Pudong ES Announcements

This afternoon’s display of sound, color and team work made for an extremely tight and focused performance. Grade 5 Orchestra began our show, with several songs demonstrating the commitment and enthusiasm, this was followed by our 5th grade strings delicate demonstration. Next we had 4th grade students performing a sound and light show dazzling the audience and our grade 3’s ended with a melody incorporating voice and kazoos! A special thanks must go to Ms Denton and Ms Hu for the hard work in making our 3-5 concert one of the best!

Today we witnessed a wonderful display of color, music and enthusiasm. Congratulations must go to Ms Tucker for making this years Winter concert so memorable. Below you will find 3 songs from the concert. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Holiday Month!

December is always an exciting month for schools across the world. It is the month where we come together in spirit and hope in all that is and can be good for our students, parents, and staff. It is a month where presents of the heart are more frequent than presents in our hands. It is the month where children proudly present holiday plays, ceremonies, and concerts. For the month of December there are some important dates and events you should keep in mind for the Elementary School. Happy Holidays and safe travels to all!!

Dennis Bissmeyer, Principal

• December 4th:

1. PTSA General Meeting and School Wide presentations 9:00 A.M.
2. Treat Day for 2nd and 3rd grade.
3. Holiday Bizarre for Adults…Orange Couch Room.

• December 5th. Grade 5 Leadership Training…Student Council

• December 9th: Santa Lucia Parade, 2nd Grade
• December 9th: Start of Santa’s Workshop through December 12th.
• December 11th:

1. Winter Concert: K-2 Concert from 10:30-11:15.
2. Grade 3-5 Concert from 1:15-2:45.

• December 12th: Staff Christmas Celebration
• December 15th: PTSA Winter Luncheon
• December 16th: Board of Director’s Meeting
• December 17th: 5th Grade Native American Open House from 8:00-3:00.
• December 19th: Half-Day. Student’s go home at 11:30….if you are going to pick up your child, please do so before 11:30 as the school will be closed and staff gone.
• January 5th: End of Holiday break…school resumes.

Thursday saw Elementary visit the Eagles. The assembly was run by students with plays, songs and information reaffirming our understanding and use of the EAGLES at Shanghai American School. The EAGLES stand for: Empowered, Adaptable, Global minded, Literate, Ethical, Skilled enquirer. The performance allowed us all to see how and when we use these skills in our lives. A big thank you to everyone who participated including our audience. Well done Pudong Elementary!

As Fall enters the air we come into the month of November. Here are a few reminders of events that will be happening:

• November 4th-7th:  School Wide Book Fair.
• November 6th and 7th: Parent-Teacher Conferences. Half day for students…leave at 11:30. Parent conferences from 12:15. This is an important meeting, especially for you and your child. See you at school.
  
• November 8th: Ryder Cup Golf Tournament for staff, Links Golf Course.
  
• November 13th: Elementary School PTSA meeting. We encourage a full turn out for this special meeting.
• 10:30-12:00 Special presentation from Counselors: Gloria Bissmeyer and Ed Woods
  

• New Student Council Program…Ed Woods
  

• Kelso Decision-Making Choices…Gloria Bissmeyer

• November 18th: Maggie Moon Literacy Consultant Visitation all week
• November 18th: Assistants PD Training Day. 1:00-2:00
• November 19th: ESOL Alignment meeting
• November 27th: School Assembly 10:00
• November 28th: Half day for students, leave at 11:30…Thanksgiving

Over the coming weeks, we are encouraging everyone to become connected using several neat programs that are free to all. You may have noticed your teacher either continuing the connectivity or experimenting with ways of developing their connectedness to you and our community. By following the links in this sidebar you are able to navigate directly to your teacher’s blog. Here you will find photos, information and celebrations of the student work. Using the blog platform, the connectedness between teacher, student, family both here and overseas, and classes around the world are allowing for relationships to be built that can only benefit all of us! Special projects taking place include Grade 2 teachers filming interviews with each other, posting to the blog for their “blog buddies” (another school in the US) to see. This allows for authentic learning to take place with an authentic audience.

