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.

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.