allowed the students to vote on what subject interested them, and they decided to study Egypt and the ancient pyramids. This topic will supplement our regular studies until vacation.

Next week, on Friday the 15^th, the IED will hold a “Spelling Bee.” This is a competition where students are given words to spell orally, and they must avoid elimination by spelling the words correctly. Based on weekly spellings scores, I chose Vicky, Sally, and Jenny to represent class 3-1.

The weeks ahead are going to be very busy, and Final Exams are coming up. Students should begin to review with their tutors.

Again, the Chinese government is blocking access to blog websites, and you might not be able to see our class website without a proxy server. If you have problems, go to:

www.bypassproxy.net and then type in the class website address at:

www.3-1kisq.blogspot.com

I have given students many handout papers lately, and notice some students are not putting them in their Clear-File folders. I will be giving out many handouts in the final month (many regarding the study of Egypt), so please make sure your children are staying organized and keeping their papers in order.

Reading/Comprehension

We read the fiction story “Lemonade for Sale,” which was about starting a small business and marketing. The story dealt with a “bar graph,” so I had students make their own graphs to survey other students with a question of their choice.

Oral/Vocabulary

The pop song for this week was “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds. I will post a video on the website. This week we did not have Daily English due to the Science test and some schedule problems.

Writing/Grammar

The students rewrote their Megaflash test last week, and improved a great deal. We are quickly progressing through this book, and will have another test next week for Unit 5. It will not be as difficult as the last one.

Science

The students have studied plants and animals, and the book is finished. Rather than continue to study science as our elective English subject, I am going to change to a mix of Geography, Social Studies, and History through studying Egypt. I will use resources from the internet.

Here are the words for Weekly Spelling next week. These focus on geography and Egypt.

Spelling List

1. equator

2. continent

3. dynasty

4. longitude

5. latitude

6. mummy

7. pyramid

8. Cairo

9. Egyptian

10. Sphinx

11. ancient

12. pharaoh

13. Nile River

14. South America

15. Antarctica

16. Europe

17. Asia

18. Australia

19. Pacific Ocean

20. Atlantic Ocean

This weeks Daily English focuses on our camp, and Egypt:

1. The best thing about camp was __________________________.

2. At camp, I went to sleep at (time) and woke up at (time). I had a (adjective) sleep.

3. My favorite game at camp was _________________.

4. At the beach, I _________________________.

5. The Egyptian pyramids are the largest man-made things on earth.

6. The Egyptian dynasty was more than 3000 years old.

7. The Egyptians invented farming, paper, and beer.

8. The earth has seven continents and four oceans.

9. The equator divides the earth in half.

10. Cairo is the capital city of Egypt.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Regards,

Mr. Garrioch