Ji-li Jiang is coming to town

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Lana

There’s excitement in the air as students from 4th grade through 8th grade have been familiarizing themselves with the work of acclaimed author Ji-li Jiang; her most famous book being Red Scarf Girl.

Her visit is timely with 5th grade getting ready to begin their Memoir Unit in Writer’s Workshop. Fourth grade will also make the most of Ji-in’s time here as they are studying trade in their Social Studies unit, and have been talking a lot about China’s rich resources and their role in world wide trade. Ji-li will be able to talk about her experiences here growing up in China through the Cultural Revolution, the changes she has seen over the years as well as her books; Red Scarf Girl with 5th grade, and The Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven with the 4th grade. I was thrilled to hear Ms. Stella discussing this book with the fourth grade this week; so many of them grew up with stories of the monkey king or have learned about him in their Mandarin classes, and were certainly more knowledgable then me.

Ms. Jiang will also be presenting at many other schools in Shanghai, as well as at the Puxi campus. I really thought this review from her website summed up how we will feel after her visit.

“… Ji-li Jiang’s story appeals to the 10-14 year old student for several reasons. Her experience during the Chinese Cultural Revolution took place when she was their age; Ji-li’s story directly relates to the adolescent world centered on school, peer relationships, family, self-esteem and self-actualization. Survival of the individual and a family’s display of courage are evident throughout her tale of a terrifying chapter in Chinese history…”

I know you will join me in welcoming Ji-li to our campus; books for sale will be available but limited, especially Red Scarf Girl which is unavailable in China, so get in early if you’e like to purchase that one. We have loaded the kindles, ipads and ipods with her books and are encouraging our students to have discussions with their families about Ji-li’s stories, and their own stories if they lived through that period of time themselves, or if they know the story of the Monkey King.

Books to Eat Week Two=Keep the sugar coming!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Lana

Apart from me cutting up the cakes too early, meaning a couple of classes did not get to see the amazing finished products… today went really well.

Congratulations to Chantelle, Riley, Benjamin, Lizzie, Benjo, D’Arcy, Seo Yeon, Rigel, Connor, Marco, Sydney, Martina, Sofia and Charlotte for your amazing baking and creative skills as seen below. There was plenty of oohing and aahing from parents, teachers and students as they walked through the Elementary Library today; people were impressed with your efforts, well done.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=124984

Books to Eat Week One=Success!

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Lana

Congratulations to Blake, Bauer, Cindy, Stephanie, Ethan, Connor, Charley, August, Ava, Yean, Yasmin, Saskia, Vivian and Andy from Prek K, K and 1st Grade who all registered in our first ever Books To Eat competition at Pudong Elementary. Special thanks go to Mrs Happer’s class who had an amazing 8 entries, including one for Green Eggs and Ham that the whole class participated in.

All day long groups of students, parents and teachers streamed through the library, oohing and aahing over these students’ creations. I was so impressed to have so many entries, considering this was the first time we tried to do something like this. Now that the bigger kids have seen what the younger ones can do, I’m sure that the competition will be fierce for next Friday’s 2nd and 3rd grade Books to Eat Celebration.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=124984

Kids… it’s time to eat your books!

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Lana

Hey there Pre K, K and 1st graders.

Tomorrow is the very first Books to Eat competition in the ES Library, and YOU ARE UP!

Thank you to the students, teachers and parents who have already sent in a registration form. We are excited to see your edible creations this Friday. If you have something to contribute, please bring it in to the Elementary Library first thing in the morning tomorrow, Friday March 1st. The cakes will be judged throughout the day, and eaten in the afternoon! Yummy!

Bring in: the cake/creation and the book that goes with it please.

Books to Eat

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Lana

My favorite event of the year begins in one week; the Shanghai Literary Festival.

Unfortunately, they won’t be running their regular Books to Eat Competition, so we are going to run our own. The competition involves participants baking something, most often a cake, or something sweet, based on a book.

*Entering is voluntary.

*There will be three divisions:

Friday March 1st: open to all PreK, K and 1st grade students, teachers and specialists

Friday March 8th:open to all 2nd and 3rd grade students, teachers and specialists

Friday March 15th: open to all 4th and 5th grade students, teachers and specialists

In years past, several of our SAS students have had success winning prizes in categories including tastiest, most creative and people’s choice. We will have many, many categories for our students to achieve success in, nobody will go away empty handed. Some examples for your creation include:

Princess and the Pea
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Paper Bag Princess
Trucks
James and the Giant Peach

Please consider getting creative with your child, this really is a fun way to celebrate literature, you are only limited by your imagination. Please include a copy of your book with your cake, see pictures below.

Registration forms are available from the ES library and are due by 3 pm the Tuesday before your Friday cake competition. Children will be asked to put

*their name and class

*book title and author’s name

Cakes and their accompanying books must be delivered to the ES Library as soon as your child arrives on Friday morning. They will be judged before morning recess, viewed throughout the day, and available for eating after 2 pm!

Some of the awards given will be for taste, so IF you don’t want your cake to be eaten, please make sure you let me know personally via e mail: kimbra.power@saschina.org as part of the idea is for the students to have a lot of fun with this, and everybody loves eating cake! Therefore, please do NOT use nuts, or nut products in any of your creations.

Below are some photos of last years entries, and here is a link to some great photos of other Books to Eat competitions around the world. Google books to eat and check out what is out there.

Newbery News

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Lana

They say you’re only as good as your last blog post… in which case, I’m really slipping… I was embarrassed last week when a 3rd grader asked me about a visiting author that was coming soon. Bewildered, I replied that that author had been here already; but it says they are coming on your blog… OOPS.

