Greetings NWCS families, 大家好,

A few quick reminders about Week 6.

Parent teacher conference

Most classes are having their parent teacher conferences this Saturday. Kindly reserve a time slot with your child’s teachers to exchange feedback. Please also feel free to reach out to any school officers if you have any suggestions for school operations and curriculum. We aim to continuously make improvements but need your inputs and involvement to make them happen!

Remind Notification and Email Distribution

NWCS will broadcast school closings or emergency notifications by text via Remind (thanks to Mr. Harry Villareal, our Webmaster and Board member)!
If you have not yet subscribed to Remind for NWCS, please follow the below instructions to join:

Sending a text to 81010 with message text @nwcsnotify
You’ll receive a welcome text from Remind.
If having trouble texting to 81010, then try texting to (478) 225-3884 with message text @nwcsnotify

Best Regards,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families, 大家好,

Parking This Saturday
Briarcliff school has informed us that parking will be very full this Saturday morning. They would very much appreciate it if we all can park in the back of the school building (turn left by the entrance guard post). The rear doors will be open so we can enter the school from the back (softball fields). We will also have volunteers to direct traffic that morning to make this process easier. Kindly also park in the designated area only to avoid any complaints from bus companies or school sports teams.

Conversation Cards
Please remind your child(ren) to bring their conversation cards on Saturday. Have them talk to parent and teacher volunteers with the “come speak to me” sign to gain points toward prizes!

Book donation
Some parents have children books in Chinese that their kids have outgrown. We thought it would be great to pass these books to younger NWCS students. If you have books in good condition, please feel free to bring them to the cafeteria on Saturdays to see if they can be free-cycled!

Best Regards,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families, 大家好,

Early Halloween Fun

Halloween Fun starts this Saturday as our own parent volunteer and co-chair David Quinn will set up in the cafeteria all morning to discuss, sell, sign — and at 11am, read — his clever new book for kids, Go to Sleep, Little Creep. This warm, funny rhyming picture book transports us to a make-believe Halloween Night World where Monster Parents struggle to cuddle and calm their little ghosts, zombies, creatures and creeps for a good night’s – well, actually, it’s a good day’s – sleep.

Aspiring writers and editors — get answers to your questions about writing and publishing. If you already bought the book — it’s discounted on Amazon Smile —bring your copy for David to personalize. Or you can buy one from him — proceeds will benefit our special fund to help pay for our NWCS 50th Anniversary Celebration January 12. (Cash and credit cards accepted for purchase.)

Read more about the book on David’s publisher’s site: goo.gl/V319Rj

Calligraphy Award

Our very own 6th grader, Charlotte Shih (時祥嵐), won 3rd place in the 2018 Chinese calligraphy contest in her age group. The contest is sponsored by the Association of Chinese Calligraphy in America(美洲中華書法學會). Congratulations to Charlotte and her teacher, Ms. Daisy Rose, on this honor! 恭喜沈老師及高徒時祥嵐!!

Conversation Card Game

Our students had a great time with the new conversation card game last week. I am particularly impressed by two students, one collected all 20 signatures and one collected almost 20, on the first day. Well done!! For anyone else who wants to follow their footsteps, if you collect all 20 signatures by this Saturday, you can get an extra treat from the Breakfast Club on me!

A big thank you to our co-chairperson Weifang Lin, our dean HC Wang, and Dr. Ifay Chang for putting this card game together!

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,

Welcome to Week 3! Tomorrow, Sep 28, is Confucius’s birthday and also teacher’s appreciation day at our school . Many Chinese cultural traits are deeply influenced by Confucius’s teachings, particularly reverence for educators who pass down knowledge and morality from generation to generation. When you see our teachers this Saturday, please say thank you (謝謝老師 )!

NWCS Conversation Card Game
As mentioned during week one, we are piloting a new game to encourage kids to speak more Chinese during their time in Chinese school, which will hopefully translate to more Chinese outside of Chinese school as well! Starting this week, each student will receive a conversation card, with sample phrases, and space to gather points. Students can speak to any Chinese speaking parent or staff member with the “speak to me” sticker before class, during break time, or after class, using the sample phrases or other phrases of their choice, to earn points. 10 points = free treat at breakfast club. 20 points = 2nd free treat, or 5 raffle tickets. The first topic is “Shopping,” with phrases related to buying food from breakfast club! More topics to come later in the year.

