Greetings GAA Community,

I hope everyone’s families and friends are as healthy as possible both here in Abu Dhabi and wherever else they may live. Our K-5 students have been back on campus for two weeks. It has been wonderful to see them as they seem so happy to be back amongst friends and teachers. Unfortunately, there have been a few cases of children contracting COVIS during this time. We continue to follow ADEK and DoH guidelines in our responses- including contract tracing, identifying potential ‘close contacts’, and in a few cases needed to ask whole classes to shift to Distance Learning. Please be assured that we will continue to do our due diligence and keep children as safe as possible as we ‘hopefully’ move out of this phase.

A few other notes to keep you all ‘in the loop’.

K-5 Sports Days

• We will postpone the planned Feb. 7-9 days until a later date.

• We can host such an event at a time when we can be better assured of a safe event that all can enjoy.

• We will monitor the situation and try to hold this event before the weather grows too hot.

• Be on the lookout for further communication

Parent-Teacher Conferences

• March 2-3

• A great opportunity to discuss your child’s progress and goals for the rest of the year

• Current plan is to follow a similar format in November (Zoom chats)

• Further information to come soon (scheduling links, etc.)

Important Dates

• February 14 to 16 - Half Term Break

• March 28 to April 12 - Spring Break

• April 1 - expected date for the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan

As always, thank you for your support during both ‘normal’ and challenging times.

Sincerely,

Mike Hopaluk

Elementary Principal

Mathematics in the Elementary School.

Over the past few decades, extensive research on how children learn mathematical knowledge, skills and concepts has led to significant developments in the way we teacher mathematics. This can mean that the methods of Math education that your children experience may look significantly different from what many of us adults experienced when we were at school.

International Mathematics Education Consultant, Jo Boaler, writes;

There are 2 ways to engage students in learning mathematics:

1. Show students methods and have them repeat them, drill them, and try to memorize the step-by-step procedures. This traditional approach lacks meaning, and students only ever get to use what they were shown, not reason, think creatively and select methods themselves, one of the most important mathematical acts.

2. Engage students in rich, open, visual and creative tasks. They use their intuition and thinking, and choose methods that can be useful in the task. When they need to learn new methods, teachers teach them inside the task. Students immediately see how important they are and learn them more deeply. They engage in the important acts of choosing and making connections between ideas.

The research evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the second approach is much more effective for all students to develop high-level abilities in mathematics and it is upon this understanding that GAA’s approach to mathematics education is based. We aim to instill the ‘Norms’ below in to all of our students and their learning of Mathematics

Positive Norms to Encourage in Math Class

1. Everyone Can Learn Math to the Highest Levels.

Encourage students to believe in themselves. There is no such thing as a “math” person. Everyone can reach the highest levels they want to, with hard work

2. Mistakes are Valuable

Mistakes grow your brain! It is good to struggle and make mistakes.

3. Questions are Really Important

Always ask questions, always answer ques- tions. Ask yourself: why does that make sense?

4. Math is about Creativity and Making Sense

Math is a very creative subject that is, at its core, about visualizing patterns and creating solution paths that others can see, discuss and critique.

5. Math is about Connections and Communicating

Math is a connected subject, and a form of communication. Represent math in different forms eg words, a picture, a graph, an equation, and link them. Color code

6. Depth is much more Important than Speed

Top mathematicians, such as Laurent Schwartz, think slowly and deeply.

7. Math Class is about Learning not Performing

Math is a growth subject, it takes time to learn and it is all about effort.

Joe Aldus

Elementary VP

Grade 4 has worked this week to create masks that express who they are and their culture. Here are a few examples!

Highlights from the PYP Library

One of the main goals of the PYP Library is to encourage the love of reading and literacy.

Students visit the library weekly to participate in read aloud, learn about research resources, select books to borrow, and to have moments to find joy in reading!

Besides sharing the everyday love of reading together in the library, we have had a number of opportunities to promote reading, books, and research so far this year. Students had the opportunity to join GAA’s first 27-day Read Marathon in October. In November, we hosted a very successful face-to-face book fair.

We were also so pleased to take part in celebrating the UAE’s 50th anniversary through story. In the library, we shared the book “Two Great Leaders”, the story of Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and how they envisioned a country where children’s dreams can, and do, come true. Students volunteered to read this book aloud to their peers in English and Arabic. We were also fortunate to have 3 local authors - Ms. Moza Al Qayidi, Ms. Shaikhah Mohamed Al Zahmi, and Ms. Amnah Alkaabi - share their time and stories with our students via virtual visits over Zoom! It is so important for children to be able to “see themselves” in the books they read.

Most recently, classes have taken part in World Read Aloud Day - an opportunity to connect through the power of story. Our community was asked to participate by sharing pictures and videos of reading aloud. Thank you to all of our families who continue to encourage the love of reading from home! Click here to view the GAA World Read Aloud Day padlet. https://padlet.com/jthompson_gaa/kyoapmz57o1h4cce

Did you know that GAA provides resources to support learners in a variety of languages?

Translanguaging is a term used to describe practices that allow English language learners to use their full linguistic repertoire in order to empower them and help them realize their full learning potential. When students understand concepts in their home language, it supports learning of the same concepts in English. The following are online resources that support learning for bilingual or multilingual learners. Click to see a list of these helpful resources that can be used at home too! https://bit.ly/3Gs82dq

• February 9: In-School PCR Testing for KG-Grade 5

• February 14-16: MID-TERM BREAK: NO SCHOOL