Poets and Authors and Illustrators Oh My!

We are so lucky to have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR visiting authors on Pudong Campus this week. Not only do we have the incredibly talented Robin Page and Steve Jenkins here with all of Elementary and 7th grade, but for two whole WEEKS Poets Extraordinaire Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger are back here, for the FOURTH TIME.

With authors and illustrators contacting our library team, faculty and administrators on a weekly basis requesting visits to our terrific school, why would we have the same people back here four times you might ask?

Because they are THAT GOOD. They provide the best ‘bang for your buck’  because they give 110% to the students and teachers, with so many different workshops to offer. As well as being able to do larger more general presentations and assemblies, they also have over 25 writing clinics they offer to classroom teachers. This information is given to us ahead of time, so that teachers can choose which clinic best caters to their needs. Most of these clinics run for about an hour, but again, they can be tailored to the teacher’s needs.

Sara and Michael are so well traveled, truly global visiting authors; they go to International Schools all over the world. What that means for us is that they KNOW our students, they KNOW and UNDERSTAND where they’ve come from and where they’re headed. It really makes a difference. I urge you to read about them on their site and you’ll see what I mean; what they don’t know about Poetry isn’t worth knowing.

Sarah and Michael will be presenting tomorrow to 5th grade, and several times to 4th grade over the next two weeks. Contact your child’s homeroom teacher for details.

Here are some photos from a workshop I went to with these wonderful people just last Thursday, I walked away with more than a few terrific ideas I’ll be trying out with students soon.

What is a Children’s Poet Lolly-Pop anyway?

Is what a second grader asked me yesterday… moments after her classmate asked if Kenn Nesbitt is bothered by the paparazzi… (how do 7 year olds know about Paparazzi? Lady Gaga is educating the world)

I met Kenn last night, and even for a lolly pop, he’s pretty sweet.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/children/poet-laureate is the place to succinctly explain to your students what a poet laureate actually is.

What is a Children’s Poet Laureate?
Awarded by the Poetry Foundation for a two-year tenure, the children’s poet laureate aims to raise awareness that children have a natural receptivity to poetry and are its most appreciative audience, especially when poems are written specifically for them.

We’re really excited about the week to come, with not one, but four great poets on our campus. Welcome to not only Kenn, but Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger and Anis Mojgani as our poet for High School.

Stay tuned for World Read Aloud Day (March 5th) and our Annual Books to Eat Competition coming up right after our poets leave.

 

 

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News of the Moment

Good Luck to Sam and Erin who are swimming today at the opening of our new swimming pool.

The World Maths competition will end for the students at 7 pm tomorrow night, that is Thursday the 4th of March. The students have certainly honed both their typing skills and their fast math facts playing these one minute math games. It has been really great to see you all so excited 5KP.

http://photopeach.com/public/swf/story.swf

Here is a note from Mrs Denton:

“Winter Eyes” CONCERT DVD’s for grades K-4 are now for sale in the EAGLE store. The cost is 50 RMB each,  all proceeds will go to the “Hands On Shanghai” charity. This is a volunteer organization that has recently started teaching art and music classes in migrant schools. We have made a limited number of DVD’s, but will make more if needed.

Here is the web site.
http://www.handsonshanghai.org/
Joy Denton

Right now in class we are working on…

Math…Unit 8.4 This will be a short unit with a test late next week, it is mainly revision of fractions. I keep reminding the kids that they should be revising over their lesson every day, not just the night before the test. Students who scored more poorly than they would have liked will be doing a re-test of unit 7 tomorrow.

Writing…Poetry and Current Events. We are looking at Sara Holbrook poems as she visits next week. We are also looking at what makes news newsworthy and how articles are put together. The students will be starting and finishing their own newspaper page next week.

Reading… We are reading the fantastic memoir, Small Steps by Peg Kehret, the class (and I) are fascinated and many of the students blogged about polio last night, the disease the author suffered from.

Social Studies… Current Affairs including the Winter Olympics, disasters in Haiti and Chile and Shanghai’s Expo are all being discussed as we delve into this unit which we are also studying in our Writing Time.

Our own ‘current events’ at SAS include…

Wednesday, March 3 – World Math Day! Don’t stop until 7pm Thursday night 5KP!

Thursday, March 4th and Friday March 5th – Swim Tryouts at 3.15

Monday, March 8 – Sara Holbrook Assembly and meeting with all of 5th grade.

Thursday, March 11 – Treat Day – our middle school is preparing the treats, bring 5 RMB

Friday, March 12 – Love of Reading Week begins.  Put a poem in your pocket day.

Friday, March 12th Unit 8 Math Test

Friday, March 12 – Poetry Slam at 12.45 pm

Saturday March 13th – Join Mr Power and I at the St Regis for the PTSA trivia night

Monday, March 15 – Snuggle up with a good book – PJ DAY!!!!  Yay!

Tuesday, March 16 – Exercise your mind, read!  Wear your favorite sports gear.

Wednesday, March 17 – Go Green for Reading!  This is St Patrick’s Day, wear as much green as you can.

Thursday, March 18 – Book Character Day!  Dress up like your favorite book character.

Friday, March 19 – Hats off to reading day! Wear your favorite or silliest hat.

Saturday, March 20 – Spring Break begins!!!