Merry Christmas!

This week we studied water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles, and how they all affect our earth in science class. We studied water cycles before, so it was pretty easy for everyone to understand; however, carbon and nitrogen cycles were a little bit more difficult for the kids to understand. We also reviewed vocabulary for next week’s test, and learned about writing complex sentences in grammar class. For a little fun we reviewed parts of speech by doing a mad lib. For those of you who don’t know, a mad lib is a story with parts of the story missing and you need to fill in the missing words with your own to create a silly story…

Hello everyone,

This week we read about the ocean and it's diverse ecosystem. Most of the kids are very good at reading, but I think that all of them need help with their writing, so we also started learning about writing in the 1st and 3rd person by writing persuasive, entertaining, and informative paragraphs. This was a little difficult for everyone in the beginning, but once they understood the concepts, I think they all came up with some great paragraphs!

Ellen is doing well in class. She's very efficient with her class work and is able to work both quickly and accurately.

Jessica is doing well with her reading and vocabulary. I hope she can try a little harder to improve her spelling though.

Andy has slowly made great improvements with his writing. He's becoming a very good writer, more importantly, he seems to enjoy writing and always has a lot to write about. He too though, needs to work on his spelling.

Raymond did an excellent job on Wednesday in the drama Christmas play. He's a very funny, talented actor!

Perry needs to take class a little more seriously. He's very smart and has the potential to do excellent in class, unfortunately he spends most of the class time not paying attention.

Like Perry, Kevin also needs to pay attention more in class. He always does well with reading and vocabulary, but he just can't stop talking in class.

Iris did very well this week!

Edward did a very good job on his writing assignment this week. He's a very good writer!

This week we learned about plural nouns in grammar class. In reading we read a short essay about how special effects have changed movie making. We also practiced writing, and reviewed vocabulary and took a vocabulary test on Wednesday. I was very proud with how well all the kids did on this weeks test!

Ellen, Andy, Edward, and Perry got into a fight on Thursday. I left the class room for a few short minutes and when I returned the four of them were in a heated argument. I'm not really sure who started it, but all four of them should have known better...

Iris did very well on her vocabulary test. She had a perfect score!

Jessica is doing very well in class. She's been making steady improvements and seems to be trying much harder than before.

Kevin has been talking a lot during class time. I hope he can try a little harder to not disrupt the class so much.

Raymond is doing well. He did good on the test, and has been making steady improvements in reading and writing.

Hi everyone,
This week in class we reviewed vocabulary for next weeks test, read the story "Grandpa's Covered Wagon", and studied ecosystems in science class. In addition to the regular class work the kids also worked on their commercials.

Andy and Ellen have written a very entertaining, funny commercial. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product once we film it.

Raymond's reading has been getting a little bad recently. I think he needs to spend a little time practicing reading out loud to improve his pronunciation.

Perry did an excellent job reviewing his vocabulary words this week.

Edward continues to do well.

Kevin has been doing great in science.

Jessica has been doing much better in class recently. She's been more focused and attentive.

Iris's reading is getting very good. She's also been more active during science class. She's doing great! Way to go, Iris!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear parents,

For this week, we read the story, "The paper dragon". It is rather an oriental story about a dragon who asks an artist what is the most powerful thing in the world, and the answer is, "Love is the strongest thing in the world". We wrote down some of the new vocabularies that we learnt and found out the meanings, and wrote sentences. Then, we also worked on the workbooks. For science, we learnt about "Interactions Among Living Things", which talks about what "food chain", "food web", "herbivore", "carnivore", "omnivore", and some other words are. We learnt that humans are the most important of most food webs, and any changes that occur at the bottom part of the food webs would definitely affect humans in their consumptions of certain foods. For example, if there were no cows, then there would not have beef or cow's milk, and we would have to find another food source. We have worked on the science workbook as well, and made posters of the land food web, and the marine food web. We also worked on grammar and learnt what is a "conjunction" and "compund sentence" by using "and", "or", "but" to combine two or more sentences.

