Wow, what a huge week it has been for the 5th grade fund-raisers…so much counting, so little time! But when I think of the two weeks the earthquake victims have had I realize I have nothing to complain about. Today our class collected 2678.4 but as you can see a lot of it was in jiao and had the students busy for awhile. I wonder how many more times it will be counted before it reaches the people that need it.

I was at the copy market on the weekend talking to a vendor friend who told me that last week in one hour the stall holders donated over 80,000 rmb to help the victims of May 12th. Everyone is digging deep all over China, so many people have been moved by this disaster and it is probably not the focus at this stage of the year with less than 3 months until the Olympics.

migration-of-5th-grade-students.kmz

is a site where Mr Utecht has been creating a google earth map of  where our students have lived and live now.

Check it out!

The only negative point about the entire field day was that Lydia was not there to shoot baskets for us in a fund-raising effort for the earthquake victims…I am sure she would have doubled our high score of 189 points (rmb). Other than that it was a huge success with students enjoying themselves as they earned points for their respective houses.

I would love it if you took a look at some of the photos for the day on our flickr site. My tag is always kpower if you are unable to locate the pictures. There are also pictures of our fundraising efforts taking place and as soon as I get a shot of Arthur ‘doing his speech’ I will load up our ‘healthy meal’ photos too. Feel free to copy any of the photos you like onto your own blog by right clicking and going to copy image location and putting it into the little tree area on your ‘write a post’ section…Any of you smarties who can explain that in more techy terms…please…be my guest!

Have a great weekend my wonderful 5th graders, you deserve it!

P.S. We hit the 20,000 rmb mark with our fund-raising collections today, congratulations and keep up the great effort.

Congratulations to the Elementary Students in Pudong who have really embraced the idea to raise money for the victims of this month’s earthquake and cyclone.

At the end of our 3rd day 5KP have now collected 18,811.20 rmb…yes that last little .20 is 20 jiao and much of our money has been in jiao but there have been plenty of 100 rmb notes in there too and your generosity has added up to an amazing effort so far.

I am very proud of the attitude that I have have seen this week, congratulations and continue to dig deep for the next week or so.

Dear parents of 5 KP,

Many children want to help the earthquake victims in China.

5KP has decided to focus our participation on a simple, but effective fund-raising initiative that they will lead.

Over the next 2 weeks please send any loose change or spare money you have with your child to school. The change will be collected by 5KP and used to facilitate donations. (Dr. Larkin has sent many community e mails regarding how money collected by the school will be used.)

It is a very straightforward manner in which these donations are being raised. The focus is on collection and not the process of raising money. (There is a time when fund raising processes are important. Now the need is for speedy action.) Children are asked to contribute what they can, when they can. The jar our class is using makes it easy for the children to see the funds growing. Finally, having the grade 5 students in charge gives them a chance to lead our elementary for the final time before they head on to middle school.

I discussed this with the children yesterday. They understand they are only to contribute what you (their parents) feel is appropriate.

Thank you so much to all the parents who have already donated so generously. 5KP collected over 3100 rmb today.

Thank you for your support.

Congratulations to proud new dad Mr Howitt and his wife Mrs Howitt (K) who gave birth to Benjamin Jon Nykolas Crowe Howitt who weighed in at 3.26kg (7.2lbs) and is 51cm long. It has been a busy year for new arrivals on the 5th grade team with 60% of us adding to our families. It is hard to believe that little Blake Hossack is now nearly 4 months old and Mimi Power has been with us for three months on Monday. We wish the Howitt’s all the success in the world as a new family and hope they don’t have too many sleepless nights…yeah right!!!

Hello Students and Parents,

it was the night before Spring Fling and all through the house…not a creature was stirring not even a mouse!

I hope you all remember to bring water, snacks, towels and spare clothing so that you can get through the day as comfortably and enjoyably as possible. I am really excited about the coming activities and hope you enjoy the more reflective activity I have created for you in project area 5… Have a look here to see if you can work out what this activity might be about.

Spring Fling Desert Island Activity

Thanks to Mr Utecht for coming into class today and introducing us to some interesting ways to utilize Google Earth. I think the students have all made progress today understanding what it means to migrate as you will discover if you read any of the blogs I have seen posted so far such as Andy, Jessica, Elaine, Chloe and our sole male so far Kai.

