Dec 3-7

What a week!

In Math, we are continuing to learning aspects of Plane Shapes.  Next
week we will conclude this chapter and start Chapter 8 Solid Shapes.

This week in Science the students have been busy preparing for their
Animal Presentations.  The students did a wonderful job with
presentations.  I was impressed with their effort.  Well done!  Please
see the pictures below.  I look forward to working more with the
students to improve their presentations skills as the year progresses.
* Towards the end of the year, I will invite the parents in to see the
students' presentations.

Next week we will start Unit 4 in Social Studies titled People Long
Ago.  Each student will make a family tree.  This assignment may
require your assistance for spelling family names and birthdays of
some of your relatives.

For Reading, we will read "A Trip to the Firehouse" from the
Adventures book next week.

Next week is also Literacy Week at HIS.  We have lots of things
planned for the class that will focus on all things "literary".  We
will be concluding our first big chapter book "The Witches" by Roald
Dahl.  We will also have a class competition to make a poster/book
report on your favorite book.  I will pass out the posters to the
students on Friday (11/30) and this assignment is to be completed at
home by the student alone.  Posters are due on Wednesday (12/5).   The
students' work will be judged by Mrs. Welz and myself on the following
criteria - written content, grammar, artistic ability, and effort.

There will also be two book sales next week. Please see the schedule below.
December 5th - HIS Book Sale in Foyer, 8:30AM - 5:00PM
December 6th - Cave's Book Sale in foyer 15% off - 8:30AM - 5:00PM
December 7th - Spelling Bee Assembly, 2:20PM - 3:00PM, Students
present work, competition winners awarded

Regarding the Spelling Bee, please see my post on 11/26 for
information.  The second grade class will compete at 1:10PM on Friday.
 Parents are welcome to come and support the students and stay for the
school assembly at 2:20PM to close out Literacy Week.  The Book Report
awards will be given out during this time as well.

Congratulations to Ayden Smith for being this week's Student of the
Week.  Ayden always takes good care with his work and has become much
more responsible in the class.  Keep up the good work!

December 3-7

Spelling - New words: dancing, skipped, hiking, flipped, snapping,
checking, dimmed, wasting, traced, fainted;  bonus words: symmetry,
vertex, rhombus, trapezoid, acute angle

Wednesday - Book Report Poster is due

Thursday - Math Chapter 7 quiz

Friday - Spelling Bee at 1:10PM

Animal Research Project Presentation

Well Done!

11/30 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
English Journal "If you could choose a superpower to have for a day, which would you select? Describe in detail your activities as a superhero.",
Spelling Review for quiz and Spelling Bee,

* Start book report. Due on Wednesday.

11/29 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
Math WB 7.7,
Science Practice for presentation tomorrow,

*Tests sign and return.

11/28 Homework

Homework; Read for 20 minutes,
Math WB 7.6,
Science Practice for presentation using note-card,
Science review for chapter 2 quiz

11/27 Homework

Homework; Read for 20 minutes,
Math WB 7.4-7.5,
Reading WB 185-189

Happy Birthday Veronica!

11/26 Homework and Spelling Bee information

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
Spelling Write sentences for new words; dancing, skipped, hiking, flipped, snapping, checking , dimmed, wasting, traced, fainted. Bonus Words; symmetry, vertex, rhombus, trapezoid, acute angle.
Reading WB 179-182

Below are the rules and words for the Spelling Bee that will be held on 12/7.

*Not all of the words in the list will be used in the Spelling Bee. There will also be additional words not on the lists as we do want this to be a spelling competition rather than just a memory test.

November 26-30

The second grade class is thankful for all the parents who brought in food to share this week.  What a great feast we all had on Thursday!

Grade 2 been busy with their animal research projects for the science class. Next week we will be making a poster and the students will present their animal to the class on Friday afternoon . This will also conclude the chapter of study on Animals. 

In Math, we have been learning many new vocabulary words for shapes. There have been so many new words that we have constructed our own Math Dictionary Book to keep track of them all. Next week we will continue with Chapter 7. 

In Reading this week we started a new unit "Neighborhoods" and read a story "China Town". Speaking of reading, December 3-7 will be Literacy Week for H.I.S. We have many things planned for this week including the Spelling Bee (word list will be handed out soon) on Friday and a competition in the second grade class for the best book report poster. More information to come on these next week.