This week,

Edward- He converses well, and has been talkative in class.

Andy - He likes to tell jokes to his classmates and make them laugh.

Raymond - He has a strong character and believes in what he is doing.

Perry - He cooperates well with his classmates, and he always has a friendly smile.

Iris - She does her work nicely and concentrates well.

Ellen - She is outspoken, and she finishes her work fast and at the same time, she understands them. She likes to participate and has been active in class.

Kevin - He does his work nicely, and friendly to his classmates. He concentrates well, and he reads aloud, well, and clear.

Jessica - Although she reads slower, she tries hard in class.

Have a great weekend!
Teacher Jennifer

Dear parents,

We started this week with reading the story "Marble Champ", about a girl who cannot play sports well, but she tried hard and created a sport of her own, she played with marbles, competed in a game, and she won the championship. We picked out some new vocabularies that students didn't know, such as, "trophy", "accurate", "referee",
"recital", "opponent", "previous", etc. And we made sentences with these words. We also worked on the workbooks. Then for Science, we went over "Interactions in an Ecosystem", and the meanings of some related scientific terms, such as,"ecosystem",
"abiotic factor", "biotic factor", "population", "community", "ecology", "habitat",
"niche", we also continued to work on the workbooks and made posters regarding "Ecosystem".

For Funday, we went to see a movie, "My sister's keeper". It is a touching movie, hope everyone enjoyed it.

This week,

Ellen, Edward, Andy, and Iris worked together on the Ecosystem poster, they cooperated very well.

Jessica, Kevin, Raymond, and Perry worked in a group to make the poster. Although they had little arguements, they were able to do the task well.

Have a great weekend!

Teacher Jennifer

Friday, November 13, 2009

Hello everyone, I am teacher Jennifer, I substituted teacher Scott's Saints class for the past two days, and glad to find out that each student is polite and pleasant.

On Thursday, we continued to work on writing a Commercial. When finshed writing, they read aloud and practised on acted them out. The motive of this project is that each child can be expressive and creative, also learn to be a good reader and confident speaker.

The students were put into groups and each group picked a product that they would write a Commercial for it.

Ellen and Andy were partners and their product was about a camera that has many cool features.

Kevin and Edward worked on an uncommon drink that provides lots of energy.

Raymond and Perry worked on a food product.

Jessica, Iris, and Kelly worked on a commercial about a special watch.

They all came up with creative ideas and wrote scripts about their products. They were very cooperative and worked closely with their partners. Then when they finished practising their scripts, they had a great time acting them out.

On friday, we did Arts and Crafts, each student did a painting. It was a free topic of the student's choice, so first they used pencils to draw on the canvases, then they painted the canvases with acrylic paints. They all turned out to be nice paintings.

It has been a pleasure to work with teacher Scott's Saints class.

Have a great weekend!
Teacher Jennifer

Hi everyone,
I'd like to apologize for missing last week's blog post. It was a very busy time with Halloween...anyway... last week we read the story " Dear Mr. Henshaw " in reading class, and studied about animal traits in science class. The students also took a vocabulary test for weeks 5-8 and all the kids did very well!

This week we read the story " Digging Up the Past" about Jamestown, Va. the first English colony in the New World. We also read a story about the events that led up to the Revolutionary War in the United States. The kids had a very difficult time understanding the meaning behind the history. Many of them couldn't understand how they could live without cars, trains, tv's, etc...

In science class we studied animal adaptations ( mimicry and camouflage ) and how each trait protects animals living in the wild.

Just a reminder that next week will be parent-teacher conferences. Also, starting next Thursday ( Nov. 12th ) I will be going back to the United States for a short vacation to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. I will be back to Taiwan and Tree House on Tuesday, December 1st. While I'm away Teacher Jennifer will be teaching the class.

