Dear parents
and students,
It has been a
most entertaining week, full of artistic expression, as we enjoyed our Art
Exhibition in the library on Tuesday, and the Performing Arts afternoon in the auditorium
on Thursday. Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend. Thursday was
an afternoon full of pleasant surprises and a lot of fun.
In the
classroom, we have completed yet another topic in Maths, and had our Topic 18
test today. On Monday, we will begin our final topic – Topic 20 – which is all
about probability. This will last all of next week, with a test to take place
on Friday.
We have had
more fun in the classroom during our Science lessons, in which we have been
studying electricity. We have explored
the effects of static electricity and learned how it is produced. We have also
been completing different types of electric circuits, including simple
circuits, circuits with a switch, circuits in a series, and parallel circuits.
Yesterday’s blog post included a picture of a simple electric circuit kit.
These can be purchased at most stationery stores for well below $100 NT. I
encourage you to get yourself one, and see what you can create with a battery,
a few wires, and a little imagination.
In our
Reading and Writing Workshop, we read a nonfiction story about a young boy
following his cultural traditions in Alaska. We then worked in groups to decide
which key words and phrases from the text would be most useful in composing an
expository essay about native Alaskan culture. I was quite impressed with the
level of discussion that took place. It is pleasing to see everybody beginning
to develop the skills required for critical discussion. We shall continue with
this approach to reading next week, with our next nonfiction text, Wildfire.
We have also
spent time each morning developing our Persuasive Essays. This weekend will
allow some time for everyone to check our goal, reasons, facts and details. On
Monday, we will be revising and proofreading our work. Tuesday will allow time
for publishing, before we present our finished pieces on Wednesday. Parents and
family are encouraged to ask about our persuasive essays, as by discussing what
we are writing, we can better develop our ideas and strengthen our viewpoints
and arguments.
We finished the week with our monthly assembly. Our Student of the Week winners are pictured below, along with another special award winner.
This
month the annual Hsinchu government Outstanding Student Awards were given to
one child from each of our elementary school classes. Students are selected by
their schools based on several criteria including character, extra-curricular
involvement and academics. Well done Hannah!
Students of the Week, May
Taichi, Edison, Momoko (also ESL SotW), Abigail, Moe, Maria
Dates to Remember:
·
Mon, June 1st
– Spelling Test
·
Fri, June 5th
– Topic 20 Math Test
·
Wed, June 10th – Last day of clubs
·
Wed, June 17th – Monthly Assembly, 1:10 in the
Library
o Reports go home
·
Thu, June 11th – Last day of school (half day)
