News From the Elementary Principal Ben Voborsky
Hello GAA Community,
This week has really flown by with hands on learning, action in the corridors, and field trips exploring Abu Dhabi. There is so much happening! With over 100 days of school in the books our students have really developed not only as learners but as people. Our GAA community will always continue to play the critical role in that. “It takes a village to raise a child”. Thank you for supporting and continuing to enhance our community.
I had a snowy but productive teacher recruitment trip to the USA. I did a lot of listening, talking, and reflecting both at initial candidate signups and with the 94+ candidates I interviewed. One of the questions that came up frequently was “What makes GAA special?”. I had many answers to this question but I found myself talking about our GAA community as whole. From our amazingly diverse group of international students to our collaborative and positive educational team, I had a lot to say. I highlighted our supportive parent community including GAAPA and the GAA Booster Club. Of course, with the International Food Festival my first day back at GAA it was on the forefront of my mind.
A big thank you to all the GAA community member that made the International Food Festival a huge success. It was great to sample the cuisine of our international community and share in this wonderful experience. It is definitely one of the high points of the year.
A few quick reminders:
It is great to back and Enjoy your weekend with your Family
Ben Voborsky
Elemenatry Principal
This week has really flown by with hands on learning, action in the corridors, and field trips exploring Abu Dhabi. There is so much happening! With over 100 days of school in the books our students have really developed not only as learners but as people. Our GAA community will always continue to play the critical role in that. “It takes a village to raise a child”. Thank you for supporting and continuing to enhance our community.
I had a snowy but productive teacher recruitment trip to the USA. I did a lot of listening, talking, and reflecting both at initial candidate signups and with the 94+ candidates I interviewed. One of the questions that came up frequently was “What makes GAA special?”. I had many answers to this question but I found myself talking about our GAA community as whole. From our amazingly diverse group of international students to our collaborative and positive educational team, I had a lot to say. I highlighted our supportive parent community including GAAPA and the GAA Booster Club. Of course, with the International Food Festival my first day back at GAA it was on the forefront of my mind.
A big thank you to all the GAA community member that made the International Food Festival a huge success. It was great to sample the cuisine of our international community and share in this wonderful experience. It is definitely one of the high points of the year.
A few quick reminders:
- Send you child with a hat and a water bottle. GAA has a “No hat, no play” policy to keep us all sun safe.
- The GAA Baseball and Softball teams have started practicing after school. If you are staying after school to play with your children, please use the playground by the tennis courts. Watch out for flying balls, they hurt!
- If you are visiting the school during instructional time, we thank you for accepting an invitation from your child’s homeroom teacher. Otherwise, please remember to remain in the lobby area and enjoy a coffee. This minimises inadvertent disruptions to the flow of the school day and instructional time.
It is great to back and Enjoy your weekend with your Family
Ben Voborsky
Elemenatry Principal
PYP NEWS
Inquiry based learning in the Elementary classroom
At GAA our teachers spend time ‘tuning in’ to students’ thinking early in an inquiry The early phase of inquiry (often referred to as ‘tuning in’) is commonly seen as a time in which to engage students – often by ‘immersing’ them in experiences related to the topic. This phase, however, is also critical as a kind of ‘reconnaissance’ time. Here, we encourage students to share the conceptions and misconceptions they have and to make ‘visible’ their current thinking about the subject/question. This can be a challenging phase for a teacher because it requires a deliberate ‘stepping back’ as students theorize, hypothesize and wonder. The work that is produced at this stage can activate powerful reflective thinking later in the inquiry as it is returned to and self assessed. When they can compare their earlier and later thinking they become more conscious not only of what they have learned but of how their thinking has changed along the way. Using structured learning journals is useful way to document changes in thinking and understanding as a unit progresses.
This movie from Mr Farrow and his students demonstrates what the tuning in phase of the inquiry cycle looks like in a PYP classroom.
