News of the moment

Posted on by
3

It was a wonderful week of learning and adventure in 5KP and we are looking forward to it continuing as we start our second full week together. Thank you students for your effort in remembering our morning routines, our classroom rules and the way we behave and manage our daily schedules.

As of this week, if students do not complete homework; there will be consequences that involve them losing their recess time and copying out our classroom homework policy. The second time homework is forgotten I will contact the parents in the hope that there will not be a third time. The students know that I do not set a lot of homework and I expect what is set to be done, on time, and with care and effort. I try and make the consequences as boring as possible, the homework as meaningful as possible and our classroom time as valuable as possible.

Check out who your children share their day with below and take the time to comment on the blog if you care to.

Introducing 5KP
http://portal.saschina.org/video/flv_player/Main.swf
News around the School

Please click on these blog posts from Mrs Boyer regarding library volunteers and from our Principals regarding our Open House activities for September 8th for more information.

Class Pet

It was a surprise on Thursday morning when our class pet, a ‘male’ hamster named Shadow, gave birth to not one but six baby hamsters!!! That was certainly an interesting way to start the day and 36 hours later as I write this, the six babies are alive and well, small and pink with their eyes still closed. I wrote the information below before the babies were born… the only thing that has changed now is that we won’t start letting Shadow go home for weekends until the babies have been weaned. If you are interested in a pet hamster, just send me an e mail and in a month or so… voila!

The children are very excited to have a class pet and we will develop a list of responsibilities to go along
with having a pet that enables them to take turns playing with him, providing him with
fresh food and water and cleaning his cage.

Shadow has a travel cage and is allowed to go home with your child over the weekend IF you write
to me giving permission for this to happen, it is purely an option, not a necessity so do not feel any
pressure. (“Yeah, right” I hear you say… so I will re-phrase that; don’t feel any pressure FROM ME!)
My only concern with Shadow coming home with your child is that he be protected from undue stress at home
and especially on the bus ride.

I have discussed this at length with the students and they are forbidden to take him
out of the cage between school and home and encouraged to just keep a low profile on the bus and
set the cage on the floor at their feet or on their lap. The bus experience will be noisy and busy enough
without any extra attention.

I will provide the hamster food for the weekend but feel free to also give small pieces of fresh carrot
etc. The cage can be cleaned out again by the student once they return it to school on the Monday.
Hamsters can be very noisy at night time; very entertaining too. They tend to sleep for most of the day.
I find having them run around in an empty bath
with a few small bits and pieces to play with (empty toilet paper rolls are ideal) is fun to watch and
they cannot escape… Make sure they don’t go down the plug hole!

Over and Out from 5KP!

Welcome Parents of 5KP

Posted on by
3

Hello and welcome to many of you who are visiting this blog for the first time. This will be my primary way of relaying news and information to you about your child and our lessons so I hope you find time to check it once a week. I suggest that day be Monday, as I often find time to post news and update photos over the weekend.

The blog alert e mail that led you to this page is something I will only activate when it is important for you to see what I have written (again, I will aim for Monday). There will be many other times when I post information that is relevant for the students but not necessary for you to see so I will deactivate the alert at that stage. I know you are busy, I value your time and I don’t want the blog to stress you out; rather to give you a snapshot of some of the activities we are enjoying in 5KP.

Feel free to look at it as often as you like, there are links to other classes, your child’s specialist teachers and other sites relevant to our learning. The blog will not be a way to communicate homework: that will be done through your child’s homework diary/assessment book/agenda! E mail is the best way to get to me quickly however I would love to see some of your comments on our blog and so will your child when they have their very own blog which will be set up over the next two weeks.

Here are some dates that may be worth putting on your calendar:

*Parent Information Fair Thursday, August 26th at 8:00 am
*1st PTSA General Meeting Thursday, August 26th at 9:00 am
*Open House Wednesday, September 8th (details to be announced)
*PTSA Pudong Fall BBQ Saturday, September 18th

Please now read the recent posts below which contain photos of your child and other school news. You will learn a few things about me by clicking on the ‘KIMBRA POWER’ link at the top of the page. I look forward to learning more about you too in the weeks ahead and can’t wait to see you at our Open House.

