Welcome to the new year.

I hope that you all had a restful and relaxing winter break. I headed back to Edmonton, Canada and froze….it was around -35 and was very uncomfortable. Now that I am back I am having a great time with the jet lag and have been up at 2:30am for the past two nights. Hopefully this will pass soon.

I see that many of you have let us know what you did over the past few weeks…not too much extra school work.

For this term we are now getting ready to start the Inventors Convention…woo hoo…

Global Native Reflection on Learning

1.    Explain what you liked most about the project and why?

2.    Summarize what you found most difficult or challenging about this project and why?

3.    Analyze one aspect of the project that you would change and give details as to why?

4.    Assess what new knowledge you gained from this project?

5.    Define what skills you have gained from working with your group during this project.

6.    Justify how you were a positive influence on your group.

7.    Describe the problems that you and your group encountered throughout this project.

The open house is fast approaching and to make sure that you are ready for your performance on the 17th and 18th, I have created a checklist for you to evaluate where your project is at and what areas you might need to focus on in the next 4 days.  Please read and think carefully so that your open house demonstrates what great learners you are.

Checklist for GNT Project

Artifact

·         Have I made something that is connected to my Cultural Area? Can I explain how it is connected to my cultural area

·         Does my artifact look real?  Is it neatly constructed and have I put the finishing touches on it so that people are attracted to my artifact?

·         Have I properly labeled my artifact so people know what it is, why I built it and how it connects to my research and cultural area?

Speech

·         Is my speech 1 to 2 minutes long?

·         Have I practiced my speech so that I have it almost memorized

·         Does my speech tell the listener some important information about my research and my artifact?

·         Can I answer the questions that I started the research process with?

·         Do I know other facts or information about the tribe and their culture?

The Display

·         Have we thought about how the group is going to set up our display?

·         Have you coordinated with your group so you have a sensible order and not everyone is speaking at once?

·         What extras are you going to do to make your museum display look attractive and professional?

·         Do I have all the necessary items, equipment, notes or other things to make the display look like it is a polished museum display?

·         Have I used signs and decorations to help create a mood or atmosphere for our entire group’s display?

The Wiki

·         Have I reread my wiki and organized the info and the annotated bibliography so that visitors can see it and read it?

·         Do I have the proper information for the bibliography and for each resource I have clearly annotated how I used it for my project?

·         Do I have at least 4 resources in my bibliography

·         Do I have some info placed on my page above the annotated bibliography?  Including pictures, videos or text?

Please read through this and check off that your project meets all of these standards.  If it doesn’t then you have some work to do.   Remember the deadline is Wednesday the 17^th of December.

Yesterday the Pudong Elementary School here at Shanghai American School held their annual Winter Concert. The concert was broken into two separate events due to the number of parents and students attending. The morning concert was hosted by the K- 2 classes while the afternoon concert was hosted by the 3rd - 5th grade students. Our students work in two classes, band or orchestra. They did very well and the parents had a great time seeing their child’s musical development.

And so is my fabulous mustache! The staff here at SAS managed to raise a lot of money for this very worthy cause but I can admit that I am happy it is finally gone! It was getting too itchy. Here is how it looked by the end of the month.

Last year a friend of mine who teachers high school math in Calgary, Canada showed me this little clip about multiplication. She uses it to emphasize the importance of explaining your work when solving equations. How do you think “Ma and Pa” and doing with their multiplication rules?

Our class has continued to work at the writer’s workshop program for writing narrative stories. This time we decided to look at realistic fiction instead of personal narratives. Each student wrote, peer edited and then recorded their stories to GCAST. They have been working a lot on developing details and using dialogue. Please look for the gcast widget on each of their blogs to hear their stories. They would love some feedback.

As our class begins their studies on global native groups we have begun to set up our research wiki. Each group now has their own page and within those are also multiple pages. Some groups have even begun to post the ideas that they have found already.

In our research we are making sure that we are following the expectations. On the right hand side under the assignments link are all the resources, assignment sheets as well as rubrics. Remember to take a look.

H.O.M.E.W.O.R.K.

There is more to homework than just doing the homework at home.Remember this 5 step process so that you can get the best out of your homework experience.

Step one…

LISTEN WHEN HOMEWORK IS BEING DISCUSSED                                  

Step two…

WRITE DOWN THE HOMEWORK INSTRUCTIONS THAT ARE ON THE BOARD

Step three…

TAKE ALL OF THE REQUIRED HOMEWORK MATERIALS HOME

Step four…

COMPLETE THE HOMEWORK IN A QUIET SPACE IN YOUR HOME

Step five…

BRING ALL OF THE FINISHED HOMEWORK BACK AND HAND IT IN ON TIME

Establishing a regular time and place to complete your homework is a great way to start creating patterns that will help you all through your educational career.

Hi Students and Parents and Happy Friday to you…only 4 weeks and away we fly for holidays.

Anyway, I am posting something very useful here for all students and parents too.Within this documents are all the websites and passwords you need to know to be an effective researcher.

 Elementary Library Databases