I’ve been buzzing with excitement during the past week knowing the Newbery and Caldecott Awards will be given out tonight, January 28th. Being an awards junkie, it has made my day being able to discuss some of the best books written with all grade levels. Every grade level, from Pre K up, understands what it means to win a prize, to come first, to be honored or acknowledged. They also know good books when they see them, and we’ve had some wonderful discussions on who might win and why.

Here are some of the books I think may win the Caldecott tonight… in just 4 and a half hours from now!!!

I have three favorites above. Part of me would like Laura Vaccaro Seeger to win, as I get to meet and conference with her this weekend in Singapore, at the Children’s Literature Conference. I was lucky enough to get to it last year, and wow, what fun! I’ve seen Laura’s book, Green, and it is so aesthetically wonderful, that I really think it has a great chance of taking the medal.

I’ve also developed quite a crush on Jon Klassen’s work so Mac Barnett’s Extra Yarn, which Jon illustrated is a favorite, and even more so, the book Jon has authored and illustrated, This is not my Hat; the delightful sequel to I want my Hat Back, which I completely adore!

Any of these being chosen, or Hello Hello by Matthew Cordell, surprising people, would make my day!

If you’re unsure what the Newbery Awards are all about, I thought this blog post answered some of the questions I had in a matter of fact way; questions such as who chooses the winner in the first place?

My pick for the Newbery Winner for 2013 has been The One and Only Ivan by the amazingly talented Katherine Applegate (author of one of my favorite books EVER, Home of the Brave) I’ve wanted Ivan to take the gold since I was introduced to him by my library buddy Tara. You cannot help but fall in love with Ivan when you meet him, and Applegate’s writing gives Ivan such a pure voice, mmm, what a story, what a character. So although many people are cheering for Wonder, which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend, I only have eyes for Ivan…

May the best gorilla win!

One week ’til our first author arrives

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Lana

Excitement is building as the count-down continues as our first visiting author, Anne Sibley O’Brien arrives in Pudong next week.
We are fortunate at SAS to have many wonderful authors visit us from all around the world; they bring with them energy, talent and enthusiasm for their craft. Students will be able to purchase books and have them signed, listen to stories and participate in workshops with Anne who will begin her week in the Elementary School with a presentation for our first and second graders.

Throughout the week, more sessions will be delivered to our grade levels as well as some workshops for a few art classes and homerooms as time allows. Anne will also be working in the Middle and High School so I am sure you will see her somewhere around the school next week, please make her feel welcome.

A highlight of the week for me will be our United Nations Celebratory Luncheon on Tuesday October 23rd. Our Library Pages will be serving dishes that they have made with their family, representing the countries they call home. Our Elementary Teachers will join Anne Sibley O’Brien in the library to share this meal, listen to entertainment from our Elementary Musicians and contribute a donation to the ESTC campaign, providing for other children to also have greater access to food.

Please check out a list of the workshops Anne may be delivering here.
Anne Sibley O’Brien Full Info

Below is information regarding the books that will be on sale in our Elementary Library.

Below is the schedule for the Elementary School, a larger one is linked here.
Elementary ASO Schedule

What’s Happening in the Library?

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Lana

What’s NOT happening in the library?

It has been a terrific start to what is shaping up to be an amazing year for me; I am so happy I made the decision to apply for the job of Elementary Librarian at Shanghai American School when it came up. After 7 years in the 5th grade classroom, I thought I couldn’t be more satisfied in my career, however I find the challenges of a new role stimulating and so very interesting that I know I made the right decision.

My mind is constantly buzzing with idea; for authors, for book clubs, new books, read-a-louds, board displays, recommendations, new collections, blogs and activities to do with the students and teachers. I am so fortunate to work in an environment where literacy is so valued and resources are so generously provided.

*Ms. Stella and Ms. Joji have been flat out shelving over 1,000 glorious books for us.
*Our new kindles have had over 200 books added to them, including today’s newest release, The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers, Book 4!

Our Ipads are out on display showing off the many magazines bought with our Zinio App as well as a huge variety of games and activities to discover. The advantage of having so much great technology at our fingertips is that we hope to get the latest release books and magazines into the hands of our students and teachers as soon as possible. We also have Ipods for check-out and they each hold almost 100 audiobooks for our students to read. We expect the kindles, ipods and play-a-ways to be in constant rotation.

Don’t ever despair that our children are not reading ‘real’ books though, they are allowed to check out as many as they can carry, and boy, they do. Sometimes I wonder how they are going to make it out of there, but it is fantastic to see our avid readers with arms full of books, talking about books, and checking them out.

If you’d like to read more about the type of readers we have in our library, check out my recent article in Shanghai Family.

The loft that Mrs. Boyer, now our Middle School Librarian, designed is getting plenty of use as students race to the stairs, take their shoes off and prepare to get comfy with a good read for company. What a wonderful space!

Stay Tuned…

Marvelous May

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Lana

In 7 years in Shanghai, I’d never been to Jinshan before, and I think the whole 5th grade found the trip really worthwhile. Thank you to Ms Rekate for organizing the day for us; you can read more about the Village and its history on her blog, and we have details of how you can get there as a family if you’re interested; it would be a great trip to take with visitors to Shanghai.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=109615

My 14th and Final Soccer Day as a 5th grade homeroom teacher was AMAZING!
Not only was the weather fantastic, but we WON EVERY GAME, which is a first…the kids were scoring all over the place!