Hi Everyone,

In this week's class we read the story " It's Our Word, Too " about two kids that both tried to make a difference in their communities. One collected and refurbished old BMX bikes and then donated them to less fortunate boys; the other was about a girl who worked with her family and friends to make sandwiches for homeless people living in her city.

In science the kids retook last weeks science test with MUCH better results. The majority of the kids scored over 95%! Needless to say, I was very pleased with their progress. In addition to taking the test we read about animal traits and the different categories animals are divided into

( mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish ) as well as characteristics of each group.

On Thursday we had a little extra time left in class , so we made balloon bats for Halloween.

October 16

Hi everyone,
This week we re-read the story " John Henry" and did the work in the workbook. For a little extra bonus I played a song about John Henry by Bruce Springsteen. I'm pretty sure most of the kids didn't like the song....In science we learned about pollination for plants, and the different parts of a plant for reproduction. On Wednesday the kids had a science test and on Thursday they took a reading test.

Iris really disliked the song I played in class. I was pretty sure the stundents wouldn't like it very much, but I was surprised when she asked if he was actually singing in English.

Kevin did well on his science test.

Kelley needs to be more careful when she takes tests. She missed an entire page of questions on her science test this week.

Ellen always does very well in class. She's did especially well this week.

We missed Andy on Thursday. I hope he's feeling better.

Edward seemed to be the only student who enjoyed listening to the song about John Henry.

Raymond has a very creative mind when he writes short stories. I think with a little effort he could become an excellent writer! His stories are always very interesting and entertaining.

Perry did great in class this week. He's gotten much better at not asking silly questions in class, and has been paying attention much more.

October 9th

This week we read the stories " The Gold Coin " and "John Henry ". After reading " The Gold Coin" we did the work in the workbook. " John Henry " was a little more difficult to read, so we read it once on Thursday and we'll probably read it one more time next week. It's written with a lot of very colorful speech which the students had a little trouble understanding. We reviewed vocabulary on Tuesday and had a test on Wednesday. Unfortunately most of the kids did very bad on the test so they had to take it again. I was very impressed though, and they all did much better the second time.

Ellen is a very good reader but she never seems interested in reading in class. I wish she could volunteer a little more to read.

Perry has been doing great in class. His sentences are very good. He's still working a little slow though on the rest of his work.

Kevin and Iris did an excellent job on their test the first day we took it. Kevin got a 100% and Iris would have had a 100% if she wrote her letters a little more clearly. ( Her L and I look the same )

Jessica is still careless when she writes. She continues to spell words wrong even though the words she's writing are in the book or on the tests.

Raymond's doing great in class. He did well on his vocabulary test, and he continues to improve his reading skills.

Andy did very bad on the vocabulary test the first time he took it, however the second time he got a 100%. Great job, Andy!

Kelley is a very good reader. She's always eager to volunteer to read!

This week we learned about storms in reading class. We read a story in the reading books that discussed tornadoes and the scientists that study them. For a follow up activity we watched a National Geographic documentary on storms ( blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, etc...) and the destruction they cause. In science we learned about plants again. This week we learned that there are two types of plants flowering and non flowering plants, and we learned about the ways that each one reproduces. We also did more writing this week with another free writing activity. I'm still surprised how much everyone loves to write....

Perry has been doing well. He's still a little too slow finishing his work. I hope he can try a little harder to finish his work on time.

Andy wrote an excellent story about his future self coming back into the past and meeting his younger self. I was really impressed with how well he did!

Ellen is doing well. She continues to make progress...Way to go , Ellen!

Raymond was very interested in learning about tornadoes this week. He had alot of questions and was eager to learn all he could.

Jessica is doing good. I still wish she could try harder to not make spelling mistakes. If she could pay a little more attention when writing, she would do much better.

Kelley is also doing great. She's starting to talk more and also did very well on her story this week.

Kevin did well this week. He's getting very good at writing!

Iris has been very attentive this week. She's been very focused and able to finish her work very well.

