August 30, Me-Myself homework project due
September 3, After School Activity packets come home
September 9, After School Activity packets due back to school
September 8, Open House
September 18, Pudong Fall Family BBQ
September 20, ASA's begin
September 22, Mid Autumn Festival-No School
All grade level presentations will begin in the Elementary School library for specialist teacher introductions; introductions will be followed by grade level curriculum presentations and then end with time to explore your child’s classroom and talk with teachers.
Dinner & Transportation:
The Food Court will be open from 5:00-7:00 for parents to purchase a light dinner or snack. Your attendance is supported through optional transportation from Starbucks in Jingqiao. Buses will depart at 4:15 and return to Starbucks at 8:15. Secretaries will be available to call taxis for families as well.
What to Expect:
I am looking forward to sharing with you the details of how your child spends his/her day at SAS, the curriculum that is delivered, as well as an opportunity to explore the classroom and instructional materials. Your attendance is very important. Presentations are intended for an adult audience, due to time and space restraints, I kindly request that your children enjoy an evening at home.
I look forward to seeing you all at our Open House.
Technology was in full swing yesterday as we were informed of our school’s closure due to a typhoon. You should have received a text from school, an email, a phone call from myself, and had access to our school website. If any of these messages did not get to you please let me know as it means we my not have your emergency information correct.
It is a day off for students but if you would like some work for your child, here are some ideas:
DEFINITELY, have your child read and record their reading in their log.
Continue to work on their vocabulary book lesson # 2
Play a math game. If you have a deck of cards, your child knows how to play Addition Top-It, or More Than You, OR find a game to play on the Student Educational Links section on our blog.
Finally, ask your child to write for 20 minutes (bring any writing to school to add to writing journals.)
Have a relaxing day…hug your child, read a good book together, and tell someone special, “I love you”.
We are so lucky to have a wonderful Library at our school. There is such an amazing variety of books, DVDs, and Play-Aways, computers for research, comfy chairs to read in, and our wonderful Librarian Mrs. Boyer. But the best thing about our library is that everyone from our school community has access to this amazing resource. Students, teachers, and yes, PARENTS too!
There is no limit to the amount of books each student can take. The rule is students have to take a good amount of books to read, and they have to be able to carry them in their book bag.
For our Library to run smoothly, we do need volunteers. Please visit the library blog for more information http://teachers.saschina.org/espudonglibrary/. Also Students and parents can search for books and resources from home on the Destiny Library Catalog http://destiny.saschina.org or look at the SAS Teacher Blog section at the Right of the page.
WHAT’S ON NEXT WEEK…
READING. Strong readers record their reading so we have started a reading log. This will be coming home every day. Students need to record their reading and bring their reading log back to school each day. We will use our logs to help us set goals for reading longer, faster, and more variety.
WRITING. We have started Writer’s Workshop. We know how to get ideas for writing, so will now begin to focus in on our stories.
MATH. We continue our review of second grade concepts. We will be reviewing Chance, using Calculators, and Counting Money.
FINALLY. Help your child to get back into a homework routine. They will have math homework and reading each night. The Vocabulary book is due on Fridays. Remind your child to do a little each evening to spread out the work load.
Have a great week…enjoy the sunshine, read a good book, and tell someone special, “I love you”.
Sarah Toa
DATES COMING UP
Monday Day 4 Counselor
Tuesday Day 5 PE, Art
Wednesday Day 6 Music
Thursday Day 1 PE, Art, Library Checkout
Friday Day 2 Music
We are lucky to have experienced, knowledgeable teachers in our school.
Our third grade team consists of three teachers, Mr Harder, Mrs. Loftus and myself. Each week, we have a planning meetings to share ideas, ensure we are working at the same level in each class, assessing students for optimal learning, and teaching to our SAS benchmarks.
This year we are very fortunate to have an extra teacher on our team. Mr. Magsi will be working with our team helping out in all three classes. He also teaches PE on a part time basis. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Magsi to our Third Grade team.
Well, everyone, the first week is over and what a great one it was. We have been so busy that it just flew by!
On Friday, we used the Flip Cameras to record introductions. Mr Power showed us how to hold the cameras, record and delete. Please enjoy listening to our third grade introductions.
WHAT’S ON NEXT WEEK…
READING. We have discussed what we think reading is…interesting, decoding, fun, information… All these ideas are correct. We know that READING IS THINKING. We will be exploring Reader’s Workshop Routines in more depth next week. We have started reading a novel My Name is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada. Ask your child about the story so far.
WRITING. Next week we will begin Writer’s Workshop. We will begin by thinking about ways to come up with writing ideas. Your child will bring home a Writer’s notebook to decorate and make their own.
MATH. Everyday Math is a spiraling curriculum. These first couple of weeks will be a review for most students. Students will review how to use the tools in their Math Toolkits and will also have fun collecting data and making graphs.
