Our first week back to school has gone fairly well, without a lot of difficulties. Students came back, excited to see their friends. I’m sure everyone had a wonderful holiday. We have a new student this term as well, I know he will have a great time in class.

孩子们度过了愉快的假期，顺利开始了第一周的校园学习生活。他们很开心的见到了自己的小伙伴们。我相信每位小朋友都度过了精彩的假期。同时，我们迎来了一位新的小朋友，我坚信他会与我们一起共度美好时光。

We have had a few things happen this week. For starters we had 2 day of snow. The children and I went out to play in the snow and had a great time. It was an awesome way to begin the semester.

在本周伊始，下了两天大雪。我和孩子们在雪地里玩儿得不亦乐乎。这真是新学期好的开始。

The children discovered the magnifying glasses, and where going around the room observing everything.

孩子们学会用放大镜发现探索世界，他们用此来感知班级里的一切事物。

On Wednesday we celebrated Pink Shirt Day. We spend time on Monday and Tuesday discussing the meaning behind the day. How to stop bullies, and how to recognize a bully. The children all wore pink shirts, and they made a poster with me to show support.

星期三，我们隆重地庆祝了粉红衬衫日。在周一和周二，我们深入探讨了这个节日的意义。如何停止霸凌，如何识别欺凌弱小者。孩子们在那天都身着粉色衬衫，还和我一起制作海报表达对反霸凌的支持。

We introduced the new Library system to the children. The class library now uses a card system. They can sign out a book, and check it back in on their own now, and they really love the freedom.

我们向孩子们介绍了新的图书馆系统，图书借阅卡正式投入使用。孩子们可以自主进行图书的借阅和返还，他们非常喜欢这种独立借阅的方式。

The children have started doing group projects, and are collaborating on posters, and have started doing experiments as groups in science.

孩子们已经开始了小组合作学习，会一起致力于海报的制作，还有外科课堂的合作实验。

We had a bed making contest. Each of the children were given time to try to make the bed, which they have been practicing at home all last semester.

本周，我们举办了内务整理——叠被子比赛，每个孩子参与其中，这也是对孩子们上学期家务作业的检验。

I really cannot stress how much fun this week has been for myself and the children. I am really glad everyone is back, and on with the semester of fun! Here are a few extra pictures from the week for you to enjoy.

开学第一周，我和孩子们乐在其中。非常开心看见孩子们重返校园，和他们开启快乐新学期。附上照片几张，与您分享其中乐趣。

This week, while not a major event filled week still had its fun events. First we had a student loose her tooth in the class on Monday. She was so proud that she had taken it out and so we wrapped it up in tissue and taped it closed. We wrote her name on it so she could take it home to her mother.

本周，我们虽然没有大型的活动，但是充满着小欢乐。周一，我们有一位可爱的小朋友掉了小牙。她自豪的把掉下来的小牙拿出来，我们帮助她用纸巾把这颗小牙包好，并将她的名字写在了上面，这样她就可以把这颗小牙带回家啦。

During the week we were preparing for the Thanksgiving play. Yes, the American Primary School was going to celebrate American Thanksgiving. The kids had made cards for their parents, and a short video that told their parents how much they loved them and some cute stories that they remembered doing with their families. We prepared some songs for the parents, all ones we had learned earlier, but they were still good songs.

我们一直在排练感恩节的话剧。没错，美国小学班将要庆祝美国的感恩节。孩子们给自己的爸爸妈妈们亲手制作了感恩卡，给爸爸妈妈们录制了感恩的视频，告诉爸爸妈妈们自己有多么爱他们，回忆和爸爸妈妈们一起做过的事情。我们还给爸爸妈妈们演唱了我们以前学过的歌曲。

On Wednesday we had an Open day for the parents. In an attempt to show the parents a candid view of the class we asked them to come and watch the class from our 2^nd classroom, through the security camera footage. They watched it on the interactive whiteboard. Then we had our show 4^th period for the parents.

周三，我们进行了家长开放日活动。为了让家长们更直观的了解孩子们的上课情况，我们安排家长们在隔壁班教室通过视频观看了孩子们的上课情况。第四节课上，我们为爸爸妈妈们做了感恩节的表演。

After the show we had a big lunch with food from all the families, and some hot dishes from the school. Some parents even brought cake for the kids. It was delicious.

表演结束后，我们享用了家长们带来的具有各种地方特色的凉菜、点心和学校精心为孩子们烹饪的丰盛美味的午餐。

On Thursday and Friday a couple of students brought gift erasers from Japan to be given out. On Thursday, Daniel gave out some nice quality erasers, and on Friday, Mickey brought some character erasers.

有些孩子给大家带来了日本的橡皮作为礼物。周四，Daniel送给大家很好用的橡皮。周五，Mickey送给大家卡通动物的橡皮。

Due to time constraints we were videoing the children perform their Thanksgiving Play. I expect to deliver it to the families on Friday if not through WeChat, than through the WeiYun accounts.

因为时间关系，我们对孩子们的感恩节话剧进行了拍摄。我希望能在周五把录制的视频通过微信或者微云给各位家长。

While we are setting up the website, I will be posting APS updates here.

    Last week we completed a wonderful week of APS bonding. The camp theme was outdoor education, but the main focus was getting to know each other. I wanted to have a camp where I could spend time with as many of the APS students to get to know them better. It worked so much better than I thought. There were definitely times when we had communication difficulties, but as a team we worked through that. The students had fun learning about each other, making friends and trying new things. I learned how much fun it was to spend all day with them.

    Our first day we spent the day doing a lot of different activities. We made bracelets to show the students how to follow (complicated) directions, they also learned how to ask for help with this activity. We gave them maps of the school and let them explore the campus looking for things to familiarize themselves with the school grounds. We had teamwork activities in the field to help them work together. The kids had a great time, and were introduced to several of the teachers in the school.

    On our second day we went down to Fangshan. The kids were given the opportunity to kayak. For some this was a scary experience, and they did not want to do this on their own. Others were quite happy in the kayaks, scooting around the lake on their own. I spent the morning riding around with 2 (or 3) students in my kayak. Sometimes we’d have to go out and help tow a kayak out of the grass. But the kids had a wonderful morning, followed by bbq lunch. That afternoon, some of the students were given the chance to rock climb.

    This was followed by alternating days of Field trips and training at school. We went caving, (Spelunking). We entered the caves on our feet, and ended up climbing ropes, and crawling through tiny holes. The students had a great time. We saw bats, and “stone flowers”, and water dripping from the roof. I must admit, that I discovered that I still have “claustrophobia” (fear of enclosed spaces). I didn’t know that I had this, and so it was a bit hard. But In the end I did have a good time.

We also had campsite training. We learned to hunt with a bow and arrow. How to use the sun for telling time, and how to work together. There were times that I could see some of the kids did not understand what was expected, and we had to patiently show them what was needed. (Except during the hunting practice, when I had to run out and carry a student out or the firing-range, because ran out in front of other archers when they were about to shoot…)

One of the parents (Felix’s) made wonderful photo-essays of each day. And I think they are very good to share.