Redding School of the ArtsMandarin Immersion Program

Welcome Students and Parents toMrs. Hemeon’s & Ms. Kang’s 3rd

grade Mandarin Immersion Program

School HoursSchool begins at 8:00

The morning recess bell will ring at 7:55. Students need to be in the classroom at 8:00. The students will wait outside the classroom until the teachers open the classroom door. Mrs. Hemeon and I have a red or blue sign on the door to indicate what group of students we have.

Schedule- Mrs. Hemeon8-8:10 Greetings/Attendance 8:10-9:05 Envision Math/Science/ Social Studies 9:05-9:20 Recess9:20- 10:05 Music /Reading10:05-10:55 Music/Reading1o:55 -11:35 Lunch ~Switch groups ~11:35-12:15 Music/Reading 12:15 -12:55Music/Reading12:55-1:50 Math1:50-2:05 Recess2:05-2:30 Social Studies

2:30-3:00 4th grade reading

Elective Wheel Thursdays and Fridays 1:00-1:50Aug/Sept-DanceOct. –Art Nov. -PE Dec.-Dance Jan-Art Feb.-PEMarch-Dance April-Art May-Drama

Schedule- Ms. Kang8:00-8:10 Greetings/Attendance8:10-9:05 Math 9:05-9:20 Recess9:20-10:05 Mandarin10:05-10:55 Mandarin10:55-11:35 Lunch~Switch groups~11:35-12:15 Mandarin 12:15-12:55 Mandarin12:55-1:50 Recess1:50-2:05 Math/Elective2:05-2:30 Mandarin2:30-3:00 4th grade*Thurs. & Fri. 1:00-1:50

3rd grade Enrichment classAugust/September- P.E.October- DanceNovember- ArtDecember- P.E.January- DanceFebruary- ArtMarch-DramaApril- DanceMay- Art

AcademicsSocial Studies Themes

The themes for this year are Africa; Asia, Middle Ages, Renaissance.We will be focusing on geography, culture, and folk tales for Africa and Asia. We will focus on the history of Middle Ages and Renaissance.

AcademicsScience

Life Science: Sustainability (The three R’s); Ecosystems, Animal Kingdoms, Food Webs and Food Chains, Earth Science: Earth’s Structure Rocks and minerals, Weathering, Volcanoes, Climates of the World

Physical Science: Simple Machines/balance and motion, Investigation and Experimentation

AcademicsReading (Mrs. Hemeon’s class)

There will be a reading log that will need to be turned in weekly. Students are required to read 100 minutes each week. They can read on the weekends or only on the weekdays. Research also shows that the amount of reading done out of school is consistently related to gains in reading achievement.(Anderson et al., 1985, p. 7).

AcademicsMandarin

Materials:1. Cengage Textbook 4 & 5 + CD-ROMs2. QTalk-http://www.qtalkpublishing.com/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=487

3. Chinese Wonderlandhttp://www.huayuschool.com/front/index.do?act=toWonderland

HomeworkMrs. Hemeon’s Homework RequirementsMonday/Tuesday-Spelling There will be four pages of spelling that include vocabulary development, dictionary skills, proofreading and writing practice. Wednesday-Writing-a one paragraph writing assignment-Choose from writing prompts on the Mrs. Hemeon’s page of the RSA website. This should be approximately 1 paragraph (6 sentences) in length Thursday-Study for your spelling or vocabulary test on Friday. You can also complete any of the spelling packet that was not completed on Monday and Tuesday. Daily- Reading-30 minutes per night and this will need to be logged and turned in on Friday with the Language Arts packet.Math- Math teachers will assign math homework Monday through Thursday evenings. Monthly Book Reports-Students will have a book report due each month based on a theme. I will try to make these interesting and fun. The book reports will include some writing and an art component. I will go over how to do these in class so the students feel comfortable doing them at home.

Book Reports*Book Report Information

*Book Reports will be assigned at the beginning of the month and are due at the end of the month. The requirements will be mostly visual arts (posters, dioramas, collage, cartoons, drawings, etc.) with a short writing component included. These reports are meant to be fun and not stressful. Books should be minimum of 100 pages for 4th graders and 50-100 pages for 3rd graders.

