Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school! I hope you each enjoyed a wonderful spring break. It was interesting to hear reports from the children about all the fun they had. Holidays do a world of good for us, don't they?

It's obviously taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things, so please forgive the delay. I've been communicating everything to your darling at school, but have neglected our class blog. I'm so sorry...

My sister and I had a fantastic time together in Australia and the South Pacific! We met in Sydney on Friday, Mar. 24, then boarded a cruiseship (right across from the Sydney Opera House!!) on Sunday afternoon. Our cruise took us to the stunning islands of Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia and had to keep pinching ourselves to make sure we weren't dreaming. The beauty of this little corner of the world is just incredible! We snorkeled, hiked, explored, swam, read, shopped, rested, met locals, and so much more. Here's one picture for now, but I'll post some more soon:

Arriving on the little island of Tivua, Fiji! 

Now, that we are back in school and in our final stretch of Grade 3, I wanted to touch base about a few things: 

• ASAs began last Sunday, April 9, and seem to be going smoothly. 

• Pizza Day is on Thursday, April 20. (Thank you for sending in your money.) 

• There will be no school on Sunday, April 23, on the occasion of Israa & Miraj. 

• MAP testing is coming soon. Here are our specific dates, if you want to make a note: 

• Wednesday, May 3, from 8:10-9:40 ~ Math 
• Monday, May 8, from 8:10-9:40 ~ Language Usage
• Thursday, May 11, from 8:10-9:40 ~ Reading 

• A second round of Morning News will resume soon. I'll be posting a new schedule next week. Start chatting with your child about what he/she might like to share. Students learned so much from each other, while further developing their public speaking skills. Well done! 

• Don't forget to purchase your tickets for Pinocchio! (I'll post all the details in a separate blog post.) The Grade 5 students have worked so very hard to make this performance stellar! 

• And, finally, here is an overview of what we're learning at the moment: 

• Reading: We have wrapped up on our character unit and are starting a new unit called "Research Clubs." Students will be working in groups to research various animals and become experts on them. After surveying the class, we have formed the following groups, which are based on interest: cats, dogs, penguins, snakes, frogs, and whales. (I will finalize the groups by the end of the week.) Please continue reading every night at home for 20 minutes and log what was read. Students may read fiction or non-fiction (or a combination of both) during this unit. 

• Writing: Last week, I allowed the class to finish publishing their fractured fairy tales. Now, we are reading to dive into our last writing unit, which is called "Changing the World." This focus of this unit is knowing how to write persuasive speeches and essays. Students will use what they learned about opinion writing in Grade 2 to strengthen their thoughts, feelings, and arguments. 

• Math: We are continuing to work through Unit 7, Multiplication and Division. Students are learning various strategies to solve complex story problems, estimate the cost of things using extended multiplication and division facts, learn more about factors, products, square products, as well as products of tens. We are currently on Lesson 7.7 and will have a test on Unit 7 on Tuesday, April 25. 

• Social Studies: We are nearly finished with our unit on International Trade and Globalization. I will be sending home an assignment tomorrow, which your child should have complete by Tuesday, April 25. Thanks so much for your support at home with this. 

Lastly, I want to thank you, again, for all of your wonderful support. I am so very thankful to have such loving, helpful, and encouraging parents.  :) You make my job so much easier!! 

Happy Spring Break!!

As we are just hours away from our spring break holiday, I want to take this moment to wish you all a very happy, safe, fun, and refreshing break. The students have worked very hard since January 2 , so I want to commend them. Well done!! 

Also, trimester 3 ASAs will begin on April 9th, as soon as we return from break. 

Have a wonderful rest and we'll see you April 9! 

Assignment Sheet and News...and pictures, too

As promised, here is the Assignment Sheet and News for this week. I hope you'll take the time to read about what we are learning, especially because we are starting many new units. 

Today, our Zayed University student, Ms. Maryam, taught the class a review lesson about fractions. Though this is only her second lesson (ever!), she did a very good job and the children seemed to enjoy it, especially because she brought in edible fraction pizzas. Here are some fun pictures:

Then, a little later in the day, the children worked in groups to analyze weather data to determine various climate zones around the earth. Though this is pretty sophisticated information, the class was generally able to identify some patterns and make a few good observations. 

And, lastly, here are just a few pictures of my spring break holiday, since a few of you have asked. The fun began at the World Cup on March 26th, then it continued as my sister, Julie, and I traveled to Zanzibar, Nairobi (briefly), and The Seychelles (Pralin, La Digue, and Mahe). Needless to say, it was an EPIC holiday with picturesque scenes, rich culture, delicious food, and many unique experiences! 

This is my third year enjoying the Dubai World Cup. It's always such a treat! 