Sofia Lyons, IB PYP Coordinator
At GAA our teachers spend time ‘tuning in’ to students’ thinking early in an inquiry The early phase of inquiry (often referred to as ‘tuning in’) is commonly seen as a time in which to engage students – often by ‘immersing’ them in experiences related to the topic. This phase, however, is also critical as a kind of ‘reconnaissance’ time. Here, we encourage students to share the conceptions and misconceptions they have and to make ‘visible’ their current thinking about the subject/question. This can be a challenging phase for a teacher because it requires a deliberate ‘stepping back’ as students theorize, hypothesize and wonder. The work that is produced at this stage can activate powerful reflective thinking later in the inquiry as it is returned to and self assessed. When they can compare their earlier and later thinking they become more conscious not only of what they have learned but of how their thinking has changed along the way. Using structured learning journals is useful way to document changes in thinking and understanding as a unit progresses.
This movie from Mr Farrow and his students demonstrates what the tuning in phase of the inquiry cycle looks like in a PYP classroom.
Sofia Lyons, IB PYP Coordinator
IB Learner Profile of the month - February - Risk Taker
Students will have the confidence to try new things. They try to solve problems in a lot of ways. They have the courage to tell people what they think is right.
Activities for Parents:
If your child is feeling uneasy about trying something, encourage them to attempt it and then reflect on both whether they liked the activity and how it felt to try something new.
You child might want to set some short-term goals. Consider activities that make him/her nervous. What are realistic goals for the week? Your child might set a goal to:
- Offer an opinion in class
- one recess with someone they might not usually play with
- Order something different from the lunch menu
- Try an activity they haven’t tried before
- Be careful to explain to your child the difference between being a risk-taker by trying new things and doing dangerous things.
Students will have the confidence to try new things. They try to solve problems in a lot of ways. They have the courage to tell people what they think is right.
Activities for Parents:
If your child is feeling uneasy about trying something, encourage them to attempt it and then reflect on both whether they liked the activity and how it felt to try something new.
You child might want to set some short-term goals. Consider activities that make him/her nervous. What are realistic goals for the week? Your child might set a goal to:
- Offer an opinion in class
- one recess with someone they might not usually play with
- Order something different from the lunch menu
- Try an activity they haven’t tried before
- Be careful to explain to your child the difference between being a risk-taker by trying new things and doing dangerous things.
Dear Parents,
We had a very successful swim meet on Sunday 8th of February 2015 at Brighton College School with our Junior GAA Competitive swimming team. We had 37 swimmers from Gr.1-6 competing against 5 schools to achieve excellent individual and team results. Our school reach 3rd place, and we won many individual events.
Here is the list of all swimmers:
Gr.1 Swimmers: Julian Rager 1E, Kaya Cankardes 1C, Natalie Dietzler 1E and Theodora Attallah 1F.
Gr.2 Swimmers: Carmen Martinez 2E, Diana Leonova 2B, Kaylee Chen 2D and Ellemina Hagglund 2B.
Gr.3 Swimmers: Gyuen Jeon 3A, Tomas Barbero 3A, Abanoub Attallah 3A, Emma Oberholzer 3F, Maia Roberts 3E and Isabella Clarke 3D.
Gr.4 Swimmers: Milo Stelzer 4F, Daniel Martinez 4C, Nicola Kalita 4F, Emily Little 4D, Charlotte Pachol 4A, Drew Sample 4B, Deniz Cankardes 4A, Leah Stromberg 4F, Saadeddin Saadeddin 4E and Sonya Khizar 4A.
Gr.5 Swimmers: Robert Turkama 5A, Megan Godley and George Burger 5B,Melanie Osley Rafael Ribeiro, Freddie Taylor-Cross 5C, Saif Khraiwesh, Jamie Broadhed and Thomas Taylor-Cross 5D, Zoe Oosthuizen 5E and Athanasios Trigkonis 5F.
Grade 6 Swimmers: Sofia Barbero, Adam Bouquila and Erik Van Der Kaag.
Congratulation to All GAA Swimmers!!