In English, the students completed the unit of study on Nouns and Pronouns and next week we will start Unit 4 when the students will be writing their own story. 

Congratulations to Abigail Kang for being this week's Student of the Week. Abigail is always excited to learn and makes a strong effort with her classwork. Keep it up!

November 26-30

Monday: Spelling Quiz (new words: total, eagle, middle, special, bottle, double, towel, battle, trouble, cattle; bonus words: triangle, rectangle, circle, pentagon, hexagon)

Tuesday Reading quiz 

Wednesday Handwriting quiz

Thursday Science Quiz on Chapter 2

Friday School Assembly in the library at 2:20. Parents, as always are welcome to attend. 

Best Wishes,

James Anderson

2nd Grade Teacher

Hsinchu International School

November 23

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
English Journal "Describe a fantasy day in your life. Where you can do anything you want.",
Reading WB 176-178,
Spelling Review for quiz

11/22 Homework

Homework; Read for 20 minutes
Reading WB 170-175

11/21 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
English Review for Unit 3 quiz on nouns,
Math WB 7.3,
Reading Comprehension WB "Homework"

* For Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow, parents please arrive at school as close to 12:30 as possible. The secondary students will be using the cafeteria until 12:30, then we will be able to set up for the Thanksgiving lunch. The lunch will finish around 2:00pm. Thank you in advance for your support. Gobble Gobble!

11/20 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
English Grammar WB 31-34,
Math WB 7.1-7.2
Reading WB 165-168

11/19 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
Spelling Write sentences for new words; total, eagle, middle, special, bottle, double, towel, battle, trouble, cattle Bonus Words; triangle, rectangle, circle, pentagon, hexagon
English Grammar WB 25-27

November 19-23

This week was highlighted by Fun Day (or fun afternoon) on Wednesday. 
The students seemed to really enjoy doing all the activities created by the 6th
grade students. A big thank you to all the parents for coming out to support the children.


In Math Class this week we completed the unit of study on Number
Concepts and Patterns. Well done to all students on this unit! Next
week in Math we will start Chapter 7 - Plane Shapes. There will be lots of new

Math vocabulary words that we will be learning this chapter related to shapes.

In English, we will complete unit 3 on Nouns and
Pronouns. We will have a quiz on this next Thursday.

In Science we started a new chapter on Animals. Next week we will
continue with this subject, focusing on mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds
and how animals have adapted. We will also start a research
project on animals. Each student will pick one animal and conduct
research, put it on a poster and present their animal to the class.
The presentations will start the last week in November.

In Reading this week we read and discussed five different fables. Feel
free to ask your child which was their favorite and if they can
remember all the morals in the stories. Next week we will start a new
unit of study, "Around Town, Neighborhood and Community". We
will read and discuss a story called, "China Town."

Congratulations to Keiji Tung for being this weeks' Student of the
Week. He has shown great improvement in contributions to class
discussions by raising his hand and by always asking when he is unsure
of the answer.

Next week is Thanksgiving. We all have many things to be thankful for.
During the week the second grade class will reflect on what they are
thankful for. Also thank you to all the parents for volunteering to
bring food in for the school's Thanksgiving Celebration. It will start
on Thursday (11/22) at 12:30 in the cafeteria. It will last about an
hour and a half.

November 19-23

Monday - Spelling: write sentences for new words; sailor, doctor, weather, suffer, temper, cellar, collar, beggar, solar, feather (Bonus Words; mammal, reptile, amphibian, reed, blurry)

Thursday - English Unit 3 test on Nouns and Pronouns

Thursday - Thanksgiving Lunch 12:30 - 2:00

Have a great weekend!