News of the week

Transition Ceremony Information

Have a great day 5KP. You are doing really well. Enjoy the last 4 weeks!

I was impressed with the results of the unit 10 math test on Algebra concepts and skills. More than half the class earned above the 90th percentile with many others not far behind. Well done 5KP. I don’t want people to be discouraged when they don’t earn 100% and I would like everyone to aim really high in our new unit on Volume that we started today. It is only a very short unit with 7 lessons so it should be possible for the students to do well retaining information for that amount of time before they are tested in about two weeks from now.

We spent nearly 90 minutes on math this morning introducing the new unit and using math manipulatives such as geometrical shapes to get an idea of what the unit would contain. I would like the students to be revising over their math work everyday during the unit to give them the best chance possible to achieve their own level of success.

I have also been researching some sites that may be of use to them. The students already utilize sites such as brainpop.com and superkids.com to aid their study but here are a few more that have specific information relating to volume. Students I would like you to check out some of these over the long weekend so that you can continue learning over the break

Skillswise factsheet

Volume of Rectangular Solids

Despite the unusual name of this site, it is perhaps the most relevant for the early stages of the chapter.

The following sites may also prove useful if only for reference purposes. A reminder that some of these sites may be a little too detailed for some students and in that case the Everyday Math reference book is still the best resource available as it is very specific to the unit we are studying, the last thing I want is for students to feel more overwhelmed by new information but for those of you that ask for extension work, these sites and the links they go to may be of assistance.

Surface Area Formulas 

more of these   and still some more

Just remember, it is up to you students to take charge of your own learning, success and failure in preparation for the new responsibilities you will soon take on in middle school

P.S. please don’t forget to return your yellow elective forms if you are attending the Pudong Campus next year.

Hello Students

As we discussed in class today, it is important in life to have a social conscience and many of us go about in helping others less fortunate than us in a variety of ways. If you are sitting at a computer right now, you are more fortunate than the majority of the world who not only don’t have access to technology but also many of the things we take for granted such as comfortable housing and electricity. Right now, before you do the tech task we spoke of, take a couple of minutes to look around the room you are in and see if there is anything you can spare for our ‘Spring Cleaning Yard Sale’ such as clothing, toys, books or household items. Have you put them in your school bag or near your front door for the morning? Well have you? Come on, do it now or you will forget…Good job, I am sure we all have something in our house we no longer need but that could be valuable to someone else. Now you may continue with the task at hand…

Today I received an e mail from a colleague who has friends who used to work here and their daughter Imogen (first grade) has made a small video. The aim of her video is to try and win a competition which will send a Tanzanian friend and his family to Australia Zoo for the trip of a lifetime. I think that is a noble cause and I am impressed with the ability of their daughter to do this so I am hoping some of you will be able to support this child in her worthy goal and vote for her video to win.

Here is a letter from the family…

Hi

I am writing to let you know that Imogen has posted a video to a video competition and we would love for you to see.

We have been working with Imogen on her “social consciousness”. She is at an age now where she can understand that we don’t all have equal opportunities, so by creating the video, she is trying to win a trip to Australia Zoo for her Tanzanian friend whose family can hardly afford a bus ticket, let alone an adventure of a life time.

We think that Imogen’s video is one of the best but….

Please, we need your votes. (It is possible to vote every day).

We also need you to help us by rating our video as a “5” because winners will be chosen in July from videos with the most votes and highest ratings.

Please, also feel free to pass this along to anyone who might support Imogen in her quest!

http://freetrip.australiazoo.com.au/

This is what Imogen helped to write for her school friends:

GRADE ONE WILDLIFE WARRIOR

NEEDS YOUR VOTE!

I am Imogen and I am in Grade One.

My Tanzanian friend Godwin and I made a video called “TANZANIAN DREAMS COME TRUE” so that Godwin and his family might win a trip to Australia to visit the Australia Zoo (home of the Crocodile Hunter).

Our video is the only one from Tanzania and we think it has a good message. The winners are chosen from those with the most votes, so we need your vote. Please visit:  http://freetrip.australiazoo.com.au/

to watch our video and PLEASE vote every day.

Thanks,

Imogen

So 5KP go to the site, register by giving your log in name and details and you will receive an e mail with your password. Then once you log in you can click onto Imogen’s video ‘Tanzanian Dreams Come True’  Make sure you rate it a 5, vote for it and enjoy the show…