Tag Archives: SLC

It’s all about balance!

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Dear Parents
It’s been great meeting again with so many of you over the last couple of days. I’m sure you’ve been as proud as I am
over the maturity your child has displayed as they’ve shown some of their work to you.
This week in math we began our new unit, unit 10, on Using Data, Algebra Concept and Skills and this morning I had
Mr. Hossack come in to do a mini-lesson on pan balance skills; he has strengths in this area and I use his expertise
this time each year, which the kids find fun.
I’ve found this site to be interactive and helpful, http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=33
click on instructions or exploration and check it out with your child

It’s been great meeting again with so many of you over the last couple of days. I’m sure you’ve been as proud as I am over the maturity your child has displayed as they’ve shown some of their work to you.

This week in math we began our new unit, unit 10, on Using Data, Algebra Concept and Skills and this morning I had Mr. Hossack come in to do a mini-lesson on pan balance skills; he has strengths in this area and I use his expertise this time each year, which the kids find fun.

I’ve found this site he led me to, to be interactive and helpful, http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=33 click on ‘instructions’ or ‘exploration’ and check it out with your child if you have the time, or if they have trouble with the concepts during the course of the unit.

We had 30 minutes of DEAR (drop everything and read) time Friday morning which the kids LOVED, as did I, and I hope a few more of them can bring in a donation on Monday for students who don’t have the same great facilities we have for reading. Our high schoolers are coming to collect money from our class for their GIFTS program which supports The Library Project so it is a school wide initiative.

Next Monday and Tuesday we’ll have our final practice session for the ERB test which happens next Wednesday and Thursday. Your child is well prepared, there is nothing for them to worry about; they should remember all they have been working on in class during the last three months when we focused on essay writing, pay attention to the rubric on the whiteboard and stay focused on putting in their best effort; the skills required are not new to them, they are ready to succeed.

ASA’s begin this week for the next 5 weeks. Scholastic Magazines went home Friday and are due back Tuesday, as are the course catalog pink sheets.

I hope you had a terrific weekend and well done again students on your great job with SLC’s.

Let there be salt!

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How much fun did you have today 5KP? Was that cool or what?

On the weekend, Simon and I were out at Hotel Indigo’s CHAR restaurant when we were offered not one, not three, but SIX different types of salt to spice up our steak. We chose between Himalayan Pink, Murray River Pink, Cyprus Flake, New Zealand Natural, Bolivian Rose and Fleur de Sel. After taking photos and oohing and aahing we dug in to one of the best steaks we’ve had in a long time, with one of the saltiest array of condiments which was so much fun, considering that the students and I have been learning about salt for the last couple of weeks in science.

Screen shot 2012-03-20 at 8.31.16 PMI set the students the challenge of writing me a report on what they could discover about a salty situation. One of the favorite sites the kids found was saltworks.us where they were amazed with how many salts there were on offer. The class searched and copied and cut and pasted their way around the net and their blogs for the remainder of the afternoon; calling each over to share in their learning. It was a really great lesson and exciting to see so much engagement over something many of us just take for granted as being there, white and well… salty!

Our learning today will be a terrific complement to our lesson tomorrow where we attempt to saturate a salt solution… stay tuned 5KP Scientists!

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In other news…

Many of you are coming out to SAS this Friday night. Here are the bus details that were e mailed to you earlier.

