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With thanks,

Mike Hopaluk

Elementary Principal

email: esprincipal_gaa@gemsedu.com

2A has been spending the first few weeks getting to know each other and getting acquainted with being a Second Grader. We have learned how to be independent as well as how to work together. In Inquiry, we are learning that people share responsibilities within an organization to achieve a common goal. We are noticing there are many organizations around us including our school, a sports team, our family and more!

In one activity, the kids worked together as a group to build the tallest tower possible using only blocks. Rules were set each time to make the building process more difficult as the lesson went on. Students learned that the groups who were successful were the ones that communicated with each other and worked together.

We took what we learned from the last activity a few days later when we made our way to MakerSpace. Groups had to work together as a team to solve clues in order to open the Breakout Box! Students had to work collaboratively to figure out the clues to unlock each lock.

Students are learning to work collaboratively in any group setting to accomplish a task. This includes learning how to express ideas we have and working to come up with one plan. The students have learned that sometimes the best plan is the one where more than one idea is considered. These life lessons will help us through the year and throughout the rest of our lives.

Check out these pictures of our work together!

Math project (making the bulletin board)

Mrs. Ingle needed our help to make a math bulletin board. We said “we are up for the challenge”. We created a list of all the math we had done so far. Then we condensed our list into place value, comparing numbers, rounding, tips and tricks and challenge questions. We each picked a topic to work on and in a group, we created a plan.

Place value made a poster and a game where you place three-digit numbers under the thousands, millions, billions and read them out loud. Comparing numbers created a game where you write two-digit numbers and use a <, >, = sign. Rounding showed a visual of which way the numbers round “4 or lower, roll it lower; five or higher roll it higher”. Tips and tricks showed us ways that will help us multiply and round. The challenge group created a bunch of challenging questions and a video to acting out the questions in story form.

But we had a problem, we realized we didn’t have enough knowledge of how to organize our library. So, we invited an expert, Mrs. Kirby. She helped us by discussing what readers consider when choosing a book. She told us we need to sort them based on how we look at books. If we look for funny books, scary books, realistic fiction, action, cooking books, adventure books or award-winning books. Then we got to work. We studied a book and wrote a sticky note on it telling what type of book it is. Then we put each section on the bookshelves. Now, we are ready to READ!

Welcome to Madagascar! We wanted to thank everyone who made the effort to audition for Madagascar Junior this year! We had over 120 auditions and the level of talent and preparation that went into most of the auditions was incredible! You are all risk-takers! If your son or daughter was not cast this year, please urge them to prepare and audition next year.

Cast members will be meeting this Sunday after school from 3-4:30. They have been added to a seesaw group for receiving important messages and rehearsal information and they will be given a contract and detailed information about rehearsals to take home. We can’t wait to get this show started!

Kind regards,

Ms. Caitlin and Ms. Pugh

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE GAA EVENTS CALENDAR

(please note, updated regularly)

• September 24 - Parent Information Session with Francesca McGeary, International Bilingual and Multilingual Expert.
• September 26 - Half Day (school dismisses at 12pm); Student Government and GAA Booster Club present Dress Down Day (AED5 donation) and Pizza Day @12pm on Veranda
• September 29 – October 3 - KG & Elementary Stu Williamson School Photo Session