Issue #1: April 2025
Upcoming Events:
May is Falun Dafa Month. The school hosts events and activities to help students appreciate the beauty of cultivation.
May 9, 2025: Falun Dafa Parade
School Closed. Students and parents are invited to participate in the Falun Dafa Parade.
May 13, 2025: LLA Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference (Fahui)
School Open. LLA’s annual Fahui is a special event where students read their cultivation sharings. Parents are invited to attend.
May 26, 2025: Memorial Day
School Closed.
2025-26 Registration Now Open!
Dear Families and Friends of Little Lotus Academy,
We hope you like our reformatted newsletter, please let us know what you think!
Last week I had the opportunity to discuss sample standardized test questions with our upper science class. Wow! So knowledgeable, articulate, thoughtful, and fun to be with! I’m sure that, just like last year, our students will again place in the 85% and above range.
NY State requires our students to take some form of standardized testing. While we rely on other more holistic assessments to gauge progress, we don’t mind when test results affirm the great progress students are making.
Registration for the 25-26 school year is open. Please enroll now. Financial Aid forms are also available. The amount of money is limited, of course, but you can help. First, early submission of forms helps us allot aid equitably. Second, timely submission helps streamline the process, which allows us to make a better case to donors for more money. Third, word of mouth is the best recruitment tool for new students.
Thank you for your continued support of Little Lotus Academy!
—Liam O’Neill, Board President
School-Wide Competitions Elevate English Learning
At LLA we are taking bold steps to ensure our students are getting the highest quality education possible while staying engaged in active learning.
Our Annual Poetry Competition and Readers’ Delight Book Reading Competitions are a testament to our school’s commitment to elevating the writing and speaking abilities of the entire student body.
With this goal in mind, this school year we introduced Word Wizards, a vocabulary competition that encourages students to study English independently and in their spare time. Students prepared for the competition by studying the spelling and meanings of over 100 words from workbooks that were provided according to grade. They studied this book in addition to their regular English class curriculum. Students from second through fifth grade participated in the competition and all the winners received fun prizes.
Congratulations to the competition winners!
Virtue of the Month: Honesty
Our April theme of virtue is Honesty. We believe honesty is one of the most important traits a person can have—it builds trust, strengthens character, and helps create a caring and respectful school community. It is perfectly in line with the universal principles of Truthfulness–Compassion–Forbearance.
Throughout this month, our students have been learning about and practicing this essential virtue in their daily lives. From telling the truth even when it’s difficult to taking responsibility for their actions, they’ve had meaningful experiences and inspiring stories to share.
Here’s what Aiden shared:
“After submitting my math test, I realized I had made a mistake on one of the problems. My first reaction was to get the answer sheet back from the teacher and change my answer. But then I asked myself, ‘Is this an honest action?’ The answer was no. So I decided to leave it as it was. Honesty is important. Later, I found out that my original answer was actually correct! Honesty truly is the best policy!”
We’re so proud of our students’ growth and the integrity they are showing each day. Their stories remind us that honesty, even in small moments, builds strength of character and earns the respect of others.
—Janet Xiong, Principal
Cultivating in Dafa
The fourth-grade students are innocent and straightforward. They bathe in the light of the Fa every day, live happily, and maintain themselves in the Fa.
Two students have made significant progress in practicing “forbearance” and “self-control.” They can learn to look inward in accordance with the Fa when conflicts arise. When they are calm, they can see their own shortcomings and take the initiative to apologize to other students. In terms of study, students who arrive at school early every day will take the initiative to “study early.”
—Lili Wang, Fa Study & Chinese Teacher
Discovering Beauty with Traditional Chinese Art
Students from grades one to five are studying Chinese painting. This art form allows students to gain an understanding of traditional Eastern culture, develop a sense of authentic aesthetic appreciation, and build a pure aesthetic consciousness.
In terms of subject matter, students learn to paint figures, flowers and birds, as well as landscapes. In terms of technique, they are introduced to both ink wash painting and fine-brush (gongbi) painting styles.
Through the cultivation of these foundational painting skills, students are encouraged to develop an eye for discovering beauty in everyday life.
—Athena Nie, Art Teacher
Steamtown Field Trip
In April we visited Steamtown, a National Historic Site near Scranton Pennsylvania, located about one and a half hours from Little Lotus Academy. The site is “an industrial heritage site dedicated to the role that steam railroad transportation, and the people who made it happen, played within America’s Industrial Revolution.”
We traveled back in time to the world of the Industrial Revolution, in tandem with our 4th and 5th grade U.S. History curriculum, where American inventions were at their peak, forever changing the way people all over the world lived their lives.
We got to do the guided tour through the train yard and learned about the steam-era railroad maintenance, repair and restoration. But, when in season, Steamtown rail offers 30-minute trips exploring the park’s historic railroad yard to full-day excursions through the Poconos and Lackawanna Valley.
—Virginia Blanco, Gr. 5 Homeroom Teacher
Budding Authors
With much enthusiasm, 5th grade English students embarked on the complex process of writing individual short stories. Students learned how to organize the structure of their stories using the pattern of a classical story line. Most importantly, students learned to reflect on the purpose of their writing, who they are writing for, and to always write with a positive message for the reader.
—Virginia Blanco, Gr. 5 Homeroom Teacher
Short Story: A Night in the Heart of the Pacific
Boom! Thunder had struck the ship. “Captain!”
Captain Tim bolted straight up from bed, heart racing. He glanced at his ticking pocket watch. It was 12:43 A.M., March 12, 1866. Good-natured Tim was aboard an old navy ship he had bought the year before, and now found himself afloat on the Pacific Ocean. A courageous explorer and captain of the ship, he was on a return journey to San Diego after a fruitful expedition to China. He was accompanied by his loyal and dedicated crew. Read the full story here.
By Emma Yang, 5th Grade
From the Nursery: Maple Syrup Farm Fun
This month, we visited a maple syrup farm. Although the season has already passed, and we couldn’t see the full production process, the farm owner gave us a careful explanation of the process of making maple syrup, and the children learned a lot. For example, some of the students shared the following interesting observations:
1. Maple syrup comes from maple trees.
2. The maple trees that produce maple syrup need to be 40-50 years old.
3. Maple syrup comes in light and dark colors.
4. The light-colored syrup tastes like butter, while the dark-colored syrup tastes like milk tea.
5. The flavor of maple syrup actually comes from the maple tree itself.
6. After drilling a hole in the maple tree, the sap flows out when the weather is cold.
After our discussion about how maple syrup is made, we tasted different flavors of maple syrup, maple syrup waffles, and maple syrup lollipops. They were all very sweet and delicious! Everyone had a great time and we hoped to have the opportunity to see the full maple syrup production process next year. This visit not only taught our class new knowledge but also left us with many wonderful memories! 😊
—Cici Deng, K & Pre-K Director
This newsletter was put together by the teachers of LLA.
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