News from our Elementary Principal, Ben Voborsky
Hello GAA Community,
Huge news for GAA this week! The inaugural Grade 5 PYP Exhibition was held over three days with an awesome opening night. I hope you had the opportunity to attend and support Grade 5. The Ipad survey feedback was five star! There was such an incredible amount of effort and dedication that went into this event by Grade 5 students!
This event was a celebration of eight weeks of collaboration highlighting the learning process, which was guided by the Central Idea: Communities can be changed though our actions.
This central idea inspired student developed lines of inquiry. Student’s interest formed their inquiry, which sparked action. The goal of these actions are hoped to be both meaningful and sustainable.
A big thanks needs to go out to our GAA community. There were so many levels of support for our students; including teachers, parents, admin, people from outside the GAA community (scientists, local businesses). Everyone made this evening a hot success! I want to thank all our Grade 5 students for sharing their learning with us.
GAA also hosted Eowyn Crisfield, LanguageOne, who spoke to our community over a period of two days reinforcing the importance of bilingualism. Not only is bilingualism growing in popularity around the world but here in the UAE. Most parents recognize the benefits of learning an additional language(s) at an early age and that it is important to ensure success for both the school and the parent to understand their roles in the process and how to best support the multilingual development of young learners. Mother tongue is key to bilingualism.
What an exciting week it has been and the race is on from now until the end of the year.
Enjoy you weekend,
Ben Voborsky
Elementary Principal
Huge news for GAA this week! The inaugural Grade 5 PYP Exhibition was held over three days with an awesome opening night. I hope you had the opportunity to attend and support Grade 5. The Ipad survey feedback was five star! There was such an incredible amount of effort and dedication that went into this event by Grade 5 students!
This event was a celebration of eight weeks of collaboration highlighting the learning process, which was guided by the Central Idea: Communities can be changed though our actions.
This central idea inspired student developed lines of inquiry. Student’s interest formed their inquiry, which sparked action. The goal of these actions are hoped to be both meaningful and sustainable.
A big thanks needs to go out to our GAA community. There were so many levels of support for our students; including teachers, parents, admin, people from outside the GAA community (scientists, local businesses). Everyone made this evening a hot success! I want to thank all our Grade 5 students for sharing their learning with us.
GAA also hosted Eowyn Crisfield, LanguageOne, who spoke to our community over a period of two days reinforcing the importance of bilingualism. Not only is bilingualism growing in popularity around the world but here in the UAE. Most parents recognize the benefits of learning an additional language(s) at an early age and that it is important to ensure success for both the school and the parent to understand their roles in the process and how to best support the multilingual development of young learners. Mother tongue is key to bilingualism.
What an exciting week it has been and the race is on from now until the end of the year.
Enjoy you weekend,
Ben Voborsky
Elementary Principal
A note from our PYP coordinator, Ms Sofia Lyons
Dear all
Our inaugural IB PYP Exhibition at GAA has been truly amazing. It is not an easy feat to organise such an important event with so many children, so it is only right to recognise and appreciate our hardworking, committed grade 5 teachers for "pulling this off" in such style!
I am very proud of the students; they confidently presented their exhibitions to their parents and other visitors and the feedback from the parents was overwhelmingly positive.
Thank you also to our caring, supportive and guiding mentors. The success of the exhibition was also down to those teachers who took on this additional role of being a mentor.
We are all really impressed by the knowledge and skills our students have developed, as well as the action they have taken!
Great job Mike and the Grade 5 Team. You have done everything you can to make this a memorable and successful experience for our kids.
Thank you……
Sofia Lyons
PYP Coordinator
Our inaugural IB PYP Exhibition at GAA has been truly amazing. It is not an easy feat to organise such an important event with so many children, so it is only right to recognise and appreciate our hardworking, committed grade 5 teachers for "pulling this off" in such style!
I am very proud of the students; they confidently presented their exhibitions to their parents and other visitors and the feedback from the parents was overwhelmingly positive.
Thank you also to our caring, supportive and guiding mentors. The success of the exhibition was also down to those teachers who took on this additional role of being a mentor.
We are all really impressed by the knowledge and skills our students have developed, as well as the action they have taken!
Great job Mike and the Grade 5 Team. You have done everything you can to make this a memorable and successful experience for our kids.
Thank you……
Sofia Lyons
PYP Coordinator
Special Announcement regarding “We Are Monsters”
After a hugely successful run of two shows the GAA Elementary musical “We Are Monsters” is now available for viewing on YouTube! You can watch the show in its entirety on the following link: https://youtu.be/pTrZTDZIGow . This will also allow you to access GAA’s new YouTube channel! Look out for more videos to come!
