Happy New Year

We have a short week this week at Tree House. With such a short week, and 2008 quickly coming to a close; for my last blog of the year I've decided to reflect on all we've done this past year.
In the American tradition of top tens I've put together my own top ten list of most memorable Tree House moments of 2008...

10. The Hi-Chew candy factory
9. The safety center for Taipei's MRT
8. Aston and Albert singing " You've got to move it, move it..." again and again and again and...
7. Every time we went to the park for P.E. class
6. The " Be an Artist" auction
5. Thanksgiving lunch
4. The Children's Recreation Center
3. The 3 Little Pigs graduation performance
2. The Christmas Performance
1. The Halloween haunted house

Eason's Birthday Party

December 26th

Hello Panda Parents,
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I know all the kids had a nice December....we made snowmen, Santa Clauses, snow flakes, candy canes, reindeer and Christmas stockings.Now that Christmas is over we've got a lot of work ahead of us before the Chinese New Year's break.
This week we did our usual routine of math on Monday and Tuesday mornings. We're still working on addition; however, starting next week we'll start learning about subtraction. In the afternoon on Monday we re- read Greg's Mask, and also started the new story Sam's Song. On Tuesday we worked on phonics. We're almost finished with new material in phonics class and we should begin reviewing within a week or two. On Wednesday we celebrated Christmas by watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and Shrek the Halls.
Today ( Friday ) we had P.E. class and went to the park for some needed exercise. In the afternoon we'll continue reading Sam's Song and also do work in the reading workbook.

I'd like to wish Eason a happy birthday!

Benson did very well in reading class.

Irene is doing great with all her work!

Phil had fun watching Shrek the Halls on Wednesday.

Aston has fun at the park on Friday.

Kyle made a beautiful Christmas tree in art class.

Devon has been doing very well in math class.

Serena is getting so good at reading that she wants to read stories to the class during reading time.

Claire had a lot of fun exercising at the park.

Bonnie is doing very well in reading class, but she's been having a little trouble in math class. She's been struggling a bit with addition. I think she'll do fine with a little practice though....

Albert is still having a little bit of trouble in math class as well. He could also use a little extra practice....

Hi Parents,
One more day until our Christmas performance! It's been a long time coming, and I'm sure the kids are looking forward to tomorrow. They have all practiced very hard, and I know they will do an excellent job tomorrow. Most of this week has been spent practicing for Friday, or trying to get caught up in math class.
On Monday we learned about the different combinations of 10. ( 4=6, 3=7, 8=2, etc..) In the afternoon we did phonics review. On Tuesday we practiced for our show and made Christmas decorations in art class. On Wednesday we continued studying math in the morning, and in the afternoon we went to the public library for our first trial run for Friday's performance.
Today ( Thursday ) we'll do more math in the morning, and practice for the show in the afternoon.
And finally on Friday we'll read the story Stan's Stunt in reading class, and study phonics in the afternoon.

Serena is doing very well. She's been attentive in class, and continues to do well in both math and phonics.

Claire is very cute in the play we're doing. She should do very well on Friday!

Bonnie has also been doing really well rehearsing for the Christmas play. She should steal the show!

Aston has been a little silly recently. He's been entertaining all the kids with his silliness all week.

Albert has really improved his handwriting. He's starting to write much more neatly and clearly.

Devon continues to do well in math class.

Irene is starting to write sentences in phonics class.

Benson is talking more in class.

Phil is doing great overall.

Eason has been a little naughty during the Christmas show rehearsals. I hope he'll try to do a good job tomorrow.

And finally...Congragulations!!! Kyle is now a big brother. Kyle's mom had a baby girl early this morning.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner, and we've been busy preparing for our Christmas party next Friday. So far everyone is doing really well! When we haven't been singing or rehearsing, we've also had a little time to do some classwork...On Monday we worked on addition in math class. Most of the kids understand the concepts and are able to do pretty well. In the afternoon on Monday we did the phonic sound for short E ( hen, ten, sled, bed, net, men )
On Tuesday we studied living things like mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects in science class. In the afternoon in art class we made reindeer and Santa Clauses.
On Wednesday we did more addition in math class. In the afternoon we read Circus Stunts, Stan's Stunts, Drips! Drops! and Greg's Mask. In the afternoon we had rehearsal for the Christmas play.
Today ( Thursday ) we continued doing addition in math class in the morning. In the afternoon we'll do Tops and ESL.
Tomorrow ( Friday ) we'll study more phonics, reading and math.

Aston is having trouble paying attention during math class. I think he understands the concepts, but he looses concentration and gets easily confused.

Albert is doing better at math. He's also done very well with reading and phonics, and his hand writing has improved dramatically! He's doing very well!

Devon has done really well this week at math. He's picked up addition very quickly, and he continues to do very well in phonics.

Kyle made a great Santa Clause in art class.

Claire is doing really well reading. She's made a lot of progress in such a short time.

Serena is amazing at math. She's very fast solving the problems, and is usually always correct with all her answers!

Bonnie should do a great job at next week's Christmas play. She knows all her lines, and has a lot of confidence on stage.

Phil, Phil, Phil...what can I say about Phil? Phil is a great kid. He's been very good this week. Still quiet, but he tries hard, and he's always well behaved in class.

Benson did well in reading class this week.

Irene wrote a nice card to Santa Clause. She also made a great Santa Clause.

And last but not least....Eason. Eason has been behaving much better recently. He's been trying to behave more in class and seems more focused.

Some Silly Pictures.....

Hi Parents,
I hope everyone is having a good week. I feel like I'm always saying this, but we've had another busy week at Tree House. We've been hard at work learning our Christmas songs and practicing the Christmas play every morning. The kids have really enjoyed singing the songs! The play is also coming along nicely. They have all worked hard, and their effort really shows.
On Monday afternoon we started learning the phonic sound E ; we also reviewed reading all the short stories we've read in reading class up to this point. We had an informative day on Tuesday for Career Day. We were lucky enough to have Lauren's mom, Marcus's dad, Rain's dad, Teacher John, and Ethan's father come to Tree House and share their job information with all the kids. In the afternoon we made snowmen for art class while some of the other kids were in Chinese class.
Wednesday morning we practiced the songs and play again, and in the afternoon we started reading a new story about a skunk....Afterwards we worked on more phonics.
On Thursday we continued learning addition. Most of the kids have picked it up pretty quickly, and it's great to see how well they have improved in such a short time. Thursday afternoon we will focus on phonics again, and on Friday we will do Tops and science......

Devon is doing well. He's understanding addition a little more, and he seems to also enjoy the Christmas songs we're learning.

Aston was good this week. He made a really nice snowman in art class. ( He's been talking about snowmen for a month now.)

Albert has been very good this week. He was really happy to get 4 stars yesterday.

Kyle has been feeling a little sick this week. I hope he feels better soon.

Claire has been doing great in math class.

Bonnie has done an excellent job on the play. She should make a wonderful Gingerbread Woman.

Serena made some beautiful snowflakes in art class.

Irene is doing much better in reading class. She's starting to be more confident, and her reading is improving nicely.

Benson is doing well in phonics class.

Eason has done a great job this week. He's been behaving much better!

Phil did very good this week. He's made a nice snowman in art class.