SAS Puxi Middle School

Dear Puxi Middle School Parents,

Just a reminder that Puxi Middle School Open House is scheduled for this coming Thursday evening, September 2.

Open house is a great opportunity to see the school the way your child does as you follow her schedule throughout the course of the evening. We will be starting at 6:00pm sharp in the Performing Arts Center. You may want to plan on being a few minutes early as we will follow a “bell schedule” throughout the evening and you wouldn’t want to be late for your first class!

On Wednesday, September 1, your child will bring home a copy of his schedule for you. On the back of the schedule, there will be a map of the middle school with the classes numbered in the order that you will visit them. Please be sure to ask your child about the schedule and bring it with you on Thursday. Should you not receive a schedule in advance, don’t worry; we will have another copy waiting for you at Open House.

For those of you new to middle school, it is important to note that our Open House may be different from elementary school. As there are many teachers and classrooms to see, the pace will seem quick. Our main focus is to allow you to put teachers’ names to faces and to see the environment where your child spends her school day.

Many of you have more than one child in the middle school and this presents an extra challenge for the evening. It is easiest if both parents can attend, which allows one parent to follow each child’s schedule. However, if both parents cannot attend, you may choose the sessions from each child’s schedule that you feel are most important to attend for each of your children.

All of us in the middle school are looking forward to Open House. This is a great time for us to get to know each other a little bit better. We truly hope to see you on Thursday evening!

Sincerely,

Brad Latzke
Middle School Principal
Theron Mott
Middle School Vice Principal

Greetings from Shanghai!

It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to Shanghai American School Puxi Campus. The Puxi Middle School is a great place and we hope that you are looking forward to becoming part of our community.

Perhaps the most important piece of information we have for you is our Middle School blog at:

http://teachers.saschina.org/mspuxi/

We highly encourage you to visit the blog and have a look around as it likely will answer most of the questions you have.

There are many things to look forward to at your new middle school and the list below is only partial!

• CISSA – a “no cut” sports program that allows you to participate in up to 12 different sports involving 10 other international schools!
• After School Activities - As if CISSA was not enough, we have five, five-week sessions of activities that allow you to do everything from cooking to rock climbing!
• China Alive – Every year, our entire school goes on a five-day trip to exciting places in China. Grade 6 goes to Tong Lu/Xian, Grade 7 to Beijing, and Grade 8 goes to Guilin/Yangshuo
• Middle School Dances
• International Book Fair
• Visiting Author Week
• Goof-O-Lympics
• Open Gym Nights
• International Fair
• Grade 6 “Lock In”
• Grade 7 and 8 Class Trips

I could go on and on about the opportunities and new experiences you will have here in Shanghai. We hope that you are as excited about the coming school year as we are and we are looking forward to meeting you in August.

Between now and then, there are a few things that need to happen:

1. Communication: New parents and students will receive their PowerSchool user name and passwords by the admissions office before June.  The PowerSchool student and parent portals represent your “one stop” school communication source.

1. Course Registration: By now, you should have received an e-mail from the middle school office providing you with course registration instructions using PowerSchool. A copy of this information has also been placed on the Puxi Middle School Blog.

1. Orientation Day For all new and transferred students to the Puxi Campus, we will be having a special orientation day on Friday, August 13^th.  Families are invited to arrive between 8:00am and 8:45am.  The family presentation will begin at 9:00am.  During orientation, students will receive a copy of their schedule, have a tour of the campus by our Eagle ambassadors, and learn more about our school.  There will be a separate program to orient parents.

1. Chinese Placement Testing: New students who wish to continue with their Mandarin study and have prior experience with the language will need to take a placement test. This test will take place on Thursday, August 12^th at 1:00PM in the middle school.

1. Puxi Middle School E-mail Sign up: Please register your e-mail contact information with us by sending an e-mail to sams@saschina.org Please type ADDRESS in the subject box. Include the following information in the text:

• The name of your middle school student,
• Grade level
• Your name
• Your e-mail address
• Phone number (if available)
• Mobile number (if available)
• Mailing address (if available)

Enjoy your summer, be safe, and we will see you in August.

Sincerely,

Brad Latzke

MS Principal

Puxi Campus

Dear Students and Parents:

Your kindness and generosity over the past year and a half towards the Jacaranda School has been outstanding and I thank you for this. In March 2008, I accidentally stumbled across the Jacaranda School while on a Habitat trip to Malawi. At that time I didn’t know what it meant, but after hearing Marie Da Silva speak at Harvard University, in March 2009, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. This small school for AIDS orphans has changed my life. My fund raising projects, with the huge help from Shanghai American School, have raised almost $70,000 to date. This money has provided bathrooms, desks, textbooks and a nurse for the school and on June 1st the construction of Science Labs will begin.