Elementary Music
We are excited to announce the Grade 2 - 3 end of the year concert, A Musical Journey, on Monday, June 1, 2015 from 4pm – 5:30pm in the GAA Auditorium. The students will present their work in music as a recital for family and friends. In keeping with the PYP and the Content Standards for Music outlined in the curriculum, the student’s attendance and participation is encouraged as this will give them the opportunity to share and enhance their performance skills.
Please put those dates on the family calendar! It is an elementary team effort. We appreciate your support in making this performance a priority in supporting your child and the Music Department at GAA!
Please put those dates on the family calendar! It is an elementary team effort. We appreciate your support in making this performance a priority in supporting your child and the Music Department at GAA!
Kindergarten Corner
KG1 I has had a very interesting two weeks working at the class Provocation Table. We had sensory trays for the children to "feel" different textures(even cooked spagetti) . We had little containers, each with different smelling objects inside. Cinnamon, Vanilla Essence, Cocoa powder, mustard etc. The children had to mark off on a list, a check or an x if they liked what they smelt. After that, we put all the information together to see which smell was the most popular, which smells were voted the same and which were the least pleasant and least popular smells. All this was transferred onto a graph. The children had great fun while learning. We also planted seeds. We felt the texture of the different seeds, we prepared soil by making compost - reusing newspaper, vegetable peels, tea bags and coffee grounds and then we planted the seeds. We now have seedlings and the excitement is enormous, watching how much the seeds grow in a day. How we need to put the seeds into the sun for a bit each day and of course how important it is to water them. KG1 I is very busy at the moment!
So much to learn and so little time.
Gill Meijer
So much to learn and so little time.
Gill Meijer
Sharing the planet has begun! Learning through play with KG1J!
KG2C enjoying the presentations at the 5th grade Exhibition.
Anti-Bullying Campaign
Our parent community is a wonderful resource and has collaborated with faculty and staff time and time again to serve our students in the best way possible. The Anti-bullying Committee is a prime example of this. The Anti-Bullying Committee formed in 2014 from the initiative of Jessica Krystosek, Jeannete Runefeldt, and other key parents in our community. Through their efforts, they started an anti-bullying campaign which promoted awareness and student empowerment. Thanks to a successful piloting campaign, the committee was able to raise funds to purchase Gems American Academy a K- 5th grade Bully Prevention Unit and Middle School Social Skills program by Second Step.
The Second Step programs enriched the Social-emotional curriculum of the school and embodied the IB learner profile attributes and attitudes by providing an evidence-based framework for decreasing aggression and promoting empathy, courage, respect, and pro-social behavior. In addition to enhancing the teaching and learning taking place in the classrooms, the programs included staff training to proactively recognize and respond to potential bullying situations. The training bolsters GAA's School Wide Positive Behavior Plan which promotes a safe and secure environment for our students through the explicit teaching and reinforcement of our essential agreements; Be Safe, Be Respectful, & Be a Learner.
GAAPA and the Anti-Bullying Campaign embodied an effective comprehensive intervention that utilized the various shareholders in our community to empower our students and grow GAA’s culture of kindness. Raising an awareness and education has been a pivotal first step. In doing so we have promoted an environment which prioritizes safety and security. We can also recognize bullying situations and respond with appropriate interventions. According to Dr. Peter Raffali, the director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention and Advocacy Collaborative Clinic, it is essential to be able to distinguish between normal childhood conflict and bullying situations that involve severe harm. A parent’s role in distinguishing between the two is essential in providing the right support for their child.
The American School Counselor Association recently referenced a parenting article from the Boston Globe by Kara Baskin & David Mogolov that is very informative and helpful in recognizing the difference bullying and conflict, and how to respond appropriately. Please see the article below:
When does teasing become bullying?
By Kara Baskin and David Mogolov GLOBE CORRESPONDENTS MARCH 16, 2015
Q. My second-grade son is complaining that a few of his classmates are bullying and excluding him at recess. I’m friendly with their parents. Do I bring it up to them? I don’t want to hover or to risk the friendship.
Kara: I feel you. You want to bust onto that playground and tell those meanies to be nice to your baby. The instinct to protect our kids from hurt is so primal, no matter how old they get. Once they hit school, there’s less we can do to keep their worlds safe. It’s a rite of passage for kids — and for us parents, too.
