Welcome to Week 15!

Dear Parents and Students,

This week sees us focusing on food and culture. Food is very much a part of our culture and sitting around a table filled with delicious things to eat is one of the most satisfying things to do, especially if you are with the family.

When people travel or immigrate to another country they take more than just their languages, they take their whole culture, and that includes food.

We’ll be looking at where different ‘traditional’ American foods really came from.

International food-tasting Day

I am asking parents to contribute to our class experience, by providing us with different types of ethnic food. This part of our project takes place in WEEK 17 and I will let you know your role in the finer details later in the week. This is part of our class theme and project related to Culture.

These are some of the dishes we are hoping to taste: Indian-dhal, Japanese sushi, Mexican tortilla, Greek olives, and feta cheese, German hamburgers, Peruvian potatoes, Italian/Chinese spaghetti, English apple pie…J

Experience class

We continue working on our diorama’s, passports, collage's and the excavation of the New York tenements.

As we are going on a field trip on Wednesday, we will be comparing our findings to what has been left behind by the Japanese, when they occupied Taiwan in the 1900’s.  We will also be going on a scavenger hunt and panning for gold! This will be a tiring and time-consuming trip and there will be no homework on Wednesday.

Please note that some of our students may or may not go with us on Wednesday, as they have shown by their behavior that they cannot understand the rules that keep us safe.

Final exams already, but didn’t we just complete the last one??

The midterms are over and to my surprise there seems to be a great improvement across the board! It might be me or it might be them! Who knows? Please access the semester scores on Learnboost.com.

I uploaded the scores on Learnboost.com. You need to sign up and create a parent account so that you can access your child’s scores. This is a free service. If you haven’t done so by now, please do so. Should you need the access code, please make a note in the communication book and I’ll get one to you ASAP!

We are actually blazing toward the end of the semester and the Final Exams take place in weeks 18 and 19. And then, Grade 6! I think I need a long vacation!

To be tested in the dreaded finals:

Everything from weeks 14-17

MSRS level C p70-121

To reinforce the work from Weeks 14 through 17 please utilize Spellingcity.com as well as the other resources I’ve provided in the GLOGS, to help your child prepare for the exams.

Weekly Testing and Curriculum queries

I was informed by the school that I needed to write a letter outlining how the class will get through the curriculum as there seems to be some concern as to curricular changes in the class. This is it!

I am not aware of any changes to the curriculum as we are right on schedule. So if there are, please inform me as to where and how they are being implemented without my knowledge. 

The only difference in the past two weeks is that a lot of the prep for classes is being done in my free time at home while my family sleeps.

My workload is now 5 periods more than that of the other foreign teachers on staff.

While I understand the concerns of the parents, no changes have been made to the Grade 5 curriculum or daily schedule that I know of.

On Friday after lunch, as I was getting ready for a teacher conference at Morrison Academy, I was asked by one of the students whether I was leaving again. I was polite in saying that teachers need teaching too and that I was going to a conference. At the same time, I do feel that the question was unjustified and that it was in fact not the business of a student.  

Everything is as it was.

Below is the schedule for the rest of the semester.

Week	Schedule	Vocabulary	Writing and comprehension skills	Grammar
14 5/15 -5/21	MSW level C-5, p 70-81 Story: Kim Lil’s new Home Story: Moving to America Writing: Practicing sequencing in writing. Describe how you would help someone who is new to your school and country? Phonics:	airport, recess, postcard, Korea, photograph, pop*soda, address, overcooked, speed limit, talk funny, pass the carrots, tapped, event, hundreds, born, freedom, escape, ethnic, observe*remember and celebrate, include	1. Compare and contrast 2. Fact and Opinion, 3. Asking questions about culture, economics, family life, location 4. Using story structure 5. Summarizing 6. Predict	Basic English Grammar Level P1-2 Verbs and Tenses :Transitive and intransitive verbs p115-116
15 5/22 -5/28	MSW level C-5, p86-97 Story: Ethnic Foods Story: The Food Sleuth Writing: Recipes and Ingredients- Write the recipe for something you like to eat.	dinnertime, nation, freezers, olives, chili, salsa, sleuth, delicious, mixture, frankfurter, potatoes, spread to, mashed, baked, spaghetti, pasta, tubes, meatballs, tortillas, sign off,	1. Draw conclusions 2. Previewing, context clues 3. Asking questions about cultures and food 4. Using story structure and sequencing 5. Summarizing	Basic English Grammar Level P1-2 Verbs and Tenses Phrasal verbs p117-119
16 5/29 -6/04	MSW level C-5, p98-107 Story: The Sweet Surprise Story: Menu, Please! Writing: Design a menu for a restaurant.	curious, parade, project, trade, tamale, crab cake, litchi, wok, broth, dessert, menu, kidney beans, sprinkle on, spice, condensed, cardamom, medium-sized, cashews, saucepan, tender	1. Draw conclusions 2. Previewing, context clues 3. Asking questions about cultures and food 4. Using story structure 5. Summarizing	Basic English Grammar Level P1-2 Subject-verb agreement p120-122
17 6/05 -6/11	MSW level C-5, p112-121 Story: Changing Places Story: Home to Harlem Writing: Home away from home. Using your text, explain which setting you would like to live in and why?	instant, tales, discover, pretend, historic, blacksmith, hardships, improved, period*time, Civil war, settled in, served, newsroom, business, homesick, energy, surrounded by, poetry, musician, spirit*enthusiasm	1. Finding the Main Idea 2. Previewing, Author’s purpose, prior knowledge 3. Asking questions, 4. Using story structure 5. Summarizing	Basic English Grammar Level P1-2 Adverbs :Adverbs of manner, time, frequency p123-128
18 6/12 -6/18	***REVIEW EXAM WEEK
19 6/19 -6/25	REVIEW EXAM WEEK NOT FOR TESTING ***MSW level C-5, p122-133 Story: A trip back in Time Story: Living as the Colonists did Writing: Home away from home. Using your text, explain which setting you would like to live in and why?	capital, taverns, colonial, glimpse, windmill, opposite, printing shop, century, stroll, anvil, stylish, slaves, horse-drawn, chores, skittles, flax, barrel makers, apothecary, wig makers, woodworkers	1. Finding the Main Idea 2. Previewing, Author’s purpose, prior knowledge 3. Asking questions, 4. Using story structure 5. Summarizing	Basic English Grammar Level P1-2 Adverbs of place, comparison of adverbs p129-130
20 6/26 -7/02	REVIEW Due to disruptions and other activities

 Please sign the test and PLEASE make sure that your child completes the homework (corrections) before signing off on it. They also need to complete their weekly sentences (corrections) in the writing book as some of them have neglected to do so. If you would like copies of the weekly sentences, I will put a link on the GLOG.

Homework for Week 15

Monday 星期一	□1. Read:  p86-97 □2.背英語會話Recite conversations □3.唸本週句子Read weekly sentences □4.學習單Worksheet P2 Corrections
Tuesday 星期二	□1. Read:  p86-97                 □2.背英語會話Recite conversations □3.唸本週句子Read weekly sentences □4.學習單Worksheet Corrections p5             □5.
Wednesday 星期三	NO HOMEWORK DUE TO GOLD MUSEUM FIELD TRIP!
Thursday 星期四	□1. Read:  p86-97                         □2. Review for Test tomorrow 明天考聽寫#1~20。 □3.學習單Worksheet Review vocabulary and meanings             □4. Corrections
Friday 星期五	□1. Review Grammar □2.背本週句子Recite Conversation □4.英文簿訂簽Corrections in Writing Book。 □5. Preview p98-107

Have a great week,

Carmen