Each week we will also set up a table in the cafeteria with a “come speak to me” sign and have a couple of parents stationed there during break, to make it easier to find. After your child gets their snack, they are welcome to come sit at the table and chat and eat at the same time.

We will need Chinese speaking parent volunteers for this! Please contact Wei at chairperson@nwcsny.org if you would like to volunteer. It’s a great, easy way to get involved, and help our students speak Chinese!

Book signing by David Quinn
Save the Date: Saturday, October 6! Halloween Fun starts early this year as our own parent volunteer and co-chair David Quinn will set up in the cafeteria all morning to sell, sign and read his clever new book for kids, Go to Sleep, Little Creep. If you already bought the book — it’s discounted on Amazon Smile —bring your copy for David to personalize. Or you can buy one from him Saturday. Proceeds will benefit our special fund to help pay for our NWCS 50th Anniversary Celebration January 12.

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,

感謝大家的支持！Welcome back everyone. It was great seeing you all together at the general assembly! I especially want to thank our teachers, board members and staff for a successful start to the school year. If you have any suggestions for future assemblies and open houses, please feel free to let me know!

Also want to wish you all a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! It falls on this coming Monday, Sept. 24th. May the full moon bring you much happiness and success. 祝福中秋佳節快樂! 願您的生活就像滿月一樣，圓圓滿滿的 !

Registration – Classes and Electives

Classes – As teachers evaluate their classes, there may be some movement from class to class in the first few weeks. We will let families know if any changes are recommended. In addition, if your child(ren) speaks with you about the current level being too difficult or too easy, please let your teacher, Dean, and myself know so that we can assess right away.

Electives – Please encourage your kids to visit and sign up for the enriching electives in the 3rd hour. We often hear back from many students how much they enjoy the fun electives. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact our registrar, Ms. David Chan, at registrar@nwcsny.org.

Remind Notification and Email Distribution

NWCS will broadcast school closings or emergency notifications by text via Remind (thanks to Mr. Harry Villareal, our Webmaster and Board member)!
If you have not yet subscribed to Remind for NWCS, please follow the below instructions to join:

Sending a text to 81010 with message text @nwcsnotify
You’ll receive a welcome text from Remind.
If having trouble texting to 81010, then try texting to (478) 225-3884 with message text @nwcsnotify

NWCS also communicates over emails on school news and activities. If you know people, especially new families, who are not getting this email, please have them contact our webmaster at webmaster@nwcsny.org.

Best Regards,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,

歡迎大家來到北威中文學校! This Saturday, September 15th, is the first day of Chinese school for the Fall 2018 semester. It also marks the 50th anniversary of Northern Westchester Chinese School. We are so happy to have you in our NWCS community for this momentous year! Over the past five decades, we have educated thousands of students from Pre-K to 12th grade. I also want to take this moment to salute our current and previous deans, teachers, board members, and staff for their contributions to our school and for laying the foundation for our continued success.

In preparation for the first day of school, please see below for a few important announcements.

Open assembly
We will start school’s opening assembly at 9am sharp in the middle school gym. Kindly remember to pick up a welcome packet for your family which contains important information relevant to the school. Students will meet their respective teachers and then walk to the classrooms together. We aim to have the students in their classrooms by 9:15am after reviewing school safety policy and classroom etiquette. Break as usual is at 10am and our languages classes end at 11 am.

Electives
Electives are great way to meet students from other classes, learn something new, and do something fun. All students are welcomed to take or tour the electives from 11am to noon. I especially encourage the younger grades kids to sign up for our electives!

Open House
We will also hold an open house from 10-11am for prospective families. Here is the info for the open house.
Extra Credit Homework for all: kindly post the open house banner on your facebook, snapshot, or other social media groups you belong to. Please also print out copies of the fliers and hang them on public bulletin boards. Help NWCS spread the word!

Be our class parent
Each teacher has been asked to elect a class parent to help with events coordination and school communication chain. Please consider nominating yourself! This school depends on volunteers. Your active participation would be greatly appreciated.

Summer homework assignment
In preparation of the first day of class, kindly remind the kids to finish their summer work assignments and review what was learnt last year. For kids that have completed their summer homework assignments, they will be awarded 10 raffle tickets (pending teacher’s verification).

You can find the 2018-2019 school calendar here. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact our registrar, Mr. David Chan, at registrar@nwcsny.org or me.

Best Regards,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families, 大家好,

Hope you all had a relaxing and fun summer!

