China - Day 14, Tuesday

TWO WEEKS TODAY!

Today was New Family Orientation at Shanghai American School (SAS). We took a taxi to school which took about 45 minutes to get there. Daniel will have to travel that everyday, both ways. He will be picked up at our apartment complex by a bus - not a regular school bus but a nice bus. They pick him up at 6:55am. School is from 7:55am until 2:55pm. He will get home around 4pm each day, unless he stays for after school programs. Those won't start for a few weeks.

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Sign out side the school

 

This is a map of the Campus. Pink is Elementary (ES), Purple is Middle School, Red is High School. The rust color is shared space for Middle and High School

When we arrived we were given a welcome bag. Inside it had an SAS towel, luggage tag, sticky notes, note cards, reusable shopping bag.

Welcome kit included a nice black bag (left), a beach towel, red reusable bag
luggage tag, note cards (top), folder and sticky notes (right)

They served a continental breakfast and then we went to the High School gym. Over 750 people attended the New Family Orientation, including parents and students. The school is from pre-k to 12. There are 2 campuses, Pudong (where Daniel is) and Puxi. This year there are about 1400 students on the Pudong campus and 1800 on the Puxi campus. Only seven years ago, there was only 150 students. The campus has grown a lot since then. There are 5 4th grade classes on the Pudong campus averaging about 18 students. Each principal was introduced and they talked for a couple of minutes. When the middle school principal talked, he asked all the middle school students to stand up. Then he told them to look around. He said that they are not alone in being new (there was at least 50 of them). I thought that was quite good to point out that all the kids are new or have been new.

After a short talk to everyone they dismissed the students (by grade). They got a tour of the school, met the teachers they will have and got to know some of the other kids.

They are dismissing the Elementary students for their tour. Daniel is somewhere in the group towards the right! Mind you this is just the new students.

During orientation we learned about the Powerschool system. Everything is done online. We update our contact info here, we can find other families, they post all notices here, we can see Daniel's grades each day as the teacher records grades (instead of the traditional grade book), they post the daily schedules for the kids so you know where your kids are - at what time. This is especially good for the high school parents. It is an amazing tool.

The school is nut-free so this will be an interesting year for Daniel, as he is used to eating peanut butter and fluff everyday. Each student, staff, parent, etc have ID cards. Everyone else must wear their ID cards, except the Elementary do not wear theirs, they are kept in the classroom. We also can load money onto this card and Daniel uses it to buy lunch.

They have an incredible menu. We had lunch in the Middle school/High school cafeteria. I spoke with the director of meal services to ask about the elementary meals and he gave Daniel and I a tour (Randy and Amy were eating lunch). He told us that if Daniel does not like anything on the menu all he needed to do was to ask and they will make him a grilled cheese or something else. It really was amazing.

Elementary School cafeteria. The man is the director of food services.

It was not in use for orientation, but there are multiple stations. To the right,

with the blue doors, is the daily selection. To the back (red sign) is the sandwich

station, in the middle are various other stations such as salad bar, etc.
The director is talking to Daniel trying to figure out what he likes to eat!
 I think he was frustrated!!!





 Middle School/High School Cafeteria!

Salad bar station

This station had things like pastries, fruit, yogurts, etc

This is the grill station, today they were serving some kind of chicken grill.

This is the daily selection station.
Today they had spring rools with rice and vegetables (I had this and it was very good),
or chicken with rice and vegetables

This station has spaghetti, pizza, etc.
(The family getting the food in this picture we spent time talking with them.
They are from New Jersey. The boy, Grant, is in Daniel's class.)

Sandwich station

Daniel and Amy enjoying lunch

Daniel and behind him you can see one side of the cafeteria

Behind Amy you can see another part of the cafeteria



After the orientation we were free to tour the school on our own. Daniel was very excited to show us around because he had already been on the tour. 

The stairs leading up to the 4th Grade wing



The next part of the stairs going to the 4th grade wing

Looking back down the stairs. Each person in the school is put into a "house" (similar to Harry Potter). These are pictures of the houses! They earn points during the year and at the end of the year the house with the most points wins the house cup!

Daniel took us to his classroom and met we met his teacher. Ms Lau is from Vancover. All of the teachers are expats also. He will have art, music, gym, Chinese, etc.

The 4th Grade hallway. Daniel's class is to the right of where Daniel is standing.

Looking into Daniel's classroom

Another view of the classroom. The woman in the blue shirt is his teacher.

Ms Edna Lau is Daniel's Teacher. We met Ms Cole who is from Plymouth, MA and Ms Frazier we met in November when we were here and she is from Windsor, Ct. We didn't meet the other teachers.

The school is at the edge of a golf course. Daniel's class overlooks it.

View from his classroom window.

The school supplies all the School supplies

This is the 4th grade common area. They can work on projects here, have whole grade level activities, etc.

The Art Room. This teacher is from New Zealand.
He is a big rugby fan and Daniel had just watched a rubgy game on TV so they talked about
that for a while.

The Music Room. This teacher is from Vancouver, Canada.

Some of the instruments that the kids get to play

Some of the drums they get to try out.

The Library

Taken from the computer lab looking down onto the library (little cloudy because it was taken through some glass)

A reading nook in the library

One of 4 computer labs

This is the Elementary Gym

 

They have this beautiful pool that they use for gym. Daniel starts swimming on Thursday.
One of the swimming teachers was in the Olympics. Daniel thought that was cool.

Looking across to the Music/Gym Building.
This is also part of the recess area for the Elementary students.
There is a basketball, tetherball (2), soccer nets and wide open grass.

Another view of the playground. Amy and Daniel testing the Tetherball. 
Check out the houses that surround the school (plus the golf course)

Looking from the Music/Gym Building back towards the Elementary Building.
The rockwall is to the left (see picture below).
Cafeteria is to the right.
Daniel's 4th grade wing is to the left and upstairs.

Rock wall for the Elementary students to play on

Another part of the playground. They are currently replacing the padding under the play area.

Looking out to the playing fields. Mostly the Middle and High School students use this area. The building to the left is part of the High School.

Hallway to the Auditorium. On the right wall is a painting of a Dragon. The open door leads to the auditorium.

The Auditorium (no chairs - they sit on the carpeted risers). I couldn't get a good picture because they were rehearing something

This is looking t one half of the Middle School/High School gym

Nurses office

 

This is the older kid rock wall. Daniel is chomping at the bit to climb this!

 

Looking towards part of the Middle School




After Orientation we decided to take the bus back. It dropped us off at Green City, which is where most of the teachers live and many of the families. It is a big International area. There is a Carrefour near here, so we walked there to get a few groceries.
 

Daniel saw this and wanted to show it to his cousin, Michael. They are both into the Beatles

Tonight Daniel had a melt down. He wants to go home, he misses Michael and all his friends. He has not met anyone here to play with yet. Hopefully that will change witt he start of school. 

It was a good day. Amy wishes she had this when she was in school. Randy and I wish we were young again, but that's a whole different story...