Open House

Hello everyone,
This week we read the story " Flight of the Zephyr " in reading. After reading the story, we did the accompanying work in the workbook. In Science we learned about Plants, mosses, and ferns. And for something a little different this week we did some creative writing. I was actually surprised how much hte kids enjoyed writing short stories, and I was even more delighted to see how well they all did!
I look forward to seeing everyone tonight for the Tree House Open House!

This week we learned about classifying plants in science class ( vascular and non-vascular ) As well as the function of plant root systems and the process of photosynthesis. In reading we continued reading the class book and worked on the work in the workbook. On Thursday we had a vocabulary test for week 1-2 vocabulary words. I'm very happy to report that all the kids did very well on the test!

Perry did excellent on his test! He's been a little slow on his classwork though; and I hope he can start to work a little bit faster to keep up with the rest of the class.

I hope Jessica is feeling better. We miss you in class.

Andy is doing great in class. He's doing great in science, he continues to excel in reading, and he did a fantastic job on this weeks test.

Iris did very well this week. She's been focused and working hard all week.

Ellen got a perfect score on her vocabulary test. Way to go, Ellen!

Raymond did great in science class this week.

Edward is doing very well. He's done especially well in reading class.

Kelly is doing well in class. She's new to the system, but she has adjusted very well and is doing great in both reading and science.

Kevin missed the test on Thursday, but took it a day later on Friday, and got a perfect score!

September 11

Hello,
This week we read the story "The Voyage of the Dawn Trader " in reading class, and did the follow up work in the reading workbook. In Science class we learned about classifying organisms . After doing the reading in the book the kids were divided into 3 groups and each group made a poster of :

1. Protist
2. Bacteria
   
3. Fungi
4. Plants
5. Animals

Kelly was very good this week. She did very well in both reading and science!

Kevin was very focused and put a lot of effort into the poster he made.

Jessica has been trying harder at improving her spelling and penmanship.

Edward is very talented at drawing. The poster he made with Andy and Ellen came out very well!

Perry was very well behaved this week.

Iris did very well in reading class.

Ellen also did a great job on the poster. She was very good at delegating the work and assigning work for her group.

Raymond asked a lot of questions in science class. He always has very insightful things to add to class.

Andy is also very talented at drawing. He put a lot of effort into the poster, and his extra effort clearly shows!

Welcome back...

It’s nice to see everyone back at Tree House. I hope everyone had a nice summer vacation and is ready to get back to work. We spent the majority of the week getting readjusted to being back at school.

On Monday we started by reading a story about a very wise, old Japanese woman, and followed up by doing the comprehension questions in the workbook.

On Tuesday we finished the workbook and reviewed writing sentences in grammar.

On Wednesday we learned about plant and animal cells in science. To make class a little more interactive, after doing the reading in the science book, the kids were separated into groups of two and each student made a plant or animal cell diagram/drawing.

On Thursday we didi the work in the science workbook, and afterward we were fortunate to be able to look at several plant, animal, and bug species under a microscope. To make it a little more interesting we played a game of 10 questions. each student choose a specimen while the other students had to ask a series of questions to guess what the specimen was.

Andy did great this week. He worked very hard on his plant/animal cell on Wednesday, and I personally think it was one of the best ones in class.

It’s very nice to have Edward in class. He’s a very smart boy.

Perry was good this week. He can ask silly questions from time to time, but for the most part he tries hard, and usually make class fun for everyone.

Kevin did very well this week. He’s always eager to read, and he’s also very willing to add to class discussions.

I hope Raymond is felling better. We missed him when he was out sick.

Ellen did very well this week. She’s a very smart, well behaved girl.

It’s great to see Iris back at school.She was very attentive and eager to learn this week.

Kelly has adjusted very quickly to being in class. Her reading and writing are very good; I’m sure she’ll do an excellent job this year!

Jessica was good this week. One area I hope she improves on however this year is her spelling. She can do very well when she sets her mind to it, unfortunately sometimes she make careless spelling mistakes ( often misspelling words in the books she has access to ).

