We are third time lucky with David Greenberg

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I’ve been here for 11 years and this will be the third time Author Poet extraordinaire David Greenberg will visit us at Pudong campus. I am most excited about this visit as I have come to know David over the years and absolutely love the presentation he does related to Civil Rights. He will be presenting this from 4th-12th grade with a full high school assembly on Tuesday morning in the Performing Arts Centre, and for all of 8th grade on Monday afternoon in the LLH. David’s Civil Rights presentation is aligned with his novel A Tugging String which provides a unique perspective of growing up during the Civil Rights Era as the son of Martin Luther King’s Lawyer.

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Parents are welcome to attend these sessions and we will get you a more detailed schedule as David’s visit gets closer. David will be on Pudong Campus from Monday September 19th-Friday September 23rd before moving to Puxi campus for the following week.

David will be presenting poetry to the Prek-3rd grade during the week and there will be the opportunity to purchase some of David’s books using the order form below that will be sent home with students before David’s visit.

Here are some of the books David will be sharing poetry from, discussing and promoting with the students.

Here is the order form for the books David can sign, and send to us in China after his visit.

ORDER FORM CHINA 2016

Books to Eat 2016

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With over 150 Books to Eat entries in 2015, we are gearing up for an exciting month of May with four opportunities to contribute to our festivities. For the first time we are having a day just for  teachers to start off the fun. As you can see below, entries can be as simple or complex, as savory or sweet as you like…they just have to link up to a book.

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Dates are:

Teachers-Monday May 9th

Grade Prek,K,1- Monday May 16th

Grade 2,3-TUESDAY May 24th (s0rry it’s not a Monday, I’m in Australia ’til Monday night sorry)

Grade 4,5 – Monday May 30th

Books to Eat Competition Information –See here for more great photos

*Think of a book, and make something edible to go with the book.

*You could bake a cake, and frost/ice it to look like:

-the cover of the book

-a character from the book

-a scene from the book

*You could make a cake shaped like a character/scene in the book

*You don’t have to make cakes, or cupcakes, or even sweet things…some of our entries have been

-ice cubes (for the book Frozen)

-vegetables (for the book Little Pea, for the book Green)

-cereal (for the book The Infinity Ring, for the book Cornflakes)

-popcorn (for the book Popcorn)

-meat (for the book I smell like Ham)

-bread (for the book The Princess and the Pea)

-pasta (for the book The Pasta Factory)

-jello (for the books Alice the Fairy, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish)

-turkish delight (for the book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe)

-liquid (for the book Chemical Chaos)

-milk (for the book Fortunately the Milk)

-pancake (for the book If you give a pig a pancake)

*Please make something on the Sunday at your house, or with a friend.

*Bring it in on the Monday/or Tuesday (2nd and 3rd grade) morning

*We will all look at it, photograph it, reward it and eat it on the Monday (or Tuesday) afternoon.

 

So many books…so little time!

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I’ve been encouraging/recommending/telling/pleading/endorsing/raving/pleading/cajoling/begging students since September…READ THE VISITING AUTHOR BOOKS!

It was easy with Todd Parr; we could get through a few each lesson, they could finish them themselves in minutes, even in first grade, and turnover was fast. With Kwame Alexander, also pretty smooth, as apart from Acoustic Rooster, we really only had The Crossover; which was a two bus ride read for many of our students; Booked hadn’t come out, and we didn’t yet have Surf’s Up.

However with Laurie Halse Anderson and Margaret Peterson Haddix visit, the kids had a lot more choice, and a lot more reading to do. We have most of the authors books appropriate for 3-5 grade on; wait for it…

*60 kindles

*60 ipods

*11 ipads

…as well as multiple paperback copies…and they’ve known for months…no excuse! However now that their visit is days away, we’ve had a MAD RUSH on just about everything; kids acting like they didn’t know, they weren’t told…”Authors? What Authors?” It’s true that with such a fast turn around between Todd and Kwame and Margaret and Laurie, kids have difficulty processing the urgency of the situation (that’s why I gave them months of notice” OK-I’ll stop now…Rant Over.

It’s Never Dull Around Here…

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Seriously, didn’t we just have two amazing authors at SAS?

Well from April 18-22nd, we have TWO more! Margaret Peterson Haddix and Laurie Halse Anderson are coming to Shanghai. Come to our Assembly in the PAC on Monday 18th to welcome these two ladies to SAS Pudong. We have many books on sale in the library by these authors; first in first served.

Margaret Peterson Haddix

Margaret Peterson Haddix grew up on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio. She graduated from Miami University (of Ohio) with degrees in English/journalism, English/creative writing and history. Before her first book was published, she worked as a newspaper copy editor in Fort Wayne, Indiana; a newspaper reporter in Indianapolis; and a community college instructor and freelance writer in Danville, Illinois.

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She has since written more than 30 books for kids and teens, including Running Out of Time; Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey; Leaving Fishers; Turnabout; Takeoffs and Landings; The Girl with 500 Middle Names; Because of Anya; Escape from Memory; Say What?; The House on the Gulf; Double Identity; Dexter the Tough; Uprising; Claim to Fame; The Always War; Game Changer; Full Ride; the Shadow Children series; the Missing series and The Palace Chronicles. She also wrote Into the Gauntlet, the tenth book in the 39 Clues series.  Her books have been honored with New York Timesbestseller status, the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award; American Library Association Best Book and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers notations; and numerous state reader’s choice awards. They have also been translated into more than twenty different languages.

Haddix and her husband, Doug, now live in Columbus, Ohio, and they are the parents of two college-aged kids.

Margaret will be in the Elementary School all day on Thursday April 21st as well as for an hour or two every other day that week.

Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her work has earned numerous national and state awards, as well as international recognition. Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists. Laurie was honored with the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award given by YALSA division of the American Library Association for her “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature…”. Mother of four and wife of one, Laurie lives in Northern New York, where she likes to watch the snow fall as she writes.

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American history has been a life-long passion for Laurie. If she were to become a teacher, it is what she’d teach. Like Speak, her first historical fiction novel, Fever 1793, published in 2000, is used in schools all over the country. After receiving multiple national and state awards, Fever 1793 was adapted into a stage play in May of 2004 and performed at the Gifford Family Theater in Syracuse, New York.

In 2008 Chains was released, the first in a trilogy set in the Revolutionary War time period. Laurie was blessed and honored when the book was named a National Book Award finalist, her second. Chains also received the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and the ALA Best Book for Young Adults award, together with multiple media and bookseller recognitions. Forge, the sequel to Chains, was published in the fall of 2010 and we are eagerly awaiting Ashes, coming October 2016.

Laurie will be in the Elementary School all day on Wednesday April 22nd.

Nothing Rhymes with Kwame

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I can’t believe it was only a few days ago that Kwame Alexander was here in Shanghai, dazzling us with his Poetic Skills. Students loved seeing Kwame on stage, where he performed his poetry and told his stories, and many of them have been inspired to write by meeting the Newbery Winner up close and personal.

Thanks for the Memories and Congratulations on Booked, I loved it, and can’t wait to share it with the kids once it comes out TODAY, April 5th.

 

Great Looking Staff we have Here!

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We were so lucky to have our two art teachers Elise and Jake take us under their wings and assist us in creating some Todd Parr inspired portraits. As an Elementary Faculty, it was cool to follow in the footsteps of the work created the week before by our students. They were so so cool and I’ll be posting them soon, so many favorites, it’s hard to choose. So instead, take a look at the Elementary Teachers as they see themselves.

Who am I?
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