Morning Announcements

Monday September 1st

Day 3

6th Grade Weblog: The New 6th Grade Team Weblog is up and running! This is your source for news and events for parents and students in Pudong's 6th grade program. Check it out!

The address is http://teachers.saschina.org/pudongteam6/

Photo Days: Don’t forget to bring your Picture form and Money to school this week.  MS Picture days are Wednesday and Thursday.

All Swimmers – Listen carefully! 

School Wide Swim Team:

Today is the first swim practice for the swim team.  All swimmers should board the bus at the front gate near the Elementary school at 3pm.  Practice will be held at the Zhangjiang Medicine Sports Center pool.  Practice will last until 5:15 and swimmers will take the ASA bus home from there.  Please be sure your parents know where and when to pick you up from the bus stop.  See coach Cole for more details.

CISSA Swimming:

CISSA swimming meets at 3:00 in the foyer outside the M.S auditorium. We will meet quickly and then walk over to the Links pool

for practice. All students will take the 4:30 bus home.

CISS Rugby:  CISSA touch rugby will practice on Tuesday from 3:00-4:30 with the first game of the year on Thursday at home. Opponent yet to be decided.

Lost your ID?  Please go to the cashier and pay the 100RMB and present the receipt to the Admissions office.  .  The reprint will then change their pin number and will take 5 school days before Yeap will be able to process this information for the bus.

The Acceptable Use Policy in Your Agenda Book:

Please turn in your Acceptable Use Policy to your advisory teacher as soon as possible.  It should be signed by both you and your parents.  Once the school received this form, we will activate your computer login usernames to access folders. 

 Community Service Club:

The middle school Community Service Club will kick off its fund raising drive on September 20. Club members will be selling food and drinks at the CISSA touch rugby tournament hosted by SAS, Pudong. If you would like a permission slip to join or just want  to know more about the club please see Mr. Zigmand during lunch. 

Medical Forms

All students who have not turned in your medical forms – Please turn them in to the nurse.

Middle School Notes – Friday August 29^th

Thanks to all the parents who attended our first Middle School meeting this week.

MS Photo Days Next week - On Wednesday Sept. 3^rd and Thursday September 4^th, all MS students will have their picture taken.  Students were given an order form yesterday.  Please ensure they return the form with money on their picture day.

Thursday September 11^th - Middle School Open House – 6:30-8:30. More details to follow.

Monday September 15^th – Mid-Autumn Festival – No School

Thursday September 18^th – MS Bonding day.  Teachers are organizing Grade level bonding day trips.

Friday September 19^th - Progress reports Posted to EdLine – On Friday September 19^th, you will be able to access your child’s progress reports on EdLine.

Sept. 23-25 - All MS students will be going to the Shanghai Art Museum.  Our Art department is organizing grade level field trips to the Museum:

Grade 6: September 23rd

Grade 7: September 24th

Grade 8:  September 25^th

More details and permission forms to follow.

Reminder:  There is no school for students from Monday September 29^th- Friday October 3^rd.

This article is cross posted with Ms. DeCardy's Blog

As a mom I crave information from my daughter’s teacher and I consciously sit down with my daughter after school to talk about the day with her.  At her age she joyfully provides me every detail, but I know that this stage will not last forever.  The fact of the matter is every parent wants to know what is going on in their child’s life when they are not in their presence, and the teachers at SAS are working hard to give you that information.

One way we are increasing our communication is through the blogging platform.  Shanghai American School owns it’s own domain name and teachers across all divisions are rapidly creating blogs as a means to communicate with their students and the parent community.  Blogs are offering teachers a way to celebrate the learning in their classroom, provide information about upcoming events, reflect on lessons taught in class, and to provide an extension to the standard classroom-learning environment.  Teachers are modeling what we are asking our students to do by acting as globally minded professionals who are empowered to seek and share information.

One of my primary goals this year is to help parents get connected and stay connected with the events going on in their child’s classrooms.  One method for parents to stay connected is to create a personal and secure Netvibes page on the internet.  When teacher blogs are updated, the Netvibes page will automatically be updated which saves parents the time of having to visit each and every teacher blog.  I will help parents set up a Netvibes page during parent coffees, PTSA meetings, open house, or even if they drop in the middle school computer lab if they happen to be at school on any given day.  I’ve also created a screencast to walk you through the steps at home on your own.

Get connected and stay connected through the SAS teacher blogs.  The information you receive will provide you with a conversation starter around the dinner table.  Especially for middle school students, the more detailed the question we ask them, the more detailed they answer!

Morning Announcements

Friday August 29th

Day 2

The Acceptable Use Policy in Your Agenda Book:

Please turn in your Acceptable Use Policy to your advisory teacher as soon as possible.  It should be signed by both you and your parents.  Once the school received this form, we will activate your computer login usernames to access folders. 

Community Service Club:

The middle school Community Service Club will kick off its fund raising drive on September 20. Club members will be selling food and drinks at the CISSA touch rugby tournament hosted by SAS, Pudong. If you would like a permission slip to join or just want  to know more about the club please see Mr. Zigmand during lunch. 

