Dear GAA Community,

Please view the video below to get information on:

• Important Reminders (Uniforms)
• International Food Festival
• Report Card Feedback
• Reenrollment
• Roots & Shoots

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

Teacher Learners at GAA

At GAA we pride ourselves on being a true community of lifelong learners. As such, one of our strengths is in providing extensive opportunities for our teachers to constantly learn and grow so that they may continue to provide first rate educational experiences for our students. Teachers frequently reflect on their practice, work in professional study groups and attend workshops in the pursuit of refining their craft and ensuring that the educational experiences we provide are consistent with most contemporary, research based understandings of how children think and learn.

Many of our teachers have chosen to give up their personal time to develop professionally in the next two months by engaging in comprehensive online courses focussed on mathematics.

International Mathematics Education Consultant, Jo Boaler, writes:

"There are 2 ways to engage students in learning mathematics:

• Show students methods and they repeat them. This approach is used in most schools, but the methods often lack meaning, and students reasonably ask: when are we going to use this? Additionally, students only ever get to use what they were shown, not select a method themselves, one of the most important mathematical acts.
• 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. For more information please visit the following website:

https://www.youcubed.org/

Joe Aldus

Grade 1 & 2 Vice Principal

We are currently exploring our third Unit of Inquiry in grade 1, How We Express Ourselves! We have been busy inquiring into various celebrations that take place in our classroom, in our homes, in the UAE and on a more global level, celebrations and traditions around the world! We began this unit by sharing our experiences of class birthday parties. The children become celebration planners, designing and organizing a fictional birthday party. More recently, the students explored Chinese New Year. They researched traditions in Chinese homes, read books about typical celebrations such as lion dancing and parades and constructed lanterns in class. This Unit of Inquiry is also being explored across a range of subjects. In kitchen, Ms Bruce helped the children make delicious Dim Sum. Later this month, the students will use the Lego Story starter kits in Makerspace with Ms Haylee to create and build a scene that represents a celebration or tradition of their choice. This activity will reflect and assess their learning in this unit.

In grade 4 we are exploring our 3^rd unit of inquiry, Where we are in place and time! In this broad and exciting unit, the children got a chance to investigate the various parts of our solar system and how they are interconnected. We began with a trip to our school’s planetarium with Ms Stephanie to examine the planets and their moons. In this engaging and fascinating unit the children really got a chance to enhance their research and communication skills when presenting on a planet of their choice. We also got the opportunity to experiment with robotics when we constructed and programmed our very own Mars Rovers. This unit is linked with our Writers Workshop and the children are currently working hard on a variety of interesting research papers relating to Space.

Dear Parents,

New York Times Bestselling Author/Illustrator Matt Holm will be coming to GAA this Sunday, Feb 9^th, and we are so very exciting for his visit! Many students pre-ordered books via our online Google Form. Those books were delivered to students yesterday.

If your child would still like to purchase any of Matt Holm’s books, there will be a chance to do so on the same day of the Author Visit – Sunday. There will be a book sale table in the main reception area this coming Sunday from 7:30am until the end of the school day. Please send money with your on Sunday if you wish for him/her to purchase a book by our visiting author. (Parents are welcome to come as well, and payments by card are accepted.)

Matt will be signing books during scheduled times and after school from 3:00 – 3:30 on Sunday in the PYP Library.

Congratulations to our Elementary students, who participated to Trimathlon with Mathnaseum UAE and showed amazing results:

• 3rd Place: Jacobo De La Higuera and Skyden Conradie from grade 2
• 2nd Place: Mihai Narita, Guy Mauro and Idrees Traina from grade 3
• 3rd Place: Petr Shapiro and Aisha Abdelhakim from grade 5.

This was a math competition where teams from different schools (GAA, GCIS, ACS, GWA) participated. Each school selected a team of three students per grade to compete in two parts: 1. MAGIC SQUARES and PROBLEM SOLVING, 2. MENTAL MATH

We are extremely proud of all participants and wish them many more achievements to come!

Here are some photos from the prize-giving ceremony:

Our Grade 5 students Nicolas Gainza Yepez and Eshal Siddiqui from GAA Roots and Shoots attended an awards ceremony on February 6, 2020. These students created a poster and a video that was shared with all attendees, including Dr. Jane Goodall. The students shared what they have done this year to raise environmental awareness and help the community including promoting proper recycling habits, donate plastic bottles to be turned into clothing, and completing eco- friendly crafts.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE GAA EVENTS CALENDAR

(please note, updated regularly)

• February 9: Stu Williamson make up Student Photo Session
• February 9: PYP Author Visit: Matt Holm
• February 10: PYP Exhibition Parent Information Session @7:50 am and @2:20 pm at GAA Planetarium
• February 12-13: No school day (Admin offices will remain open from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm)
• February 21: 9th Annual International Food Festival @5:00 - 7:00 pm, GAA Field
• February 23-27: KG and Elementary Book Week
• February 27: Half Day/Pizza Day, school dismisses @12:00. Theme of Elementary School Dress Down: Book Character
• March 4-5: Parent-Teacher Conferences (no school days)