Dear NWCS families,

Our host school’s PTA ​is postponing the​ 5K run ​to​ April ​2nd due to rain and cold.

​We will however, keep the 8:30 am start but we can use our regular parking area.​​

Breakfast Club salty finger food bake sale on April 1
Vivian told me to emphasize the point that it is salty finger food, not sweet finger food. The belief is salty finger food does not cause cavities.
This is also not an April Fool’s prank. So prepare $5 and lick your fingers.

April 8th clarification – we have school!!!
Due to a website error, the old calendar with the wrong Easter Break date of April 8th was still online. The correct Easter Break date is April 15th and was corrected on October 1st and uploaded but not readily accessible. As a result, some families have made plans to be away, so we will ask teachers to allow for make up Midterm exams when we come back on 4/22.

http://www.nwcsny.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2016-2017-NWCS-Calendar-FINALrevised-10-01-2016.pdf

Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極

Dear NWCS families:

Week 5 is coming up this Saturday. If you haven’t spoken to your teacher, please make an appointment to discuss your kid’s learning progress. I would also highly recommend students who wish to practice more speaking and listening to join our wonderful tutors at 11 am at Room 111. Speaking and listening will be an integral part of proficiency assessment at the end of this semester. If your kids are here to learn Chinese, we want them to speak and speak well.

Calling for volunteers at ACS conference
As you know, our school is part of the second region of the Association of Chinese Schools responsible for organizing and running the 2017 annual event in Hartford, CT on May 27 and 28. We are responsible to run the Multimedia student contest, the vendor display tables, the student activity program and the trophies. While our teachers are busy attending education sessions to improve their teaching, it is up to the rest of us to help running the program. I expect the Multimedia contest in particular to encounter all the usual techie challenges including projection, sound track, cables and laptop settings, etc. If you would like to help out, please let me or Mr. Rick Chan know so we can include your family in the hotel list. Yes, we do need to book the rooms before the reserved lot at Hilton Hartford runs out.

Yummy dumpling a great success
Thanks to our wonderful Breakfast Club and all the eager chefs for making dumplings at this grand scale, likely a record in Westchester if not in New York. I have posted some photos here http://www.nwcsny.org/?p=1635.
My only plead is next time we hold the event, we need to reserve some of our teachers. It was like by 10:40 (!), the trays were all clean and washed up already. Thank you for supporting the school but let’s not forget about our teachers.

Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極

Dear NWCS families:

It surely feels like we are back in winter. Hope nobody’s back was hurt shoveling snow. Stay warm and safe but do come to school on Saturday.

Mr. Rick Chan to serve as acting vice principal
I wish to announce that our vice principal Mr. Ping-Chuan Wang, who orchestrated graduation ceremony and Chinese New Year performance in the past two years, will be temporarily absent ​from school ​in the next few months. Mr. Rick Chan has kindly agreed to step in and serve as acting vice principal.​ Coincidentally, Mr. Wang’s wife Ms. Huang teaches CSL Intermediate II while Mr. Chan’s wife Ms. ​Kan teaches Heritage III. They are true, dedicated NWCS families whom we fully exploit their good will and labor. Ping-Chuan and Rick, we appreciate and thank you for your services.

What did 5th graders do during winter break?
Ms. Kuo, our Heritage V teacher, kindly shared with us the winter diaries of her class. Read the diaries if you would like to find out what our 5th graders did during the break. 謝謝郭老師和班上的小朋友!! Please see http://www.nwcsny.org/?p=1617

I welcome any form of Chinese writing from our students – diaries, travel journals, stories – on any subject and topic. If you wish to share your child’s work, please send me an electronic copy and I will post it. 

Raffle tickets on sale
We will be selling raffle tickets in the cafeteria. The donated raffle prizes include Amazon Echo (Hello Alexa), Saks Fifth Avenue, Starbucks, CVS gift cards and more. To those who have been feeling lucky (who isn’t?), this is your chance to grab many prizes and help our school.

Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極

Dear NWCS families:

pring is in the air! I hope all the skiers are done on the slopes for the season (so we will see better attendance this Saturday). 

CSL move up
I would like to congratulate two students Jason Zhang (张明皓) and Natalie Roc-Sennett (玲玲) passed oral evaluation to move up one level in the CSL track. Head teachers and I sat down with them to chat casually over a couple of topics randomly drawn from the textbook. We were pleased and impressed by their readiness for the next level. As described in this guide http://www.nwcsny.org/?p=1331, the CSL track is divided into competency levels instead of age-based grades. I will be posting assessment guidelines shortly to help students understand how they will be evaluated for readiness for the next level. As parents and volunteers, we want our kids to fully take advantage of time at NWCS to speak Chinese, in addition to other fun things they do with friends. We can all work together toward this goal. 

Raffle tickets on sale
We will be selling raffle tickets in the cafeteria. The donated raffle prizes include Amazon Echo (Hello Alexa), Saks Fifth Avenue, Starbucks, CVS gift cards and more. To those who have been feeling lucky (who isn’t?), this is your chance to grab many prizes and help our school.