Greetings GAA Community,

I hope everyone is taking advantage of the wonderful weather we are having here in Abu Dhabi these days. I also wish all of our American families a “Happy Thanksgiving” and hope there is a delicious turkey and/or family traditional foods in your near future.

Please view my video message here for a few updates:

In the video I share the following:

National Day Celebration @ GAA

• Monday, November 29

• This is a student-only event

• We will have some food for children, but please send the usual snack and lunch

• If you choose to share treats with the class, please make sure they are individually wrapped

Phones & Social Media

• Elementary students are not to use their phones between campus arrival & dismissal

• Children under the age of should not be on social media platforms (Tik-Tok, etc)

• Parents should monitor their child’s use of social media platforms

• These platforms are blocked from usage at school

• These platforms often have content that is not appropriate for children

After School Activities (ASAs)

• Please provide any ideas you may have for future ASA offerings by submitting THIS FORM.

Coffee with Counselors

• View the recent video

• Read about some tips to help with your child’s sleep routines

Have a great weekend!

Mike Hopaluk

Elementary Principal

Please check out the first weekly Elementary School Update by our Student Leadership comprised of 4th and 5th graders. They will be releasing new video every week to share with all of Elementary students in class.

GAA teachers use strategies to support English Language Development

GAA has been working with the Centre for Educators of BMLs to provide professional development around the support of students learning English as an additional language to their home language (mother tongue). This past Monday, elementary teachers identified strategies that they could embed into their classroom practice to further develop the vocabulary and structure of the English language with students. Each grade selected strategies that would fit into their curriculum and age levels. Some of the strategies include:

We hope these strategies will have a positive impact on learning!

5D has been busy lately exploring the concept of advertising in our unit of inquiry. Specifically, we have inquiring into the connection between different techniques that advertisers use to have a successful advertisement and how those techniques influence human thinking and/or behavior. This week we are exploring ethical consumerism. We started this exploration with a tug of war debate about how we choose to spend our money. See the photos below to see what the 5D students are thinking.

Grade 5 students started learning about the ancient civilization (Majan and Delmoun ). They recognized Sarouq Al Hadid the archeological site in the desert of Dubai, visited it virtually and discovered that the Expo 2020’s logo was inspired from a gold ring found there. Currently, students begin to study about the culture in UAE .

تلاميذ الصف الخامس بدأوا منذ بداية العام الدراسي بالتعرّف على الحضارات القديمة ( ماجان ودلمون ) وعلى الموقع الأثري ساروق الحديد . قام التلاميذ بجولة افتراضيّة في متحف ساروق الحديد واطّلعوا على محتوياته وخاصة القطعة الذهبية الدائرية التي اتّخذت شعاراً لإكسبو ٢٠٢٠. حاليّاً يتعلمّ التلاميذ عن تراث الإمارات .

Grade 4 students are learning about the different landforms in UAE (mountains, plains, desert and islands) and how do we benefit from each place. Students specified each landform on the UAE map.

في الصف الرابع ، يتعلّم التلاميذ عن الأشكال المختلفة للأرض في دولة الإمارات ( جبال ، سهول ، جزر وصحراء وكيفية الاستفادة من كل مكان .

In grade 3 , students learned about the characteristics of the planets and the rotation of the earth around itself and around the sun and the effects of this rotation. They also learned about the problems of water shortage in the UAE.

Next week, all graders will celebrate the UAE National Day

تلاميذ الصف الثالث تعرّفوا على المجموعة الشمسيّة واطّلعوا على خصائص المجموعة الشمسيّة وهم حاليّاً يتعلّمون عن مشكلة نقص الماد في الإمارات ويحاولون إيجاد حلول لهذه المشكلة .

التلاميذ في كل المراحل الدراسيّة سوف يحتفلون الأسبوع القادم باليوم الوطني .

Congratulations to all of the participants!

• November 29: UAE National Day Celebrations (students only).

• December 1-2: Commemoration Day and National Day holiday (NO SCHOOL)

• December 5: 3:45pm Elementary Choir Singing in front of GAA Main Entrance

• December 7: 2:45pm Elementary Choir Singing in front of GAA Main Entrance

• December 9: Half Day, school dismisses at 12:00pm. Elementary school Dress Down Theme: Backwards/Opposites Day

• December 12-30: Winter Break

• January 2: Semester 2 starts