Bus Times – Animal Rescue Fun Night March 23rd
Bus Bus Stops Arrive time Bus Monitor
Green Green Villa I.II.III (No. 777 MingYue Rd gate) 6:10pm 庄玲 18917695138
Green Court I (LanAn Rd) 6:15pm
Green Court II (BiYun Rd) 6:20pm
Yellow Vizcaya (YunShan Rd) 6:10pm 黄珍珍 18930702687
Green Hills (Club House) 6:15pm
Shimao Lakeside Garden(MingYue Rd) 6:20pm
Purple Palm Spring Villas (TangLong Rd) 5:55pm 郁美华 13917415653
Century Garden (YinXiao Rd) 6:25pm
XiangMei Garden (MeiHua Rd) 6:30pm
Blue Regency Park (LiuShan Rd) 6:20pm 张惠娟 13818062532
Yanlord Town (DingXiang Rd) 6:25pm
Shimao Riviera Garden (WeiFang Rd) 6:40pm
Yanlord Garden (PuMing Rd) 6:45pm
Brown Tomson Beautiful Space (GuangLan Rd) 6:05pm 戴玉萍 13817508509
Tomson Golf (LongDong Ave) 6:15pm
LongYang Metro 6:20pm
Portman Hotel 6:50pm
Red Emerald(Clubhouse) 6:10pm 陆萍 15800927366
Tiziano Villa(XiuYan Rd) 6:20pm
Orange Mandarin City (Clubhouse) 6:40pm 凌丽华 13482849316
Marriott Hotel HongQiao 6:50pm
Other options:  Links / personal car
Plese note Your child will also bring home a letter on Thursday to remind you
which stop you have chosen, and whether s/he will walk
home or be picked up.
Also note We are hoping that many of you are still planning to hand in
your 50 kuai donation if you have not done so already.
Please send the money on March 23rd, in an envelope marked
Fun Night.

Here are the student led conference times I have for parents so far; please respond to the e mail I sent you confirming your time by Friday.

Thurs April 12th

12:30 – 1:30 – Erika

1:30 – 2:30 – Mia

2:30 – 3:30 – Taeyun, Josh,

3:30 – 4:30 – (My own children’s conferences)

Friday April 13th

12:30 – 1:30 –Annette, Aavia

1:30 – 2:30 – Claire, Sheung Yee, Bevan, Alex L

2:30 – 3:30 – (My own children’s conferences)

Here is a fun Friday photo of our students enjoying their author visit with Kathryn Lasky and her photographer husband Christopher Knight.

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Dates for your calendar:

  • MAP Testing (Reading) – Wednesday, March 21st at 8:15
  • MAP Testing (Language Usage) – Thursday, March 22nd at 8:15
  • Last day before spring break – Wednesday, March 28th
  • Spring Break – Thursday, March 29th to Sunday, April 8th
  • Back to School – Monday, April 9th
  • Day Without Shoes – Tuesday, April 10th
  • Transition to Middle School Meeting for students – Wednesday, April 11th
  • Student Led Conferences – Thursday, April 12th and Friday, April 13th
  • Author Visit –  Kazu Kibuishi – Friday, April 20th
  • Author Visit – Phil Bildner – Tuesday, April 24th
  • Fifth Grade Track and Field Day – Wednesday, April 25th
  • No School for May Day – Monday, April 30 and Tuesday, May 1
  • Band and Orchestra concert – Friday, May 11th
  • All Day Field trip to Jinshan Peasant Painting Village – Friday, May 18th
  • Grade 5 Soccer Day – Tuesday, May 22nd
  • Step Up Day – Friday, June 1st
  • Summer Sizzler – Thursday, June 7th
  • Moving Up Day – Friday, June 8th
  • Last Day of School – Tuesday, June 12th – School closes at 11:30 a.m.

Get your reading glasses on…

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Hi Parents
I am in the LLH listening to Dr. Jeff Rosen tell the ‘rising 5th graders’ all about Middle School. Get ready for some excited students coming home with their booklets today; they have until April 15th to return their forms to me.
In case you did not yet get this message from the middle school… (if not, read below)

Dear Parents of Grade 5 Students,

Thanks to all of you who joined us last week for the “Welcome to Middle School” presentation. I enjoyed talking with many of you about middle school and the upcoming year. Tomorrow, Wednesday April 6th, we will be meeting with your children to introduce them to middle school as well as give them the 2011-12 course catalog. I hope you have some engaging conversations regarding their course selections for next year. A few things to consider:

1 )If your child is taking Chinese next year, DO NOT fill in the language choice. Your child’s Chinese teacher working collaboratively with our middle school teachers will place them in the appropriate level for next year.

2) There are 2 peach colored registration forms in the catalogue. Once those are complete, please ask your child to return them to their homeroom teacher. During the week of April 18-22, we will do course registration on PowerSchool with your kids.

3) Should you have any questions regarding this course selection process, please email karl.poulin@saschina.org or edith.cai@saschina.org

Thanks again for your support in transitioning your child in to our middle school.

