News from our Elementary Principal, Ben Voborsky
Hello GAA Community!
I hope everyone had a relaxing spring break with their family. It was great to be back this week and hear about all our student adventures. Fun with family and friends happened not only within Abu Dhabi but on about every continent! Students shared stories with me from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North American, and even, South America. What a true global perspective our students are gaining, talk about global citizens! Our students were effective communicators both in their oral storytelling and the writing they did about their spring break.
Student Led Conference feedback from our parent community continues to be fantastic. This week I also had the opportunity to sit down with our students and speak with them about their experiences. I am happy to report that they loved being able to share their learning with parents; not only in the homeroom classroom but the specialist classes as well. Students highlighted this reflective practice as one of their favourite activities of the year. Students felt proud sharing their knowledge, portfolios, and Units of Inquiry with family.
Thank you to the larger number of parents who took the time to complete the K-5 communication and homework survey. If you did not have the opportunity, please take a few minutes to complete this very short communication and homework survey. It should take less than a minute and will assist us on continuing to develop our systems. The Survey will close Sunday, April 17th.
Mark you calendar! An amazing and engaging elementary performance is coming up. What is cooler that space? More fun that pirates?
I hope everyone had a relaxing spring break with their family. It was great to be back this week and hear about all our student adventures. Fun with family and friends happened not only within Abu Dhabi but on about every continent! Students shared stories with me from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North American, and even, South America. What a true global perspective our students are gaining, talk about global citizens! Our students were effective communicators both in their oral storytelling and the writing they did about their spring break.
Student Led Conference feedback from our parent community continues to be fantastic. This week I also had the opportunity to sit down with our students and speak with them about their experiences. I am happy to report that they loved being able to share their learning with parents; not only in the homeroom classroom but the specialist classes as well. Students highlighted this reflective practice as one of their favourite activities of the year. Students felt proud sharing their knowledge, portfolios, and Units of Inquiry with family.
Thank you to the larger number of parents who took the time to complete the K-5 communication and homework survey. If you did not have the opportunity, please take a few minutes to complete this very short communication and homework survey. It should take less than a minute and will assist us on continuing to develop our systems. The Survey will close Sunday, April 17th.
Mark you calendar! An amazing and engaging elementary performance is coming up. What is cooler that space? More fun that pirates?
- Wednesday, April 27th Doors open at 6:30pm Show at 7:00pm
- Thursday, April 28th Doors open at 6:30pm Show at 7:00pm
I hope to see you there with your child. I know you will enjoy it as much as they do.
Have a great weekend,
Ben Voborsky
Elementary Principal
From our Elementary Vice Principal, Sofia Lyons
Dear Parents
We will be holding the following Parent Information Sessions in April and May this year.
All Information Sessions will be held at 8.30am immediately after the Elementary School Community Shares. Please confirm your attendance by sending an email to Felicity Harding, the Elementary School Secretary. Felicity's email address is [email protected]. This will help us to organise the materials for the sessions. We hope to see you there. In the meantime, if you require further information about our curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact Mike Hopaluk or Kristine Zydel, our PYP Coordinators.
Regards,
Sofia Lyons
We will be holding the following Parent Information Sessions in April and May this year.
All Information Sessions will be held at 8.30am immediately after the Elementary School Community Shares. Please confirm your attendance by sending an email to Felicity Harding, the Elementary School Secretary. Felicity's email address is [email protected]. This will help us to organise the materials for the sessions. We hope to see you there. In the meantime, if you require further information about our curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact Mike Hopaluk or Kristine Zydel, our PYP Coordinators.
- Wednesday, 20th April Writer’s Workshop (KG)Thursday, 21st April Writer’s Workshop (ES)
- Wednesday, 27th April (KG) PYP inquiry: How does your child learn
- Thursday, 28th April (ES) PYP inquiry: How does your child learn?
- Wednesday 11th May: Developing the IB Learning Profile as a family over the summer month
- Thursday, 12th May Developing the IB Learning Profile as a family over the summer month
Regards,
Sofia Lyons
Grade 1F and 1H
Grade 1F and 1H
After a relaxing and enjoyable spring break, 1F and 1H are excited to return to the classroom and continue our inquiry into communities! We began this unit, How We Organize Ourselves, by focusing on our central idea: Communities provide interconnected services to meet people’s needs. We have also been focusing on three lines of inquiry: Reasons people live in the community (with a focus on the key concept perspective), services needed to support a community (we have been relating this to the key concept connection) and planning services for a community (we have been looking at the key concept responsibility).
We looked at familiar community services and thought about our connections to these services, their connections to each other, as well as their importance and role in our community. We also engaged in lively discussion about which services we thought were most important. We didn’t always agree, but our growing communication skills helped us appreciate and understand the ideas and reasoning of our classmates! We have also been reading both fiction and non-fiction texts focusing on services within a community.
In the weeks to come, we will begin building our own communities in small groups. We will plan and design our communities and decide which services to include. We are excited to incorporate 2D and 3D shapes into this inquiry as we create buildings using recycled materials and other resources. We will also focus on our communities during Writer’s Workshop as we write fictional stories about the people who provide services in the communities we are building. We are all excited to continue this unit and see where our ideas and experiences take us!