July 10th

HI Everyone,

Well, we've come to the end of another semester. I've been very proud of how hard the kids have studied, and it's been rewarding seeing their growth over the past couple of months. This past week was test week for the students, and I'm pleased to say that everyone did very well on all their tests!

Andy- Reading 90% Vocabulary 91% Science 84%

Iris- Reading 92% Vocabulary 93% Science 103%

Kevin- Reading 96% Vocabulary 98% Science 83%

Jessica Reading 73% Vocabulary 82% Science 70%

Jordan Reading 98% Vocabulary 109% Science 92%

July 3

Hello everyone,
This week we finished the Tops workbook. After working in both the reading and science books, Tops was pretty easy for the kids. In science we did 3 units; one on heat, another on light, and a third on sound.
Next week will be the final tests for the class.

On Monday we'll have the reading test.

On Tuesday we'll have science.

On Wednesday we'll have the vocabulary test.

I'm sure the kids will do well on reading and science, we have almost 250 vocabulary words though, so I hope they all take soem time to review words from weeks past.

Hi

On Monday this week we finally finished all the stories in the reading book with the final story "Whales". "Whales" was a very informative story about some of the more popular baleen and toothed whales. After reading the story the kids did the accompanying work in the work book. In addition to the workbook. On Wednesday for a follow-up activity we also made posters about the different types of whales. On Thursday in science class we learned about simple and complex machines.

Everyone is doing a very good job. Iris and Irisa made a very creative and informative whale poster. The two of them worked very hard on it, and their effort definitely showed.

Kevin has been doing great in science class. He's always asking very inquisitive and intriguing questions.

Andy has been making a lot of improvements with his writing, his sentences are getting much better and more detailed.

Jessica is doing very well in reading. She seems much more confident and eager to read in class.

Jordan is doing great in all the class subjects. I just wish he would talk up a little more. Sometimes he's so quiet it's hard to hear what he's saying.

Hello

Hello everyone,

This week we read the story " Saving the Everglades " in reading. In addition to reading the story we also learned about using adverbs with more and most in the grammar book. In science we learned about both physical and chemical changes in matter.

Kevin did very well in reading this week. He's been very attentive and has also asked many interesting questions about the reading.

Andy enjoys learning about science very much. He's always asking very challenging questions about the material we're learning about.

Jordan was interested in learning about chemical and physical changes.

Iris is doing very well with all her work!

Irisa was interested in learning about how to make butter on Friday Fun day's science workshop.

Jessica has been trying harder to memorize vocabulary. She's been spending her spare time in class to review new words.

June 5

Hi everyone,

This week has been a busy week in the Oneida class. On Monday we read the story "The Malachite Palace" and did the accompying work in the workbook. On Tuesday we did grammar, focusing on adverbs and pronouns. On Wednesday we did more grammar and finished the workbook work for reading. And finally on Thursday and Friday we worked on a wood craft for Fun Friday. It's been a difficult job, but the kids have tried very hard, and they all seem to be doing a grat job!

May 22nd

This week was review/test week for the Oneida's. On Monday we did the reading test. On Tuesday we reviewed vocabulary and science. On Wednesday we did the science test. And finally on Thursday we did the vocabulary test. Most of the kids did very well on reading, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well everyone did on the vocabulary test.

Kevin did well on all his tests.

Irisa got a perfect score on her vocabulary test!

Iris almost got a 100% on her vocabulary test. She made the mistake of writing L instead of I twice on her test. If she hadn't made that mistake she would have had a perfect score.

Jordan did excellent on his vocabulary test!

Andy didn't do very well on last weeks vocabulary test, but he seemed to study hard this week and redeemed himself and did a great job on this weeks review test.

Jessica did pretty well on her tests. She did much better on her science and vocabulary and could have done a little better on reading.

