Dear Parents, For the past 20 years SAS has hosted three yearly non-profit Shopping for a Cause sales. Charities and NGO organizations from around Southeast Asia have sold products and shared information with SAS students, faculty, and parents about their organizations. We are excited about the sale scheduled for October 2,3,4 & 5. Please consider helping (or just shopping) during the week of October 2nd outside the ES 3-5/MS cafeteria from 10:00-1:15. PLEASE consider volunteering! Contact Amy Ferguson at aferguson@sas.edu.sg ASAP and let her know if you can help with Tabitha of Cambodia, XS from Indonesia, Side By Side Organic Farm from Bali, Gramshree from India and more. It is a wonderful way to meet some great people and at the same time interact with all the kids who come to shop. Thank you for your support and volunteering to help out a this sale on October 2, 3, 4, & 5th. Please consider volunteering.

Back to School Night Presentation Slides

ELA Course Overview/Syllabus

Parent Feedback for ELA

Parent Feedback for ELA

August 17, 2017

Dear Parents,

It has been a great start to the school year on C Side! The first few days working with the children have been amazing thanks to their incredibly positive energy. I’m very excited to begin our learning journey together in ELA (English Language Arts) class!

I’ve already begun to have conversations with some of you about your child, whether at Open House, or via email. No one knows your child better than you do. Your perception of my student is a valuable resource. The more I know and understand about your child, the more effective I can be as a teacher.

We have a Back to School Night coming up on Thursday, August 24th from 6:00 - 8:30 pm. As this night is designed to share with you about the teaching and learning in 6th grade, we will not have an opportunity to discuss your child on that night.

I would appreciate your participation in a short “parent feedback assignment”. Sometime in the next week, please write me a letter introducing your child.

It need not be too long. You might want to include a brief biography, special abilities, fears, strengths, weaknesses, and past school experiences. You might also want to share  your expectations of me, your child, and the school as they relate to ELA skills (reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, and speaking.) Include any information that you want me to keep in mind while I work with your child.

I am looking forward to reading your letters and will respond to any issues and/or concerns during the fall conferences, if not prior to that date. Thank you for taking part in this important assignment. All letters will be kept confidential.

You are welcome to send the letter in an envelope labelled with your child’s name or via email: szielinski@sas.edu.sg

Respectfully and with thanks,

Steve Zielinski

6C ELA Teacher

Due Date: Thursday, August 24

Calendar attempt

Shopping for a Cause Sales Next Week!

Dear Parents, 

For the past 20 years SAS has hosted three yearly non-profit Shopping for a Cause sales. Charities and NGO organizations from around Southeast Asia have sold products and shared information with SAS students, faculty, and parents about their organizations. 

We are excited about the sale scheduled for Dec 6,7,8 and 9.  Please consider helping (or just shopping) during the week of Dec. 6th outside the ES 3-5/MS cafeteria from 10:00-1:15.

PLEASE consider volunteering! Contact Amy Ferguson at aferguson@sas.edu.sg ASAP and let her know if you can help with Tabitha of Cambodia, XS from Indonesia, Side By Side Organic Farm from Bali, and Gramshree from India.   We are proud to have a few new local groups-Looms and Project Smile join us!   

It is a wonderful way to meet some great people and at the same time interact with all the kids who come to shop.

Thank you for your support and volunteering to help out at this sale on Dec. 6, 7, 8, & 9. Please consider volunteering.

How Do 6th Graders Keep Organized?

During my 6th grade year, there was an organizational tool that took my school (and the world?) by storm. It was known as a Trapper Keeper, and it was essentially a colorful, fancy three-ring binder with lots of pockets, accessories, and a velcro flap that promised to keep all of your school needs in one compact, portable portfolio. Perhaps more importantly for an 11 year-old, a Trapper Keeper was a status symbol. If one had a Trapper Keeper, there was a chance to be somebody. Without one, well… life would be tough.

I remember hounding my parents for one until they finally gave in. (I’m sure you students know exactly how that works.) My Trapper Keeper was blue, and moments after returning from the store I proudly organized my pens, pencils, and erasers in the zipper pouch, and I dutifully labelled each folder. I practiced walking around the house holding my Trapper Keeper, and imagined my friends and teachers complimenting my good taste and responsibility at school the next day. It was a magical moment in my life. I had the latest fad, and it was actually going to be useful.

And for one brief, shining moment, I was in Organizational Heaven.

So, I was reminded of this moment last week as I watched my beaming 6th grade students get handed their own new tool, a laptop computer. During a “Laptop Bootcamp”, they were taught how to organize their school life by using such tools as digital “drop” folders, Google Drive, and Google Calendar, to name but three. As I watched them effortlessly navigate these complex, computerized systems, I realized that the way these digital natives will organize themselves in class makes my old Trapper Keeper seem pretty stone-aged. They will be able to store a vast majority of their 6th grade work on Drive, and they will be able to share this work with others at a click of a button. And the beautiful thing is that there will be very little paper to have to deal with.

Google calendar will be a place they can go to check their daily schedule, note their homework, pick up documents from their teachers and organize their busy lives outside of class.

I imagine that these organizational tools my students learned about during Bootcamp was just the tip of the iceberg. Over the coming weeks and months they will no doubt learn many more ways to make their lives here at school more efficient.

There were a lot of smiles during Bootcamp. And while I can’t be sure if the smiles were due to their newfound organizational possibilities or their newfound gaming possibilities, I’m am sure that their newfound tool beats a Trapper Keeper.

Photo of Trapper Keeper from beyondtheclassroomjtfs.blogspot.com