Welcome Letter

Hsinchu International School

August 30^th, 2011

Dear Parents,


My name is James Anderson and I would like to welcome your child to the second grade! This is my second year at Hsinchu International School and I have been teaching elementary school children for the past 6 years.  I am originally from America, born in Pennsylvania and raised just north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  During high school I moved out west and attended Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, where I received a Batcher of Science Degree in Forestry Resources.

After university, I went to Florence, Italy, to earn my TEFL degree (Teach English as a Foreign Language).  It was there that I found my passion for teaching. I taught in Cusco, Peru and then South Korea before moving to Taiwan where I completed a Master’s Degree in Education from Framingham State University and earned an Elementary Teaching Certificate from the College of New Jersey. This is my fourth year living in the wonderful country of Taiwan. When I am not working I enjoy traveling, reading, playing ultimate frisbee, gardening, and spending time with my wife.  

To me, the best thing about being in the classroom is the children. Their enthusiasm for learning makes every class fun and challenging for me.  A student-centered approach to teaching, emphasizing learning by experience, is something I truly believe in.  By organizing the classroom in such a way that removes the “spotlight” from myself, instead focusing on the students and giving them the opportunity to participate actively in our lessons, I believe their interest in the subject matter can be inspired and stimulated. 

In my classroom students are encouraged to voice their own opinions, questions, and make connections to their real lives, making lessons meaningful to them.  By turning both the schoolyard and local community into classrooms, I feel that the gap between both the school and real lives of the students can be bridged and strengthened, adding further value to the classroom learning environment.

Being respectful, responsible, and cooperative are the three “umbrella” rules that I implement in my classroom.  They are posted on a board and are clearly visible to all students.  I have found that these rules can be applied to any situation and are effective in further establishing the community atmosphere.

I will be using a blog to communicate with you throughout the year. Some things that will be on the blog will be weekly schedule, upcoming tests dates, spelling test words, pictures, educational websites, and more. The web address is http://mranderson2ndgradeclass.blogspot.com. Please go to this website and click the “follow me” button. I make a post every Friday so please be sure to check it out. I look forward to developing a strong partnership with you over the course of the school year, which I believe can only further enhance the learning possibilities for the children.  Please feel free to email me, call me, or stop in before or after the class to if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

James Anderson

Dear Parents,

The school year has come to a close for the 2nd grade. I'd like to thank the parents for taking such an active role in your child's education. It's been a joy to watch them develop this year.

I have given the students one last worksheet with some Summer Time Activities.

You are welcome to continue to follow my blog even when your child has left the 2nd grade. Also, please feel free to email me or have your child email me over the summer and in the future.

Thank you again and have a great summer,

James Anderson

June 20-23

Good Day All,

Your child has almost completed the second grade and I have a poem for the students that I find appropriate for this time of year.

You're a very special person,
And I wanted you to know,
How much I enjoyed being your teacher.
How fast the year did go!
Please come back to visit me
As through the grades you grow,
Try hard to learn all that you can
There is so much to know!
The one thing I tried to teach you
To last your whole life through,
Is to know that you are SPECIAL
There is no one else like you!

Congratulations to the students for all the Awards they won on Friday, especially Annie who was given an award by the school librarian, Mr. Coyl, for checking out the most books in the school.

During the final week of classes we will be finishing up with some school work but also getting ready for the summer by bringing books, completed tests, projects and portfolios home.

Thursday is the last day of school and it is a half day; students will be released after lunch at 1:00pm. On Thursday we will also be having an end of the year celebration. The students may bring in snacks and drinks to share if they wish and they may bring in their personal video game players as well. We will also be having some activities throughout the day.

I will make one last blog post next week before the summer break.

Have a great week,

James Anderson

June 13-17

Hello to all on this 3rd to last blog post of the school year,

Thank you to all the parents who came in to be spectators of the students' last presentation of the year. It's been wonderful to watch how far these students have come in their presentation skills this year.

Due to a few students being sick last week and needing a little extra preparation time for the presentations we postponed the Science test until next week. Next weeks schedule is as follows:

June 13-17

Monday is the Spelling test on the following words: glance, ridge, manage, damage, since, marriage, edge, lodge, cabbage, dodge.

