Baishan AWS Weekly Newsletter Sep 13th

September 13th, 2019

 

Dear Baishan AWS Parents, Students, and Friends,

Our word of the week has been routines. We are working hard to develop in our students, routines that will make them successful in school. From doing homework, wearing the Annie Wright uniform, to understanding their class schedules, routines play an important role in our student’s lives. Our students have engaged themselves in working to meet these changes and adapt to them.

 

I want to be clear that if a parent has any question about the school, they should feel free to ask it. Questions about class content, homework, and grading policies will be reviewed in a parent meeting coming up during the week of the 23rd. We have sent a quick survey to families to see what time is best.

 

We had a productive visit from Mr. Christian Sullivan, the Head of Schools at Annie Wright in Tacoma. Mr. Sullivan had many opportunities to visit classes, meet the teachers, and learn more about how life is going at AWS.

 

During our meetings together, we decided that in order to help our students improve their English even faster, that we will begin to work on planning student visits to Tacoma over the course of this school year.  Students can live with a host family and experience a total immersion in the English Language. Mr. Sullivan will begin working on these plans as soon as he returns to Tacoma later this week. Once we have concrete plans, we will start to work on the details with our families.

 

During the week of September 23rd, we will also schedule individual meetings with parents and myself. We will spend 30 minutes together to talk, explain, and learn together. Iris will send you all a sign- up sheet later next week.

 

Here is the link to our student newsletter, “Annie Writes”. Our students, working with Ms. Brauer, have worked hard to give you all another window to life at school.

https://sway.office.com/MLAFPTJ2dqz4I9Ry?ref=Link

 

We hope you enjoy it and we wish you all a relaxing time for the mid-autumn festival.

 

Robert Hinman

Director

Humanities Classes

In World Geography, each 9th grade student received a progress report this week. Please ask them to talk about this report with you! They have an important assignment due on Monday to add points to their test scores.

 

In US History, the 10th graders made their first big presentations last week. By Monday they should finish a first draft of their first half-page essay. This week we will be working hard on writing skills.

       

Students are learning the foundations of observational drawing by studying the history of vanitas still life paintings —  a specific style of art that first began in Europe during the 1500s and have now been reintroduced with modern symbols.  Students will begin creating their artwork using the objects brought from home that represent the fragility of life.

Students in Mrs. Hinman's math class worked on Linear Equations. Students were also learning how to access the class content online and understanding how IXL is to be used for the class.

In 9th grade English, the main focus in the coming weeks will be on English language acquisition and in supporting students with the vocabulary, grammar, and language skills that they will need in their subject classes.

 

In 10th grade English, we will be working for the next seven weeks to explore questions of why people write down their personal stories. Why do people write memoirs, personal essays, and even blogs. We started this week watching, and reading, Ted Talks, trying to decide what makes people stand up in front of hundreds of people and give a speech--and what is author's purpose? Throughout the unit, students will read the stories of others as well as having a chance to write their own.

We are always ready to help.

Baishan AWS

Qingdao, China

info@baishanaws.cn

http://aws.baishanschool.cn/index.html