Book Reviews

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Lana

Rarely do you get the chance to read a story this wonderful, taking you on a roller coaster ride of emotional highs and lows where you find yourself crying and laughing on the same page.

The Fault in our Stars is that story. John Green delivers in this tale of two sixteen year olds who meet at a Cancer Support Group. Hazel and Augustus, two lead characters who provide us with intelligence, humor and grace, help us navigate loaded issues of death, love and life.

If you like a book that takes you on an unforgettable journey… check out The Fault in our Stars today.

“The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

There are many specific elements that contribute to making a STRONG book review.

*Write a summary of the book that does not give two much of the plot away
*Using quotes from the book is a great way to catch people’s interest
*Make sure your review shares how you feel about the book, and why, and not just what the book is about
*Hook the reader in, perhaps by asking them questions

Here is a scholastic site you can go to and put your own review online for the world to see.

I also love this spaghetti book club page which includes hundreds of reviews written for children BY children ABOUT children’s books. They all follow a pretty clear pattern making it obvious to young learners what is expected of them.

Here is a review provided by A.S., aged 8, taken from here

A 12 year old girl named Mibs and her brothers and sisters have a secret. Mibs’ family, the Beaumonts, have a special tradition. For the Beaumonts whenever they turn 13 they get a savvy, a special power, Mibs is desperate, she can’t wait. It’s only a few days from her13th birthday. Rocket, her brother, can make electricity, Fish, her other brother, can control the weather, what will be Mibs’ savvy? But bad news strikes, something has happened to Mib’s father, but what? Will he ever get out of the hospital? What will happen next? Will Mibs father have to miss her birthday?
I really like this book because it has adventure and a little bit of mystery. As you read this book you might be wondering will Mib’s father wake up? What will Mib’s savvy be? My favorite part was when Mib’s figured out her savvy because it was an exciting moment, suddenly just like that, Mib’s has an awesome savvy. To me this book is both special and unique because it’s not an everyday thing, you turn thirteen and you get a super power. So, what is Mib’s savvy? Well you will have to read this book to find out.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes adventures and a little bit of a mystery because this book will take you on a twisty and turny trip on a big pink Bible Supply Bus with a bunch of crazy kids to who knows where!!!!!

I love that A.S. makes the recommendation to a specific audience and explains why she likes the book so much.
Well done A.S.

Nutrition Unit for Fifth Grade

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Lana

In my 7 years teaching 5th grade at SAS, one of my favorite units was the health and nutrition unit. Even now, I still can’t go past a blog or a book that I think would be complementary to the students’ learning.

So, here you go 5th grade teachers and team, have a look at some of these great websites.

First of all, here is one of the coolest ongoing blogs I’ve seen from a young person, such a simple idea, but you can see from Martha Payne’s latest blog visitor, Jamie Oliver… that she is doing something right. Oh, did I mention Martha is only TEN YEARS OLD? I’ve bought her story on kindle in our library.

NeverSeconds is a blog showing and reviewing school dinners (lunches) around the world that Martha started up to raise a bit of money for her favorite charity, Mary’s Meals. Martha went on to raise almost $200,000 US dollars… that’s well over a million RMB!

#never seconds

Next up, these sites contrast food around the world in the form of a weekly grocery purchase… Where does YOUR family fit in? How different is what YOUR family purchase compared to the families represented from your passport country/country you live in now?

Just yesterday, here is a study of what 30 families eat in one week, which shows the enormous gap between diets in different countries.

The Daily Mail

Now here is a photo essay from Peter Menzel, and we have his books in our library too.

American Photo Journalist Peter Menzel

Here’s more of Menzel’s work in Time magazine

Time Magazine

OK, and here’s something a little extra for all you people living in Shanghai… Check out these before and after shots of Pudong that I found on another great photography site, while I was looking for great nutrition ideas for you. If you click on the images, they fade in and out for before and after effects.

Want to win a prize???

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Lana

Greetings thrill-seekers

Do you like winning competitions? Do you like books? Would you like to enter a competition?

How about poetry? Are you any good at writing poems, and what about poems about Christmas?

Did you enjoy Sarah Brennan’s recent visit and her wonderful poetry?

If the answer to at least half of these questions is YES, then have I got a deal for YOU!

Check out Sarah Brennan’s blog and get cracking students… the deadline for Sarah’s latest poetry competition is Friday January 17th. While you’re there, have a peek at Sarah’s recent trip to SAS and see if you spot anyone familiar…

Sarah Brennan visits SAS

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Lana

We are excited to be hosting our first author for the 2013-2014 school year, Sarah Brennan, on Monday October 28th. Sarah will be presenting to students from Pre-K-4th grade in our Elementary Library and her books will be on sale all of next week if you’d like to buy one and have it signed by her. Sarah has visited Shanghai many times and you may have been lucky enough to see her at the Shanghai Literary Festival or even here at SAS a couple of times. She has a large and joyful personality and gives 110% to all of her presentations, leaving audiences inspired. I am always impressed listening to Sarah and believe our students benefit from her real-life learning experiences and the attention to detail she puts in to explaining the writing process.