Here’s to new beginnings…

Posted on by
1

How exciting to have met and enjoyed the students I will teach for the rest of the school year. They are a lively, enthusiastic, happy and positive bunch of young people and we had a really great first four days together. They seem to gel as a group and that is really important for our learning environment, I have had some really tight-knit classes over the past 5 years at S.A.S. and it is wonderful watching them grow and learn together.

To the right of the screen it says 5KP students and I will keep my former students up there until the current 5KP class are introduced to blogging and have their own blog set up (within the next two weeks). In the meantime check out the work that was done by last years students as a guide to what sort of events and activities your children can look forward to this year.

*Don’t forget swim tryouts are Monday and Tuesday at 3.15 pm in our wonderful aquatics center. See here for details
*Please see Ms. Denton’s blog as she has posted information for her band students. All the blog addresses you need are listed in the right sidebar, Ms. Denton is under specialists. Just click on the link.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. ~John Dewey

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

*Tomorrow is Day 5 so don’t forget we will have swimming during PE time.
*Monday Reader’s also have their Reader’s Notebook due tomorrow so write me a letter all about something interesting you have discovered while reading over the weekend.
*Enjoy the remainder of your weekend 5KP and please continue to make your Reader’s Notebook look spectacular.
*Thank You parents for your e mail addresses, I will have a group mailing list set up this week and will be in touch.

A couple of first week announcements…

Posted on by
18

It was really wonderful today to meet the class I will be teaching and learning with for the next 10 months.

Welcome to 5KP…Spencer, Madeline, Carl B, Calen, Roxanne, Mrinalini, Xing Chen, Maximillian, Mike, Kyra, Jonathan, Claire, Ingrid, Hsuan-Hsuan, Kevin, Patricia, Carl Z, Thomas and Grace.

Homework tonight is for the students to give their parents a notice about Power School and a copy of their class schedule as well as students and parents reading this blog post. PARENTS PLEASE E MAIL ME AT kimbra.power@saschina.org so that I have a copy of the main e mail address you want me to use to keep in touch with you through e mail and also to alert you when a weekly update on the blog is posted.

Here is the schedule. It may change over the next couple of weeks, but not by a great deal. I gave the students a paper copy of it today to keep at home and feel free to print off this fancy colorful one if you need to. LLB stands for Language Learning Block.

Screen shot 2010-08-16 at 12.00.15 PM

On behalf of the Fifth Grade team and all of us here at the Shanghai American School, we welcome you to the 2010-2011 school year.   We are all keen to begin a year that will be wonderfully memorable for you and your child.

Like the beginning of any school year, the first week of school can sometimes create a variety of emotions within children and their parents.  In order to  ensure a smooth transition for you and your child, we have developed a list of essential ‘bits and pieces’. You can skip the sections you already know about, especially if you are not new to the school. The information in bold is the most pertinent for now.

LUNCH CARDS

Most students had their Eurest cards with them today, loaded up and ready to go. Don’t forget to pay me back if I helped you out today and remember to bring along some money to recharge your card tomorrow. To purchase a healthy, hot lunch from school you must first purchase a Eurest lunch card from the Eurest staff located in the elementary school cafeteria.   Money will be stored on your child’s card and deducted from the balance of the card each time meal items are purchased.  When the balance on the card becomes low, a notification will be sent home asking you to apply money to the card.  Eurest staff will provide a receipt for your records in return.  In the fifth grade, your child is responsible for his/her own lunch card, unlike in previous years.  You are always more than welcome to send a home lunch to school with your child and microwave services and assistance will be provided to warm their lunch when needed.