Sincerely,

Jeff

Jeff Rosen
Middle School Principal

I look forward to seeing the parents of Kyra, Max, Xing Chen ,Kevin and Grace at 4 pm tomorrow and the remainder of the students with their families on Friday. While you are here you may be interested in buying some books, below is the information about that.
Time slots are scheduled for one hour for each conference, but the conferences may vary from 30 to 45 minutes depending on what your child has to share. Do plan on spending at least 30 – 40 minutes in your child’s classroom and be sure to leave time to visit specialist classrooms as well, they are expecting you.

• Your child will be in charge of the conference. Please allow your child to proceed and lead you around the classroom.
• Your child may be unsure of your reactions to the presentation. Providing both encouragement and feedback will motivate your child to proceed with the conference.
• The teacher will be present to observe, and support the conference when necessary. Please do not initiate discussions with the teacher that exclude your child’s participation.
• You and your child will have the approximately 30 minutes for this conference. Please adhere to the time allocated so the new group of families may begin their session.

Students are expected to:
– lead parent(s) through selected work
– show and explain work and activities
– speak clearly and answer as many questions as possible

Parents are expected to:
– be on time for the conference
– be positive and encouraging
– inquire about the child’s work
– ask open-ended questions (see below)
– listen

Teachers are expected to:
– facilitate the conference and clarify if necessary
– observe and listen

Here are some guiding and open-ended questions you could ask your child
• What do you like to learn in school? Why?
• What is your favourite part of the school day? Why?
• What part of this piece you are showing me was easy or difficult for you?
• What did you learn from doing this activity?
• What do you wish you could do better next time?
• How can I help you to enjoy school more/be a more organized/involved learner?

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Shoe Drive is coming up now that the Day Without Shoes is over, I hope you will join me in cleaning out your closets and passing on some shoes you no longer wear.

News of the Moment

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Hi 5KP Families

I hope you enjoyed your Spring Break as much as I did. I have also loved being back in the classroom with your children now that the weather is improving for the better.

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

Yesterday I stumbled onto an article I would like to share with you; I don’t know about you, but I am having some minor frustrations with my nearly ten year old lately and I could really relate to some of the anecdotal stories shared here; maybe if there is nothing here for you, you could pass it onto someone else who feels the same!

Now, some classroom announcements.

Next Monday there is no school for any of us, I hope you enjoy your day together. Tuesday is Day Without Shoes.

Math: We will have our Unit 8 math test this Friday, the two page, 29 question test will cover skills such as converting fractions to decimals and percentages, understanding how to find a common denominator, ordering fractions, adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions and finding equivalent fractions. I really believe that some of the work they have done in the classroom during this unit is more difficult than what we will be represented on the test; therefore, if students continue to go over their math journal/study/skills links for the next two days, I am certain they will achieve high test results.

Writer’s Workshop: I am thrilled with the classroom work going on this week as we review and edit our literary essays. I am really witnessing growth by the students and allowing them to take time to try and get it right and to publish something they can be proud of that they will then share with you next week. Once we publish our essay, we will begin some preparation for the upcoming E.R.B. tests to make sure the students are comfortable and prepared.

The E.R.B. Writing Assessment is coming up quickly. Fifth grade will be administering the test during the week of April 11. Over the next couple of weeks our students will be learning how to write to a prompt.

So far we know that:
Good writers read all of the instructions FIRST.
Good writers make a plan using the suggestions from the prompt.
During a writing assessment writers write fast and furious (like every day)
Writers always use a mentor to talk about their writing ideas (this can be done between the two days)

Students write to a prompt and are then scored in the following areas:

* Overall Development ~ How well the writer communicates with the reader, shows awareness of the audience and purpose for writing, and writes in the appropriate mode of discourse.

* Organization ~ The writer’s ability to choose a focus, develop a logical plan of organization, and maintain coherence throughout the paper.

* Support ~ The use of appropriate reasons, details, and examples to enhance the effect and/or support the generalization and conclusion of the piece.

* Sentence Structure ~ Completeness, correctness, and variety of sentences. Sophistication of sentences.

