Hi Parents
I am in the LLH listening to Dr. Jeff Rosen tell the ‘rising 5th graders’ all about Middle School. Get ready for some excited students coming home with their booklets today; they have until April 15th to return their forms to me.
In case you did not yet get this message from the middle school… (if not, read below)

Dear Parents of Grade 5 Students,

Thanks to all of you who joined us last week for the “Welcome to Middle School” presentation. I enjoyed talking with many of you about middle school and the upcoming year. Tomorrow, Wednesday April 6th, we will be meeting with your children to introduce them to middle school as well as give them the 2011-12 course catalog. I hope you have some engaging conversations regarding their course selections for next year. A few things to consider:

1 )If your child is taking Chinese next year, DO NOT fill in the language choice. Your child’s Chinese teacher working collaboratively with our middle school teachers will place them in the appropriate level for next year.

2) There are 2 peach colored registration forms in the catalogue. Once those are complete, please ask your child to return them to their homeroom teacher. During the week of April 18-22, we will do course registration on PowerSchool with your kids.

3) Should you have any questions regarding this course selection process, please email karl.poulin@saschina.org or edith.cai@saschina.org

Thanks again for your support in transitioning your child in to our middle school.

Sincerely,

Jeff

Jeff Rosen
Middle School Principal

I look forward to seeing the parents of Kyra, Max, Xing Chen ,Kevin and Grace at 4 pm tomorrow and the remainder of the students with their families on Friday. While you are here you may be interested in buying some books, below is the information about that.
Time slots are scheduled for one hour for each conference, but the conferences may vary from 30 to 45 minutes depending on what your child has to share. Do plan on spending at least 30 – 40 minutes in your child’s classroom and be sure to leave time to visit specialist classrooms as well, they are expecting you.

• Your child will be in charge of the conference. Please allow your child to proceed and lead you around the classroom.
• Your child may be unsure of your reactions to the presentation. Providing both encouragement and feedback will motivate your child to proceed with the conference.
• The teacher will be present to observe, and support the conference when necessary. Please do not initiate discussions with the teacher that exclude your child’s participation.
• You and your child will have the approximately 30 minutes for this conference. Please adhere to the time allocated so the new group of families may begin their session.

Students are expected to:
– lead parent(s) through selected work
– show and explain work and activities
– speak clearly and answer as many questions as possible

Parents are expected to:
– be on time for the conference
– be positive and encouraging
– inquire about the child’s work
– ask open-ended questions (see below)
– listen

Teachers are expected to:
– facilitate the conference and clarify if necessary
– observe and listen

Here are some guiding and open-ended questions you could ask your child
• What do you like to learn in school? Why?
• What is your favourite part of the school day? Why?
• What part of this piece you are showing me was easy or difficult for you?
• What did you learn from doing this activity?
• What do you wish you could do better next time?
• How can I help you to enjoy school more/be a more organized/involved learner?

Shoe Drive is coming up now that the Day Without Shoes is over, I hope you will join me in cleaning out your closets and passing on some shoes you no longer wear.