SNACKS

Some students did not bring along any snack today and in this hot weather, it is important to keep both nutrition and fluids up. Don’t forget your water bottles 5KP. Please provide a healthy snack and drink for snack time.  Healthy snack include sandwiches, vegetable sticks, fruit, crackers and cheese, yogurt or popcorn.  Please refrain from sending candy, potato chips, cookies or cakes and don’t forget our entire school is a nut free zone! Your child needs to bring in their own clearly named water bottle to school as we are discouraging the overuse of the paper cups with our school green initiatives.

BUS RULES

Each bus has a monitor that assists your child.  Appropriate bus rules will be covered in a grade level assembly at the beginning of the year and will be posted on the bus.  A copy of bus rules will be sent home with each S.A.S. family to ensure clarity of bus rules and expectations.  Being respectful and remaining safe while traveling on the bus is an absolute requirement.  The classroom teacher and parents will be promptly notified of any inappropriate behavior.

CLASSROOM MATERIALS

All necessary classroom materials will be provided by the school for classroom usage.   We strongly recommend that a special ‘work area’ be set up in the home that is quiet and supplied with basic school tools to ensure sustained periods of work and/or study.  Once we begin our regular routine, your child will have homework each weeknight and occasionally on weekends when we work on special projects.

HELPING YOUR CHILD ADJUST TO SCHOOL

During the first week of school, we strongly encourage you to talk to your child about school and their new classrooms.  A positive attitude from parents goes a long way to ensure that your child understands that school is a happy place to be.  We would also ask that you check your child’s backpack daily, and please read all school calendars and letters sent home from school.

We hope that you find this information helpful and rest assured more will forthcoming in the days and weeks ahead.  In the meantime, if you have any further questions or concerns, please contact the school or email me at:

kimbra.power@saschina.org

FYI this is the same e mail format you use for any teacher at S.A.S. i.e. firstname.lastname@saschina.org

and here is an announcement regarding swimming try-outs…

Swimming Team try-outs for elementary students in Grade 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be held on Monday, August 23rd and Tuesday, August 24th at 3:15pm sharp.  Swimmers need to attend both days because we will not finish testing out the students in one day.  We will be finished by 4:15pm so students can take the 4:30pm bus home.

All students should be at the Aquatic Center with their bathing suits, caps, goggles and towels ready to compete at 3:15pm.  Parents are more than welcome to watch their children from the Viewing Gallery.  No parents are allowed on the pool deck or in the locker rooms.  As we are trying to make the swimmers responsible competitors, please help us in this. Swimmers trying out must swim all four strokes proficiently.  This is not a learn to swim program but a competitive program.  If your child does make the team, they are expected to train twice a week all year long, attend all Shanghai local meets as well as one international meet.Parents, please make sure that your children know which bus to take home after the tryouts (contact YEAP if you are unsure).

And finally, though swimming is a lifelong skill and for everyone, competitive swimming is not.  Make sure your child is interested in trying out for the team and not something you as a parent want.  They might find it discouraging if they do not make the team.  Talk to them to avoid disappointment.
Parents, please do not contact your classroom teacher for any swim team try out information, contact me personally (George Carpouzis, Aquatics Director):

george.carpouzis@saschina.org

George Carpouzis
Aquatics Director

Looking forward to a great year 5KP after the terrific beginning we had today. Parents and Students, feel free to comment at the end of each blog post but if you have something in particular to ask about/comment on, it is easier to e mail me directly.

The countdown has started…

Posted on by
3

Hello and Welcome all future 5KP Students and fond hellos to my lovely 5KP class of 2009-2010 as I know that you are more likely to read this first.

For those of you that know and love Ralph Fletcher, you may be interested to read an interview he did recently about the new book he has written, ‘Pyrotechnics on the Page’ that I found on one of the blogs I follow, “A Year of Reading“. Check it out here

Here is something Ralph Fletcher says in this article that I strongly agree with:
“First, I think strong writing contains an element of surprise. Wordplay–the surprising, unexpected effect that happens when words rub together–is a great way to create surprise.”