May 15

Hi Everyone,
This week we finally got back to work after a busy couple of weeks preparing for the mother's day celebration. On Monday we took a short break and went to the park, and then we came back to school and worked on last week's take home reader ( the kids didn't take it home last week because of the performance on Friday ). On Tuesday we read about matter in science class and did the accompanying work in the work book. On Wednesday we reviewed vocabulary for Thursday's test, and finally on Thursday we took the vocabulary test for weeks 7-13.

Irisa and Jordan did great on the test this week. They both got over 100%!

Andy and Jessica didn't do very good very good on this week's test. I hope they can both study more this weekend and take the test again on Monday or Tuesday.

Iris did very good in class this week.

Kevin has been much better in class recently. It's good to see him try harder to behave.

May 8th

Hi Everyone,
It's been a very busy week this week. Between the book work and the preparations for Mother's Day, the students haven't had a moments rest. On Monday we read the story " Can We Rescue The Reefs? " Aside form that all we've done is prepare for Friday night's performance. I look forward to seeing everyone tonight! Happy Mother's Day.....

April 30

This week we studied weather and climate in science class. More specifically what causes weather patterns and how they travel around the world. In reading we read the story " Yeh-Shen" an ancient Chinese fairytale similar to Cinderella. In addition to both reading and science we continued to rehearse for the Mother's Day performance next Friday.

Andy is doing very well at his role as Andy Irwin. He knows all his lines and makes a great animal hunter.

Jordan is doing very well on his sentences. He puts a lot of effort into them and his hard work shows.

Kevin has been doing very well in class recently. Keep up the good work, Kevin!

Irisa and Iris are getting along much better this week. I'm not sure what they were fighting about last week, but they both seem to be over it and they have gone back to being good friends.

Jessica is getting better at reading. She's also been volunteering more in class to read.

April 24th

Hi everyone,

With the Mother's Day performance quickly approaching we spent some time this week rehearsing for the Mother's day performance. The kids all know their lines, and also seem to enjoy the story.

I class this week we read the story "The Rajah", a story about a girl who tricks the Rajah using math into giving her town more rice. We did the accompanying work in the workbook. We also did a grammar lesson on pronouns.

In Tops we finished the lessons on future tense and began studying past tense by writing about likes and dislikes of friends. All in all we had a pretty busy week.

Andy is doing very well with the play. He knows all his lines and improving day by day. I just wish he could do an Australian accent like Steve Irwin....

Jordan has also done a wonderful job for the play. He's a good actor and has made his role into a pretty funny character.

Iris did very well in the grammar lesson this week. She always learns the new grammar rules quickly.

Irisa is doing very well. ( as usual )

Kevin has been behaving much better recently. He's more focused and determined in class.

Jessica is doing very well in class. One thing I wish she could work on though is her spelling. She has a bad habit of not finishing words when she writes them. (For example : teache )

April 17th

Hi Everyone,
This week we read about weather in science class. We learned about how high and low pressure is formed and how that effects wind and weather. We also watched the movie version of James and the Giant Peach on Monday. The kids enjoyed reading the book, and I think the movie offered them a chance to compare the two. Luckily ( or unluckily ) the movie was very different from the book. We started practicing for the Mother's Day celebration as well. We've only practiced a few times but I think the kids all enjoy what we're doing. I look forward to seeing how it will turn out.
And finally I'd like to thank all the parents that were able to come in this week for parent-teacher conferences. It's been nice getting an opportunity to talk to everyone....

April 10th

Hi Everyone,
Well, we finally finished James and the Giant Peach this week. After reading the story, we the kids had a lot of fun trying to sing the songs form the book. We also read the story Mom's Best Friend, as well as the accompanying grammar and workbook.
All the kids did well this week.

Kevin and Irisa enjoyed singing the songs.

Iris did very well on this week's grammar lesson! Way to go, Iris!

Andy enjoyed reading the story. He asked a lot of good questions.

Jessica is getting much more confident as a reader. She's made a lot of progress since we started reading James and the Giant Peach.

