December 2009

From Sensei

Save $50 on Tuition!

Mochitsuki - The Year of the Tiger

Planning for 2010 Fun Meet Under Way - And We Need Your Help!

Spring Closures

Straight A Students

Abacus Achievers

Communication with Sensei

Completed Homework Logs

Make Up Classes

Thank You Parents!

Testimonial

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From Sensei

Welcome to 2010! This will be the 10th Anniversary year for JAMS and we're very excited about our growth and our future! A lot happening this year from the Motchisuki Festival early in the year to our Fun Meet in the early part of the Summer to rolling into the Fall. We hope to reach more people than ever before with the power of mental math and Abacus skills and need your help to achieve that, so we've offered a special discount for your referrals and for you!

Happy New Year - Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu - and I hope you enjoy this issue of The News Bead!

Sensei Miwako

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Special Offer! Save $50 for you and $25 for a friend!

Refer a friend and they'll save $25 when they register for Abacus classes, then you'll receive a $50 credit on your next semester's tuition!

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Mochitsuki - The Year of the Tiger

Mark your calendars to join JAMS in celebrating the Japanese American New Year Festival on January 31 at the 14th Annual Mochitsuki Festival. Miwako Sensei invites all of her students and their families to join and participate in this fun festival, which will provide a great opportunity for the students to get up on stage and showcase their amazing abacus and anzan skills!

Mochitsuki will welcome the Year of the Tiger with the 14th Annual Japanese New Year celebration in at the Scottish Right Center in downtown Portland. Located at SW 15th and Morrison along the MAX line, the Scottish Rite Center features a beautiful theater and ball room in a historic building. At 1:30 PM, there will be a show of storytelling by favorite Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo, taiko and dance, along with lively mochi pounding to welcome the new year with a traditional gathering of the community. Dozens of community organizations will provide hands-on activities and displays, and community performers will enliven the cultural fair. There will be an opportunity to try pounding mochi with a wooden mallet and to sample the sticky rice cakes made in contemporary mochi machines. Gathering with friends and family to make and eat mochi is an auspicious start to the year. Plan to join us!

When: Sunday - January 31, 2010, Noon to 4 pm
Where: Scottish Rite Center
1512 SW Morrison Street, Portland

For more information you can visit the Mochitsuki web site at: http://www.mochitsuki.org/

Ticket Prices are:
$12 for adults
$9 for students and seniors (62 and older)
$5 for children (12 and under)
Children under 2 are free
Ticket prices include admission into the Cultural Fair.

Purchase tickets online at Box Office Tickets at http://pdxtix.net/mochitsuki or at their walk-up location at the Hollywood Theater at 4122 SE Sandy Blvd from 1 PM to 9 PM.

Tickets are also available at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, 121 NW Second Avenue in Old Town, (503) 224-1458.

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Planning for 2010 Fun Meet Under Way - And We Need Your Help!

We’re still working out the details for this year’s Fun Meet. The event will be held on June 12 (Abacus Camp) & 13 (Fun Meet). Please keep your eyes on The Bead for updates!

If you would like to be a part of the Fun Meet Planning Committee, please let Sensei know as soon as possible.

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Spring Closures

JAMS follows the Beaverton School District Calendar for all major holidays:
http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/home/departments/community-involvement/district-calendar/

Upcoming Closures:
Monday, 1/18 Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday, schools closed
Monday 2/15 Presidents’ Day holiday
3/22 - 3/26 Spring break

6/11 & 6/14 - Fun Meet weekend (Note - These days will not count as make up as we will be at Fun Meet all day on the 12th and 13th)

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Straight A Students

Sensei Miwako congratulates the following students on achieving straight A’s:

Aya Bukres, 9th Grade, at Tigard High School
Mai Bukres, 6th Grade, at Twality Middle School
Meg Matsuzaki, 6th Grade, Sunnyside Environmental School
Timothy Lee, 6th Grade, Homeschool
Ariana Ahamad, 10th Grade, Health and Science School
Clark Huey, 11th Grade, Jesuit High School

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Abacus Achievers

The following students recently passed their Abacus exams - a big congratulations to them all!

ANZAN Level 2 : Ariana Ahamed, 10th Grade

ABACUS Level 2 : Ren Morita 6th Grade

ABACUS Level 6 : Madeleine Beaupre 2nd Grade, Nicole Hopman 2nd Grade, Felix Tse 2nd Grade

ABACUS Level 5 : Timothy Lee 6th Grade

ABACUS Pre-DAN : Rinoka Morita 8th Grade

ABACUS One DAN : Clark Huey 11th Grade

And congratulations to all of our other students for their hard work throughout the term! This term has seen great improvement in skills and much hard work!

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Communication with Sensei

If you would like to discuss your child’s performance or have any questions please email me at jamsportland@gmail.com to schedule an appointment from 1:30 – 3:30 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. We will also periodically check in with you during the term.

I hope that you can all appreciate and respect my need for these classroom procedures. I sincerely want to do everything possible to make this a positive and effective learning experience for your child. I look forward to working with your during the year and seeing your child’s math skills grow!

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Completed Homework Logs

Homework logs are due to Sensei by January 22nd.

Homework Logs are an important tool for students to help with time management and to make sure that they are keeping pace with assignments and progress. Students who have completed their Homework Log will have the opportunity to select a trinket from the prize box during the last week of Fall Term.

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Make Up Classes

Any and all make up classes need to be approved and completed before the last day of the term, 1/29/2010.

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Thank You Parents!

Students come from all over the Portland area to attend Abacus classes at JAMS. Sensei Miwako and the staff at JAMS would like to thank all our parents for your commitment to bringing your children to classes - we understand that you commit a great deal of time to see to it they can attend... THANK YOU PARENTS!!!

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Testimonial

My daughter has always enjoyed school and extracurricular activities and I've generally steered her towards non-academic classes such as sports, arts, and music. However, when she joined her friends to have some fun in Ms. Miwako’s Abacus class, by the end of the term she was hooked on the Abacus! Her previous strong interest in math was solidified and soared to even higher levels. She begged to attend Abacus Summer camp which met two times a week for the whole summer and she loved it!! She started in a class with several kids younger than her that could calculate as well as or even better than she could. In just over a year, she has made incredible progress in her math skills: rapid addition, subtraction, multiplication of multiple digit numbers without the use of an Abacus, and long division with the aid of an Abacus. Ms. Miwako is an excellent teacher, motivator, and role model for my daughter. Furthermore, from a logistical point of view, as a working mom responsible for all the transportation of my two kids to and from their various schools, activities, and appts, I am extremely appreciative and impressed by the timing discipline that Ms. Miwako consistently displays to ensure that every class starts and ends perfectly on schedule. I feel so very lucky to have discovered Ms. Miwako and JAMS! -- Julie Tsai

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The News Bead is a publication of JAMS. © 2010 JAMS. All rights reserved.

JAMS – Where your child’s success really adds up!
Call JAMS today at 503.520.1063 to schedule your no obligation preview of our Abacus math classes!