Chinese School will be back in session the following Saturday, May 12th.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

It is only Thursday, so why is the Principal sending her weekly message early? Well, it is because she woke up in a panic this morning realizing that in the midst of coordinating the annual ACS conference tasks, she forgot one very crtiical item.

I am on the planning committee this year for the Annual ACS (Association of Chinese School) conference.  This conference is attended by more than 30 Chinese schools where teachers share teaching experiences and ideas to further enhance the learning experiences of our students.  Throughout the year, the ACS sponsor activities which promote cultural learning through fun events and contests as well.  If you read my weekly messages in the past, I have posted our “proud winners” of these activities.

This year, our school is responsible for 2 events. The Poster Contest and the multi media contest.  And I sincerely ask you to sponsor the events.

And to the doctors, attorneys and business owners: If you would like to put an ad in the annual ACS program book, this is a great way to broaden your patient/client base and connect with the Chinese community.

Or if you just want to shut me up and send a donation to support this wonderful conference that so many volunteers are working on, you can do that as well.

Now comes the “challenge”. I was planning to harass, I mean reach out to many of you during the next 2 Saturdays and I just remembered that we don’t have school on May 5th, which leaves me with only this Saturday to ask for your support.  Therefore this early weekly message to ask you to PLEASE help us raise funds for this event.

By the way, we have more than 10 teachers attending the conference and we have students participating in the Poster contest and speech contest!!!!

Below are details from the ACS.

What a gorgeous week we had! You could see kids playing baseball on the field or practicing with their lacrosse sticks on the street … I just wish my allergies were not so bad. It would have been perfect!

Ms. Cherry Kung, board member, is coordinating our Open House scheduled for May 19th.  Attached is the flyer that she would like your help distributing. Our teachers will also be working on creating and updating the class boards to showcase their work. Please offer your assistance to the teachers so that your class board really POPS, to get attention (not actually blow up)!  If you are able to help with the coordination effort, please see Cherry in the cafeteria.  Let’s have another successful Open House and show how proud we are of our school!

I have received several inquiries on the international or local summer camp Chinese programs.  We will have a Q&A session in our cafeteria next Saturday, 4/28.  Come with your questions on programs in China or to speak to parents who sent their children abroad on their experience.

That’s not all! Our co-Vice Principal is also working on having the NY Life representative come on 4/28 (still need to confirm the date) to talk about career opportunities.

Ms. Annie Bai, a parent, would like to share a Chinese photography exhibit/museum that she found interesting.  Check it out!  Katonah museum of art

Last but not least, please spend a few minutes to fill out the survey sent by Ms. Lynn Winters to share your ideas and feedback with us!   Don’t forget to include your email address to win a prize.

See you tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time.

As I mentioned in my week 6 email about May 5th, this is to confirm that we will NOT have school on May 5th due to a conflict with an event that the school is hosting.  So, we will be pushing our school calendar out one week.  This means our general meeting originally scheduled for May 5th will now be on May 12th.  Our last day of school is June 16th.  Please make a note on your calendar and plan accordingly.

Our board of directors and staff are always looking for ways to continue to enhance our school operations.  We rely on you to give us feedback so we can all work together to make this the best Chinese School for our students.  Your input is important and we ask you to take a few seconds to share your thoughts with us and … there is a chance to win a prize!  How cool is that? Winning something for speaking up!     Please look for the email from Lynn Winters, one of our board members, about 2 weeks ago.  The survey is available for the month of April.  If you did not receive the email, please let us know and we will forward it to you.   Thank you and good luck!

See you tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time.

Speaking of changes, we were just informed by the hosting school that they are hosting the NYSMAA event on 5/5 and need to use the Middle School.  This means that we will need to change our schedule a little bit!  The board members and staff are working on the calendar changes and we will let you know as soon as possible … and yes, 4/7 is still off so don’t change your plans.