Here are many details from Sarah that outline her career in a nutshell, but I know you’ll love to look at her fantastic website where she regularly updates her blog and also offers many opportunities for YOU to write for her… competitions aplenty here. Sarah Brennan is the Hong Kong-based international author and publisher of the best-selling Chinese Calendar Tales (The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Run Run Rat, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Tale of Temujin, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda and her latest title The Tale of Sybil Snake) as well as the hugely popular Dirty Story series. She is also author of the humorous parenting advice manual Dummies for Mummies published by Haven Books. A featured author in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing International Literary Festivals since 2004, Sarah conducts regular reading tours, workshops and weeks in residence in schools in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Australia and the UK. Her books are now also distributed in the United States and Canada. As it is now the year of the Snake in the Chinese Calendar, we will have many Sybil Snake books on sale for 80 rmb each.

Sarah’s particular mission is to bring Chinese culture, history and landscape to young English speakers everywhere through the medium of humour, verse and funny illustrations, while at the same time giving children living in East Asia stories that relate to their own heritage. She also believes passionately in rich vocabulary and intelligent text for primary school children: “dumbing down” is her particular bête noir! As a result, her books can be read on many levels and are popular among children aged as young as 5 and as old as 12. The great Australian author Thomas Keneally (Schindler’s List) has described Sarah’s work as “a meeting between traditional Asian narratives and the universal taste of children for graphic stories. The tale-telling gifts shown in these books, along with the exuberance of the language and rhymes, make them unique in children’s literature”. All of Sarah’s books are wickedly illustrated by Hong Kong’s much-loved cartoonist from the South China Morning Post, Harry Harrison. Sarah lives in Hong Kong with her French husband, two daughters and an opinionated cocker spaniel. Visit Sarah’s funny and fabulous website at www.sarah-brennan.com and blog at www.sarahbrennanblog.wordpress.com!

Congratulations Shanghai American School Elementary Students

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Lana

Students streamed along the corridors lugging cardboard sometimes larger than they were… and so began our Cardboard Challenge.
From 8 am until 2 pm students from Pre K to 5th grade played, created, imagined, built and problem solved with cardboard and recycled materials. They worked across classrooms, inside and outside, upstairs and down.

A huge thank you goes out to Mr. Davey Neill, 5DN homeroom teacher, for putting this footage together over his vacation time. As you watch the following video, I’m sure you’ll agree it captures the joy and energy that was experienced on September 27th for our very first Global Cardboard Challenge.

http://videonew.saschina.org/player/pak_player/pakplayer.swf?config=http%3A%2F%2Fvideonew.saschina.org%2Fplayer%2Fpak_player%2Fembed_player.php%3Fvid%3D5135%26json%3Dtrue%26autoplay%3Dno

Important Student Update

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Lana

Thanks for a fun week Elementary Students, your enthusiasm and excitement about the Cardboard Challenge is infectious. Sharing videos and ideas with you and seeing your reactions is one of the reasons I love my job so much. I know that with YOUR commitment to creativity, fun and using your imagination, next Friday will be a big success. Here is one of the amazing creations made in the 2012 Global Cardboard Challenge… what a cool looking car! There is NOTHING stopping you from creating something this wonderful students, you are only limited by your imagination…

Here is a great list of some facts and figures about the Global Cardboard Challenge and Caine’s Arcade and this is a link to many of the videos that were made during last years challenge…(you’ll need a VPN to watch these) or you can come by the library and see them on the t.v.

This is a list of the other countries participating so far… help spread the word, tell your friends… we are the ONLY people in China participating right now.

Some of you asked me why we are doing the Global Cardboard Challenge, and then we talked about Caine’s Arcade, which started it all, and Nirvan, and The Imagination Foundation… but then I found this graphic which really sums up why we are getting creative with cardboard on Friday September 27th.

…that sums it up nicely don’t you think?

So don’t forget to collect cardboard, foil, wrapping paper, string, recyclable materials and LOTS OF COOL STUFF to make our day a big success.

Nine More Sleeps…

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Lana

… until Shanghai American School celebrates creativity, imagination and fun with the Global Cardboard Challenge, inspired by Caine, of Caine’s Arcade.

(This is our good friend Erin’s son Stanley… already enjoying his own Cardboard Challenge!)

We are asking for your help to make this day a huge success for our students by providing as many recycled materials as you can muster.

Here are the things we need in order of importance:

*Cardboard-the larger and more unusual the better, but EVERYTHING can be useful; toilet rolls, saran rap rolls, posters, tissue boxes.
*Foil, Wrapping Paper, Origami Paper, Poster Paper that can be used to wrap and cover the cardboard and turn it into rocket ships, microwave ovens, doll houses, a building on fire, a hospital, a space ship… you name it
*Pipe-Cleaners, String, Rubber Bands, Toothpicks, Cotton Wool, Cotton Buds
*Old fabric, cloth material that is no longer useful to you, but could be a stage curtain for us, or a ship’s sale, or a cave’s entrance.