Jordan was too shy to sing the songs from the book, so he decided to be the class judge.

April 3rd

Hi everyone,
This week we read more of James and the Giant Peach. When we last left James, he, his friends and the peach were in the ocean surrounded by sharks. Thanks to James' quick wit he was able to come to the rescue and save everyone from near doom.
We also did work in Tops this week. ( future tense ) In the grammar book we learned about pronouns and punctuation.
The kids have all done well this week. I'm also happy to report they all did well on their tests from last week....

This week was test week for our class. On Monday we did reading, and did the accompanying work in the workbook. On Tuesday we read James and the Giant Peach. On Wednesday we did the reading test for grade 4, and finally on Thursday we had the vocabulary test for week 1-6. There are a lot of tests to grade, so unfortunately I don't have all the scores just yet. I'll be sending home a report next week with the kids scores and overall performance evaluation for the work they have done up to now.

Kevin was very attentive this week. He especially enjoyed reading the story.

Perry is slowly getting better in class. He still fights a little bit with Kevin, but I see improvements each day.

Andy has been very good this week. His work has really improved recently. He really needs to improve his spelling though. He's always asking me how to spell words. i hope he can get to a point where he can sound out words.

Jordan was good as usual. He a great kid!

Iris has enjoyed doing her story in class. it's coming along nicely, and I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's finally finished.

Irisa has been very fast finishing her work in class.

Jessica was great in class this week. She had a lot of fun on Friday making dumplings for Friday Fun Day.

March 20

Hi Everyone,
This week we started reading James and the Giant Peach. So far the kids really enjoy reading the story. I think the book will be very beneficial for all the students. Not only is it a nice break from the reading and science text books we've been studying, but it's also a great chance for the kids to learn some useful idioms and daily vocabulary.
In addition to the story, we also did our science test for Unit 8 and the vocabulary test for weeks 3-6. I'm very happy to report that all the kids scored over a 90 % .

Irisa scored the highest of all the students on her vocabulary test. She got a perfect score!!!

Iris has really enjoyed reading James and the Giant Peach. She's been very eager to read, and has especially had fun discussing the story and everything that has happened to James.

Jessica also did well this week on her vocabulary test. She's been trying to speak more in class as well.

Kevin has been very well behaved this week.

Perry did ok on his vocabulary test. I hope he can study a little harder next week though for the week 1-7 test.

Andy did a great job this week. He did very well on his vocabulary test, and has also enjoyed reading the story book.

Jordan has been very good this week.He's becoming very good at writing, and has done an excellent job on his sentences this week.

This week we read about ancient animals in reading class. In science we continued learning about water. We did an experiment in class this week to test how much water is wasted by a drippy faucet. I think they were all very surprised by how much water can be lost....We also studied the past tense in Tops. This week we were a little too busy to start James and the Giant Peach, so we'll start it next week.....

Kevin did well. He's been very focused and driven to finish his classwork.

Perry has done well in science this week.

Jordan's story is coming along. I think he's been very enthusiastic about his progress.

Andy is doing a great job on his story as well. He's been very excited and eager each day to work on it.

Iris has asked many insightful questions in science class this week.

Irisa has been very quick with her classwork. I'm often surprised how quickly she finishes her work. she can be very diligent.

Jessica did great at the batting cage on Friday. I explained to all the kids how to hit a ball, and she tried once or twice the way I explained, however, she didn't hit any balls. She then tried her own way and hit almost every other ball. She can make a great softball player!

March 6th

This week we read "Get on the Bus" in reading class. It's a very informative essay by an author who describes the steps she takes to write a book. The studensts seemed very interested in her story. In addition to the story, the students have begun to work on their own stories. This week we started the outlines and rough drafts. Hopefully by the end of March everyone will be able to finish writing their stories and illustrate the pictures for it. Once the "dummy book" is complete we'll send the manuscrits to the printer and get a real copy of the books each student.


