Dear parents & students,
In the month of May we celebrated Dragon Boat Holiday with a showcase of artistically decorated paddles and boats at the entrance water display. We hope you have enjoyed it! Please keep in mind that Friday, June 2nd will be the last day of Dragon Boat display in the water pond. On May 10th, Hui Xin campus Pre-nursery & Nursery classes went on their spring fieldtrip to the Cowboy Farm at lake Taihu. Even though the season is famous for being rather unpredictable we were blessed with a day of immense sunshine. At the Cowboy Farm children got to feed horses, cows and camels while trying to ride the Cowboy way, on horseback, around the farm area. Besides the livestock, there were plenty of playgrounds and play areas, including covered tandem bicycles, boats, moats, go-karts, zip-lines, sandboxes and water-play. It was a day packed full of fun and boy did the children (and parents) enjoy a good power nap in the afternoon back to campus. We thank all our wonderful families for joining the event and creating yet another key event in our children's happy scrapbook of childhood memories.
K1 and K2 classes under the guidance of level-leaders Ms. Pauline & Ms. Yuki are care-takers of Hui Xin campus' north and south gardens, where we are growing tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and squash. We have been blessed with a wonderful spring-time, ideal for growing! With a good mix of rainfall and sunshine our plants and greens have grown to more than 40cm of height over the course of only a few weeks! It is extraordinary to see how fast and faithfully nature can provide us with food, as long as we in return, take good care of nature too! Which is something our children all know how to do!
To go with the theme "Make it, Build it" and leading up to "Animals & Where They Live" the Hui Xin campus K2 level designed and constructed their very own unique and colorful birdhouses. Children used tools such as screwdrivers, hammers and material such as wood glue to assemble the birdhouses, before adding their personalized decoration to their gift to the birds at campus! whom we welcome back for the Summer in Suzhou. It was a fun activity, a hands-on construction job and exemplified our children's responsibility in caring for animals and living things, providing them with shelter from the rain, wind and sun. During the month of June & July, children will add seeds and bird food in the birdhouses.
On Wednesday, May 24th Ms. Grace Tseng from Olivia's Place Shanghai invited parents and grandparents to join a seminar about "Children's House Chores" and how to involve children in the management of their home. Close to 100 Hui Xin families took part in the seminar. Many children spend their after school hours attending programs that will look good on their resume someday and forget the importance of the basic skills. In 2014 a US study showed that 82% of all parents reported having chores when they grew up, but that only 28% of them require their own children to partake in house work. A study from the University of Minnesota, 2015 shows that children who start helping with house chores at 3-4 year olds turned out to be more successful later in life by statistically being less inclined to use drugs, while finishing education, starting a career and having positive relationship. There are numerous benefits of doing chores, including physical exercise, developing better gross and fine motor skills, delayed gratification, improved confidence, respect teamwork and communicate better.
Examples of house chores:
- 2-3 year olds: put toys in boxes, stack books, put dirty clothes in the hamper, throw trash away, fold towels, set the table, bring an object, place plates and cups in the sink after a meal.
- 4-5 year olds: Feed animals or pets, wipe up spills, make the bed, water house plants, prepare simple snacks such as sandwiches, help put clothes in washing machine/dryer, wash dishes and dust surfaces.
It is always import to keep chores and tasks simple to match your child's age and skills. You have to model the task and provide visual guides and show examples as well as manage chore time and provide a "To Do" and "Done" chart, possibly with a reward benefit.
Together with Olivia's Place we strongly encourage all Newton families to include children in their daily life, give them meaningful tasks around the house and prioritize the joined responsibility where we contribute more than we consume.
At the end I would like to provide parents with an update on the late pick-up policy which was implemented in the month of May. I am thrilled to inform that throughout the entire month of May, only at 2 occasions was the late pick-up penalty applied. It is a great show of dramatic change and support, considering late pick-ups was a daily occurrence in April, or any months before. On behalf of all your teachers I thank you once again for your respect and appreciation of their hard work and allowing them to fully use their preparation and meeting time after 16:00.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS FOR THE COMING MONTH(S):
- June 22nd Domestic Summer Concert & K2 Graduation Ceremony (morning 9:30 - 11:30, invitations will be sent out later)
- June 23rd Foreign Summer Concert & K2 Graduation Ceremony (morning 9:30 - 11:30, invitations will be sent out later)
- July 14th is the last day of the school year.
- July 17th - August 4th, Summer Camp (attendance is full)
- August 21st, First day of the 2017/2018 school year.
I wish all of you a great month of June and look forward to this year's Summer Concerts.
Sincerely,
Anders S Christensen, principal
and the Hui Xin team!
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