News Update

中文学校的各位家长、老师，你们好，

感恩节虽然不是我们华人的传统节日，但是超市购物赠送的火鸡年复一年，感恩节也就理所当然的成了年度庆祝的节日之一。况且我们历来有“滴水之恩、涌泉相报”的传统，在这样一个节日里，我们更要衷心的感谢中文学校的全体教师，是他们的辛勤努力，言传身教，才能让我们的语言文化代代相承。

顺便提醒大家，这个周末没有中文课，大家可以有更多的时间和家人、朋友渡过一个愉快轻松的周末，当然要赶黑色星期五购物的朋友们，这可是你们忙碌的时候。本学期只剩下两次课。12月7日正常上课。12月14日是学期最后一天。期末的一些安排和往年类似，请看以下详细内容。

1．      期末安排

12月14日最后一次课按惯例是早上10点开课到11:30左右结束。中午是各个班级的聚餐。一到五年级各个班级在餐厅有预留桌位。六到九年级需向家长会主席徐健联系申请。学校提供餐具及一大瓶水。午餐后的安排从12:45PM开始，包括校况简介、颁奖仪式、学生表演等等。请一到五年级的班级将要表演的节目尽快交给张晓清副校长。

2.      青少年义工团活动 11月29日Regional Food Bank of Northeastern

我们的青少年义工团员们将会进行一年一度的Food Drive或“冬令救济”活动。你的参与将会使义工团的工作更加出色，请大家积极响应。具体时间地点如下：
地点：Regional Food Bank of Northeastern
965 Albany Shaker Road, Latham NY 12110
时间：11/29th Saturday 10AM to 12PM
任务：室内，食品分类归放
联系人： Ryan Guo (rguo98@gmail.com) 或Jeffrey Shen (jeffshen321@yahoo.com)

3.      教室整洁与秩序

最近一段时间绝大部分教室都能保持整洁，这和大家的自觉和努力是分不开的，谢谢你们的合作。同时有一个比较普遍的现象，我想引起大家的注意，以便更好的解决问题。一楼的教室据Shaker School反映，桌椅常常没有恢复整齐或到原位。这会让负责清洁的工作人员化更多的时间整理，常常他们就不能准时（5点）下班，因此带来的费用都由中文学校承担，长此以往会变成一个大问题。二楼的教室基本不存在这样的情况。一个可能的解释是因为一楼教室开有语言和文化两门课，一间教室会有两批学生使用。这就要求我们在使用教室时格外小心注意，因为如果语言课结束后教室没有复原，那么文化课的学生只能将错就错了。希望大家相互理解，把教室维护的更加整洁有序，尤其是语言课的学生和家长，请你们离开教室去上文化课前抓紧时间把教室整理一下，就会避免不少问题。

谢谢大家关注，祝感恩节愉快！

陈峰

中文学校校长2014-2015

Dear Chinese School Families,

What a snow decorated Thanksgiving! I hope you all stay warm and inside with your family, unless you have kids like mine who like to play in the snow all day long.

I’d like to remind you that there is no Chinese school this Sunday. When you are enjoying the long weekend either with your family or friends, please think of our teachers who have devoted a lot of their personal time and effort into the teaching role. We should be all grateful to them who, as a crucial part of the Chinese School, provide a dependable source of knowledge, inspiration, encouragement, and are surely role models for our kids to learn from. We can show our appreciation in many ways. Simply helping your kids complete the homework is a good way to support the teachers. As Christmas is approaching, a card or contribution toward a classroom gift for the teachers is another way to say thank you from bottom of your heart. The home parents may have already started to collect gift donations. If so, thank you for staying one step ahead of me.

1.      Last Day of School and Year End Celebration Party
There are only two sessions left for this semester. The session on December 7th is a regular one. The session on December 14th is the last day of school this year. As a tradition, there will be a New Year celebration party held at the auditorium. School on the last day starts from 10AM and ends by 11:30AM. Award ceremony and celebration will begin around12:45PM. For lunch, classes of 5th grade or lower will have tables reserved without request while classes of 6th grade or higher should send in table request to PTA Chair Jian Xu. The Vice Principal Xiaoqing Zhang has already begun to collect list of programs to be performed by our students up to 5th grade. The final program agenda will be available to you once it is finalized.

