Updated April 1, 2025

KINDERGARTEN

(PreK, KG1, KG2)

Welcome Message from

Pre-K to Grade 2 Vice Principal

MS. LAUREN SARGENT ALKHALIFAH

Dear Kindergarten Families,

First and foremost, I hope that your family had a wonderful and restful summer. The moment your children have all been waiting for is upon us: the First Day of School!

Our teachers, educational assistants, and support staff have been working diligently to prepare for your students to join our 2024-2025 Kindergarten family. I truly appreciate their effort to facilitate an engaging learning environment for our students. We have a lot of exciting things planned for your children and in their new learning environments!

My name is Lauren Sargent Alkhalifah, and I am the vice principal for PreK-Grade 2. We are so excited to welcome you into the GAA family and know that you’re going to love our program as much as we do. I look forward to meeting and engaging with you as we continue the legacy of greatness that has been set out for our early learners.

PreK Optional Stay & Play

Our PreK School day finishes at 1pm; however, some of our parents choose to keep their PreK students at school for the same timing as their siblings. If you would like to avail this option, you can email our elementary secretary (elemsecretary_gaa@gemsedu.com) and your child’s teacher (PreK A- Ms. Violet h.kim_gaa@gemsedu.com or PreK B- Ms. Deanna d.rogers_gaa@gemsedu.com) to request and get them on the list.

This time includes a nap, some extra continuous provision (exploration time), and additional snack. Students will not receive additional academic content during this time, but it is used as an enrichment time.

PreK and KG Buses:

PreK has an earlier bus that the rest of our kindergarten due to their early finish day. This bus leaves at 1:00pm. Please note that if your child is signed up for the bus, you will need to let Mr. Rameez (our bus supervisor) know if your child is leaving at 1:00pm or if they will be staying for the late bus (2:45pm) with the elementary students (if you’ve signed up for ‘stay and play’).

Contact Rameez (bus supervisor): rameez.rasheed@sts-group.com

Kindergarten ‘Drop and Go’:

We understand that families wish to escort their KG students into school on the first few days, and we encourage you to do that during our ‘KG Staggered Start’ to help ease their minds and help them transition.

After the first week is complete, we highly encourage student independence and recommend families use our ‘KG Drop and Go’ in the morning. There will be staff in front of Gate 3 (the KG entrance) at the front of the school. These staff are there to assist your child from the car to the classroom and enables you to avoid parking, which helps with traffic flow for all parents. PARENTS/GUARDIANS ARE NOT ALLOWED INTO CLASSROOMS AND CORRIDORS AFTER 7:45AM.

Please note that if you or your nanny will be walking your child into school, we ask that you park in the KG parking area and do not stop in the drop off line. This helps us keep the flow of traffic from becoming too congested. ANY PARENT/GUARDIAN ENTERING SCHOOL PREMISES, MUST WEAR YELLOW PARENT LANYARD. See Homepage of Welcome Pack on how to get your Parent/Guardian ID.

Parents Entering the Classroom in KG:

We understand that for some students, the first day of school can present lots of emotions and anxieties, which is expected. For the ease of transitioning into their new environments and promoting independence, we ask that parents leave the classroom setting after 30 minutes to help them learn to settle. PARENTS/GUARDIANS ARE NOT ALLOWED INTO CLASSROOMS AND CORRIDORS AFTER 7:45AM.

Designated Entry Points:

Gate 1 (Front of School main entrance) - Grades 2 - 12.
Gate 3 (Front of School KG entrance) - Kindergarten and Grade 1 only.(This entrance is recommended for KG students and is designated specifically for them)
Gate 4 (Back of School) - Buses and Grades K-12.
Gate 5 (Back of School) –Buses and Grades K-12.

Please note that before 7:30am, ALL students will be held in the cafeteria.

Thank you for your continuous support during these challenging times and we look forward to welcoming you in the coming weeks.

Lauren Sargent Alkhalifah

PreKG- Grade 2 Vice Principal

SCHOOL SUPPLIES (BAGS, LUNCH)

ALL ITEMS MUST BE LABELLED!

NO SCHOOL SUPPLIES ARE REQUIRED FOR KG STUDENT.

Following is recommended:

Refillable water bottle
Hat
Sunscreen
Snack
Lunch
Lunch box
Change of clothes

PreK Optional ‘Stay and Play’ (1:00PM - 2:45PM)

Students will have a nap time regularly in this time.

Needs:

pillowcase stuffed with a blanket, a stuffed animal/pillow (if they need one to transition).
These pieces need to be labeled with the child’s name and class.
They will be sent home every Friday to be washed and returned for the next week.

PreK Uniforms

In case there are no smaller size uniforms for your child, we recommend that PreK students wear loose and comfortable tops and comfortable bottoms in blue/white colors (GAA Colors).

Please send a change of clothes for your child to keep in the classroom.