Really, we are only limited by our imagination… please don’t send in any valuable items, or things you’d like to see again as we cannot guarantee that, and we’re telling the students that for the most part, they will NOT be able to take anything home with them. Hopefully after this they will be inspired to rebuild some of their favorite cardboard creations over the break…

Please help us to make this day the huge success it promises to be.

As most of you know, the story of why the Global Cardboard Challenge came around begins with a young boy named Caine, who you can read about here on the Imagination Foundation Website.

Quick Facts: taken from here

• Film posted online April 9th
• Film by Nirvan Mullick (@nirvan)
• Total Running Time: 11 minutes
• Total Views: Over 8 million (YouTube + Vimeo + Facebook )
• Over $235,000 raised for Caine’s Scholarship Fund.
• $250,000 Matching Grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation to start the Imagination Foundation
• In first 2 months, over 100 Schools in 9 Countries created cardboard arcades inspired by the film.
• The Imagination Foundation’s 1st annual Global Cardboard Challenge had over 270 Events in 40 Countries.
• Over 135,000 Facebook Fans
• Caine traveled to France & was youngest speaker ever at the Cannes Lions 2012.
• Caine was youngest ever entrepreneur to speak at USC Marshall School of Business

Book Recommendations

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Lana

Every day I am asked by teachers, students and parents to recommend books. Here are some of the favorite sites I use and some lists with some of the best new release books on them.

The Best Books from Amazon for Children and Teens have many sublists including editor’s picks, new release books, picture books and more. I often start somewhere like here because I end up with many new links to follow and a great list of books to upload on the kindles, Ipads and Ipods.
Students often ask when I can get the latest new books like “Jabba”, “Hard Luck”, “Survivors” “Hades” and “I even Funnier” and I let them know I’ll have them the VERY DAY they come out, digitally… but not til August 2014 in paperback, unless I find them (or you find them for me) on a vacation somewhere… Anyone heading to the USA? Hint Hint

Other Great Sites I use

For Boys: Guys Read where I go straight to the ‘Books for Guys’ and ‘Guys Read Library’ Tabs. Here you’ll find all sorts of recommendations from amazing authors who have contributed to a growing niche market of wonderful books for Middle Grade boys. The Guys Read series is really popular in the library and I love how it can get kids turned on to author’s they’ve never heard of before.

For Girls: A Mighty Girl has a great Facebook page I follow so I’m always up to date with the latest ‘Girl Power’ reads and issues. Here you’ll find not only empowering books for females introducing a variety of amazing role models for your daughters (and sons) but also a great range of movies, book recommendations for parents, cool clothing and some fantastic ‘best of’ lists under the ‘best of’ tab.

For Everyone: Common Sense Media has been a favorite of mine for years since my techie husband Simon Power introduced it to me. Here you’ll find a whole range of great resources including ratings on films, books, games and more. There are recommendations from parents, educators and the people who really count:your children! Check out this must have resource today and bookmark it for further use; I visit it at least once a day!

Get challenged this September

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Lana

On September 27th, our Elementary School will be taking part in the Imagination Foundation’s Global Cardboard Challenge. The GCC began after a man named Nirvan entered Caine’s Arcade on 28th of September 2011, and went on to make a film about Caine, that quickly went viral.

Here is the story of that day…

http://videonew.saschina.org/player/pak_player/pakplayer.swf?config=http%3A%2F%2Fvideonew.saschina.org%2Fplayer%2Fpak_player%2Fembed_player.php%3Fvid%3D4656%26json%3Dtrue%26autoplay%3Dno

The Imagination Foundation is a non-profit group with a mission to find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in children. As a means of launching the Imagination Foundation, Nirvan arranged the Global Cardboard Challenge, to encourage creativity with cardboard, and arranged over 270 events across 41 countries, including one at Caine’s Arcade.

Check out this one minute clip of all the great things you can do with a cardboard box!

http://videonew.saschina.org/player/pak_player/pakplayer.swf?config=http%3A%2F%2Fvideonew.saschina.org%2Fplayer%2Fpak_player%2Fembed_player.php%3Fvid%3D4617%26json%3Dtrue%26autoplay%3Dno

This year, the Imagination Foundation aims to involve over 70 countries and one million people.

Resources for Inspiration

Pinterest Page full of images from the Global Cardboard Challenge
http://pinterest.com/imaginationfdn/global-cardboard-challenge-resources-for-educators/

All of the videos playing in the library have come from this page
http://www.imagination.is/gcc_videos

A great page fostering creativity and imagination
https://mymakedo.com/cardboard-challenge

the barefoot librarian

Kimbra Power

Author Archives: Lana