Shanghai American School – Pudong Campus – Middle School Weblog

Dear Parents of Pudong Grade 8 Students:

The Pudong High School Administration and Counseling Department cordially invite you to an informational meeting for parents of Grade 8 students, to be held on the evening of Tuesday, February 9, from 7:00 – 9:00pm at the Pudong Library Lecture Hall. Light refreshments will be served.

We will be presenting important information about the general outline of the SAS high school program, the course selection process to take place in the next two months, course options open to Grade 9 students, extra-curricular activities open to high school students, and the orientation program that we have planned for your sons and daughters throughout this spring. You will also meet our counseling staff, all of whom will be returning next year. There will be time for questions as well.

In the meantime, I invite you to visit our high school blog, which is updated each Monday morning. This will give you an insider’s view of what is going on in the high school, as well as a feel for the “pulse” of the high school. Please feel free to explore this blog site. The address is http://teachers.saschina.org/hspudong/.

I hope to see you on the 9th as we together begin this important transition process of moving on to this next stage in your child’s educational career.

Jonathan F. Borden SAS Pudong High School Principal

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 click here http://gallery.mailchimp.com/1e2c001e7323bba58b5fbf241/files/SurveyinfoChinese.pdf
For Korean click here 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.

Below you will find a list of a few frequently asked questions.

Sincerely,

Andrew Torris

Deputy Superintendent

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Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Is the survey multi-lingual?

A: You can leave answers to the open ended questions in other languages and they will be interpreted later. The advancement office has also provided access to translations of the surveys at these web addresses. Either click the link or copy and paste the link into your web browser.

For Chinese click here http://gallery.mailchimp.com/1e2c001e7323bba58b5fbf241/files/SurveyinfoChinese.pdf
For Korean click here http://gallery.mailchimp.com/1e2c001e7323bba58b5fbf241/files/SurveyinfoKorean.pdf

Q: Is the survey anonymous?

A: Yes. Completely. In fact it is so anonymous that technical staff supporting the independent website only has access to the data as it comes from survey input.

Q: Do I have to do all the surveys at the same time, or can I come back to the website again and again?

A: You can return the website several times, and you can revise your survey through the month of February.

AMIS International Band Festival Concert
Saturday January 30th

Special bus running to bring friends and supporters to hear the best Middle school band on the planet
5.15 pm from the Ramada Hotel Jin Qiao and then 5.30pm from Jin Qiao Starbucks, bus back after the concert.

Please come and support our visiting musicians.

The Edge for Excellence Campaign is underway for Shanghai American School students!

We are pleased to announce that the School Board approved the 2010-2011 Calendar at this week’s Board Meeting.  It’s attached for your reference.  Thanks to all who provided feedback on the calendar sent out via email in December and January!

2010-2011 SAS Calendar

LAST CHANCE for Carpet Auction Tickets!
Benefitting The Charles Foundation and the Pudong PTSA

Pudong PTSA Carpet Auction: Every Carpet Tells a Story
In Partnership with Eastern Carpets and The Parkyard Hotel
Music Provided by the Pudong Middle School Jazz Band

Date: January 23, 2010
Time: 6:30 Preview 7:30 Auction
Tickets 150 RMB in advance, 200 RMB at the door

Tickets can be ordered by calling 6221-1445 X3521
or via email to jill.du@saschina.org.

Once again this year Eastern Carpets from Singapore will be bringing out some of their best carpets to share and auction for the benefit of the Pudong PTSA and The Charles Foundation. In the tradition of the Oriental Carpet Seller, Edmund and his colleagues at Eastern Carpets will be weaving in stories about each carpet as well as pertinent tips and trips on carpet care.

The evening will be a fun event for the entire community whether you are buying or just enjoying the beautiful art found in these wonderful rugs. We hope to see you all there!

Ticket Sales will end on Thursday, January 21, 2010

Starting today, January 13, 2009, we will be “publishing” on each student/parent PowerSchool account the historical grades and cumulative grade to date, including the option of seeing the assignment grades posted by the teacher in the course so far that semester. Under our previous system, beyond every quarter, we only made grades available to students who were having difficulties. Now, those grades will be available to everyone everyday (24/7). But you will continue to receive paper report cards on the same schedule as in the past.

As you may know, we have begun to use a new student information system this year called PowerSchool, a very powerful program used by many national and international schools around the world. One function of PowerSchool is to report grades to students and parents electronically. Another feature that we’ve added is the universal log-in for every family. We will provide you a new username and password that will be used to access all of your children’s accounts in PowerSchool regardless whether they are in  elementary, middle school or high school. You’ll need to use only one username and password.  Please look for this letter in the report cards being sent home today with your child.

As this will be your universal log-in from now, please be sure to keep the information below in a safe place.

Please contact Vice-Principal Jeff Rosen should you have any difficulties or questions regarding access to your account.

To access your account, please go to: http://powerschool.saschina.org/public/home.html.

Good day and welcome back to school!

We hope you all had a restful and peaceful Winter Break and are ready to start up Semester 2. As I have been in and out of the classrooms this week, I have enjoyed seeing the teachers getting right back in to engaging the students in activities and learning. The students, although a little groggy, are starting their minds up and getting on track for a great Semester.

This Semester we have many exciting events for the students and we will continue to need your support. Next week we will have a Middle School Parent Coffee outlining our hosting of the AMIS Band Festival, Shanghai International School Chinese Talent Show, and our upcoming China Alive trips. The Parent coffee will begin at 9:00 on Thursday, January 14th in the LLH. Please plan on attending.

Again, we hope that you have had a great holiday break and welcome to 2010 !

Sincerely,

Ron Roukema, Ed.D
Shanghai American School, Pudong
Middle School Principal

Upcoming Events:

Host Families still needed for the AMIS Band Festival – January 27-30 contact Dr. Rosen at jeff.rosen@saschina.org if you can help.

Report Cards to be sent home on Wednesday, January 13th – Available on Powerschool as well

Middle School Parent Coffee – Thursday, January 14th at 9:00 in the LLH

The PTSA will sponsor its popular Carpet Auction on Saturday, January 23rd at the Parkyard Hotel at the Hi-Tech Park Pudong.  Tickets are 150 rmb if they are bought before the event and will be 200 rmb at the door on the day of the event.  There will be a very limited number of tickets available at the door, so please reserve your place early.

Contact Amanda DeCardy (amanda.decardy@saschina.org) or Jill Du (jill.du@saschina.org) for tickets and/or more information about the event.

Thank you for coming out and supporting the Pudong PTSA for this wonderful evening event.

Good day and Happy New Year!

This is a quick reminder that tomorrow marks the first day of our second semester. We are excited to let you know that we will be welcoming some 20 new students to our campus tomorrow. Please remember to check under the daily announcements tab for more information on the daily operations of the school. Also, know that tomorrow is a Day 1.