2.      Youth Team Volunteer Activity on 11/29th at Regional Food Bank of Northeastern
For the food drive organized by Youth Team, they can still use a few extra hands. Please sign up to support the Youth Team who is representing Chinese Community in Albany region.
When: 11/29th Saturday 10AM to 12PM
Where: Regional Food Bank of Northeastern, 965 Albany Shaker Road, Latham NY 12110
What: Indoor event, organize and categorize non-perish food
Contact: Ryan Guo (rguo98@gmail.com) or  Jeffrey Shen (jeffshen321@yahoo.com)

3.      Classroom Cleanliness and Order
Most of the classrooms have been in good shape in general recently. Thanks to every one of you for keeping up the good work. If there is anything I’d like to bring to your attention, it is the responsibility that all the tables, chairs, equipment need to be returned to their original positions. The classrooms on first floor have a common problem that the tables and chairs are not positioned back to their initial locations. Part of the reason is probably because there are both language and culture classes in these classrooms. If the classrooms are not returned to original state during the 10-minute break after the language class, it is much harder for the students of the culture classes using the same classrooms to position all the tables and chairs correctly after usage. It does not sound like a big issue now but it can become one if happening a few more times. To help mitigate this issue, we need the language classes on first floor to pay more attention to classroom order and make sure tables and chairs are returned correctly after the language classes. The culture classes need to make sure classrooms are in good order since you are the last guard.

Thanks for your attention. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Feng Chen
Principal
CCC Chinese School 2014-2015

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中文学校的各位家长、老师，你们好，

上个星期没有发一周简讯，好几位朋友致电问安。我心惴惴，在这儿说明一下。每次写一周简讯前都要把费校长以前同时间的简讯好好读一遍，依葫芦画瓢也。轮到上一周时，没了“葫芦”，心想费校长也有大意的时候，正好学校无甚事，我就偷一次懒。直到看了本周费校长的简迅才恍然大悟，原来费校长去年这个时期回中国探亲去了，故而缺了一周。幸得费校长只回去了两周，不然事大矣。拍额称庆之余，暗想以后无论有无事恙，都得向全校师生报个到，让大家安心。本学期只剩三次课，感恩节周末没有课。提醒大家最后一次课是12月14日上午10钟开课并期末考试。下面还有一些相关事宜请大家关注，以圆满顺利地完成这个学期的教学。

1．青少年义工团活动 11月29日Regional Food Bank of Northeastern
大家开始准备感恩节的晚宴时，我们的青少年义工团员们将会进行一年一度的Food Drive或“冬令救济”活动。“冬令救济”主要目的是捐助、收集、分发可以存储的食物（主要是罐头食品）以帮助社区无家可归的人们渡过严冬。上个周末我和儿子（陈旭之）参加了童子军在Niskayuna社区收集食品的“冬令救济”活动。这是鼓励孩子们奉献爱心的一次很好的机会，让他们参与到具体的活动中来，培养责任心以及义务感，同时也是一次很好的与别人交流、协作的机会，锻炼他们的独立能力。
现在已有8个义工团员加入。根据以往经验，我们还需要至少8个学生才能完成当天分配的任务。每年的“冬令救济”活动是华社青少年义工团的一次主要活动，代表了华人社区参与公共活动， 请大家积极响应。具体时间地点如下：
地点：Regional Food Bank of Northeastern
     965 Albany Shaker Road, Latham NY 12110
时间：11/29th Saturday 10AM to 12PM
任务：室内，食品分类归放
联系人： Ryan Guo (rguo98@gmail.com) 或Jeffrey Shen (jeffshen321@yahoo.com)

2．奖学金申请
2014-2014年度奖学金申请已于上个周末截至。现已收到8份申请。如果你因为特殊原因错过了申请日期，请与校方联系，于本周末11月23日前提交所有材料。这次奖学金评审委员会由孙旭峰副校长任主席，冯晋哲老师、周淼老师、家长会代表黄友琴、李凌云任委员。评审结果会在期末总结大会上宣布。