My friends, Ryan and Sean Penny (also known as "The Wellness Brothers"), enjoy a friendship with His Highness, Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, so it's always an honor and privilege to see him every year. He always makes the same joke about me being so tall that he should've worn heels. :)

My dear friend, Bronwyn 

The races are always so exciting!! 

And, here are some from our African adventure...
(in no particular order)

It was totally surreal to be in a place that I have only seen on glossy calendars pages.✨

Giving this ancient tortoise a little love...🐢💛 (By ancient I mean that it could be 30-100 years old.) This type of tortoise can only be found here and in the Galápagos Islands. Special!! ✨And, by the way, as soon as I started softly touching its neck, he fully extended it, closed its eyes, and actually seemed to smile. ☺️

"Out of the six accommodations we've enjoyed over the last 11 days, this just might be our favorite.✨It's tranquil, affordable, and absolutely idyllic. 🌺Tomorrow afternoon, we will say "au revoir" to these gorgeous islands 🌴🐢and return to Dubai, where Julie and I will enjoy just one more day together. 👭 We've packed in so much that it seriously feels more like a month together. My heart is full...and so are my memory cards."💓 📱📷🎥😁 

"The tides here are quite extreme, but as a low tide lover, I was thrilled because it meant plenty of sea life, wading in the cool water, as well as making new friends." 🌟

Scuba diving in Mahe, Seychelles...

Anse Lazio was one of the best places we've ever snorkeled. We saw two eels, a nurse shark, a turtle, red coral, and hundreds of gorgeous tropical fish. It was even better than the scuba diving we did in Zanzibar! Very thankful to God for protecting us, giving us beautiful weather, and just for the enormous blessing to be here. 🐠🐢🐚💖 

Glorious water!! Julie and I loved just being able to bike around the island and stop off wherever we wanted to snorkel. 🐠🐟 A.maz.ing.✨

"Today @jlnossal I had two fantastic dives (22m & 12m) on the southeast side of Mahe. 🔱 We saw two white tipped reef sharks, an eagle ray, an enormous Napoleon wrasse, a few nudibranches, two rather large and menacing barracudas, and so many other beautiful, vibrant tropical fish. 🐡🐠🐟🐚And, amazingly enough, some of our fellow divers were also expats living in Dubai and the two boys are students at DAA! What a small world. 🌍 We had a great time discovering that we shared many mutual friends and also discussing life in Dubai and our favorite places to travel. What a sweet blessing this entire day was...um, right up until we returned to our beach chalet this evening and realized that the power on this side of the island was out, which is apparently a normal occurrence. 🔦 No worries. Our prayers were answered in about two hours. 🙏🏼💡My heart is filled with such gratitude for such incredible and fascinating experiences."

"Habari ya asubuhi, which means "good morning" in Swahili. ☀️🌴 After a very long day of travel, Julie and I arrived to Zanzibar last night and woke up feeling refreshed...and just a bit sweaty. 😁 The mosquito nets kept us itch-free and we could hear the waves as we drifted off to sleep, both such blessings. While it's very rustic/primitive, we are already enjoying the local culture and look forward to a very leisurely day on the beach." 🐠🐚

While on Praslin in the Seychelles, we visited the UNESCO site of Vallee de Mai, home of the world famous coco de mar. 🌴 It is the largest nut and grows no where else in the world! 🌍 The palm fronds are absolutely enormous and we loved our two hour hike through this mini jungle, listening to parrots, seeing skinks slide through the undergrowth and in the lookout for chameleons. #awesome #cocodemar

Yesterday, we had a lovely sensory 👃🏼experience visiting the Spice Garden, which required a steep drive up into the mountains. 🙈 First, we ate a yummy silver snapper and rice lunch, infused with herbs from the garden. 🌿🐟🍚To finish, we decided to try their homemade ice cream (cinnamon and nutmeg).🌰🍦Wow! Light, fresh, and bursting with flavor. 😋Next, we began our tour and accidentally interrupted some tortoises 🐢💖🐢enjoying a special moment.😳 The rest of the tour was interesting and full of incredible plants, many of which I've never heard of. But, how many plants can you really see in one day? So, we may or may not have deviated from the path to end the tour early. 😁 All and all, it was a worthwhile experience, but mainly because of the ice cream. 😉

Biked about 75% of the island yesterday 🚴🏼 and loved feeling the breezes, riding through jungles so thick that they were dark during the middle of the day, and hearing all of the sounds of God's creation: bats, parrots, geckos, cows, chickens, morning doves...and loud island music from the locals. 🎶 What a beautiful experience.#iwillbesosoretomorrow (in La Digue)

I have thousands more (really), but for now, these will do. :) 

Warm Greetings!

Welcome back! I hope you each had a wonderful spring break! 