*Book Reports for the Year:

*September –Humor* October-Realistic Fiction*November/December-Biography*January-Historical Fiction*February-Fantasy*March-Science Fiction*April-Mystery*May- Newberry or Caldecott Award Winner 

Mandarin Homework

The Mandarin homework packages are similar to Fan Laoshi’s packages with a checklist. In addition, there is a math vocabulary homework. I will prepare a list of Mandarin math vocabulary words for each chapter. This list will help students finish the math homework in the packages. The students are required to know what the Mandarin math vocabulary words mean on the list when they hear those terms.

Behavior ManagementPositive reinforcement – sticker chart and character counts awards (lead to School wide recognition; behavior bucks, weekly awards; and treasure chest awards.Consequence: 1. Students will sign the book and have a short chat during recess with the teacher for misbehaviors.

2. If the behavior continues the student will lose the entire recess and write a behavior letter to be signed by the parents.

3. Students will go to the office to talk to Mrs. Wahl if the behavior continues.

VolunteersOur classroom policy is that you wait two weeks before volunteering in the classroom. This allows the teachers and the students’ time to get accustomed to the rules and routines of the classroom and the school. We will be putting a list on the website for parents to look over to see how they may be interested in volunteering. You can e-mail us and let us know your preferences. Volunteers will be filled on a first come basis.

Field TripsThere will be some field trips we annually attend.1. Nutcracker2. Planetarium3. Whiskeytown Environmental Camp

If you are interested in driving students on field trips, you must fill out a driver’s application, provide insurance coverage, and provide a copy of your driver’s license and driver printout. This can take some time so please do this right away if you are interested.

Sacramento Zoo Trip

http://www.rsarts.org/resources/If you are not going to the campout you can get attendance credit by visiting Turtle Bay and turning in your receipt on Monday.

Conference

Conferences will be held the week of October 7th -11th. This will be a minimum week with dismissal at 12:30 or 1:00. This will be a time where we will discuss your child’s academic and behavioral progress. This is also a time to ask questions you may have. Families will be limited to 20 minutes of conference time as we have 40 families we will need to conference with. We will be posting on the website the web address for sign up genius so you can schedule a conference time.

Classroom Website

We will be posting weekly updates on our webpage. This will consist of educational activities for the week; weekly homework, and any school or classroom news. Since we are a green school, we will not be sending out paper copies of the newsletters.

Outside Interest OpportunitiesThe following is a list of outside Interest Opportunities. Please see

the specific teacher’s website for further detail.

Mr. Wylie: Small Group Drum & Guitar Lessons

Mr. Burkett: Small Group Piano class

Mr. Newell: Rock Band, Private Guitar Lessons

Mrs. Eby: Strings

Mrs. Russo: Dance

Mrs. Hess: Vocal Instruction

Mrs. Rogerson: Drama

Mrs. Steffensen: Dance

Mrs. Lindberg: Art

Ms. Brown: Art

Ms. Kang: Private Mandarin Lessons

Mrs. Palmer-Martin: Yearbook

Mrs. Chen-Dressel: Mandarin Moppets (Grades K-2)

AcademicsMath

RSA has adopted Envision Math as the math program and it was chosen because it aligns well with the Common Core Standards that will be implemented in the very near future. The majority of students will be taking math at their grade level so that they can fully master the concepts in depth. Each student will be given a letter with a password to access the website for future games and activities.

The topics we will cover this year are Number sense, Multiplication and Division, Fractions, Measurement and Data, Geometry.https://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/snpapp/login/login.jsp

AcademicsMandarin Math

The Mandarin program will be using Envision math in Mandarin this year. They will spend time in class studying the same pages we are studying in the English Math textbook. For homework there will be a math vocabulary sheet since we use the Mandarin Envision textbook. The students are required to know what the Mandarin math vocabulary words mean in each chapter when they hear those terms.