Hello everyone,

This week we read more from Matilda. When we last left Matilda she was just starting her first day at school. Matilda was warmly received by her new Teacher Ms. Honey. Unfortunately the headmistress the Trunchbull didn't take as kindly to Matilda or Ms. Honey's insistence that Matilda be moved up in her grade level.

We also worked on catching up on this week's and last weeks vocabulary

( we were a little behind ) and also read two lessons in the science book. This week in science we continued learning about the forces at work on and under the earth's crust.

Welcome Back

I 'd like to welcome everyone back. I hope everyone had a nice vacation...We got right back to work this week and began reading the novel "Matilda" by Rolad Dahl. Matilda is about a precocious, brilliant young girl who is very different from her TV watching parents.

Matilda ( at only 4 years old ) has finished reading ALL the children books at the local library and knows all her multiplication tables. The trouble with Matilda however, is that her parents don't like her. Matilda has learned that she can not reason with her parents and has decided to play tricks on them to teach them a lesson for treating her so badly.

In science class we learned about the different forces at work on earth and how these forces work to create and destroy through erosion and weathering, as well as the movement of the earths fault lines that cause earthquakes.

Well that's it we did it! After struggling through the middle part of the semester the class pulled up their socks and came through with flying colors! The class average for the end of the semester test was 90% and I am very proud of them. Next semester will be even better. Now that I know the class well, I will have a curriculum that is far better tailored to the students. And more hands on experiments that are fun for the students and I.

You should get your final progress reports soon. I trust you will be pleased with the progress they have made this semester. Let's make even more next one!

The End

Well...we've come to the end of the semester. It's been a busy few months but I'm happy to say the kids have done a wonderful job! I think everyone has made a lot of improvements since we started out back in September. Everyone has become better at reading, and we continue to make slow but steady improvements in writing.

Starting next semester I hope to focus more on writing and also improving everyone's grammar. While most of the students are doing very well in both of these areas; I'm confident the extra work will make everyone much stronger overall.

I wish everyone a safe and happy vacation over the Chinese New Year's holiday, and I look forward to seeing at the end of February!

This week in we read the story " Crazy Horse " about a Native American chief who was honored with a large monument that is being built in South Dakota. In addition to reading about Crazy Horse we also read a short story about strange games and the equipment you need to play them
( games like rhythmic gymnastic, jai lai, and curling ) We also took the mid-year reading test and did work in the reading workbook.
Andy did well in reading class. He's made a lot of improvements recently!
Edward did great on last weeks science test. He scored over 100%!
Iris has been doing much better on her writing assignments.
I hope Ellen has fun next week in Japan. We'll miss you when you're gone.
Perry is doing well. He did great on last weeks science test!
Raymond does very well when he puts his mind to it, I just wish he tried hard all the time....he has a tendency to be a little lazy in class.
Jessica needs to improve her handwriting. I hope she can write a little more clearly because sometimes SHE even has trouble reading what she wrote.

Hello everyone,
We're down to the last two weeks of the semester. This week we reviewed science for unit 5 and 6. In addition to reviewing science we took the opportunity to also review grammar, writing, and reading comprehension. I think the extra work will hopefully help everyone improve their writing and reading comprehension skills. As I've said before, everyone does well reading and answering questions verbally, but I think that they could all work harder to improve their writing.
Finally, on Thursday we took the unit 6 test for science on biomes and how they all change over time. I'll be sure to post the scores next week....in the mean time, I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Ellen has done an exceptional job this past semester. She always works hard and is always respectful of everyone in class.

Perry has been doing well. He 's been taking class much more seriously and I really appreciate his effort to behave better in class.

Andy did very well on the reading comprehension work we did this week.

Jessica studied very hard for this weeks science test, I'm happy to see her extra effort!

Raymond is doing better reading , I'd still like to see him put a little more effort into improving his oral reading and pronunciation skills.

Kevin has been fighting with everyone in class. I'm not sure why he has trouble getting along with everyone, but he seems to almost enjoy arguing with everyone including myself. I really hope Kevin can improve his attitude and start respecting his fellow classmates.

Iris did very well this week. I think she has the potential to be a very good writer, hopefully the activities we did this week in class will help her pull her thoughts together and write much better in the future.

Edward did well this week. He always has a lot of creative ideas for short stories.

This week we studied about biomes in science class. I was surprised how well everyone did learning the material. The six biomes we studied were the tundra, taiga, grassland, deciduous forest, marine, and freshwater areas of the earth. I wasn't as happy about everyone's lack of geographic knowledge. We definitely need to study geography in a future class. Anyway, besides learning about biomes we also studied how environmental changes effect both nature and the species that live in each biome. In reading we read about animal diversity, and finally in grammar we continued studying run-on sentences.

Andy is a clear thinker who excels in class.( especially science )

Raymond is doing great. I think he still needs to improve his skills reading aloud.

Ellen has been reading very fluently. She has also done a great job increasing her reading comprehension skills.

Jessica is doing very well in reading. She's also done great in science and has been offering her opinion much more in class.

Perry is very smart, but has recently had trouble completing his work on time.

Kevin did very well in last weeks vocabulary and reading tests.

Iris is doing well overall. She can also be very helpful and dependable in the classroom.

Edward has a pleasant disposition, who is always pleasant and friendly, and works well with everyone.

New Years Wishes

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Years. Everyone in the Saints class have worked hard over the last few months, and I'm sure they will continue to excel in the coming weeks.

Last week we learned about correcting run on sentences in grammar class. We also reviewed vocabulary, and took our review test for weeks 1-16 for vocabulary. We also took a reading comprehension test. Most of the students did well on both tests!