Week Twenty Five - February 18th 2022
Dear Primary School Parents,
I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like time is whizzing by! We have already reached our mid term break after a busy start to 2022. We will be taking a short break on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and will welcome the community back to school Thursday Feb 24th.
This week we had two important parent sessions. One was to highlight why PYP is the best choice for primary years. The second session was to help parents understand MAP assessment, given 3x year at GIS. Thank-you to our Academic leaders Ms Danielle and Ms Sarah for running these sessions. If you missed them, please view the recordings below.
We were very happy to welcome our tired campers back to school after their adventures in the wilderness! We will be sharing some highlights from their trips in the next newsletter.
Kim Conlin (Head of Primary)
In this edition you will find:
Upcoming Literacy fest (dress up days included)
Upcoming: Mother Tongue Language Day
In case you missed it: Parent ConnectEd: 10 Reasons Why the IB?
MAP Parent session recording (help parents understand the MAP)
Peek Into Learning: KG1
Quarantine vs Remote Learning Access
Primary Pages - link to Grade and Class pages.
Feb 21-Feb 23- Mid Term Break (no school)
Feb 25 - MAP Results shared with PYP Families
Feb 28- March 4th - GIS LitFest (check out poster below for daily activities and dress up days)
March 1 - Mother Tongue Language Day
*Fridays- wear your house color shirt
Hi GIS Families! Do you have a folk tale / story from your home country you like to share with us? Record a video telling/reading the story and drop it into this folder here by Sunday 27 February. PYP classes will be celebrating their Mother Tongue on Tuesday March 1st and listening to folk tales from around the world!
1. Start/end your video with a greeting in your mother tongue.
2. Say your name and your child’s name and class at the beginning
3. Label it with the name of the story and your child’s class
Any queries, email Ms Louise l.macleod_gis@gemsedu.com
Our KG1 students are well into their fourth Unit of Inquiry, 'Imagination inspires ways to create, think and express ideas'. They have been developing an understanding of what imagination is and how they can share their own thoughts and ideas in different ways. They will be developing an understanding of opinions and perspectives, valuing others' creations as well as their own. In Ms Shaheena's class, the children have been co-constructing stories during circle time, and in Ms Sarah's class they have been expressing themselves through art. They also have a hairdresser's set up in the role play area, though there are no actual scissors involved! In Ms Krista's class, the students are very much enjoying playing with the small world toys, creating stories with the dolls and small figurines. In Ms Ellie's class, the students are actively building and developing their play spaces, using the train tracks as well as role-playing in small groups. Keep an eye out in the next few weeks to see KG1's artwork displayed in our outdoor spaces.
Nova in KG1C used Kraft sticks and gems to design and create her own picture frame.
KG1D have been co-constructing stories during circle time this week
KG1A created their own pets after reading, 'If I had a dinosaur...'
KG1B have been making puppets in response to the 'Rainbow Fish' story
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
Email your child's homeroom teacher before 8am so that he / she can mark their absence as excused.
Complete an absence form for more than 2 days and submit to homeroom teacher on the child's first day back at school after absence.
Absence for more than 3 days requires doctors clearance (in some cases a medical certificate is requested )
Email the gis_primaryleaverequest@gemsedu.com and your child's homeroom teacher 48 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.