James Anderson

2nd Grade Teacher
Hsinchu International School

11/16 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
Journal "Describe a typical day in your life. Use 2 sensory details (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) to make your daily experience come to life.
Spelling Review for quiz

11/15 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
Math Review for Chapter 5 and 6 quiz,
English 29,30,
Reading WB 160-162

* Sign Reading Quiz

11/14 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
English Grammar WB 19, 21, 22, 23,
Science WB A49 (as much as you can) A50

11/13 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes,
Reading Comprehension WB "The Pet Store",
English - Grammar WB 27-28

* Fun day is tomorrow afternoon (1:15 - 2:55). If the children have the same color clothes as their team color they should wear them but if they do not have that color it is fine, just wear comfortable sports clothes. All the students will receive a headband with their teams color on it.
All students should bring their water bottle and PE shoes. Hat's, sun screen and layered clothes are up to your discretion. If it rains, Fun Day will take place on 11/21. Looking forward to fun afternoon of activities.

11/12 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes
Spelling Write sentences for new words; sailor, doctor, weather, suffer, temper, cellar, collar, beggar, solar, feather Bonus Words; mammal, reptile, amphibian, reed, blurry
Math Review for chapter 6 quiz
Reading WB 156-159


* For the Thanksgiving Celebration many parents have
volunteered to bring in a "Bread" dish.  So far no one has signed up
to bring in sweet potatoes or pies (dessert). Would 
anyone who signed up to bring in a "Bread" dish be willing to switch 
to one of these? 
If you haven't returned the form yet, please do so by 
11/13 so I may find out how many people will be coming. Thank you.

November 12-16

It was wonderful to talk with so many of you during parent/teacher
meetings this week. If you would like to follow up with anything we
discussed please call between 3:00-4:00 pm, write me an email or drop
in before or after class.

It has been a busy week.  For next week we will continue with our
school work as well as having a "Fun Day" on Wednesday afternoon.
Please see my blog post earlier in the week to help remind your child
what color they should wear that day and to see which team they are
on. Please come along to cheer for the students.

In Math, we continued with Chapter 6 "Number Concepts and Patterns."
Next week we will complete this chapter, review and take the Unit 2
quiz (Chapters 5 and 6).

In English we continued to focus on Nouns and Pronouns.  In Reading
next week we will focus on Fables.

This week in Social Studies we concluded Unit 2, "The World Around Us."
The students were interested in this chapter and raised many great
follow-up questions. Well done!

Next week we will start a new Science unit, "Animals Are Living
Things". During this chapter of study the students will give a class
presentation on an animal of their choice. More information to
come....

Thanksgiving Celebration Forms have gone home with your child this
week. Thank you for returning them so quickly. Many parents have
volunteered to bring in a "Bread" dish.  So far no one has signed up
to bring in sweet potatoes or pies and only one for a meat dish. Would 
anyone who signed up to bring in a "Bread" dish be willing to switch 
to an item above that our class is missing?

Congratulations to Veronica Kuo for being this week's Student of the
Week. Veronica has been taking good care when completing school work.
Keep it up.

November 5-9
Monday - Spelling Quiz on railroad, airport, everywhere, homesick,
understand, anything, ourselves, forever, breakfast, whenever. (Bonus
Words: equator, pole, hemisphere, pierce, novel)

Monday Social Studies quiz on unit 2

Tuesday - Math Chapter 6 quiz

Tuesday - Reading quiz on vocabulary

Friday - Unit 2 test (Chapter 5 and 6)

Best Regards,

James Anderson

Homework 11/9

Homework: Read for 20 minutes
Math Review for quiz
Social Studies Review for chapter 2 quiz
Spelling Review for quiz
Reading Journal "Have you ever had to apologize for something you did? How did you fell before and after the apology?

Homework 11/8

Homework: Read for 20 minutes
Math WB 6.6
English Grammar WB 24-26
Reading sign and return quiz

Fun Day Teams with what color they should wear. 1:15 - 2:55 Nov. 14th

Homework 11/7

Homework: Read for 20 minutes
Math WB 6.5
Reading Comprehension WB

* Please compete the H.I.S. Thanksgiving Celebration Form and return by Monday November 12th.

11/6 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes
Math WB 6.4
Reading WB 142-150

11/5 Homework

Homework: Read for 20 minutes
Spelling Write words for new words: railroad, airport, everywhere, homesick, understand, anything, ourselves, ourselves, forever, breakfast, whenever Bonus Words: equator, pole, hemisphere, pierce, novel
Math WB 6.3

* Please return the Parent/Teach Pre-Conference forms if you haven't done so already.  Also if you are going to be late or can't make the meeting please let me know via email.