Perry has done an excellent job this week.

Andy is very excited about the book we're working on. He has 8 pages written already!

Jordan has been working very dilligently this week.

Kevin had fun on Friday making crafts for Fun Friday.

Iris and Irisa are excited to read " James and the Giant Peach".

Jessica is doing a great job on her vocabulary sentences.

Starting next week we'll start to read "James and the Giant Peach".....

Everyone did an excellent job on this week's vocabulary test. I was surprised that all the students scored over 100 %!

We read the story Meet the Underwater Explorer in reading class.

In grammar class we studied articles and adjectives.

We also spent some time reviewing for the vocabulary test on Thursday.

Iris did great this week, especially on her test.

Perry wrote some excellent sentences. He's making a lot of improvements!

Jordan did great in class.

Andy was very well behaved this week. He did great on his test!

Irisa had lot of comments to offer during the week. She's very inquisitive.

Jessica is starting to talk more during class. It's good to see her speaking more!

Kevin was much better this week in class.

February 20th

Hello everyone,
Another week, another blog post...This week we studied the water cycle in science class. In reading we read the story "Gluskabe and the Snowbird". In addition to reading "Gluskabe " , we also studied adjectives as part of out grammar lesson.
Perry is doing great in class. He seemed very interested in the reading, and also enjoyed learning about water in science class. Andy had a lot of interesting questions to ask during the week. Jordan was very quiet but hardworking. Kevin has been a little too talkative during class. I hope he can work a little harder and talk a little less. Irisa was also very diligent and finished her classwork very quickly. Iris wrote some excellent sentences for vocabulary. Jessica has been quiet as well this week. She works hard, but I hope she can talk a little more during class time.

Welcome Back

Welcome back everyone. Or I should say, welcome to the Onieda class. We've only had class two times this week, but I'm sure the kids will all do very well this semester. This week we read 'Scruffy' in reading. A story about a photojournalist in the North Pole chronicling a pack of wolves. And in science class we learned about water and the world's oceans.
Once again, it's great to be teaching everyone. I look forward to the months ahead!

This is the final blog post for the Oneidas this semester. The kids have all done very well over the past few months, and I'm sure they will all do very well next semester. In the mean time I wish everyone a safe and happy Chinese New Years!

The end of the semester is quickly approaching, so we've been hard at work finishing all our class work for this semester. On Monday we read " The Quilt" in reading class. On Tuesday we finished the work in the workbook for " The Quilt", and after that we worked on Tops. In the Tops book we studied adjectives. On Wednesday we read about tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanoes in science class. And on Thursday we'll have the vocabulary test for weeks 14-16. On Friday we'll go ice skating for Fun Day. And finally on Saturday we'll do review for next weeks final tests in reading, science, and vocabulary.

Shawn is doing great in class. He always has a lot of interesting questions, and is always hard at work and diligent.

Willy did very well this week!

Richard does excellent in class, however, he sometimes doesn't do as well on tests. I hope he studies harder for next weeks tests.

Steven is usually very good in class, but he's been a little preoccupied this week. I hope he can pay attention a little more next week.

Joe got over a 100 on his retest from two weeks ago. Great job, Joe!

January 8th

Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone had a safe and happy new years. We've been busy at work this week in our final push for the end of the semester. In science we read about land forms and how they change over time. Everyone seemed to enjoy learning about this. And in reading we read about an ice hotel in Sweden. Today the kids will have to do another writing summary for their take home readers.
Also, just a reminder that we will have class on this Saturday.

Willy was working hard all week. He's been very quick and accurate on his book work. Well done Willy!

Shawn does very well in class. One area I wish he could improve on however, are his sentences. I thin he can do very well, I just wish he would write them with more relation to the vocabulary words.

Steven is doing great! Keep up the good work!

Joe is doing well; however, he didn't do very well on the last vocabulary test, so he'll have a re-test on Saturday.

Richard has done an excellent job this week!