Category Archives: News

New Planet discovered outside our Solar System

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Students, after all the learning we have just participated in during our Space Unit, I thought you’d be fascinated to read about this.   Please post a comment on my blog no later than Wednesday telling me what you think about this new planet AND I want to know what you would have named it if you found it.  I found this part really amazing : The pictures also reveal a star in its youth — 60 million years old compared to our sun, which is 4 billion years old — which will provide a wealth of information for astronomers keen to establish the chemical make-up of planetary systems and how they form. WOW!!!  

Post Conference News

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Thanks to all of you for meeting with me last week. It was a pleasure to put faces to the names of the people my students talk about all the time. I am happy that overall, we seem to share similar philosophies when it comes to teaching and raising children. I was pleased to hear that although some parents thought their child could apply themselves more to the homework they were given, no one said “my child needs a lot more homework.”Everyone agreed that their child’s happiness is what is most important and having them engaged, challenged and socially active were also high on the priority list; I agree.

This week we are spending our last week working on the unit ‘Space’ in class. The children have really enjoyed this and their knowledge of Space and questions about Space have been fascinating.  Next week our class will begin one of the big 5th grade projects for the year, our Global Natives Project which Mr Hossack is fine tuning as we speak. This project will take the class right through to the end of the second quarter and will involve them working hard to manage their time. There will be strict guidelines for research and presentations throughout the project and it is important they use their time well or they may fall behind.

In Math we are about to do our unit 4 test on Division. The students seem ok at dividing in their own style but some have had trouble using the partial quotients method. Overall I think they will do fine on this test if they revise over their work at home.

In Language Arts we are having a great time exploring ways to get the most out of our writing. We have been asking lots of questions about what makes a good story and we have been looking at a lot of examples of good writing. The class have been amazing at pondering ‘small seed ideas’ and we have been using the Ralph Fletcher book ‘A Writer’s Notebook‘ about ‘Unlocking the Writer Within You’.

A reminder  that this Thursday is treat day, send in 5 rmb for you child to buy a treat if you wish.

Gifts are starting to come in for the Giving Tree. Please see this post for details and your child should have written about who they are buying for in their diary also.

Meet the Team

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Here are the great people I work with…When I started in 2005 it was with Mr Toa, Mr Howitt and Mr Hossack. The next year we were joined by Mr Romard who was replaced the following year by Ms Yick when Mr Romard moved to full time tech. Finally we were joined this year by our 3rd female to even up our ‘Brady Bunch’, Ms Canar.

We come from America, Australia, Canada, England and New Zealand…)not necessarily in that order ) and we are supported by wonderful specialists and support staff. We bring enthusiasm, kindness and knowledge to your children everyday and we love our work!

Have a great conference with these teachers who really care about your kids.

The Giving Tree

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The Giving Tree is a project run each holiday season to help out

Chinese children less fortunate than ourselves.

Please read the attached document for background information. The Giving Tree

Each classroom at SAS sponsors five children but we have taken on another child so that students in 5KP will work in teams of three to fill a bag each.  Students from that class bring in new clothing, toys, and special items to give to that child.

5KP has been given the great opportunity to give to these children so please give generously to:

1.                   He YiLing, a girl

a.       6 years old

b.      112 cm tall

c.       19 kilos in weight

d.      19.5 cm. shoe size

2.                  Meng Ting, a girl

a.       6 years old

b.      111 cm. tall

c.       16 kilos in weight

d.      19.5 cm. shoe size

3.                   Ye Yuan, a boy

a.       7 years old

b.      119 cm. tall

c.       18 kilos in weight

d.      22 cm. shoe size

4.                  Zhu JunQi, a boy

a.       6 years old

b.      108 cm. tall

c.       18 kilos in weight

d.      20 cm. shoe size

5.                  Dai Jun Jie, a boy

a.       6 years old

b.      121 cm. tall

c.       21 kilos in weight

d.      21 cm. shoe size

6.                   Ma Chun Yan, a girl

a.       6 years old

b.      104 cm tall

c.       20 kilos in weight

d.      20 cm. shoe size

Please bring in your donations by December 1st.

Thank you so much for participating in this wonderful yearly program that brings some happiness to such special children!

Happy Halloween

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The class had a great time today being dressed up and parading around the school. There was a lot of school spirit to be had and a big congratulations to the Pumas who are coming first in the Elementary House Awards for spirit so far. Thanks to the parents who came in and enjoyed watching the kids shouting and cheering their way around the corridors. It was a fun assembly in the middle school gym and I wish everyone good luck tonight with their trick or treating. Don’t forget to BRUSH YOUR TEETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Apologies for hardly any photos of the students in the slide show on the right….It was Mimi’s first Halloween and I got a little carried away with the cuteness so please humor me. Have a great weekend, only 7 more of them til the winter break!

Book Fair is on next week

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If your child is a book-worm like mine, then you will be happy to know that you may be able to purchase some new books for them next week at our SAS Pudong Book Fair.
It is being held in what we refer to as the ‘Orange Grove Room’ (between the 5th grade cafeteria and the middle/high school library) and our class are going over as a group to look at and buy books between 9.00 and 9.30 on Tuesday the 4th.

You can also buy books yourself anytime during the week and they will still be on sale when you come in for conferences on Thursday and Friday.  I am sending home e mails today with your conference times listed so I look forward to seeing you next week.

Math Success

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Welcome to the second quarter of 5th grade!

Congratulations to 5KP on the results from the latest math test. The class earned a median score of 95% and 15 out of 18 students showed improvement (with one student maintaining his previous high score). Four of the students that showed improvement actually earned their first 100% score for the year.

In the classroom we will keep two charts for math; one of which I have had in previous years; the 100% chart and another which I believe is more relevant for most of the class and achievable for all students; an improvement chart. This will be based on the results of their last test only encouraging the student to try and better their previous score. Of course, students should not feel discouraged if they cannot better their score and it is already in the 90th percentile anyway, this could be due to a number of factors and you cannot improve on 100%! This chart is mainly for the students who are often earning in the 70%-90% range and just need a bit of encouragement.

Well done 5KP for doing so well in our geometry unit.

Good luck with our next unit. Remember that starting today, you are all on the 100% chart, you start with a ‘4’…it is up to you what you do from here but by revising over each lesson at home you have a better chance of success next time around.

Unit 4 is on Division and the skills covered in unit four include:

*divide decimal numbers by whole numbers with no remainders

*write and solve number sentences with variables for division number stories

*find the quotient and remainder of a whole number divided by a 1-digit whole number

* find the quotient and remainder of a whole number divided by a 2-digit whole number

*make magnitude estimates for quotients of whole and decimal numbers divided by whole numbers

*interpret the remainder in division number stories

*determine the value of a variable; use this value to complete a number sentence

*know place value to hundredths

Halloween Preparations

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Dear Parents and Students

Please note the following schedule for the morning of Oct. 31:

Students are invited to come to school in costume on Oct. 31 with a change of clothes if necessary for a successful day at school. You are welcome to attend if you wish however rest assured I will take plenty of photos.

We will “parade” to the MS Gym at 8:30 for a Halloween themed assembly.  Please note approximate parade times:

  • Pre-K 3 & 4 & K will start walking out the doors to the large ES playground at 8:30.  They will be our leaders this year to ensure a slow walk to the MS gym
  • 8:35 First grade will line up behind the kinder classes
  • 8:37 Second
  • 8:40 Third
  • 8:42 Fourth
  • 8:45 Fifth

9:00 ES Assembly

9:30 Back to classes