Tag Archives: beginnings

What’s Happening in the Library?

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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!

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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…

New Beginnings

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It was great to meet you today Michelle, Annette, Erika, Josh, Sheung Yee, Bevan, Mia, Taeyun, Yoon Jin, Alex, Jose, Joon Soo, Eric, Aavia, Max and Alex Z and we are looking forward to Claire joining us on Monday when she returns from the UK. The class gelled nicely together with eight returning students and eight new members who will be right at home very shortly thanks to the warm welcome they received from their new classmates.

Parents, tonight you will receive a paper copy of the class schedule with a list of students names on the back, I have also listed this blog address as well as my e mail address so keep that information someplace handy.

Your child’s homework for tonight is minimal, but important. They need to remember to:

*bring their swimsuit, swim cap (optional) and googles (no towel required) see this post for details

*write down the best parent e mail to be contacted on in their agenda, so that they have it here for themselves and for me to make a mailing list to use throughout the year

*leave a comment on this blog telling me how their first day was, including any questions they might have or worries/joys to share about their feelings regarding fifth grade

It was a big day for us here establishing many new routines and your child will no doubt be tired tonight, indeed for the next couple of weeks, but as they develop a routine things will become easier. For now, sleep is the focus so try and get some early nights students, you need your rest!

It has also been a big day for me with my youngest daughter Mimi starting Pre K 4 and my oldest daughter Hannah joining 5th grade. Hannah started here in Pre K 4 (I even wore the same skirt that day as I did today) so it is a little like history repeating itself.

Mike and Hannah

Soon Ok and Mimi

5th Grade!

Welcome Parents of 5KP

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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…

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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.