Newsletter: April 29, 2006

校長的話

Letter from the Principal

Dear Parents:

I hope you all had a restful (and much needed) Spring Break.

We are conducting a survey among our parents, students, and teachers regarding our school operations and activities. We need your input to understand what you like and dislike, and more importantly, what we should do in the future. Unfortunately, the survey documents did not get distributed to all classes on 4/8/06. In order to have some conclusions, we are putting the surveys for parents and for students on the NWCS Website. (See the Vice Principal's letter below.)

Please take a few minutes fill out the forms and encourage your kids to participate as well. Please make every effort to turn in the survey to the office by 4/29/06. If you can not print the files, we will distribute hard copies at school this Saturday.

I'd like to thank you in advance for your time and willingness to share with us your thoughts about our school. As I always say, "The school belongs to everyone" - we have a great school because you are part of it!!

Best Regards,

Tien-Jen Cheng
Principal
Northern Westchester Chinese School

Survey

Dear NWCS Parents:

For the past few years, the NWCS has been aggressively seeking ways to improve our dated curriculum due to changes in family lifestyles and the demographics of the students. This past fall, we successfully implemented the first phase of our changes in the curriculum. The limited feedback we have received from teachers, parents and students has been extremely positive. Although we are still working on ironing out a few kinks, we are also preparing to roll these changes out into additional grades this coming fall.

Given this positive result, our school wants to do more for our students and their families. We realize that curriculum, although important, is only a part of the overall experience at NWCS. The suggestions and feedback have been fragmented. Thus, we have put together this survey so we can understand how you feel and hear what you have to say in its entirety and unity.

I understand this is a lengthy survey. Our officers are also parents of NWCS students. We have spent countless hours in putting this together. Our efforts reflect our sincerity and seriousness in wanting to have a better school for our children. Therefore, if you could give a reasonable amount of time and thought into filling this survey out, your input will prove to be invaluable to all of us. This is our first collective effort of such sort in the history of NWCS. The result of this survey will be published and discussed at the General Meeting on 5/6/06. We hope the survey result will help point us in the right direction in our future projects.

Please read the instructions below before you start. I thank you in advance for your time and effort in filling out this survey.

Instructions

Please feel free to make your comments in either English or Chinese.
Only one Parent survey needs to be filled out per family.
Please complete one Student survey per student. If you have 2 children at NWCS, please have two Student surveys filled.
Please help your child(ren) in younger grades to fill out the survey. Please remember it is a survey about the child, so please ask for the child's own opinion.
If you are a parent and a student, please feel free to fill out both Parent and Student surveys.
When finished, if possible, please staple all Parent and Student surveys in the family together.
You may return your surveys to the teacher or drop them off at the office or in the cafeteria (there will be a box near the breakfast area).

Survey for Students
(http://www.nynwcs.org/forms/2006_NWCS_Survey_Students.pdf)

Survey for Parents
(http://www.nynwcs.org/forms/2006_NWCS_Survey_Parents.pdf)

Sincerely yours,

Kelly Shang
Vice Principal
Northern Westchester Chinese School

五月六日家長大會

General Meeting Next Week

請大家務必出席。學校重要議題將於會中投票決定。

Please mark your calendar - your presence is requested! The $10.00 pre-paid fee will be refunded at the end of the meeting.

美東中文學校 2006 年會

ACS Annual Conference

美東中文學校2006年會將於五月二十七，二十八兩日在 SUNY New Paltz 舉行。詳情請參閱網站： http://www.acsusa.org/acs2006/。本校是主辦學校之一，歡迎老師，家長，與同學們踴躍參加。請盡快向校長鄭天人報名。

The annual meeting of the ACS (Association of Chinese Schools) will be held on 05/27/06 and 05/28/06 at SUNY New Paltz. All teachers, parents, and students are welcome to attend. More information is posted at http://www.acsusa.org/acs2006/. Please sign up with the Principal, Mr. Tien-Jen Cheng, as soon as possible.

本校誠徵人選

Openings at NWCS

為籌備下學年的開始，本校目前在尋覓適當的人選來接替校長, 副校長，祕書，財務，董事等多項職位。北威近四十年的優久歷史完全要歸功於所有熱心的家長們對學校無私的服務及參與。我們在此呼籲每一位家長挺身參與學校的事務。如果您有興趣，或有意推薦人選，請向董事會主席黃允武聯係。五月六日家長大會將投票選舉新的人選。

The school is now seeking candidates for several administrative positions, including Principal, Vice Principal, Secretary, Treasurer, and 4 board members. NWCS is strictly a volunteer-based operation. Since 1969, NWCS parents have given freely of their time to support the school in its educational mission. We encourage all parents to become involved in school affairs, and to carry our school on to the next year. If you are interested in a more active role in the school, or know someone who may be interested, please contact Woody Huang, chairman of the board. An election for these positions will be held at the General Meeting on 05/06/06.

北威作文比賽

NWCS Academic (Writing) Contest

本學年的作文比賽將在五月十三日上午九點三十至十二點在二二○教室舉行。各級比賽的評分標準如下：

低年級B組： K 班到二年級
作文最少五十個字，可用注音。創意 50%、細節 50%。
低年級A組-：三班到四年級
作文最少五十個字，可用注音。創意 50%、細節 50%。
中年級組：五年級到七年級
作文最少一百字，未學過的字可用注音。創意 35%、結構 35%、文法及用字 30%。學生可用字典幫助查字。
高年級組：八年級到十一年級
作文最少二百字，不可用注音。學生可帶參考書籍來幫助寫作。創意 35%、結構 35%、文法及用字 30%。

本次比賽不須提前報名。比賽的同學將從預選之提示中擇一作文。比賽成績前三名者將發給獎狀，其他則發給參加獎。歡迎全班參加比賽。請學生踴躍報名參加。

The school-wide writing contest will be held on 5/13/2006 at 9:30-12:00 in Room 220. Teachers are encouraged to bring their whole classes to participate. No pre-registration is required. Students will be able to choose from various topics. The criteria for each level are:

Level 1B: K: 2nd Grade Minimum 50 characters. The use of phonetics is allowed. Creativity: 50%, Details: 50%;
Level 1A: 3rd – 4th Grade Minimum 50 characters. The use of phonetics is allowed. Creativity: 50%, Details: 50%;
Level 2: 5th - 7th Grade Minimum 100 characters. The use of phonetics is allowed only for words which have not been covered in class. Creativity: 35%, Logical sequence: 35%, Syntax and correct writing of characters/phonetic 30%;
Level 3: 8th - 11th Grade Minimum 200 characters. No phonetics are allowed. However, students can bring all the books they need for the writing. Creativity: 35%, Logical sequence: 35%, Syntax and correct writing of characters/phonetic 30%.

All participants will receive a "Certificate of Participation". There will be three winners in each level. Placement Certificates and prizes will be awarded at a later date.

家長值日

On-duty Parents

感謝上週擔任值日的家長：李文福, 周敬永, 梁漢榮, 江小華 and Susan Comer。請本周值日家長准時報到。

We thank those parents who fulfilled their duty last week. Your contribution is greatly appreciated. Again, please check the Parents On-duty Roster in advance, and report to the team leader on time on the day of your duty.