Dear Parents,
In two weeks' time, your child would have completed his or her first term in school. Bravo! The question is: How does my child fare? Does he or she behave well, pay attention during lessons? Any area of concern? These must be some of the questions that you would like to find out from your child's teachers.
Today, I have given your child a form for you to complete with regards to the meet-the-parents session scheduled on 9-10 March. Kindly indicate on the form your preference to be updated about your child, either to meet me in person on 9 or 10 March, or by phone, or via email. I had gotten the children to write the due date of submission of the form on their school diaries, which is 3 March. You should be able to receive the acknowledgment slip by next Thursday.
Looking back at these 2 months with them, I would say that most of them have settled down well, and look forward to coming to school. They are really kind and helpful to everyone around them. Some of the children are really role models that the teachers would praise in front of the class to encourage other children to follow.
In this respect, the children are awarded praise slips for exhibiting good behaviour, such as being respectful and responsible. The class as a whole also works towards achieving the "Best Class" award in the P1 cohort. This form of positive reinforcement really motivates young children to produce neat work and desirable behaviour.
I am heartened to see the children improving on their work quality and remembering to push in their chairs before they are dismissed. They also care for each other in the way that helps the child. For example, when someone forgets to bring his wallet and has no money to buy food, he would be accompanied by one or more classmates to "consult"me for money. Rather than borrowing money from their friends who have daily allowances enough for themselves, they are considerate and caring. It also instills a sense of responsibility in them to remember to return the money to the teacher and not forgetting to remind their parents to give them daily allowances. :)
On the other hand, a few children need to be taught the way to help others. For example, in an attempt to return something that he or she has found to the owner, or simply to pass the completed work to the group leader, or the group leader, when passing books to his group members, the child throws the object to the owner. Thus, one has to demonstrate to the class the correct way of giving or returning something to another person, by going forward to the person and communicate to the person that he or she is handling the object to the person.
Nevertheless, it has been an enjoyable term for the class. As I reflect back, I also realised that I have not done enough activities with the children. For next term, I hope to be able to inject more activities into the Chinese lessons, as engaged learning would be more meaningful and more beneficial to the children. Parents, if you have more ideas on engaged learning, kindly email me too. I would be most willing to try out your little tricks that you do at home to make your child to love Chinese.:)
Have an enjoyable weekend!