* Word choice ~ The correct usage, specific vocabulary, freshness, and vividness of language.

* Mechanics ~ The correct and effective use of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing.

Each student’s writing is evaluated independently by two readers who are thoroughly trained and experienced in analytic scoring. If the two readers’ ratings for any of the six elements differ by more than one point, the essay is read by a scoring supervisor who decides on a final rating for the element.

What do YOU think writers should think about when writing to a prompt?

Reader’s Workshop: Our next unit will be on Memoirs and I will start reading a great Memoir to the class after the SLC’s. It is called ‘Small Steps’ by Peg Kehret and is about her experience with Polio. If you have any members of your extended family who have had personal experience with Polio, we would really welcome your input. If you are unsure about the difference between a memoir, an autobiography and a biography, increase your understanding here. In a nutshell, it is a difficult unit for the students because they feel they haven’t got enough life experience to complete any sort of memoir; however as I break it down for them, we discover that they can always find some small stage of their lives that has more meaning than others, and we go from there… slowly, slowly, indeed, with Small Steps! This will be our main Writer’s Workshop piece during the month of April.

Social Studies and Science: These areas will have us beginning our building and design unit with Lego now that we have finished Migration. We will also be continuing to look at current events; there are certainly plenty to choose from, and hopefully we will find that not all of them are negative.

Student Led Conferences: Please read the Elementary Principal’s Blog to read more about the exact details and purpose behind these. As committed and involved parents, I am aware that you don’t want your time wasted and I am looking forward to the opportunity for you and your child engaging together about their learning; I really hope to make it worth your while.  Please e mail me if you are uncertain of your S.L.C. time.

I look forward to seeing you on the 7th and 8th and will leave you with a letter from Dr. Rosen about Friday morning’s events. H

Dear Parents of Current Grade 5 Students:

My name is Jeff Rosen and I am the Middle School Principal here at SAS Pudong.  On behalf of Karl Poulin our Vice Principal, our counselors, all the teachers of our middle school and myself, we look forward to welcoming your son/daughter into our middle school.  A few words below regarding the nature of the transitioning process.

An early edition of Middle Ground magazine makes an interesting point about transitions in life:

Transitions of all kinds require us to seek out and navigate the same three components: safety, information, connection. For every transition we go through in life, no matter the magnitude, these three elements make repeated appearances. Think about it: when we move into a new community we ask, “How safe is it? Where is the nearest grocery store? Who are my neighbors?” Whether you are a young person facing middle school for the first time or an adult taking a new job, you want to feel safe, gain an understanding about the situation, and have someone to turn to.

For many young adolescents, the transition from Elementary to Middle School can be a time of mixed emotions and feelings of uncertainty, even as it presents wonderful new opportunities.  The Middle School at SAS Pudong wants to ensure that all new and upcoming students, along with their parents, feel safe and welcome, have sound knowledge of our programs and our characteristics unique from Elementary school, and are connected to our many resources available for information, advice and general support.  In order to accomplish this goal, we have designed the following transition program for our 5th Graders and their families:

Save the Date:  Friday April 1st at 9 a.m – 10:30 a.m

All parents of current Grade 5 students will have the opportunity to meet in the Library Lecture Hall.  They will be introduced to “life in the middle school” with plenty of time for questions.

Wednesday April 6th 2:15 – 2:55

All current Grade 5 students will meet in the Library Lecture Hall for a presentation as well as receive a course catalog for 2011-2012.

By April 15th,  all course registration sheets should be returned to Grade 5 Homeroom teachers.  We will register all Grade 5 students for their courses the week of April 18-22.

Also, as part of our transition process,  our middle school counselors will be in all Grade 5 classrooms to answer individual questions about the transition into middle school.  Further, all grade 5 students will have the opportunity to tour the middle school and spend some time with our teachers.

We hope that this transition program will help our 5th Grade students and their families get a sense of our middle school and its programs, and we look forward to seeing you all on the above mentioned date(s).  If you have any questions regarding our middle school program, please feel free to contact me –

jeff.rosen@saschina.org –  and don’t forget to follow us on our middle school blog – http://teachers.saschina.org/mspudong/

Sincerely,

Jeff