If you would like to read more about Ralph Fletcher, or a few other favourite 5th grade authors, check out by blogroll under authors.

I look forward to getting to know my new students in just

6 more sleeps!!!

News of the Moment

Posted on by
5

Thank You to Ms. Yick for posting these guiding questions that we are going to use to review the Invention Process and our successes and frustrations as inventors. Please copy the questions below and paste them onto your Invention Convention Page of your blog and then answer each one in detail under the question it is referring to.
INVENTION CONVENTION REVIEWIMG_7461

1. What is the problem you are trying to solve?

2.How did you come up with the inspiration for your invention?

3.What does your invention do?

4.How does it work?

5.What materials did you use?

6.What existing product/system did you SCAMPER from?

7.How is your invention better than the existing one?

8.How much does your invention cost?

9.How did you decide to sell it for this price?

10.What did you try that didn’t really work?

11.How did you solve for this in your final invention?

12. Why should people buy your invention?

13.What possible problems could there be with your invention?

14.What improvements could be made?

Now write a paragraph summing up the whole experience including your favourite parts, frustrating parts and your level of success. Then make sure your video of your presentation is posted on this page and you are done! Well done 5KP!

In other news…

Our Memoir Publishing Party has been put back until Thursday due to student absences and other commitments making this a very busy week. If you would like to send in any treats, please do so today or tomorrow so that we are ready to celebrate the amazing work the students have created. Already I have really enjoyed reading the very different Memoirs of Matthew, Emma, Miranda, Nicole and Nick so please take the time to not only look at your child’s writing but also that of their classmates

Tomorrow on June 2nd we have a presentation at 10:30 from Dr. Bristol, an Attending Pediatrician, as well as the Chief Medical Officer from Shanghai United Family Hospital. The title of the presentation is “My Mind and Body are Changing: What Gives?”
Some of the topics Dr. Bristol will talk about include:
– Normal adolescent growth and development, including physical changes
– Normal weight and height ranges for teens.
– Acne and other rashes
– Internet safety
– How to avoid risky behaviors
– Way to deal with peer pressure
– Career planning for the adolescent

Events this Week:
7th Grade China Alive Photography Show
May 31 – June 4 – 11:00-1:30
1) Winning photos from 10 categories, enlarged, framed and available in a silent auction. Bidding begins at 11:00 May 31 and ends Jun 4 at 1:30.
2) 4 x 6 photos available from each 7th grade student for 50RMB
3) Special sale times also during the Music concerts on Jun 1 & 2 from 5:30-6:30 in the auditorium
4) Proceeds go to projects in Lijiang, China – Zhangfei Primary school and The Nature Conservancy

We look forward to seeing you on Friday as we celebrate your child’s achievements at our Moving Up Ceremony.

Later that day the elementary school will have its Summer Sizzler (field day).  This is an exciting event where students will participate in many fun games and activities.  There will be a mix of team relays, individual track and field events, and fun activities that might involve water.    If  you want to come along as a parent and watch and cheer you are of course welcome to join us.  The Lower Elementary (grades pre-k to 2) will be starting at 8:30 on the elementary playground and the Upper Elementary (grades 3 to 5) will start at 12:35 on the field beside the track. The Grade 5 tug of war will be from around 11.45 to 12 pm with lunch to follow until 12.30. Make sure your child has with them a change of clothes, plenty to drink, sunscreen and a hat

News of the Moment

Posted on by
6

Math

The final math assessment is coming tomorrow on Probability, Ratios and Rates. Make sure you take home all your materials to study this week. Remember, if you need to practice any of the skills below, take a look at your Skills Link practice booklet.

