February 9, 2010

An individual in your child’s class has Shingles.  Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes Chickenpox and occurs in people who have had chicken pox in the past. Anyone who has not had Chickenpox, may get Chickenpox from someone with Shingles. Children who already had chickenpox are not considered to be at risk.

The virus can be passed on by direct contact with fluid from shingles blisters, until they dry up and crust over.  After exposure, symptoms occur after 10-21 days.    Occasionally children who have had the chickenpox vaccine will still develop a mild case of chickenpox. They usually recover much quicker and only have a few pox.  Please monitor your child closely for any signs of chickenpox.

Symptoms:  (All may or may not be present)
•    Itching,
•    Fever,
•    Headache,
•    Malaise
•    Rash – first appears as small flat red blotches, develop into fluid filled spots, then dry and crust over.  Spots continue to appear for one to five days, and subside over a week.
The chickenpox rash may be generalized in severe cases, but usually appears on face, scalp, and trunk first then spreads to other parts of the body. New lesions usually cease to appear on or about the 5th day after onset.
Action:  See doctor to confirm diagnosis
Treatment:
•    Use Tylenol for fever and pain relief.
•    Control the itching.  Oral antihistamines such as Benadryl or topical lotions may be used.  Oatmeal baths in lukewarm water may also help.
•    Cut fingernails short to prevent scratching and secondary infection.

If your child contracts chickenpox, they are to be kept home from school until all lesions/spots have scabbed over or at least 6 days after the rash initially appeared.
They will need to see the school nurse upon their return to class.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your child’s school nurse. If your child has never had chickenpox, please consider having them vaccinated.

Thank you,
Pudong Elementary School Nurse     Sharon.Pantoja@saschina.org       6221-1445 x3309

World Math Day is Back!

The students of 5JT are all registered for World Math Day 2010! Check out the site here and find out what it’s all about!

How does it work?

The World Math Day Challenge involves students from all over the world playing against each other in real time battles of mental arithmetic using the World Math Day game engine. Each game lasts for 60 seconds. Students can play as many games as they want to. There are even prizes awarded including student prizes, and school prizes for highest achievers.

Students have been given usernames and passwords and are ready for the challenge that takes place on March 3 2010. They are very excited and really keen to challenge students from all over the world. They are practicing for the big event.

Mr.T

What’s up in 5JT?

Language Arts…it is exciting times in writer’s workshop as the students are gathering stories to support the main ideas of their essay. The students are seeing how an essay is organized with the use of their folders and understand that stories must support the main idea. For reading the students are practicing their plays that are focused on the theme of migration, our current social studies unit. They will be performing the plays to their peers this Friday. Students are also continuing to read non-fiction texts during readers workshop.

Math…we are currently working through unit 7 focused on Exponents and Negative Numbers. I would like to be able to finish the unit and complete the assessment before we go away on Chinese New Year vacation. This way students will not have a long break during the unit. I will be asking that all students bring study materials home this weekend to study the following skills that will be assessed:

*understand and apply scientific notation
*understand and apply powers of 10
*understand and apply order of operations to evaluate expressions and solve number sentences
*add and subtract integers
*understand and apply exponential notation
*determine whether number sentences are true or false
*understand the function and placement of parentheses in number stories
*compare and order integers

Social Studies…students are continuing with our Migration unit. We have completed our personal migration stories and discussed the reasons why people migrate and also the varying push and pull factors. They are currently completing a mini unit with Mr. Power in the computer lab.

A reminder that the CNY assembly is next week, Tuesday at 1:30pm in the auditorium. We also have a party being organized by Mrs. Stewart just before the assembly. Chinese New Year is not far away!

Remember that CNY holidays for students begins next Thursday at 11:30am.

Mr. T

Thank you to the one and only person in the class who attempted the brain teaser last week, Kenny you are star! The explanation of how you got your answers were fantastic! You also got the puzzle answer correct as well. I think you have earned yourself a trip to the coffee bar this Friday!