Before doing anything, though, your first job is to figure out whether this is garden variety teasing or actual bullying. Sometimes, kids are mean. This is a cruel fact of childhood. I speak from experience: I was the first kid in elementary school to get glasses, enormous brown plastic things that looked like alien swimming goggles styled by the House of Dork. (These were the days before Warby Parker.) I’d like to say the resultant jokes made me a better person, but they really just made me want to get contacts by junior high. That said, I’m glad my parents didn’t intervene. I wouldn’t have just been “Four Eyes.” I would have been “Big Baby Four Eyes.”
Today’s parents are going through a period of “heightened awareness” around the concept of bullying, says Dr. Peter Raffalli, the director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention and Advocacy Collaborative Clinic. More awareness is beneficial in many ways, but it also requires parents to distinguish between normal childhood spats that will resolve on their own, and severe harm, which warrants intervention either by school administrators or among parents. Raffalli says that true bullying is “repetitive, mean-spirited harassment where the victim cannot troubleshoot it,” as opposed to one-off quarrels or insults. The key is to determine which is which.
David: Talk with your son to make sure you understand the full picture. Deana Criess, director of the Anti-Bullying Program at ImprovBoston, emphasizes the importance of asking your children for details and finding out if it’s ongoing or a one-time incident. If it was a one-time thing, “ask what happened before and immediately after. How did your child respond?” Knowing what motivated it can help you understand whether to pick up the phone, or to let it play out and see if the kids can resolve it.
Often, they can. Before a pattern of behavior emerges, your child may be able to change things.
“It’s scary for kids to talk directly, to say, ‘I really don’t like the way you’re treating me,’ ” Criess says, “but more than 50 percent of the time, if they do, it ends there.” Sometimes kids just don’t realize the harm they’re doing, and a simple nudge like that fixes things, whereas using words like “bully” and “victim” can exacerbate the problem. “Those labels stick,” she says. Escalating the situation by throwing the “bully” label on another kid makes mending their friendship difficult, and could follow the other child.
Kara: If your child is an ongoing target and can’t resolve things on his own, Raffalli suggests involving school administrators or teachers instead of taking matters into your own hands with their parents. “One of the things we tell parents is to establish a safe person in school, somebody on staff who the child feels comfortable going to,” he says. These people should be able to deftly intervene (making sure the kids aren’t placed in small groups together, keeping an extra eye on recess) without making the bully feel “told on,” which might only perpetuate the behavior.
On that note, parents are more of a variable: Some might be able to handle the situation well, but others might either lash out at you or lash out at their child, which could only escalate things on the playground. Speak to them as a last resort, and diplomatically. Raffalli suggests phrasing things this way: “I hate to bring this up, because I don’t want to sound accusatory or overbearing — but Jack is feeling like Joey is picking on him. Could you ask him? He likes him, and he’s coming home a little sad.” Starting out angry will only trigger the other parents’ defense mode, just like on the playground.
David: I really do think it’s your worst option. If you go to the other parents, even with the most careful and constructive approach, be ready for them to see it as an attack. Be wary: That’s how blood feuds start in classic drama.
David Mogolov is a dad, a comedian, and a playwright. His parenting comedy is forthcoming as a collection titled “I Should Have Done That Differently.” Kara Baskin is a mom, a journalist, and author of “Size Matters: The Hard Facts About Male Sexuality That Every Woman Should Know.” With a mix of expert insight and first-person reassurance, they tackle your parenting worries and woes.
The Second Step programs enriched the Social-emotional curriculum of the school and embodied the IB learner profile attributes and attitudes by providing an evidence-based framework for decreasing aggression and promoting empathy, courage, respect, and pro-social behavior. In addition to enhancing the teaching and learning taking place in the classrooms, the programs included staff training to proactively recognize and respond to potential bullying situations. The training bolsters GAA's School Wide Positive Behavior Plan which promotes a safe and secure environment for our students through the explicit teaching and reinforcement of our essential agreements; Be Safe, Be Respectful, & Be a Learner.
GAAPA and the Anti-Bullying Campaign embodied an effective comprehensive intervention that utilized the various shareholders in our community to empower our students and grow GAA’s culture of kindness. Raising an awareness and education has been a pivotal first step. In doing so we have promoted an environment which prioritizes safety and security. We can also recognize bullying situations and respond with appropriate interventions. According to Dr. Peter Raffali, the director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention and Advocacy Collaborative Clinic, it is essential to be able to distinguish between normal childhood conflict and bullying situations that involve severe harm. A parent’s role in distinguishing between the two is essential in providing the right support for their child.