Last week I sent a shipment of textbooks, school supplies, clothes, toy/games, sports equipment and much more to the Jacaranda School and I would like to thank you for your donations in this effort. In 3 weeks, 24 SAS students and 4 teachers will arrive at the Jacaranda School for our 2nd visit and I can assure you this will be a very powerful experience for these students and teachers.

To see a video of the shipment, check either of the following links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS41K1kd6lU

http://portal.saschina.org/video/media/16506/Shipment_to_Jacaranda/

It is an honor to work at Shanghai American School and have the support of the school community for this project. The students and teachers at Jacaranda are truly grateful for your kindness. You can see our progress at the following link.

http://www.firstgiving.com/robertburke

Thank you so much.

Mr. Burke

Exploratory Catalog for 2010-2011

Me in the Middle: My Middle School Journey

Write a poem or a short reflection of about 3-4 paragraphs (500 words max) on the above topic. Some things you might think about are: How have I changed over the three years of middle school? What have I discovered about myself? How do I see the world differently now? What are the experiences inside or outside of school that have helped to shape who I am? Are there individuals who have impacted me the most?

Brainstorm (list/web/etc) the things you might want to include in this paper or poem.

1. Reflection paper–write a first draft of the paper. Include specific details and avoid generalities. Use similes, metaphors, personification, sensory images, alliteration, etc. Set it aside for a while. Then make the necessary edits to make it even more fluent, succinct, powerful, humorous, etc. This is a short piece, so choose your words and sentences carefully.  Place an electronic copy of your final draft on the “S” Drive in the Inbox folder of your HB teacher. Put your first and last name in the title of the document when you save it in the folder, eg Me in the Middle – Jackie Robinson..

OR

2. Poem–write a poem of at least 15 lines. Use poetic devices such as rhyme, rhythm, repetition, similes, metaphors, personification, sensory images, alliteration, etc. Think about how and where and why you break your lines and stanzas. Use punctuation sparingly. Edit carefully for flow, understanding, and impact. Place an electronic copy of your final draft on the “S” Drive in the Inbox folder of your HB teacher. Put your first and last name in the title of the document when you save it in the folder, eg Me in the Middle – Jackie Robinson.

Enjoy your reflecting and writing, soon-to-be high schoolers!

Dear Students and Parents,

As the end of the year draws near, it is time for us to gather course selections for next year.

The process will be very simple this year as we will be using student portal on Power School and students will need to log in their user names and passwords.

We need the students to complete this process before they leave for China Alive. Preferably before this Friday, April 16.

Remember the address for the log in page is:

http://powerschool.saschina.org/public/

If you have forgotten your user name or password, you can either ask your Home Base teacher or you can send an email to: lucy.li@saschina.org

Once students are logged in, they will click on the class registration icon and this will take them to the online course selection form.

As you know, there are only two choices to make; Global Language and Music. In order to complete the process:

•Students will need to enter a first, second and third choice.

•If you do not see your course, be sure look at the bottom of the window and click Next.

•Chinese will count as one choice. Do not enter different levels of Chinese as an alternative choice.

•An attempt to enter the same course for all three choices will appear to be accepted, but it will not be schedule. This will result in the need to reselect in August when choices may be limited.

•Please know that the vast majority of students, if not all, receive their first choice.

Music

All students must sign up for Band, Orchestra or General Music/Drama or Choir. Due to the fact that the vast majority of our students already play a musical instrument, it is difficult for us to offer beginning programs in Orchestra or Band. If a students wishes to start a new instrument, they may take private lessons and audition for the Band or Orchestra once they grasp basic fundamentals.

Global Language

Beginning French and Spanish are available to all grade 6 students.  Levels 2 and three are not available to grade 6 students.

Beginning French and Spanish programs will most likely be available to grade 7 and 8 students depending on student demand.

Level 2 French and Spanish will be available to all grade 7 students who have taken level 1 and levels 2 and 3 will be available to grade 8 students who have taken the proper prerequisites.

Students who have no experience with Chinese can sign up for Chinese as a Foreign Language level 1 (CFL 1).

Those students who are not currently taking Chinese but have previous experience will need to take a placement test in August. The date and time for that test has yet to be determined. There will be an option for these students to select on the course selection form.

Students who are taking Chinese should sign up according to the following progression:

Course taken this year                                               Course to be taken next year

CFL 1 (Chinese as a Foreign Language 1)         CFL 2

CFL 2                                                                            CFL 3

CFL 3                                                                            CFL 4

CFL 4                                                                            CL (Cultural Literacy Transition)

CL (Cultural Literacy Transition)                        CL 1

CL1                                                                               CL2

CL 2                                                                             CL 3

CL 3                                                                             CL 4

CL 4                                                                            CCL (Continuing Cultural Literacy)

Any questions about the log in please contact Lucy Li

Any questions about the courses, please inquire with your child’s current middle school counselor.

Thanks,

Matt

Course Selection Instructions

The iPad. Will it change the way we read or will it be just another clumsy approach to the “interactive book” idea? Take a look at how Alice in Wonderland will be read on the iPad.

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