A note from music

Notes from Music Class

Our music concert is approaching very soon. It will be held in the DAA auditorium on December 8th at 9AM. 

All students are to wear the following for the concert:

Anyone can pick to be a snowflake or a snirt, unless you have a specific line or part that states you are specifically one or the other.

Snowflake Attire: White collared shirt or blouse with black pants/skirt. A white dress may be worn as well for the ladies.

Snirt Attire: White/grey dirty collared shirt or blouse with black pants/skirt.

The students have worked very hard to put on an amazing concert! I am sure you all will enjoy it! 

Thank you so much!

Miss Wyse

jeannie.wyse@gemsdaa.net

Thanksgiving Brunch

You are invited to join us 

for a 

Thanksgiving Brunch

Wednesday, November 25th

8:30-9:30 AM

(in the cafeteria)

I know our wonderful room mothers have been in touch with you, so this is just a formal invitation, in case you weren't already aware of the brunch. 

It will be a day for the children to enjoy some of the traditional Thanksgiving Day food, which the early Americans enjoyed for their feast back in the autumn of 1621 at Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts. 

Also, please be advised that it will be standing room only, as all of the Grade 3 classes will be enjoying their brunches simultaneously. Thanks for your understanding and I hope to see you there! 

PS. If you're interested in knowing more about this special holiday, please click here. And, you can also enjoy a virtual field trip by visiting this site. Enjoy!! 

UAE Day Celebration

DAA will be proudly celebrating UAE Day on Monday, Nov. 30th. Students are encouraged to come to school dressed in UAE national dress or they may wear the colors of the UAE flag (red, white, green, black).  The day will also be celebrated with a number of special activities.

Dec. 1-5: No school! Enjoy your holiday! 

This is one of my favorite UAE National Day videos. Enjoy! 

Character Counts Feature Week

Dear Parents,                                    

On Sunday November 22nd, students at DAA will begin their participation in a Character Counts Feature Week. This week will focus on caring and citizenship.

While we are going to work with students to make in school connections, we also want to give them a chance to take pride in the specific ways their families show a caring spirit and/or how they demonstrate that they are good citizens when reaching out to other communities in or outside of the UAE.

Kindly send in pictures that clearly tell such stories with your child by Monday, November 23, or at the latest, Nov. 24. They will then be displayed on the bulletin board outside our ES office. Please write your child's name and class on the back of any pictures you send it and we'll be sure to return them to you.

Many thanks for your help,

The Character Counts Committee

Here are a few of my personal pictures from various outreaches to children of the world. I hope they will inspire our students to get out there and make a difference in someone else's life by showing kindness, care, and by being a good world citizen.

Bolivia (2005, 2007)

Objective: Visit the Bolivia Life Center to spend time with orphaned boys, improve the property through construction, and teach lessons

Albums: 1, 2, 3

Ukraine (2008)

Objective: Visit state, private, and church orphanages to teach, deliver materials, and encourage the children and workers

Albums: 6, 8, 5, 7

  

Haiti (2009)

Objective: Build bookcases for local school, teach lessons to children, visit orphans

Albums: 2, 3, 9

 

New Horizons Service Dogs (2008-2010)

Objective: Raise and train a puppy to become a service dog to someone with a disability 

Album 1 (too many others to share) 

And, here is Kobe today, happily serving an author named Frank Caceres

France (2011) 

Objective: Build a stone wall in Cavalaire-sur-Mer, which will ultimately protect and help develop the natural and cultural resources of the region.  

Albums: 1, 2

One of my favorite poems is called Success by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It's one worth memorizing.

Array Fun

Unit 4 in math is all about multiplication and division. Arrays are an important visual/method for children to understand how multiplication actually works.

This 8-minute clip of a marching band performing during the half-time show at an American football game between Ohio State University and Michigan State is a creative and fun real-life connection using arrays that the class thoroughly enjoyed. I hope you will, too. 

