Embedded Files
Week Fifteen- December 9th 2022
Kim Conlin
Head of Primary
Dear PYP Parents,
The spirit has been strong in the PYP this week. Thank-you to our house captains for leading the way in something fun each day. Also a big thanks to all the parents for ensuring their kids were well resourced with silly socks, winter or festive accessories and of course a clean set of PJ's to wear today. Along with fun, a big week of learning also took place this week. Units of Inquiry were in full force, with some grades finishing their summative assessment tasks for their units. Yesterday, all grades took part in learning about and through coding with various activities.
It was wonderful to see so many families at winterfest yesterday evening. We have a very talented community and it was a great way to showcase some musical talents. I enjoyed the conversations with many of you and the chance to wish you a wonderful holiday. Thank you to our student artists who created the backdrops for winterfest (shown below). For those I have not seen this week, please have a safe and happy holiday and I look forward to seeing you in 2023.
Newsletter at a Glance
Newsletter at a Glance
In this edition you will find:
Announcements / Reminders / Upcoming dates
Hour of Code
Door Decoration Contest Winners
Peek Into Learning: Grade 3 Mini Exhibition!
Primary Pages - link to Grade and Class pages
PYP reminders and resources
Absence Procedure
Whole School Calendar
Upcoming Dates
Upcoming Dates
January 2nd - First day of school from Winter Break
Jan 2nd- sign up for external ECA's (Term 2)
January 6th- sign up for Internal ECA's (Term 2)
Jan 6th - Pre-Loved Uniform Sale
Week of Jan 9th- External ECA's begin and squad trials
Week of Jan 9th- Internal ECA's begin and squad trials
Week of Jan 9th- School Photos (specific schedules will be shared by homeroom teachers)
Announcements and Reminders:
Announcements and Reminders:
PYP Hour Of Code
PYP Hour Of Code
PYP joined the hour of code this week to celebrate Computer Science EdWeek running worldwide, December 5-11th 2022.
Our Innovation and Technology Coaches, Mr. Javier and Ms. Janice, planned collaboratively with grade levels to ensure an exciting and enriching hour of code! Students across primary explored different levels of coding, from sequencing with unplugged activities to building code with Python on Tynker.
We hope to continue this momentum and enthusiasm for coding throughout the year in both our homeroom and innovation classes.
If you’d like to learn more, go to hourofcode.org for activities over the break.
Door Decorating Contest
Door Decorating Contest
PYP Student council led a door decorating contest, asking each class to decorate their door based on how their class community celebrates during the winter. After some tough discussions yesterday, our PYP Student Council used a thorough and detailed success criteria to determine the winners of our Door Decoration Contest 2022. Congratulations to all classes who submitted a door - we were WOWed by your creativity and effort! Congradulations to the winners:
G1B
G1B
G2C
G2C
G3C
G3C
G4C
G4C
G5E
G5E
A Peek into Learning: Grade 3
A Peek into Learning: Grade 3
"Mini-Exhibition"
Grade 3 successfully wrapped up their Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry with a mini-exhibition. Over the past six weeks, students inquired into the central idea, 'Biodiversity relies on maintaining organisms within systems,' to answer these questions:
How do biomes work?
What are the different species within an ecosystem?
How do species depend on each other?
Students used their research skills to formulate questions, collect data and organize information on a chosen biome. They applied their thinking skills to determine important information, separate facts vs. opinions, and paraphrase their research. Afterward, students and teachers co-created the success criteria for their mini-exhibition.
Grade 2 students and teachers around the school were invited to hear each group talk about their final biome project. The grade 3 students confidently explained the location, temperature, and animals that make up their selected biome. They also told us how animals adapt to that biome and classified the different animal groups. Finally, students broke down the meaning of interdependence by creating a food web.
to check your child's class page
to check your child's class page
Primary Class Pages
Primary Class Pages
Check out for weekly class updates
Curriculum Overview Site
Curriculum Overview Site
Information for new/starting families
Information for new/starting families
Overview of communication platforms (PYP)
Overview of communication platforms (PYP)
GIS Primary Handbook 2022_23.docx.pdfPrimary Handbook 2022-2023
Primary Handbook 2022-2023
Drop off and Pick up
Drop off and Pick up
Parents PK-G1 drop/pick up in classroom (through gate 4,6,8)
Grade 2-5 drop/pick up either gate 4 or gate 8
Late/Tardy: any student arriving after the national anthem must get a late slip at front reception/gate 4
My child will be absent
My child will be absent
Email your child's homeroom teacher before 8am so that he / she can mark their absence as excused.
Complete an absence form for an absence of more than 2 days and submit to PYP office or homeroom teacher on the child's first day back.
Absence for more than 3 days requires prior approval if planned or a doctors clearance for illness related leave (in some cases a medical certificate is requested )
My child will leave during the school day (exceptional/unavoidable cases only)
My child will leave during the school day (exceptional/unavoidable cases only)
Email the gis_primaryleaverequest@gemsedu.com and your child's homeroom teacher 24 hours in advance to ensure your child and their leave slip are prepared in advance.
At the time of collection, please come to the Primary Reception at Gate 4.
Keeping our community safe with Covid-19 Protocols: if your child is a close contact or receives a positive test result please inform: gis_medicalalert@gemsedu.com
Key Contacts
Key Contacts
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