WORD STUDY. We will begin a word study program that many students are familiar with-Words Their Way. We will be looking closely at how words work, and sorting and manipulating words.
FINALLY. Talk to your child about what is happening in the class each day. Ask questions like; What was the best part about your day? What did you learn today? What did you find difficult? E-mail me at sarah.toa@saschina.org if you have any questions, and if you have time, drop by to introduce yourself.
Have a great weekend…go outside, read a good book, and tell someone special, “I love you”.
Sarah Toa
DATES COMING UP
Monday Day 5 PE, Art
Tuesday Day 6 Music
Wednesday Day 1 PE, Art, Library Checkout
Thursday Day 2 Music
Friday Day 3 PE
Swimming Team try-outs for elementary students in Grade 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be held on Monday, August 23rd and Tuesday, August 24th at 3:15pm sharp. Swimmers need to attend both days because we will not finish testing out the students in one day. We will be finished by 4:15pm so students can take the 4:30pm bus home.
All students should be at the Aquatic Center with their bathing suits, caps, goggles and towels ready to compete at 3:15pm. Parents are more than welcome to watch their children from the Viewing Gallery. No parents are allowed on the pool deck or in the locker rooms. As we are trying to make the swimmers responsible competitors, please help us in this.
Swimmers trying out must swim all four strokes proficiently. This is not a learn to swim program but a competitive program. If your child does make the team, they are expected to train twice a week all year long, attend all Shanghai local meets as well as one international meet.
Parents, please make sure that your children know which bus to take home after the tryouts (contact YAEP if you are unsure).
And finally, though swimming is a lifelong skill and for everyone, competitive swimming is not. Make sure your child is interested in trying out for the team and not something you as a parent want. They might find it discouraging if they do not make the team. Talk to them to avoid disappointment.
Parents, please do not contact your classroom teacher for any swim team try out information, contact me personally (George Carpouzis, Aquatics Director): george.carpouzis@saschina.org
George Carpouzis
Aquatics Director Shanghai American School Pudong Campus
We had our first day back at school today and it sure was a busy one.
We started with an assembly, learned some new playground games in PE with Mr. Hossack, decorated portfolios in art with Mr. Toa, got to know our own classroom, and ended the day in the library checking out books. Phew! and that was just the first day!
We have 18 students in our class, six are new to our school. We will be spending the next few days getting to know our school community, and our classmates.
Please read all of information that comes home in your child’s take-home folder carefully. A couple of points of interest; children need to bring a box to school (about the size of a shoe box) to create a ‘personality box’. Also, we will begin swimming in PE on Thursday. For more information, please see Mr. Hossack’s blog.
Keep reading our blog every week to keep up to date. We’re in for a GREAT year!
If students go away from my Grade Three class only learning a few things, then I want my list to be important life skills; Here are my top wishes and dreams for our global learners.
Make eye contact
If you win or do well at something do not brag. If you lose, do not show anger
Ask a question in return
Do not make disrespectful gestures
ALWAYS say “Thank you”
Never make negative comments about a gift.
Read every day for the rest of your life.
ALWAYS try your best
You’ll notice that academics don’t even make my list. My goal for our learners is that they are happy and have friends to surround them in all walks of life.
Ask any adult what they remember from their third grade year, and the chances are it won’t be what they learned in math, or how they completed a science experiment! It may be how they felt about friendships, or a special activity or event.
And Finally…Have a GREAT summer. Travel safe, relax, stay in touch, read a good book, and tell someone special, “I love you!”
Our Final Math Project of the year is to design a game of chance. We have been studying probability so now is the time to put our knowledge to the test.
Students will be given time to complete their game in class, but if they would like to work on it at home over the weekend then they can follow these instructions;
1) Your game must involve chance, not skill, in order for the player to win.
2) Your game’s outcome must have a greater chance for the Dealer to win. Other wise the casino will lose too much money.
3) Your game must give the player between a 10% and 50% chance of winning the game.
4) You must design a colorful board or mat that goes along with your game. The board/mat must include your name, the name of the game, and directions on how to play the game and, on the back, the possible outcomes of your game.
5) You must be able to calculate the percentage of each outcome of your game.
6) You must predict the outcome of your game after it is played 50 times.
7) You must design a tally chart to record the results of the 50 times your game is played.
8) You must compare the results of your game after it is played 50 times with your prediction and record your observations in a single paragraph.
Students have already brainstormed ideas in class and decided on their game plan. They have drafted ideas and written a plan. Some have even tested their ideas on their classmates to see how their idea works.
I am looking forward to playing the Games of Chance. We will be playing each others games next week to try and Beat the Odds!
Our motto is THINK GREEN, LIVE GREEN! We are a friendly, family based community. This is a GREAT place to live!
This is the community that we have created. As you can see, it has the river running through the town. There are small businesses and many houses. The Apple Orchard is also part of our town.
We have nearly finished creating our characters to live in the town. It has been a fun, creative project so far.
Welcome to Elementary Open House For Parents
