Friday Update for Nov. 29th
Dear Baishan AWS Parents, Students, and Friends,
One theme that guided our activities over the past week has been that of Thanksgiving. We worked very hard to let our students take part in and learn about what this holiday means. Before our dinner, we took a few moments to think about what we are thankful for, and understand what good things there are in life and to be grateful for them.
We have started on helping our families begin the process to apply for visas to the United States so that our students can go to Tacoma later this year. It will be a very beneficial step for our whole school to learn about each experience they will have at Annie Wright, and with their host families too.
We also hope that those parents who attended our meeting this afternoon found the time well spent. It is good to see the progress our students are making in their English development, and it is good for our parents to understand what guides our instruction to meet this goal.
Have a Good Weekend,
Robert Hinman
Director
Classroom Snapshots
Art with Mr. Brandt
The Art students were able to continue working on their large project, which will be due next week. They have also documented their creative process in their journals by annotating photographs of their work and studies. Additionally, students’ vocabulary scores have improved. Well done to those students who are working hard to learn the terminology.
Math with Mrs. Hinman
Students in Accelerated Algebra II have been designing rollercoaster polynomial functions this week between making pies and preparing a Thanksgiving dinner.
Science and Math with Mr. MacKeigan
In our ninth-grade class, we looked at classifying triangles and triangle proofs. We also reviewed Newton's laws.
In our tenth-grade science class, we looked at types of energy, work, the work-energy theorem and conservation of energy.
World Geography and US History with Ms. Brauer
Our 9th grade project -- putting our knowledge of physical geography to use in a science fiction work building -- is coming to an end. Please support your 9th grader in finishing this big project by Monday! Next up: How are humans impacting the ecosystems of our planet?
The 10th graders are grappling with the compare and contrast essay format. Some are comparing Spanish and English colonization in the New World; others are comparing various early American colonies. They'll finish a draft by Tuesday, and then it's on to the American Revolution.
English with Ms. Roth
This week in English 9, we spent time on advice and instructions, including how to make a recipe. The students got a chance to help cook Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, and afterwards they put on two "Readers' Theater" plays: "The First Thanksgiving" and "A Turkey Takes a Stand." They worked hard rehearsing the plays and as a result had practice improving their pronunciation!
English 10 had a lot of special events this week, so our English time was limited. Two of the students participated in our Thanksgiving Readers' Theater and the others helped to translate summaries of the plays into Chinese, for the Chinese-speaking audience.
Baishan AWS Public Service
On Tuesday, November 26th our grade 10 students took part in a public service activity to help raise awareness of the environmental benefits of recycling. Our students made the effort to reach out to people as they passed by, brought their attention to the new efforts to reduce and re-use more material to improve all environmental conditions in Qingdao.
Despite the cold weather, our students were very positive in their engagement with the public, and we are happy to have had the opportunity to work with many residents of Qingdao.
Thanksgiving Day
Do you know anything about Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is a traditional American festival on the fourth Thursday in November. It's a holiday for the American family to get together and have a big dinner.
Speaking about a big dinner, here's some exciting news: Our school will have a big party in Ms. Baishan's house to celebrate Thanksgiving! All teachers and students will gather around and prepare the big meal. As far as I know, there will be roast turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, fruit pies and other delicious traditional Thanksgiving food. All the students have been making pumpkin pies and preparing a Thanksgiving dinner with Mrs.Hinman，Ms.Brauer and Ms.Roth's help.
I'm glad that we are living in an era of peace and have such a good opportunity to enjoy a big meal with our friends and teachers. I hope the foreign teachers can feel the warmth of home here.
by Zoey Wang
Parent Meeting
At our last parent meeting that took place on November 29th, parents were provided an overview of what steps the school is taking to improve the level of English competence of our students. An English Learning Plan, or ELP, has been created for each student, and progress will be checked at three different times over the course of the school year.
Finally, concepts such as risk taking, creativity, and divergent thinking were reviewed with parents to reinforce their understanding and importance in guiding teaching and learning at Baishan AWS.
We are always ready to help.
Baishan AWS
Qingdao, China
info@baishanaws.cn
http://aws.baishanschool.cn/index.html
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Qingdao Baishan School
Qingdao Amerasia International School 
Annie Wright Schools