Check out Kenny’s answers

“Hi Mr. Toa! This brain teaser was a tough one! The answer to the first question is 15,705 liters. To get this I multiplied the number of boxes by the number of liters that that box can hold (225 boxes * 8 liters= 1,800 liters). I then did the same thing to figure out the volume of the 515- 27 liter boxes (515 * 27 liters= 13,905 liters). Then I added these two volumes together (13,905 + 1,800 liters = 15,705 liters) to get the total volume of the storage facility. Your next question was a brand new problem to me. I first had to figure out the new volume. So, I went through the same steps as before. I multiplied 150 * 8 liters which equals 1,200 liters. Then I multiplied 5 * 27 liters which equals 135 liters. Next, I added these two totals together to get the new volume of 1,335 liters (1,200 liters + 135 liters = 1,335 liters). To figure out what percent this new total was out of the total volume of the whole storage facility I first came up with the fraction 1,335/15,705. Then I divided the denominator into the numerator and got the decimal .085. To make this into a percent you must multiply this decimal by 100. So, the answer to the second part is 8.5%! (.085 * 100 = 8.5).”

“Hi Again Mr. Toa! The answer to the puzzle is Space in Vaders (space invaders).”

The Question

Magic Hexagon

Find the magic constant and fill in the numbers so that every column or diagonal has the same sum.

Puzzle

Mr. T

A note from The Deputy Superintendent, Andy Torris.

Dear SAS Parent Community Members:

I am happy to announce the beginning of the annual teacher performance evaluation parent survey for the 2009-2010 school year.

The survey will be open to all community members through the entire month of February.

The survey can be accessed through the SAS Community Portal at http://powerschool.saschina.org.

Translations for the survey can be found at the following links:

For Chinese copy and paste: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/1e2c001e7323bba58b5fbf241/files/SurveyinfoChinese.pdf
For Korean copy and paste: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/1e2c001e7323bba58b5fbf241/files/SurveyinfoKorean.pdf

Once you log in using your parent ID and password, click the link at the top that is labeled “Teacher Performance Survey”.

As has been done in the past two years, the teachers at SAS are seeking feedback from the parents of their children about their performance in areas in which they would have direct involvement. The results and comments from the survey go directly to the teachers who then include the survey information as part of their professional portfolio, and the survey content is discussed with their supervisor.

I would urge you to provide specific and professional feedback to the teachers at SAS. Consider carefully not only addressing suggestions, but also providing teachers feedback on what you feel is going well in the classroom programs at SAS.

The feedback you provide is important and it will be part of the professional reflection process as all of our teachers have a vested interest in ways to improve the programs at Shanghai American School.

We have a busy couple of months coming up. Here are some dates to keep in mind.

February & March Dates:

Feb. 4  PTSA General Meeting & Treat Day
Feb. 5  Wear red for Charity Day
Feb. 8 CNY Dress Rehearsal
Feb. 9 CNY Performance for Parents
Feb. 11 Half Day
Feb. 12 CNY Holiday
Feb. 23 Board Meeting
Mar.11 ES PTSA Meeting, Counselor’s Cafe, Treat Day
Mar.12 SPC Committee
Mar.13 PTSA Quiz Night hosted by the Powers
Mar.15 Sarah Holbrook – Visiting Author
Mar.15 Start of Trimester 3
Mar.17 Poetry Slam (TBD)
Mar.19 Trimester Report Cards Home
Mar.22 Spring Holiday

Mr. T

Well done 5JT! With all the contributions from 5JT students we raised rmb 1,363! I would prefer coming to school in pj’s every day!

Mr. T

The answer to last week’s brain teaser:

3 x 152km/month x 12 months/year = 5472 km/year.

Well done to everyone who posted the correct answer, especially Simon who posted the correct answer first!

And the answer to the puzzle…

Search high and low.

The Question

A storage facility has space for 225 – 8 litre boxes and 515 – 27 litre boxes. What is the volume of the facility? What percent of the total volume is filled by 150 of the 8 litre boxes and 5 of the 27 litre boxes?

The Puzzle

Mr. T

Wear your pyjamas on Friday to support the fundraising efforts this Friday!

Mr. T

Just a reminder that we have our class photo day tomorrow (Wednesday 27 January). Please bring in money for your class photo as well as clothing that you want to wear.

Mr. T