Lunch and Snack:

At GAA, we encourage students to eat healthy, nutritious foods. Water is provided for all students, and students are required to bring their own refillable water bottles. Children should bring a healthy snack from home to eat during the morning break. Any food sent to school should not contain any nuts or nut products. Please ensure you send your students to school with a healthy packed lunch from home or order from the GAA ‘Slices’ website.

(for KG1-KG2 students there is an option to order classroom delivery through School Cafeteria. Please check out Cafeteria Page). PreK students must bring their own snack and lunch. NO CAFETERIA ORDERS.

Please note that we will contact families if lunches are determined to not be healthy for an extended period, or not contain enough food.

Suggestions:

IMPORTANT! NO NUTS
food should be healthy, including fruits and vegetables
limit sweets to one small thing per lunchbox.
PLEASE FAMILIARIZE YOURSELVES WITH HEALTHY EATING POLICY BELOW.

GAA Healthy Eating Policy - Copy.pdf

Bags

Kindergarten has a no backpack policy (this includes carried and rolling backpacks). Students will need their lunch box and a water bottle for school. If you would still like a small book bag for your child, we advise bags with measurements no greater than 9.5 inches (width) and 10.5 inches height, to fit inside our cubby space. Students may still need to bring bags for swim kits and there will be common areas to store these, yet for most days the smaller bag and their lunch bag will be the only required bags for KG1 and KG2 students.

Please note: Large backpacks and rolling/wheeled backpacks take up space we want to use for your child’s learning.

LEARNING AT KINDERGARTEN

preKG Orientation 2024-2025.pptx

KG Orientation 2024-2025.pptx

General Information about KG

Curriculum: American Common Core Standards.
Framework: IB Primary Years Programme.

Through a play-based learning approach we have:

All teachers that are early childhood specialists.
Educational assistants for every class.
Early years student support team with a counselor and inclusion specialists.

Purposeful facilities that support learning:

Students develop techniques in aquatics and safety in the swimming pool.
Our outdoor learning areas enhance gross motor skills and fosters an active learning.
Early literacy skills and a love of books is promoted in the KG library.
The Auditorium brings us together as a community to celebrate our learning.

Innovation and Technology:

Our research-based approach ensures learning engagements remain current.
Makerspace in every classroom ensures that students use design-oriented thinking to plan, create and build their ideas.
The provision of iPads in the classroom include a range of educational applications and understanding how to use technology responsibly.
All classrooms are equipped with interactive white boards and Apple TV’s to accommodate all learning styles in a fun and engaging way.

Student support and well-being:

Built-in nap time for Pre-K students.
2 separate entrances for Pre-K and KG.
Mindfulness practice is intertwined in our day through the MindUp Curriculum.
Through the Zones of Regulation, students develop their self-management skills.
Inclusive practice with the student support team, ensures every child has access to an outstanding education.

What Does a KG Day Look Like?

School arrival time for Pre-K and Kindergarten students is at 7:30 a.m. with class beginning at 7:45 a.m. and ending at 2:45 p.m for Pre-K and KG. Recess and snack/lunch woven throughout our day.

We encompass the holistic approach by exploring the below specialists:

Physical Education
Arabic Language
Islamic Education
Music
Library

Our main pedagogical approach is inquiry, which moves students from their current understanding to new understanding by actively building connections between experiences and knowledge. Students become responsible for their learning by asking questions, carrying out investigations, and reflecting on their observations and processes in order to make a conclusion. Kindergarten classrooms are full of enriching, play-based engagements. Students manipulate the environment around them in order to make sense of the world.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SWIMMING POOL PROCEDURES

Swimming - Elementary school Expectations(KG-Gr.5).pdf

KINDERGARTEN DIGITAL PLATFORMS

For parent communication

Parent teacher communication in the Kindergarten is via Seesaw, which is a student e-portfolio. KG parents can also expect to receive direct emails from teachers, and a KG weekly newsletter.

For classroom and home learning

At GAA we have a wide range of technology platforms and applications that we use to support the needs of our students and their families.

Seesaw (K-5) is our digital portfolio that allows students and teachers to share a snapshot of the learning that is taking place at school. Activities can also be created and shared with the students to work on when they are at home.

Learning A-Z Raz-Plus (K-5), Lexia (K-5) are literacy platforms that provide our students with support for their reading, comprehension and literacy skills.

BrainPOP Jr (K-2) is educational website that provide many animated movies to help students develop their understanding of many different topics in all different subject areas (Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Technology, etc).

We also have a host of other website subscriptions and applications that are used by various classes and teachers to support the learning both in and out of the classroom, some of those include Zearn, Epic, Zorbits, Starfall, Nearpod, Generation Genius, CritterCoin, Padlet, Teach Your Monster, among many others.

ClassLink

In order to allow both students and parents easily access all of these amazing resources and accounts without needing to remember all of the login information, we use ClassLink (K-5) which is a platform that is used to securely store all login information and create a simple single sign on access – this means that you do not need to remember all of the login information – usernames, passwords, etc for each site or resource, you will simply need to sign in to your ClassLink Launchpad and access everything through there.