3．故事会
本届故事会盛况空前，共有60多个节目把三个小时的时间安排得满满的。感谢各位家长以及青年义工团员在会场的协助，让故事会顺利、准时的完成。孩子们在众目睽睽之下能够完成故事讲述，对于低年级的学生并不是一件容易的事，我们应该为他们骄傲。故事会重在参与，给孩子们提供一个表演的舞台。只是我们华社现有的场地似乎不够用，明年学校会考虑如何更好的举办故事会，充分发挥每个小故事大王的语言天份。在这里还有感谢每一位老师，是你们辛勤的培育，让孩子们不怯场，口齿流利，把一个个故事讲述的生动活泼。根据评委的现场打分统计，获奖的名单已经确认，请查看附件。

4．家长值日
为了保证每位完成值日的家长领到退款，家长会代表黄友琴女士会在家长会办公处（餐厅西南角圆桌）上课期间恭候各位。12月7日由家长会代表旷建坤女士代理。

谢谢大家关注，周末愉快！

陈峰
中文学校校长2014-2015

Dear Chinese School Families,

The first dust of snow has not faded in my memory and yet here comes another. Standing by the window and watching a thin blanket of snow covering the lawn, I wondered for a moment whether it is Thanksgiving or Christmas we are going to celebrate in two-week time. Then I had to remind myself that fall is always a short season in a northern country, so is the fall semester. Only three sessions are left before we conclude for this year. To successfully wrap up this semester, there are a few things I’d like to have your attention before celebrating the holiday season ahead of us.

1.    Youth Team Volunteer Activity on 11/29th at Regional Food Bank of Northeastern

Food drive is a traditional event the Chinese School Youth Team has been participating for many years. This year is no exception. Two hours of volunteering work at food bank on 11/29th is an important part of effort in fight against hunger in the local community. During the Thanksgiving holidays, it will mean a lot to help prepare a home cocked meal for the people in need and your generous help will be much appreciated.

Currently we have about 8 students signed up for this event. We need at least another 8 to have enough hands for next Saturday. Please encourage your kid to participate in this annual fun and meaningful food drive event. 

When: 11/29th Saturday 10AM to 12PM
Where: Regional Food Bank of Northeastern, 965 Albany Shaker Road, Latham NY 12110
What: Indoor event, organize and categorize non-perish food
Contact: Ryan Guo (rguo98@gmail.com) or  Jeffrey Shen (jeffshen321@yahoo.com)

2.    Scholarship 

Last Sunday marks the deadline for scholarship application of school year 2014-2015. We have received 8 scholarship applications so far. If your kid still wants to apply for scholarship, you have till this weekend to submit your application. Make sure you go through the online scholarship application policy to include all the necessary material to avoid delay. Also, please send us a notice if you intend to apply so I can coordinate with the scholarship committee, which is headed by Vice Principal Xufeng Sun and consists of two teachers and two PTA members: Jinzhe Feng, Miao Zhou, Lingyun Li, and Youqing Huang.

3.    Story Telling Contest

What a turn out for the annual story telling contest! The three-hour time window was packed with over sixty stories. Our students being able to tell the stories in their own ways to a big crowd itself is a huge achievement. We should all be proud of them. In the meantime, we should be thankful to the teachers who have devoted a lot of their personal time in helping our students learn and speak Chinese. The gallery room at CCC was filled with joy and laughter throughout the event to an extent that I felt we probably should look for a “bigger than bigger” stage next year. 
The award list has been finalized and attached. Thanks to Vice Principal Xufeng Sun and the team coordinating this event. We all look forward to next year’s event.

4.    PTA duty refund

Parents who have fulfilled their PTA duties should be able to get the refund before the year end. PTA member Youqing Huang is designated to handle refund throughout the school year, except on 12/7 that she will be absent and PTA member Jiankun Kuang will be delegated. You can find PTA members by the round table at the south-west café corner. If you can’t find either one of them, please come to see the school staff. We want you to be refunded once commitment is fulfilled.

Stay warm and see you on Sunday again.

Feng Chen
Principal
CCC Chinese School 2014-2015

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