Medical Forms

All students who have not turned in your medical forms – Please turn them in to the nurse.

Morning Announcements

Thursday August 28th

Day 1

The Acceptable Use Policy in Your Agenda Book:

Please turn in your Acceptable Use Policy to your advisory teacher as soon as possible.  It should be signed by both you and your parents.  Once the school received this form, we will activate your computer login usernames to access folders. 

Swimming Today

Swim tryouts today for all swimmers aged 11-14 at the Links pool after school.  Bring your suit, goggles, towel and cap to Mr. Cole's room (M210) at 3pm.  You'll walk over to the Links together at 3:05 and return for the 4:30 ASA bus home.  Please be sure your parents are aware of your plans.

Medical Forms

All students who have not turned in your medical forms – Please turn them in to the nurse.

 Please know our first PTSA Middle School meeting is scheduled for tomorrow at 8:30 in the LLH.  Following this meeting is the first PTSA General Session will begin in the HS Gym at 10:00.  Please try to attend.  Below is a list of extensions that may be helpful to you.

Morning Announcements

Tuesday August 26th

Day 3

·        CISSA touch rugby players needed. We still need more players to fill out our teams. No experience necessary, everybody makes the team and has fun!

See Mr. Z during lunch to secure your place on a team!

·        All students who have not turned in your medical forms – Please turn them in to the nurse.

Morning Announcements

Monday August 25th

Day 2

·        Elective courses begin today.  If you do not have an elective on your schedule, please come to the office at 2:15.  Note:  This is not to change your elective.

·        Competitive swimmers interested in trying out for the School Wide Swim Team need to meet in Coach Cole's room (M210) today at 3pm for an information session.  Tryouts will be held on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:15-4:15 at the Links pool.  All swimmers may take the 4:30 after school bus to their ASA drop-off on those days.

• Today’s CISSA swimming practice will be canceled. Swimming practice will begin Friday.

• CISSA touch rugby practice begins tomorrow, Tuesday, August 26. Students may drop off their applications at the food court today and tomorrow.

·        All students who have not turned in your medical forms – Please turn them in to the nurse.

Welcome Back!!!
We hope you have all had a restful summer and are ready for another academic year here at SAS. This year we will continue with our weekly updates both through EDLINE email and our on line page at http://teachers.saschina.org/mspudong To help inform parents, we have added a daily announcement file for you all to view at your leisure on our on line page.

We are happy to announce that we are off to a smooth start and the students seem to be adjusting well to their new grade levels. Please note that this coming week we have a few events already starting for both you and your child.

On Monday, we will begin our CISSA Swimming program and Touch Rugby so please make sure you have filled out the proper forms.

Also, next week we will have our first Middle School PTSA meeting at 8:45 on Thursday. We will introduce ourselves and some of our plans for this coming year so please come out and meet our team.

Have a restful weekend!
Sincerely,

Ron and Jeff

Frequently Asked Questions

 How do I…?

… have my student excused when they are sick or traveling?  Contact Edith.cai@saschina.org

…set up a meeting with teachers to conference about my student’s progress?  Contact your child’s teacher directly.

…get help with accessing Edline? Contact  Jeff.rosen@saschina.org

.... contact my students counselor?  Jason.Caruana@saschina.org  Laura.cowan@saschina.org

Where can I find …

… information on bus transportation?  yeap@saschina.org

…up to date information on school events?  http://teachers.saschina.org/mspudong

…emails for my child’s teachers?  firstname.lastname@saschina@org

Why doesn’t…

… the school post student grades and assignments?  In middle school, we want students to begin taking responsibility for recording assignments and tracking their own progress.  Students are given Student Agenda books and teachers will post long range project dates and expectations.

… the office stay open past 3:30?  The office staff arrives on campus at 7:30 and leaves at 3:30.  These hours are set by the district for Pudong due to bus transportation and employee contracts.

… Puxi use a Humanities model but Pudong does?  As a new entity, we were able to purposely hire staff that has the training to teach humanities.  This allows us to have a naturally integrated curriculum while meeting the standards and benchmarks.

Who is …?

… the CISSA coordinator?  Karl.zigmand@saschina.org

… activities director?  Todd.parham@saschina.org

…Home Work Opportunity Time (H.O.T.) coordinator:  Patty.winnpenny@saschina.org

What is …?

… MGY Nite?  MYG Nite, Gym spelt backwards, is social opportunity for students to “hang out” and socialize with each other in a structured, supervised location.

Back to top

When is …?

… the first day of school?  August, 21^st, 2008

…Open House?  September 11^th, 2008

Morning Announcements

Friday August 22nd

Day 1

Monday will be a Day 2

• CISSA Sports applications will be accepted today and Monday for Touch Rugby and Swim teams.

All ability levels are welcome, there are no cuts for CISSA sport teams.

• Competitive swimmers interested in trying out for the School Wide Swim Team need to meet in Coach Cole's room (M210) Monday at 3pm for an information session. Tryouts will be held on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:15-4:15 at the Links pool. All swimmers may take the 4:30 after school bus to their ASA drop-off on those days.

• All students who have not turned in your medical forms – Please turn them in to the nurse.