After a relaxing and enjoyable spring break, 1F and 1H are excited to return to the classroom and continue our inquiry into communities! We began this unit, How We Organize Ourselves, by focusing on our central idea: Communities provide interconnected services to meet people’s needs. We have also been focusing on three lines of inquiry: Reasons people live in the community (with a focus on the key concept perspective), services needed to support a community (we have been relating this to the key concept connection) and planning services for a community (we have been looking at the key concept responsibility).
We looked at familiar community services and thought about our connections to these services, their connections to each other, as well as their importance and role in our community. We also engaged in lively discussion about which services we thought were most important. We didn’t always agree, but our growing communication skills helped us appreciate and understand the ideas and reasoning of our classmates! We have also been reading both fiction and non-fiction texts focusing on services within a community.
In the weeks to come, we will begin building our own communities in small groups. We will plan and design our communities and decide which services to include. We are excited to incorporate 2D and 3D shapes into this inquiry as we create buildings using recycled materials and other resources. We will also focus on our communities during Writer’s Workshop as we write fictional stories about the people who provide services in the communities we are building. We are all excited to continue this unit and see where our ideas and experiences take us!
From our PYP Coordinator, Mike Hopaluk
Experts needed!
The Grade 5 PYP Exhibition is in full swing. The students are inquiring into issues and learning a lot about causes, effects, responsibilities and many other key concepts connected to them. Now they could use your help. The students would love to connect with anyone in our parent community that may be able to help them extend their understanding of the issues. That is where you come in.
Please take a look at the list of issues below. If you are passionate or have any experience with any of these issues, and you have some time next week to talk to a group of similarly passionate students, it would be great if you could contact the Grade 5 teachers and negotiate a meeting time.
Please email Scott Macdonald ([email protected]) by Sunday April 17 if you identify with one of these issues and would like to support learning in Grade 5.
Thank you very much!
The issues:
The Grade 5 PYP Exhibition is in full swing. The students are inquiring into issues and learning a lot about causes, effects, responsibilities and many other key concepts connected to them. Now they could use your help. The students would love to connect with anyone in our parent community that may be able to help them extend their understanding of the issues. That is where you come in.
Please take a look at the list of issues below. If you are passionate or have any experience with any of these issues, and you have some time next week to talk to a group of similarly passionate students, it would be great if you could contact the Grade 5 teachers and negotiate a meeting time.
Please email Scott Macdonald ([email protected]) by Sunday April 17 if you identify with one of these issues and would like to support learning in Grade 5.
Thank you very much!
The issues:
- animal abuse/ protection
- electricity usage
- childhood obesity
- sugar addiction
- road safety/ seatbelts/ safe driving
- being eco friendly
- child health
- physical disabilities
- tech addiction/ impact of social media
- littering and waste
- human rights
- diseases and disorders
- cancer, smoking
- childhood poverty in Syria
- recycling, reduce, reuse,
- cyber, physical and emotional bullying
- women's education rights
- genetically modified foods
- animal smuggling in UAE
- water/air pollution
- endangered animals
- learning disorders
- diabetes in UAE
- poverty
KGCORNER
Welcome back to school from Spring Break ! All 25 of us are back in class and we were so happy to see one another and share our experiences. Our classroom is full of exploration and exciting learning as we continue to learn in a Play Based Environment.
This week in KG 2D we have been learning about materials and their properties. The students picked different materials from the classroom and named their properties. They had fun exploring magnets and experimenting with materials that float or sink. They discovered how the properties change when you add water to corn starch.
KG2A are learning about the properties of materials. The children observed the solid, liquid and gases that makes up an ice-cream soda float. They enjoyed the taste too :)
KG ART
KG1
This week, KG 1 Students began their exploration of light and shadow art. Our little artists used their thinking skills to transform their tracings into different objects. They also crafted clay sculptures that they will take outside next week. We are all curious to see what kind of shadows they will create!
KG2
Through our integrated unit on properties of materials, KG2 Artists are exploring the world of Upcycled Art.
After reading Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg, Students had fun ripping newspaper into all sorts of shapes and creating colourful collages with tempera paint and pastel.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to explore the many creative uses of everyday materials that we can use to make art. Thank you to all families who kindly donated recyclable materials. Donations for used string, yarn, ribbon and clean bottle caps are still being accepted in the KG reception.
This week, KG 1 Students began their exploration of light and shadow art. Our little artists used their thinking skills to transform their tracings into different objects. They also crafted clay sculptures that they will take outside next week. We are all curious to see what kind of shadows they will create!
KG2
Through our integrated unit on properties of materials, KG2 Artists are exploring the world of Upcycled Art.
After reading Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg, Students had fun ripping newspaper into all sorts of shapes and creating colourful collages with tempera paint and pastel.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to explore the many creative uses of everyday materials that we can use to make art. Thank you to all families who kindly donated recyclable materials. Donations for used string, yarn, ribbon and clean bottle caps are still being accepted in the KG reception.