So instead of you going to the site, by using a free simple tool let the information come to you!

Netvibes gathers all the rss feeds you want and sends them straight to one page.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. In the example here I have every teacher’s blog and administrators. I am able to see any updates that are made immediately, on one page. No longer do we have to fish for information going to a site to see if there is any new information as it can all come to you on one page. To learn more on setting up your own page, Amanda Decardy our Middle School tech Specialist has created a short screencast demonstrating how easy it is!

October is a busy month for the Elementary School. Listed below are
dates you can refer to. Check with your teachers for additional
information on these and other areas. Additionally, check out our
Communication Tab on the Blog for specific information on contacting
individuals and activities.

October 1st - 3rd: Chinese Holiday, no school
October 9th: ES PTSA meeting from 8:30-10:00. Topics include:
* Chinese Presentation
* Library Presentation
* Announcement of Cinderella Musical
October 9th: PTSA General Meeting from 10:00-10:30
October 11th: PTSA BBQ @ Pudong from 11:00-4:00
October 12-16th: WASC Self Study Visitation Team
October 16th: ES Library Session for Parents 9:00-10:00
October 16th: Santa’s Workshop planning meeting 10:00
October 16th: PTSA EXCO meeting 1:00
October 18th: ES Cinderella Musical (check with PTSA President for tickets)
October 20th-25th: ITBS testing for 3rd through 5th grades
October 24th: End of 1st Quarter
October 24th: United Nations Day 8:30-3:00
October 31st: ES Report Cards go home
October 31st: ES Halloween

Human beings are designed for learning. Whether it’s a young infant coming into the world and learning how to walk or talk, a student exploring their creativity, new teachers tying to make sense out of things, or doctors trying to find a cure for disease. We are hard wired to learn and perform to the best of our capacity.

In school organizations, we are good at measuring activities related to learning.  In fact that is primarily what we do. Too often however, there is a fuzzy and never satisfying end to this, never an end point where we finally know everything about every part of the system.  Why does change itself, that very event we’re all supposed to be managing, keep drowning us relentlessly?  How do we create organizational coherence, where activities correspond to purpose and meaning? And, what is it that we are really learning?  While we don’t often allow these questions to surface in organizations, they contain powerful metaphors that demand understanding beyond our traditional framework.

Leadership, an acknowledged phenomenon within organizations, must be examined for its relational aspects. Most often it is connected to qualities of stewardship, management, mission, and various other aphorisms.  In recent years however, a new way of thinking about organizational leadership has been emerging. It is connected to design.

Nothing has a more sweeping influence in how an organization functions than the design of the organization.  Like a large ship, an organization will perform only to the degree to which it is designed. Poor design typically results in limited capacity and function.  The gears of organizational functions are rarely invisible; they are found in decision-making, configuration of positions, roles and responsibilities, values, policies, use of time, connections with each other, and a myriad other ingredients. Without the proper design however, these gears never function properly.  As a result, the organization rarely, if ever performs up to its potential.

I believe we are in a time and place in education where traditional organizational designs may no longer stand up to the close scrutiny of performance. The issue is not what titles or positions will take care of the problems, but what energy, know-how, influence, insight, courage, and wisdom are available to help us see the proper design for solutions and effectiveness.

While human beings are hard wired for learning, successful leadership will not be found in the pages of organizational theory, titles, or positions. The most influential and effective leaders will be those who have the ability to design school organizations that are responsive to their purpose. Schools that wish to reach optimal performance year after year will need an eye on organizational design.

We have many dates in which parents should be aware of. For the month of September, we have a busy schedule. Don’t forget that we have Open House this month on the 25th:

• Sept 8th-12th: Teacher Assistant Training will include one hour sessions in the following:

• Sept 10th: EveryDay Math Training: All teachers will received this training.

• Sept 19-21st: Learning 2008 Technology Conference

• Sept 22nd: Elementary School Spirit Walk. 8:15-9:00

• Sept 25th: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE (see schedule sent home)
• Sept 29-30th: Teacher Work Days…no school for students