Tuesday will be the Science quiz of Chapter 10

Wednesday will be Math quiz on Chapter 20

* A few notes about the students' summer time off. It's important for students to continue reading, writing and learning over the summer so that they don't backtrack from the skills they have acquired, as well as readying themselves for the upcoming 3rd grade. HIS has a wonderful Summer Camp Program that is available. Your child should have brought home information on that. Also, for extra practice I have some links which can be found on my blog (and I will add some more) for extra online practice . Please visit that during the summer for some education links.

James Anderson

June 7-10

Good Day All,

It was an eventful week here at HIS. The second grade participated in the art show and the music show. Those of you who were able to watch the music show would probably agree that it was very entertaining. For the first song, the 1st and 2nd graders joined forces and sung a very heartwarming song by Micheal Jackson, "Heal the World". The second song, by Justin Bieber, was called "Never Say Never", and the students really poured their heart and soul into dancing and singing that song.

For the Art show the students unveiled their Social Studies Portfolio to the world. They have been working very hard on this all year long and are very proud of it. A few notes about the portfolio, all the entries, art work, writings, etc, has been done only by the student themselves. I just gave them guidelines and they created the rest. The portfolio is a good representation of who the student is as a second grader. I would encourage them to keep it in a safe place so they can reflect on it at when they are older. It will go home with them at the end of the year.

Dates for next week.

Monday there is no school because of Dragon Boat

Tuesday is the Spelling Quiz on the following words: village, cottage, bridge, fence, strange, chance, twice, cage, change, carriage

Thursday is the Science Quiz and Chapter 10 "Comparing Matter"

Friday (6/10) will be the students last presentation of the year. This presentation is to talk about some interesting and important facts about their home country (or country of choice), one famous person and one landmark. I would like to invited the parents in again to watch these presentations. They will begin after lunch at 1:15pm and last for approximately one hour. I will also invite the first grade class in to watch these presentations, so it will be a full classroom.

Have a great long weekend and hope to see you next Friday.

James Anderson

May 30 -June 3

Good day,

It's hard to believe that there are only four more weeks left in this school year. It's been a pleasure to see the students learn and mature so much since last September.

Even though there are only four more weeks left there is still so much I want to accomplish in class. In math we started Chapter 19 on Multiplication and Division. The link below is to a website that has a multiplication activity for extra practice at home.

http://www.multiplication.com/flashgames/Pumpkin.htm

May 30 - June 3

Monday is the Spelling Test on the following words: squid, drink, topic, track, blanket, struck, mistake, junk, squirrel, stomach

Wednesday (6/1) is the Kindergarten and sixth grade graduation which starts at 10:00am. Starting at 1:00 the whole school will be involved in the school's music performances and art show. We welcome all parents, siblings, other relatives and friends to come and watch the the music performances and view the art show. There will be music performances starting at 1:00 and lasting until 6:00. That being said all the second grade performances will be between 1:00 and 4:00 and everyone is welcomed and encouraged to stay and listening to the other music performances until 6:00. The bus will take students home at the same time (4:00pm) otherwise you can bring your children home when its convenient for you (there is no club on that day).

Thursday will be the Reading Comprehension quiz

Friday will be the Math quiz on chapter 19

Have a great weekend,

James Anderson

May 23-27

Good day to all the second grade blog followers. This was a short but sweet week here at HIS. In math we finished the Measurements Chapter and in Science finished our Solar Systems chapter.

The Spelling Bee went very well. I'm so proud of all the 2nd graders for their performance in that. Congratulations to 3rd place Tommy Kim, 2nd place Ashley Han and 1st place Jacob Juras for being the 2nd grade spelling champions!

We have a busy test week during May 23-27 and the tests are as follows:

Monday Spelling Test on the following words: shark, attack, risk, public, sink, question, electric, jacket, blank, ache

Monday Math Quiz on Chapter 18 Measurements

Wednesday Math Test on Unit 7

Wednesday Science Test on our Solar System

Thursday Handwriting quiz

Have a great weekend and please any questions you have email or call me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

James Anderson