October 23rd

Dear Parents,

Hi! Well, another week has passed. It's been another busy week. Actually every week is busy, but we finally got caught up in phonics, it's a lot of material to cover, but we've made a lot of progress!
On Monday we we did more addition in math. Up until now, all the kids have been using their fingers to count. I've been trying to have them count in their head recently and some of the kids are starting to make some progress.
With Halloween coming next week, we spent a lot of time Tuesday making Halloween crafts. so far this week we made a black bat, a black cat and a giant Frankenstein monster.
On Wednesday we did a lot of phonics ( mostly short a/i/o ). We had a little time left before the end of class, so we also played a few phonics games for fun. In the afternoon we started reading "The Bugs in the Bathtub". I'm really impressed with how well the kids are all doing at reading. They are all starting to really read!!!
Today ( Thursday ) we studied school in ESL class, and continued reading " Bugs in the Bathtub" in reading. And finally tomorrow ( Friday ) we should finish our phonics work for the week, and maybe continue with some reading and math if time permits.

Bonnie is doing well. She's been very helpful this week in art class.

Serena has done very well in reading and phonics.

Claire made a nice black cat and black bat in art class.

Kyle has been very active helping the other kids in class when they need assistance.

Devon and Albert have been inseparable this week. They are always playing together at playtime and sitting together during class time.

Aston has been very good this week. He continues to make improvements in all subjects...mostly math.

Eason hasn't been behaving very well this week. He's been bothering the other kids a lot and not listening very much during class.

Benson did very good this week. He's very good at phonics!

Irene is making a lot of improvements in phonics and reading.

Phil is still a little quiet, but he seems to be understanding much more in class. I think he's doing a very good job!

It's Sunny

Hello everyone!
Well, it's been another rainy week in Taipei, today seems much nicer; maybe today the kids will finally get a chance to play outside. In class we've been busy as usual. Math, science, social studies, reading, Tops, we've done it all.
In math we've continued with addition. Addition of regular numbers ( ie: 2+2=4 ), as well as basic addition with 0 ( ie: 3+0=3 ). The kids have really done well!
In reading we've continued reading "My Pup", and done the accompanying work in the workbook, primarily short U and short U words ( cup, pup, up, etc..)
In science we started learning about seeds. After finishing the reading in the science book, we did an experiment with two seeds, one with water and one without. After a few days we'll check back and see what happens.
Phonics has been a busy class. The book is pretty big, and we've been working hard to stay on track. This week we are almost finished with basic sounds from a-z. In the coming weeks we'll begin learning blended sounds, as well as concentrate harder on putting it all together for reading.
With Halloween two weeks away, we also made several decorations for class. I think the kids are starting to get excited. So far we made spiders and pumpkins.....


Devon, Aston and Albert have been getting into trouble this week. At the end of playtime or class time when it comes time to clean up the three of them rush to line up and don't help clean.Many teachers have talked to them about it, but they are still being naughty. On Wednesday they had to pick up all the toys by themselves, hopefully they will start to help at clean up time.
Serena and Bonnie are very creative. The two of them really enjoy art class, and always make the nicest crafts.
Claire has done very well in reading and writing class. Actually she's surprised me with how well she can read and understand the book work in phonics and reading. Many of the kids need a little assistance to get started, but Claire seems to pick it up very quickly and always does a great job!
Kyle is doing great in math class. He's a natural! He understands the concepts very quickly and is always able to do most of the work on his own.
Phil has been showing a lot of improvement recently. He's been raising his hand more in class, and is more eager to talk.
Eason is also doing well. he's very smart and knows a lot of English vocabulary.
Benson loves listening to stories. He also has been doing well in phonics and reading.
Irene is speaking much more. It's good to see her have more confidence in herself. It deffinitly shows in class. She's doing a wonderful job!

Summer has ended and the rainy fall has begun. It's been a wet week at Tree House. Just a reminder that tomorrow, October 10th ; there will be no school.

This week we learned about patterns in math class, we read................ in reading class, in phonics class we started studying short a and i sounds, and finally in science class we learned about the parts of a plant.

Kyle has been doing great! He is always wel behaved, and he continues to excell at hs school work. Well done, Kyle!

Aston has been paying attention more in class. It's beginning to show in his class work. He's doing much better in math and phonics!

Devon did well this week. He especially enjoyed story time, and the new books we've been reading.

Albert has done very well this week.He has really started to mature, and is able to behave himself much more in class.

Claire is doing well, but has missed a lot of work this week. I worry she will fall behind the other kids with her class work.

Bonnie has done great in reading class. She's starting to read much more, and really enjoys sharing her reading skills with everyone.

Serena has also improved a lot in reading. She's shown a lot of confidence, and is always one of the first students to volunteer to read.

Irene does better each week. She used to be so shy and quiet, now she is much more talkative and active during class time. She is doing great!

Benson does very well in phonics and reading. He's also helpful with the other students, and always eager to assist.

Phil is still very quiet. I think he understands more, he's just very shy and hesitant in class. I know he's trying hard though, and I'm sure he will start talking more any day now...

Eason was a little bad last week, but he has really calmed down this week, and also has been doing really well on his class work. He's a very smart boy.

Photos

A short week...

Hi Everyone!

I had a wonderful vacation, but it's good to be back. Unfortunately this week was cut short by the typhoon on Monday, so we've been racing to make up for lost time.

I've spent the majority of time this week picking up where teacher Paul left off. In math class we've been doing less than/ greater than. The majority of the kids seem to have picked it up quickly. A few are still struggling to grasp the concept, but I'm sure with some extra practice they will eventually understand it. In science we've been learning about living things. More specifically, plants and the different parts of a plant and what they do. In phonics we've been studying short I......hid, mit, bit, sit, kid, etc....And in reading we read the story " Ships" and "A Year Later".

Aston has had a difficult time understanding greater than and less than. We've gone over it a lot in class, but when it comes time to do his book work, he struggles quite a bit. We've been working on it during his free time, hopefully his extra work will start to pay off.
Kyle is doing great! He is starting to show a lot of improvements in reading, and he is doing an exceptional job in math. Well done Kyle!
Devon is also having trouble in math class. Like Aston, he seems to understand less than greater than during practice time; it's just when we start the book work that he falls behind and becomes confused. I've been working with him, so hopefully he will start to understand the concept better.
Albert has been doing really well with reading. He can read almost anything you give him!I'm very impressed...
Bonnie's reading is coming along nicely. She's always eager to volunteer to read. She's becoming a very good reader!
Serena has been doing great in math class. Not only has she learned the new concepts quickly, but she's also able to assist the other kids as well!
Claire enjoyed learning about plants in science class. She was very attentive and had a lot of questions to ask. She was also able to offer a lot to the class discussion.
Irene continues to do good. She's been speaking much more in class and has made great improvements in her book work as well.
Benson is slowly starting to speak more. He was very quiet a few weeks ago, but now he is trying more and has made more of an effort to talk in class.
Phil is still very quiet. I think it might just take some more time. He does very well on his book work though, and I can see the effort he's putting into his learning.