Also,I heard from another parent who I run into from time to time on Metro Norththat the Taconic Parkway will be closing one lane … which means those of us whotravel from the North to come to school may need to leave a bit earlier …

Just thought I would share a story with everyone … my cousin went to his fiancé’s house for dinner and his fiancé’s family was all conversing in their native language.  They tried to make conversation with my cousin so they asked him in English, “Dr. Shieh, do you know how to speak Chinese?”  My cousin replied “not really” … then added “I do know how to write my Chinese name…”.  That night, he came home, called my aunt and asked her “Why didn’t you take me to Chinese School when I was younger?”  My aunt said to him “Oh no, don’t you go there … I took you to the Chinese School and I had to fight with you every week about doing your Chinese homework and fight with you every weekend to get youto go to Chinese School. You wanted to quit, so we quit. Don’t you remember?”  My cousin said to her, “But I was only a kid and you were supposed to “force” me! You are the parent!”   Hmmmmmm, so I told the story to my twins …they rolled their eyes and said “Oh, mom, that is just wonderful!”   See, my twins agree!    Anyway, just thought I would share that story with the parents, so we can see some light (dim as it may be) at the end of the tunnel.  It will all be worth it … oneday!

See you tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time.

Some parents, those of you who plan early, are already asking if I know of any summer camps for their children.   It just so happens that I was asking our 5B teacher and she shared with me of two summer camps in China that she just heard about.  One for K to the 12th grade; the other is for children who can enrolled with their parents.  Read the attachments for more details.  There are also summer camps in Taiwan. If anyone is interested, I can refer you to parents who have sent their children before, to share their experiences.

There were parents who were asking about a summer tutor as well.  If you are interested, please let me know asI am compiling a list, and will match those teachers/high school students who are interested in tutoring.

Last but not least, a parent asked me to share the following information about a Blood Drive@ St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 669 Albany Post Road, Route 9, Scarborough.  Saturday, March 31, 2012 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.  Please call 914-941-3030 x13 or email info@stmarysscarborough.com to schedule your appointment.  And an advanced “thank you” for being sobrave and kind. 

A reminder,we do have school next Saturday, 3/31. We will have our Spring Recess on 4/7. So please plan accordingly!

See you tomorrow!  Classes start at 9am sharp.  Please be on time!

We had asuccessful and productive seminar last Saturday on how to prepare your childrenfor college, and more. Several parentscame out of the seminar panicking. Didyou know that colleges look at everything starting in the 8thgrade? Really, I thought I didn’t haveto start the college prep process until they were in the 11th grade… what a bummer! J I learned a lot from theseminar! We have 11 students signed upfor the pilot course, which consists of 10 sessions (Saturdays from 11am to 12pm). After this pilot, we will collect feedbackfrom the parents and students to evaluate the course for future sessions. The seminar also included information on awonderful opportunity for a summer program in China. Missed the seminar? No worries, check it out on our New and Improved website! nwcsny.org,under Recent News!

With all thatsun this week, my twins’ school sent home a note reminding/suggesting/demandingthat the kids (all 5th graders, not just my twins) practice properhygiene including the use of deodorants … I guess with the sun, comes thesweat! My twins asked “do we still haveto take a shower …”

One of ourboard members, Cindy Huang, will be introducing some healthy and delicioussummer shakes at the Breakfast club (good timing, who doesn’t need to shed somepounds before putting on those summer outfits). Please come visit and check it out! Proceeds go to NWCS, of course! J

Severalparents asked me about the school calendar because of the upcoming Springrecess. The calendar is posted on our New and Improved website, nwcsny.org (I know, I sound like abroken record, but being a mom gives me lots of practice). We plan our calendar based on the hostingschool’s calendar, so there will be no school on Saturday, April 7th. Please plan accordingly. Thank you!

See youtomorrow! Classes start at 9amsharp. Please be on time.

The presentation from Ivy Labs is now available online. Click me!

We also have the seminar videos.

College Planning

SAT Prep Class

Summer Program