Feb 27

We’ve had a very fun week. We took advantage of the nice weather on Wednesday to go to the park with Teacher Scott’s Panda class. We played with the basketball and did some relay races. We all had fun at the Children’s Art Museum on Tuesday and we’ve been working on fine motor skills in our arts and crafts segment this morning.

Lily has been doing very good work in class. I will talk to her about “White Lies” and about how sometimes, not telling the whole truth is the same as telling a lie. It will be a good exercise for the whole class.

Lauren had a bit of a scare yesterday. While she was playing, she bumped into another girl. The other girl fell over and cut open her lip. They both should be more careful, but I do think it was an accident. Regardless, Lauren was a little shaken up afterwards. I will talk to her about it today.

Esther has been continuing in much the same manner. She does solid work in class. From time to time, I have to remind her not to chat with her friends when she has finished her work.

Sunny has been very focused in class this week and her reading is improving considerably. Keep it up!

Jerry does solid work in class and has continued to ask lots of questions outside of class. He brings a very positive work ethic towards language learning. Keep it up.

Frank has been putting forth a good effort in class. He still needs some extra time to pick up new ideas I math, but he does get it when he puts in the effort.

Carson has been making great improvements in class. He has grown into a real science wiz and often answers comprehension questions that nobody else can.

Henry has been doing better but he still needs to focus in class. He has a lot more trouble with reading than his classmates and thus really needs to focus in class each day.

Tricia’s continuing to do stellar work. Keep it up!

I spoke to Teacher Paul about Eliza’s hearing. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I will pay special attention to her in that regard.

February 20

This semester, so far, we have a few big points to focus on. Students should be speaking and writing in full sentences, not with one word answers. We should be conjugating present tense verbs properly in the first and third person. Question words should go at the beginning of the sentences. No more “Chinglish” sentence patterns. A few students still need to improve their handwriting and fine motor skills. We are also beginning to devote a portion of morning circle time towards using the past and future tense accurately in conversational situations. This week, we worked on our large motor skills and hand eye coordination during PE class on the basketball court. We have been continuing to work with larger numbers, up to 100 in math class. We began reading a new story called The Shrinking Mouse and a poem called The Peach. We’ve been learning about solids and liquids in science class. Next week we will move on to gasses.

Sunny has shown a very positive work ethic this week. As a result, she has been very productive and made lots of progress.

Frank picks up new ideas a little slowly sometimes and that is OK, but he needs to put in an extra effort to focus in class. Without reminders, he often spaces out.

Jerry brings a great work ethic ad a positive attitude to class every day. Keep it up!

Lauren’s fine motor skills are improving. She is beginning to take more care over her work. She was the first student to score a basket in our PE class on Wednesday.

Esther has developed very fine penmanship to compliment her strong, independent work ethic. She was a real star when we played basketball in PE class. She's a born natural. Great work!

Lily’s vocabulary has improved significantly. I can tell that she is beginning to use words that she has learned in teacher Andy’s class. Her energy level seems to have returned after a short snag last week. Keep up the great work!

Tricia brings enthusiasm and a positive attitude to class each day. Her spoken English is improving considerably as a result of her outgoing attitude.

Eliza has remained a little withdrawn in class. Each day, it takes her a considerable amount of time to wake up. She still doesn’t feel comfortable expressing herself in the English language. She is polite and attentive in class, but she stays very quiet and tries to answer questions with single words instead of complete sentences. I’ll keep my eye on her and try to bring her out of her shell. The only way to learn the English language is to actually speak English.

Henry needs to focus in class every day. He put in a very concerted effort yesterday after getting into trouble for chatting and not paying attention the day before. This is becoming a cycle. I’d like to see him putting in that type of effort every day, not just for a few classes after he gets in big trouble.

Carson is doing great work in class and making positive progress. Keep up the strong work ethic!

I’m still rather amazed by the car Frank brought into show and tell. When he told me it walks on walls, I thought he was joking. He’s been focused this week and been making good progress.

Jerry has been in very high spirits. He has been doing good work and has been focused in class. I wrote before that Jerry had been getting a little bossy with the other students, telling them what to do as if he were a teacher. He has made great improvements in this area and isn’t doing that anymore.

Lauren has brought a great attitude to class each day this week. She has been positive and focused. Keep up the good work!

Lily has been doing very good work these days. She has made such extraordinary progress over the last few months. I was very happy to see that she brought in that book last week and asked questions. Any time she would like to bring in something for us to read in class, she is more than welcome to do so.

Sunny has, for the most part, been doing very good work this week. She got into a little bit of trouble for talking in class earlier this week. I think she understood why she was punished and don’t expect it to be an issue again. Otherwise, she has been focused and well behaved.

Esther has been doing solid work this week. I was very happy to see that she brought in two books for show and tell today. We will try to find time to read them this afternoon.

Tricia returned to class in very high spirits. She’s a real joy to have in class. I’m looking forward to having her for another semester.

Eliza was well behaved and focused in class this week. She’s always much quieter during the first half of class than the second. Maybe she’s just slow to wake up from naptime. I’d like to see her be a little more outgoing and speak up in class. Sometimes it is very hard to hear what she is saying.

Carson has being doing very good work in class. He is focused and hard working. His reading is progressing but his reading comprehension is really top notch. He’s often the only student to fully understand the science reading the first time through.

Henry has been better in class this week. I’d still like to see him paying more attention while other students are reading. He always moves his finger along with the book, but sometimes I can tell that he’s just moving his finger, not really following along mentally.

Welcome back and Happy New Year!

Welcome back everyone! I hope you had a wonderful and rejuvenating holiday. I know I did. We’ve been getting right back into the swing of things. We enjoyed reading a few new poems, learned about hide and seek and read lovely story about the Seven Sillies. I we all agree that the real seven Seven Sillies are the Armadillo Class.

Lily has been in good spirits and focusing in class but she looks a little out of sorts. She seems like she has a little bit less energy than usual. I noticed that she had a bit of a rash. Is everything OK?

Lauren has been in very high spirits. She has been focused and alert in class and very well behaved. Keep up the good work.

Esther has been doing solid work, especially during math class. She picks up new material very quickly. Great work.

Sunny has been coming to school with a very positive attitude this week. It’s wonderful to see the transformation between the first few months of class and now. Keep up the good work!

Jerry has been doing solid work. He still goes out of his way to tell me stories about his weekend and loves talking about his father. He was very welcoming to some boys who visited our class the other day. Thank you for that.

Frank has continued to improve in class. His motor skills, small and large, are improving, but he has a long ways to go. We’ll keep working on it.