We are looking forward to competing in our next swimming galas, which will be held at Al Yasmina school, on Wednesday 25th for Secondary swimmers and Monday 2nd of March for our Junior team.
We welcome any supporters to come and cheer our swimmers on.
Best Regards from all Junior swimming team coaches,
Ms. Stephanie, Ms.Clelia, Mr.Jac and Mr.Francis.
We had a very successful swim meet on Sunday 8th of February 2015 at Brighton College School with our Junior GAA Competitive swimming team. We had 37 swimmers from Gr.1-6 competing against 5 schools to achieve excellent individual and team results. Our school reach 3rd place, and we won many individual events.
Here is the list of all swimmers:
Gr.1 Swimmers: Julian Rager 1E, Kaya Cankardes 1C, Natalie Dietzler 1E and Theodora Attallah 1F.
Gr.2 Swimmers: Carmen Martinez 2E, Diana Leonova 2B, Kaylee Chen 2D and Ellemina Hagglund 2B.
Gr.3 Swimmers: Gyuen Jeon 3A, Tomas Barbero 3A, Abanoub Attallah 3A, Emma Oberholzer 3F, Maia Roberts 3E and Isabella Clarke 3D.
Gr.4 Swimmers: Milo Stelzer 4F, Daniel Martinez 4C, Nicola Kalita 4F, Emily Little 4D, Charlotte Pachol 4A, Drew Sample 4B, Deniz Cankardes 4A, Leah Stromberg 4F, Saadeddin Saadeddin 4E and Sonya Khizar 4A.
Gr.5 Swimmers: Robert Turkama 5A, Megan Godley and George Burger 5B,Melanie Osley Rafael Ribeiro, Freddie Taylor-Cross 5C, Saif Khraiwesh, Jamie Broadhed and Thomas Taylor-Cross 5D, Zoe Oosthuizen 5E and Athanasios Trigkonis 5F.
Grade 6 Swimmers: Sofia Barbero, Adam Bouquila and Erik Van Der Kaag.
Congratulation to All GAA Swimmers!!
We are looking forward to competing in our next swimming galas, which will be held at Al Yasmina school, on Wednesday 25th for Secondary swimmers and Monday 2nd of March for our Junior team.
We welcome any supporters to come and cheer our swimmers on.
Best Regards from all Junior swimming team coaches,
Ms. Stephanie, Ms.Clelia, Mr.Jac and Mr.Francis.
Kindergarten Corner
Please take a moment to read this interesting article on the benefits of a good nights sleep that our wonderful teachers in KG came across.
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/01/why-sleeping-may-be-more-important-than-studying/
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/01/why-sleeping-may-be-more-important-than-studying/
In the Kindergarten Kitchen-Lab, we have just completed our Eating a Rainbow Unit. The children have learned the importance of eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables as part of living a healthy lifestyle. Our culminating event was to write an individual recipe for Rainbow Soup or Fruit Kabobs. As a group, we talked about the parts of a recipe (title, author, ingredients and directions). These elements were included in the children’s pages along with their own choices for ingredients. The children had photos of the process to remind them of the steps we took to prepare each recipe. We hope that the children are sharing their experiences with you at home and perhaps helping in preparing meals for the family.
KG1G
In KG1G we have been busy building houses out of boxes, marshmallows, glitter, paper, cardboard and lots of other interesting bits we can find. We’ve also been learning how to measure using unifix cubes, along with writing and sounding out the letters Bb and Dd using chalk, play dough, lego and even blocks!
In KG1G we have been busy building houses out of boxes, marshmallows, glitter, paper, cardboard and lots of other interesting bits we can find. We’ve also been learning how to measure using unifix cubes, along with writing and sounding out the letters Bb and Dd using chalk, play dough, lego and even blocks!
KG1H
As we celebrated “Friendship Day”, KG1H drew pictures of what friendship meant to them.
As we celebrated “Friendship Day”, KG1H drew pictures of what friendship meant to them.
KG2A
Chandrika and Ana Sofia delivering Friendship cards during our Friendship celebration.