The following skills will be assessed in Unit 12:kevin

*understand and use tree diagrams to solve problems

*compute the probability of outcomes when choices are equally likely

*use the multiplication counting principle to find the total number of possible outcomes for a sequence of choices

*find the greatest common factor of two numbers

*find the least common multiple of two numbers

*solve ration and rate number stories

*find the factors of numbers

*find the prime factorizations of numbers

Memoirs

The class have been making greater headway drafting their Memoirs since they were given access to the lap-tops to use. For the last two lessons we have worked on generating a great deal of writing so that the students can look back, re-read their material and ask “what am I trying to say here?” One example they have been given to encourage them to write meaningfully is to imagine this piece of writing was found the day after they passed away, what would it say about them? Would it be the sort of piece they would want representing them after they were gone? Would it be an accurate portrayal of their memories? We will celebrate with our publishing party next Monday, the expectation is that all students will have published their Memoir to their blog by the time we begin celebrating straight after P.E.  at 11.40 a.m. We will be bringing our lunch upstairs from the cafeteria (or home lunch) and we will eat together in our classroom and watch a movie instead of eating in the cafeteria that day. The students have also been asked to bring in some popcorn/soda/cookies/chips to share after lunch. If you have any questions about what your child might bring to class just e mail me; I will be discussing it with them but I know sometimes the message might not always make it home and I don’t want parents to have to go to a lot of trouble for the party. As a working mother, I know how busy life is so I am hoping the students will try and take on some of the responsibility themselves.

Invention Convention Unit

It has been great to watch the class at work trying new things lately for the Invention Convention Unit. We have had several small presentations in class where the students have presented their ideas to others and received constructive feedback. We have all learned about how hard it is to make something original or even to adapt what is already in place. We will be filming our presentations during next week at school and uploading them to our blogs. Well done 5KP for being so courageous and enthusiastic with this unit.

Puberty

Dear Parents,

The Grade 5 students will soon begin their adolescence unit.  We have invited Dr. Bristol to speak with all Grade 5 students on June 2nd.   Dr. Bristol is an Attending Pediatrician as well as the Chief Medical Officer from Shanghai United Family Hospital.  The title of the presentation is “My Mind and Body are Changing: What Gives?”  Some of the topics Dr. Bristol will talk about include:

–       Normal adolescent growth and development, including physical changes

–       Normal weight and height ranges for teens

–       Acne and other rashes

–       Internet safety

–       How to avoid risky behaviors

–       Ways to deal with peer pressure

–       Career planning for the adolescent

This is a great opportunity for our students.  If you have further questions or concerns, please contact me.

Regards,

Sharon Pantoja

School Nurse

Email: Sharon.pantoja@saschina.org

Tel no: 6221 – 1445 ext 3309

Invention Convention Homework for the Weekend

Posted on by
2

I usually don’t set weekend homework and so if you have other plans that make this weekend very busy, I understand your child not being able to complete the work. However it is in their best interests if they at least think about the following over the next few days. It would be a great idea for the students to complete the information below and post to the Invention Convention page of their blog. Here is a great site to explain more about the SCAMPER process.

Picture 1

SCAMPER ASSESSMENT SHEET

Use the SCAMPER technique to REFINE your INVENTION and answer the following criteria on your blog.

MY PROPOSED INVENTION IS:

Substitute: What else can it do? How can I change it to do more? What other tools can I use to make my invention more efficient?

Combine: How can I combine other inventions of a different type together in new and interesting ways (for example combining a puzzle game with an adventure game?)

Adapt: What else is ‘out there’ that is already like this? What could I copy and add to it? How can I change it?

Minify/Magnify: How can I create a longer or smaller version of my invention? How can I simplify it or make the invention more challenging/diverse/user friendly?

Put to other uses: How can I re-purpose my invention to make it more marketable?

Eliminate: Is there anything I need to take away from my invention? Are some aspects of it too complicated or unnecessary?

Rearrange: Are there any other components (parts) of my invention that I need to interchange (swap) with existing components? Is there a way of rearranging my invention so that it is a better product?

Now look over your answers and develop a plan of action; there is no point in knowing how to improve your invention if you don’t get to it and do something about it.

Have a great weekend 5KP and stay focused and positive for the next 13.5 school days of your Elementary Career