The American School Counselor Association recently referenced a parenting article from the Boston Globe by Kara Baskin & David Mogolov that is very informative and helpful in recognizing the difference bullying and conflict, and how to respond appropriately. Please see the article below:
When does teasing become bullying?
By Kara Baskin and David Mogolov GLOBE CORRESPONDENTS MARCH 16, 2015
Q. My second-grade son is complaining that a few of his classmates are bullying and excluding him at recess. I’m friendly with their parents. Do I bring it up to them? I don’t want to hover or to risk the friendship.
Kara: I feel you. You want to bust onto that playground and tell those meanies to be nice to your baby. The instinct to protect our kids from hurt is so primal, no matter how old they get. Once they hit school, there’s less we can do to keep their worlds safe. It’s a rite of passage for kids — and for us parents, too.
Before doing anything, though, your first job is to figure out whether this is garden variety teasing or actual bullying. Sometimes, kids are mean. This is a cruel fact of childhood. I speak from experience: I was the first kid in elementary school to get glasses, enormous brown plastic things that looked like alien swimming goggles styled by the House of Dork. (These were the days before Warby Parker.) I’d like to say the resultant jokes made me a better person, but they really just made me want to get contacts by junior high. That said, I’m glad my parents didn’t intervene. I wouldn’t have just been “Four Eyes.” I would have been “Big Baby Four Eyes.”
Today’s parents are going through a period of “heightened awareness” around the concept of bullying, says Dr. Peter Raffalli, the director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention and Advocacy Collaborative Clinic. More awareness is beneficial in many ways, but it also requires parents to distinguish between normal childhood spats that will resolve on their own, and severe harm, which warrants intervention either by school administrators or among parents. Raffalli says that true bullying is “repetitive, mean-spirited harassment where the victim cannot troubleshoot it,” as opposed to one-off quarrels or insults. The key is to determine which is which.
David: Talk with your son to make sure you understand the full picture. Deana Criess, director of the Anti-Bullying Program at ImprovBoston, emphasizes the importance of asking your children for details and finding out if it’s ongoing or a one-time incident. If it was a one-time thing, “ask what happened before and immediately after. How did your child respond?” Knowing what motivated it can help you understand whether to pick up the phone, or to let it play out and see if the kids can resolve it.
Often, they can. Before a pattern of behavior emerges, your child may be able to change things.
“It’s scary for kids to talk directly, to say, ‘I really don’t like the way you’re treating me,’ ” Criess says, “but more than 50 percent of the time, if they do, it ends there.” Sometimes kids just don’t realize the harm they’re doing, and a simple nudge like that fixes things, whereas using words like “bully” and “victim” can exacerbate the problem. “Those labels stick,” she says. Escalating the situation by throwing the “bully” label on another kid makes mending their friendship difficult, and could follow the other child.
Kara: If your child is an ongoing target and can’t resolve things on his own, Raffalli suggests involving school administrators or teachers instead of taking matters into your own hands with their parents. “One of the things we tell parents is to establish a safe person in school, somebody on staff who the child feels comfortable going to,” he says. These people should be able to deftly intervene (making sure the kids aren’t placed in small groups together, keeping an extra eye on recess) without making the bully feel “told on,” which might only perpetuate the behavior.
On that note, parents are more of a variable: Some might be able to handle the situation well, but others might either lash out at you or lash out at their child, which could only escalate things on the playground. Speak to them as a last resort, and diplomatically. Raffalli suggests phrasing things this way: “I hate to bring this up, because I don’t want to sound accusatory or overbearing — but Jack is feeling like Joey is picking on him. Could you ask him? He likes him, and he’s coming home a little sad.” Starting out angry will only trigger the other parents’ defense mode, just like on the playground.
David: I really do think it’s your worst option. If you go to the other parents, even with the most careful and constructive approach, be ready for them to see it as an attack. Be wary: That’s how blood feuds start in classic drama.
David Mogolov is a dad, a comedian, and a playwright. His parenting comedy is forthcoming as a collection titled “I Should Have Done That Differently.” Kara Baskin is a mom, a journalist, and author of “Size Matters: The Hard Facts About Male Sexuality That Every Woman Should Know.” With a mix of expert insight and first-person reassurance, they tackle your parenting worries and woes.
*A gentle reminder that for safety and security reasons children are not allowed in the classrooms after school. We appreciate parents assistance with this and thank you for your continuous help and support.