UN Day

We enjoyed a fantastic UN Day on Thursday and the rain only added to our fun! 

Here are some fun pictures of our day, as well as a lovely photo recap that Yvonne put together. 

I also thought this short movie was perfect for UN Day. 

Enjoy! 

Winter Concert Practice

As the winter concert quickly approaches, Ms. Wyse has requested that the students get some extra practice at home on singing these two songs: One in a Million and Nothing Special. 

Here is the link to listen at home and we'll also practice a little at school as time allows. 

Thanks so much for your help! 

Pizza Day is coming!

DAAPA will be having the first pizza day of the year next week on Thursday, November 19, so please look for the form in your child's file/folder tomorrow. 

Please note that the maximum number of slices has been reduced to 3, a decision which was based on teacher feedback.  Also, this year students must pre-order and the order forms are due back on Tuesday morning with exact change. There will be no sales on the day.  

Thanks for your support and we look forward to a delicious day! 

Character Counts field trip

Dear Parents,      

The DAA Pillars of Character are in full swing this year at DAA! Our focus this trimester is on caring and citizenship. We are excited to share that this year we have chosen to give our students an authentic experience by volunteering outside of the school premises.

Sometime in the next 7-10 days, a group of DAA students will be given the unique opportunity to work with students at Inspire Nursery, an award-winning early learning center here in Dubai. The children who attend this nursery are between the ages of 3 months and 4 years old, some of whom have significant learning and developmental challenges.

The fruitful experience this holds for our students is that it allows them to demonstrate genuine care and compassion towards these students as they interact with them, read to them, and take part in learning activities alongside them. Students will also demonstrate citizenship because they will be out in the community, working closely with others, and striving to make a positive difference in their lives.

If you feel that this is the kind of experience that your child would be interested in, he/she will need to fill out an application, which each homeroom teacher has made available to students. The due date for these applications is Wednesday, November 11th. Teachers will then review these applications and randomly select one student from each class.

Students who are chosen for this activity will receive permission forms, which should be returned by a date yet to be determined. (Stay tuned as we are finalizing the date of our visit.)

The event will take place during school hours and students will be transported by bus, just like any other field trip. Your child will be chaperoned by Ms. Lama and me. Rest assured that we will ensure they are well taken care of in every sense.

This is a meaningful learning opportunity for our students and we are looking forward to a positive, impactful, and inspiring experience.

The Character Counts Committee

UN Day

Thursday, Nov. 12, will be United Nations Day in the ES. 

The ES UN Day is an opportunity for us to celebrate our cultural diversity at DAA, something we are truly proud of! ES students may come dressed in their country’s traditional dress or the colors of their country's flag.

The morning will begin with a Parade of Nations (similar to the parade that starts the Olympic Games) around the track. All children from grades 3­-5 will be walking in the parade in groups with other children from their same country.  

Parents are invited to join us on the main field between 8:05am and 8:30am to watch the Parade of Nations. We ask that you please stand on the inside of the track to watch. 

Hope to see you all there cheering on the many United Nations of DAA!

PS. Students, we will be having an assembly from 11:20-11:50 in the auditorium. To prepare for this, please practice this song during the week. (We will be singing it as a whole division.) 

Field Trip Reminder

By way of reminder, on Monday, Nov. 2, we will be going on a field trip to Tee and Putt Mini Golf in the Wafi Mall from 9-11:30. 

This will be a great opportunity for students to learn more about force as they see that an object in motion (ball) will stay in motion unless another force, such as friction (or in this case, golf grass) slows it down or causes it to stop. They'll also see that an object at rest will stay at rest unless another force acts upon it, such as a good whack to the ball with a putter! :) 

Kindly take note of the following: 

• Students will need to bring a snack and a lunch from home. 
• Students should wear their PE uniform as it will be more comfortable for golfing. 
• Students are encouraged to bring a jacket as we've heard that the room in which we'll be eating is rather chilly. 

We're looking forward to a great time of hands-on learning!