Monthly Archives: January 2011

Events Coming up, Dates for your Calendar

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1. Treat Day is Tomorrow and it is 5th grade’s turn to bake; please do so if you are able, thank you!

2. Our Class Photo is tomorrow, Thursday the 20th of January

3.Walking With the Dinosaurs

When:  Friday, January 21,2011

(Chaperones, please meet us at the grade level project area, by 8:45.)

Where: Expo Culture Center (Mercedes-Benz Arena)/ 1200 Expo Avenue, Shanghai

How:   All parents must come to school, ride the bus and then they may leave the play with their children as long as they have informed their child’s teacher prior to departure.

Lunch:   Students must bring a packed lunch.  We will have a picnic lunch on the bus.

Why: To learn about theatrical events and enhance our migration unit.

Description:

“After years of planning, the award-winning BBC TV series, Walking with Dinosaurs, comes to life in a stunning theatrical event. Internationally renowned designers have worked with scientists to create 15 life-size dinosaurs, including the terror of the ancient terrain, Tyrannosaurus-Rex! Be amazed and thrilled as the greatest creatures ever to walk the earth return before your eyes.”

4. Coffee Connection hosted by the Shanghai Community Center

Come hear special guest Laura Cowan, SAS MS Counselor, share about “The Special Challenges Faced by Third Culture Kids”

When: January 21, 10am-12pm

Where: Community Center Shanghai Pudong Center

Greenhills Clubhouse, 2/F

418 JinXiu East Rd (near intersection of Bai Hua Rd)

Jinqiao, Pudong, Shanghai 200135

The closest subway station is Yunshan Lu Station, Line 6.

上海 浦东 金桥 锦绣东路418弄 云间绿大地会所2楼 (靠近白桦路)

最近的地铁站是6号线云山路站

Phone: (021) 3382-1770

Contact: Ron Mona

To Register for this FREE event, please visit: http://www.communitycenter.cn/events_coffeeconnection.asp

5. Chinese New Year Celebration

This year, SAS Pudong will host a school-wide Chinese New Year Celebration on Thursday, January 27. You are invited to join us for a Traditional Chinese Lunch with your child followed by a fantastic show of Authentic Chinese performances. You will also have a great opportunity to enjoy various exhibitions of your children’s artwork and progress on their Chinese learning. Please come and enjoy a great celebration, a perfect way to start your Chinese New Year Holiday.

When and where is the Chinese New Year Celebration?

Date: Thursday, January 27

11:30 AM- 12:30 PM: Traditional Chinese Luncheon served in both school cafeterias* Please see note below

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Traditional Chinese Performances In High School Gym

Complimentary Bus Transportation: Depart 10:00 A.M. from Jinqiao Starbucks; Return at 3:00 P.M. to Jinqiao Starbucks

Traditional Chinese Dress is encouraged!

What is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year also called the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is the most important holiday among the Chinese. This year, year of rabbit, the festival begins on February 3rd, which is the first day (Pinyin: chu xi) of the first month (Pinyin: zheng yue) in the Chinese calendar and ends on February 17th with the Lantern Festival that is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year’s Eve is the day for all family members to gather for a reunion dinner. Food for the dinner will include items such as pork, duck, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family ends the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, the children greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year and receive money in red envelopes(Hong Bao). Lion and dragon dances are some of the traditional performances throughout the country. This year, in addition to these performances, SAS Pudong has invited many other distinguished performers such as sand dances and Peking opera face change, etc.

How do I buy tickets?

This is FREE, no tickets necessary. This celebration is an opportunity for SAS Pudong to treat all parents, students and teachers with a great show.
Also, for the latest information, click here for the PTSA General Blog.

Thank you,

The Chinese New Year Celebration Committee

*Please note: due to space constraints for this special event, parents are requested to enjoy the Luncheon with your children in their regularly assigned cafeteria. Parents will view the Traditional Chinese Performances following the Luncheon; all students will view a morning performance prior to the luncheon.

Finally…

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…I’m back!

It was less than a week ago that our family flew back into Shanghai after an action packed three week trip to Australia. After a whirl-wind week of getting back into the swing of things; I feel a little more ready for a blog post! I do hope you all had a restful/exciting/rejuvenating holiday with your loved ones and that 2011 is a healthy and happy year for your family.

A very warm welcome goes out to Vanessa, our wonderful new student who has settled in beautifully to complete our class this week and take it to the very even number of 20; 10 girls and 10 boys!

Now students, what you’ve been waiting for… News on our Book in a ? Project.

Title: Book in a (you decide depending on the theme of your book and what it is best suited for as well as where your skills lie; you could present in the form of a podcast, keynote, poster, A4 packet or present your work on a cereal box, shoe or flower…)
Due: The first 5 presentations will be on Monday January 24th, which another 5 for each day ’til Thursday and any make-ups needed on the Friday before Chinese New Year vacation. (Due dates are according to your reader’s notebook dates.)
Goal: To share with the class information about a book you have started and finished in 2011 and have some fun as you prepare to share.
Requirements: Your presentation must include approximately 200 words on each of the following areas:

*Characters
*Plot
*Recommendations

We will clarify the above aspects of a book report again during class time but we will not have time to work on the project during class.

Students are expected to present their work to the class during their allotted time and orally tell us a few things about the book; I don’t expect them to read their report out loud, rather just to tell us why they liked the book (or didn’t) and answer any questions people might have about the book as well as go through the slides/poster/report with us.

Students, be creative, have fun and manage your time well this week. You have at least 7 days from now to work on this and I know some of you started work as early as Wednesday. PLAN how you will get your task completed and don’t leave it until the last minute!

In other news…
Before the Chinese New Year Holiday we will complete our Nutrition Unit in Health, our Unit 6 Math test (and consequently our first math journal) and our Essay Unit which I am loving working on with the kids. We have a busy and brief time to do this and I am flexible in that if some things seem beyond us; we will use the three school days after school resumes on February 9th, but the point is, even though there is a short amount of time between Winter Vacation and Chinese New Year; we will be making the most of it.

Parents (AND STUDENTS) please bake for our 5th grade treat day this Thursday Jan 20th!

Speaking of treats, we will be discussing this article in class during our nutrition lessons this week students. It would be very mature of you, very scholarly and very intelligent of you to read it first, see if you understand it, and have an opinion on it or questions about it before coming to class. I will give you until Thursday (which just happens to also be treat day), let’s see how ready for middle school you really are with your independent learning. In accordance with the complexity of the article, I will be rewarding some of the best questions/understandings about the article with a chocolate!