Friendly reminder that first day of Chinese school for the 2018 Fall Semester is Saturday, September 15th. Our teachers, board members and staff have been busy preparing for our fall semester opening. Additional details about the first day of school will be sent next week. You can find the 2018-2019 school calendar here. If you have any questions regarding registration, kindly contact our registrar, Mr. David Chan, at registrar@nwcsny.org or me.

September 15: open house from 10am-12noon
We will hold an open house starting at 10am for prospective families. Attached is the open house brochure. Please invite friends and help the school spread the word by posting!

Summer homework assignment
In preparation of the first day of class, kindly remind the kids to finish their summer work assignments and review what was learnt last year!

Buy school supplies and support NWCS by shopping at AmazonSmile program
Please consider designating NWCS as your charitable organization of choice via AmazonSmile or shop on Amazon.com via www.nwcsny.org website. Thank you in advance for your support!

NWCS Chorus
Love singing? NWCS Chorus is welcoming new members. If interested please email info@nwcs-chorus.org or just come to their rehearsals from Saturdays 9:15 -11 AM at Briarcliff Manor Middle School

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families, 大家好,

I want to thank everyone, especially the staff and teachers for making our last week’s open house a success!
Some of the class posters were amazing. Great job teachers and students!!
Will share a link to the photos on the school website soon.

​​End of Year Celebration
June 23rd, next Saturday, will be our last day of school. There will be no third hour elective classes. To celebrate a wonderful year of learning Chinese, everyone is invited to join us in the cafeteria after 10:30am for some sweets and finger foods. If you want to help, please sign up to bring drinks, baked goods or appetizers this week!

​​Trophy Pick Up Help Request
The speech contest trophies are ready and we need a volunteer to picked them up from Flushing on Friday June 14th. Please let me know if you can help bring them to the school on Saturday!
​​
Dragon Boat Festival
Monday June 18th is 端午節, Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. ​It​ commemorates the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, 屈原 (340-278 BC), and also acts as a chance for Chinese people to build their bodies and dispel diseases. To celebrate this cultural​ ​festival, our silk knotting and origami teachers will be showcasing paper zongzi (粽子) ornament making in the cafeteria. We will have DIY kits for sale if you want to participat​e! ​See below for a picture of the finished DIY project.

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families, 大家好,

Open house from 10am-12noon this Saturday
We will hold an open house starting at 10am for prospective families. Attached is the open house brochures. Please invite friends and help the school spread the word!

Registration will be open on June 9th
Registration will be open this Saturday. Please sign up early to receive $50 discount on language classes. We also want to encourage all students to take electives, so we are offering $75 discount on general electives for a limited time (this means for $200, students can take a fun elective for the whole year)!! Early registration discounts ends on July 15th.

Please note that students in Heritage 6, CSL Advanced I, and CSL Advanced II are required to take calligraphy as a culture class (unless the student has already taken it).

See you all on Saturday!!

Best Regards,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,

General Assembly and Elections
We will be holding the Spring semester general assembly and elections for open board and staff positions this Sat at 9:30am. As mentioned before, the strength of our school lies in the dedication of our students, teachers, and parents too. At this time, we would like to encourage more of our parents to get involved, especially at the board and staff levels! For next year, we are looking for new Board Members and Treasurer

You can find descriptions of each of the positions here:

http://www.nwcsny.org/?page_id=143

http://www.nwcsny.org/?page_id=141

Please let Francine, David Quinn, or Wei (all copied on this email) know if you are interested in getting involved, or have any questions!

Annual Asian American Heritage Festival
Our school will host a booth at the AAH festival this Saturday. It is a fun event and one of the most popular ethnic cultural celebrations in Westchester. We are seeking volunteers to be present at our booth. No special skills required, just be friendly and share your experience at NWCS. Please let Wei know if you can help us at the booth!!
Free admission and parking!

Event: 21st Annual Asian American Heritage Festival
Date: Saturday, June 2, 2018
Time: 12 noon to 6 pm
Place: Kensico Dam Plaza, Valhalla, New York

LINK: https://artswestchester.org/21st-annual-asian-american-heritage-festival/

NWCS Open House on June 9th
Kindly invite friends and families interested in learning Chinese to visit our school (and try some of the yummy snacks from the Breakfast Club) on June 9th from 10-12noon. We have the school brochure and open house flyers attached below. Please feel free to distribute them to your local community gatherings like libraries, markets and restaurants.

​Thank you and ​best ​regards,​​
Francine Fang 方敏