Hi Elvis,

 

Thank you for your email!

 

I’m so glad that emailing you the vocabulary and comprehension skills will be helpful! I’ll send them every week.

 

Thank you for letting me know that Ethan may not be communicating very much with his classmates. I will definitely encourage him to talk more with his classmates. Also, I’ll try to find him a friend in the classroom who can talk with him for a few minutes each day.

 

I did not know that he had read Percy Jackson in Chinese! That makes so much more sense to me now. That is wonderful that he is now reading the same story in English – he already knows the story and what to expect, so it should be easier for him to figure out unknown English words when he comes across them. Introducing him to Harry Potter is a great idea! I have a few of the books in my classroom that he could use.

 

Also, thank you for sending the picture! It made me laugh out loud. Too cute! J

 

Have a great Sunday,

Jessica

 

From: Jun(Elvis) Shen
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 4:00 PM
To: Williams, Jessica P
Subject: Re: Update on Ethan

 

​Hi Jessica,

 

Thank you very much for the updating. ​It's so detail and helpful. I believe Ethan will have big progress with your help. Thank you. 

 

It's really helpful that you can email us the vocabulary and comprehension skills for the week. We will work with Ethan to learn and practice these words. In curriculum night, My wife saw a post for the new words in classroom, she wanted to take a picture every week, then we can help Ethan on the new words. Now, this is becomes very easy for us. Really appreciate.

 

Everyday, I try to have a conversation with Ethan to know something about his study in school, want to know if he has new friends and if he has any difficult. But he is not very willing to tell me, maybe he don't do much communication with classmates. He likes to tell me what he ate in lunch, different foods are always his most interesting . If he didn't do much communication with classmates in class, please help to encourage him. 

 

Ethan did a lot of reading when we were in China. He read more than 200 Chinese books from 2nd to 4th grade, like Warriors, Percy Jackson. Of course, all these books are Chinese version. Ethan has most interest to stories like Percy Jackson. He did read Chinese version Percy Jackson several times. Now, He is reading English version, which is his most favorite book. I asked him how about the new words in the book(I think there must be a lot of new words). He said he can understand them according the context. I am very happy that he can keep reading and didn't give up even there are many new words. Sometimes, he laughed out when reading. Maybe I will introduce Harry Potter to Ethan for his next book.

 

One funny thing. One day, Ethan was reading Percy Jackson on a sofa with cat in the afternoon. The cat went into sleep, and the book is so interesting. The sofa is too small. Ethan cannot hug the sleeping cat when reading. He had to roll down to the floor to keep reading. Finally, Cat was on the sofa, Ethan was on the floor.

 


​ 

 

Thanks,

Elvis

 

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 4:35 PM, Williams, Jessica P wrote:

Hi Elvis,

 

I hope you’re well.

 

Sharon Henry (our ELL specialist) and I have been working together to ensure Ethan receives the English support that he needs. Below is an update on how we are supporting him so far:

 

1.       Sharon will work with Ethan every Monday morning to pre-teach vocabulary that we will be learning in class that week.

2.       Sharon will work with Ethan and another student on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:45-1:30 to work on their speaking and listening skills. Ethan will miss some of our math lessons during this time, but I will be sure that he stays on track in math. He’s doing very well in math, so I don’t think this will be an issue.

3.       I have placed Ethan in a reading group with other English language learners so that we can reinforce English skills when we work together as a small group.

4.       I will work with Ethan’s reading small group for at least 20 minutes every Monday and Tuesday to ensure they are understanding the vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and grammar for the week.

5.       If it is helpful to you, I will email you a letter each week that explains the vocabulary and comprehension skills that we will be working on. Perhaps you and/or your wife could work with him on those words at night for extra practice? I’ve attached the letter for our next lesson.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Also, I had the pleasure of speaking with your wife during Curriculum Night. She asked for ways that you both might be able to help with the Math Club. I emailed the Math Club coordinator, Anne Wright, to let her know of your interest. She should be contacting you soon with ways that you might be able to help.

 

Thank you,

Jessica Williams

5th Grade

Bennett Elementary

425-456-xxxx