Dear GAA Community,

Please view the video below to get information on:

• Book Week
• Student Led Conferences
• Hats & Water Bottles

Please provide us with your feedback on our Elementary Report Card format.

Report Card Feedback Form

Please share how your child has shown kindness outside GAA.

Kindness @ Home Form

With thanks,

Mike Hopaluk

Elementary Principal

email: esprincipal_gaa@gemsedu.com

Dear Parents,

We have just concluded a very stimulating week with an extremely knowledgeable Math consultant, Erma Andersen. The message that she has been giving to the GAA community has been a strong one. The message is that the way we view and learn Math is changing. This is not a new fad or the latest trend. This is deeply rooted in educational research and in collaboration with worldwide agencies like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OCED compares educational attainment across countries worldwide. This shift in Mathematical education is happening in curriculums in countries around the world.

One thing is clear, our children are learning Math differently than we did.

I would like to share a leading researcher in Math education, Jo Boaler. An educational author and Mathematical professor, Jo Boaler is an authority in mathematical learning who will be leading online training many of our staff in the coming months. She has 6 suggestions for parents that I would like to summarise and share below:

1. Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games. Fostering enthusiasm through play will help children develop number sense enjoyably.
2. Don’t simply feedback with simple terms like ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Find the logic in their thinking – there is always some logic to what they say.
3. Never associate maths with speed. It is not important to work quickly, and we now know that forcing kids to work quickly on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety for children, especially girls.
4. Never share with your children the idea that you were bad at maths at school or you dislike it - do not encourage children to identify themselves as ‘bad’ at math.
5. Encourage number sense - having an idea of the size of numbers and being able to separate and combine numbers flexibly
6. Encourage a “growth mindset” let students know that they have unlimited maths potential and that being good at maths is all about working hard

If you would like read more of this in detail, please go to the following link: https://www.youcubed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Parent-Night-Handout-vF-1-2.pdf

Sincerely,

John O'Neill

Grade 3, 4 & 5 Vice Principal

5B students are so excited (and nervous!) about beginning our PYP Exhibition Unit of Inquiry! To begin our unit in 5B, students participated in a Pop-Up Passion Museum; this allowed students to bring in items that symbolized their passions. To kick off our unit as a whole grade level, students were invited to a Provocation Day Conference. In the morning, students listened to two guest speakers talk about global issues concerning plastic use and ocean pollution. After the keynote address, students were off to 9 different sessions throughout the day to learn and explore a wide variety of passions, topics, and documentaries. It was an awesome day, one students are still talking about, and an exciting way to jump start this unit. By the end of the week, 5B students were introduced to the official PYPX Central Idea.

For the next six weeks, students will be going through the inquiry cycle with the help of teachers, mentors, and experts in their selected topics. To share their learning, students will share their PYPX presentations in April.

Pop-Up Passion Museum

PYPx 2020 Provocation Day

Students discovering the PYPX Unit Central Idea

In UAESS, students in grade 1 are learning about transportation . They can now distinguish and compare between land transportation , maritime and air transportation

Grade 2 students are learning about water: sources , uses and problems of water shortage in UAE. They tried to find solution for the water problem and learned about dams and desalination

Students participate in many engaging activities that help them to achieve their learning goals

في مادة التّربية الوطنيّة تلاميذ الصّفّ الأوّل يتعلّمونَ عن وسائلِ النّقلِ . هم قادرون الآن على التمييزِ والمقارنة بين وسائلِ النقل البرّي ، البحري والجوّي .

تلاميذ الصّف الثّاني يتعلّمون عن المياه : مصادر واستخدامات المياه ، ومشكلة نقصِ المياهِ الّتي تعاني منها دولةُ الإمارات . حاولَ التّلاميذُ إيجادَ حلولٍ لهذه المشكلة وتعرّفوا على مفهومِ " السّدود" و" تحلية مياه البحر " .

لقد شاركَ التّلاميذُ في العديدِ من الأنشطةِ الفعّالةِ الّتي تساعدُهم على تَحقيقِ أهدافِهم التعليميّة.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE GAA EVENTS CALENDAR

(please note, updated regularly)

• February 21: 9th Annual International Food Festival @5:00 - 7:00 pm, GAA Field
• February 23 - 27: KG and Elementary School Book Week
  • Sunday Feb 23rd - Lego Build a Book Cover Challenge (open till 4pm)
  • Tuesday Feb 25th - Blanket Forts in the Library (relax and read with a parent, open until 4pm)
  • Thursday Feb 27th - Book Character Dress-up Day
• February 27: Half Day/Pizza Day, school dismisses @12:00. Theme of KG and Elementary School Dress Down: Book Character.
• March 1-5: Book Fair
• March 4-5: Parent-Teacher Conferences (no school days)
• March 10: GAA Spring Concert @6:00pm in the Auditorium
• March 17: Meet the Elementary Counsellors @08:00-09:30am in the Multipurpose Room (2nd floor)
• March 18-19: "Little Mermaid" High School Theater Production
• March 29 - April 9: Spring Break