Week 36

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 1^st – Spelling Test

·      Fri, June 5^th    – Topic 20 Math Test

·      Wed, June 10^th           – Last day of clubs

·      Wed, June 17^th           – Monthly Assembly, 1:10 in the Library

o   Reports go home

·      Thu, June 11^th           – Last day of school (half day)