"But we've already been back in school for a week now." Um, yes. (insert awkward smile here) I think I was so relaxed from my holiday that it's literally taken me a whole week to get back into the swing of things, so please forgive this delayed post and update. We also had a very busy week back at school. Just ask your sweetheart. I think I may have actually overworked them...that, or they, too, were trying to adjust to a post-holiday life. :) 

So, now that I'm back up to normal-life speed (but still trying to salvage my tan), I thought I should let you know a few things that are happening this week: 

• Pizza Day is Thursday, April 21. Forms were sent home on Thursday, so please be sure to return those (with money) by Tuesday. Pizza slices will not be sold on Thursday. 

• The Little Mermaid is almost here! Be sure to get tickets soon, if you haven't already. Tickets are available at the MS/HS Reception Desks for AED 25. Showtimes are Wednesday, April 20, at 3:30 and 6:30 pm and Thursday, April 21, at 3:30 pm. 

• ASAs for our last trimester are now in full swing. Please let me know if there are any changes or if you decide not to take part in the ASA you chose, as there is a waiting list for some ASAs. Here are some sweet pictures from my Art Club last trimester, if you're interested. We had a great time!
• Photo orders were sent home on Thursday. Please email YvonneY.SIDANI_DAA@gemsedu.comif you did not receive what you ordered. 

• Save the Date: PS/ES Bingo Night will be next Thursday, April 28, at 6:30 pm. 

Also, I want to take a moment to recognize those students who met or exceeded their March Madness Reading Goals: Andreea, Rakaan, Lyn, Eita, Yihyun, Emre, Gabriel, Almera, Nia, Iskander, Omar, and Gavin. Well done!!! I'm very proud of you! 

To celebrate all of the fantastic reading, we enjoyed a pizza party on Thursday and the children were delighted. For those who met or exceeded their goal, they ate up to 3 pieces of pizza, received a piece of my homemade Chocolate Pistachio Fudge Tart, and a certificate. 

We also enjoyed a class reward party on Thursday, as well. (Busy day!) Children enjoyed bringing their device to school and chewing some yummy and very chewy bubble gum. (I have to confess that I really love these days as I'm a huge fan of blowing enormous bubbles.) So, hopefully, you're darling came home very happy on Thursday. :) 

Lastly, stay tuned as I'll be posting the weekly Assignment Sheet and News tomorrow night...and some pictures of my spring break. For now, though, it's time for bed. 

Welcome back!

Dear Parents,

Happy April! I hope you each enjoyed our two-week holiday and were able to travel, play, rest, sleep, explore, read,  and/or (fill in your own fun here). Most of the children were able to share about their experiences today and it sounds like most everyone had a really great time!

I was very thankful to spend time at home in Florida with my family and friends. It's always so wonderful going back as there's truly no place like home. As it's been 8 months, I took particular notice of the verdant and lush the landscape, the vibrant blue sky, cool gulf stream ocean breezes, and the abundant wildlife (rabbits, snakes, alligators, squirrels, moles, eagles, etc.). It was like life was in true living color once again! Every morning, we enjoyed walking the dogs at 6:30 am, so it was as if the earth was waking up and coming alive every day. (It also helps that we live right next to Jonathan Dickinson State Park, which is replete with animals.)

While I was home, my family and I played mini-golf, camped on a beautiful island/state park, ate ice cream, visited one of our favorite marinas, snorkeled, swam, made cookies, watched movies, shopped, snuggled, lingered over coffee, played with our dogs, saw my nearly 102-year-old grandmother, and had many great conversations (just to name a few activities). It was just the right balance of active and restful.

One of the best parts of my holiday was having my brother, Peter, fly down from Pittsburgh and surprise us! There I was, eating ice cream with one  hand, and talking to him on the phone with the other when I felt a gentle tapping on my shoulder. I turned around to see PETER right there in the flesh! We were all in such shock that he had somehow managed to arrange a quick flight to FL and gift us all with his presence. So, having him there for the Easter weekend was truly the highlight, since it's been 1.5 years since we were all together as a family.

On the subject of shocks and surprises, my Friday flight to Dubai was interrupted as my connecting flight (at 5:55 pm) from Palm Beach to Atlanta was more than 2 hours delayed, which would've caused me to miss my 9:36 pm flight to Dubai. Despite all my efforts, Delta had to rebook my flight for Saturday evening. Then, imagine my shock when I went to the airport and learned that my flight to Atlanta was canceled and they needed to rebook me AGAIN for a Sunday evening departure! It was surreal to say the least, as nothing this consecutive has ever occurred in all of my travels.

While the two rescheduled flights (and all that went with them) were somewhat stressful, the silver lining, of course, was being able to spend a little more time with my family. For this, I am very thankful. I'm reminded that we must be flexible in life and ready to just go with the flow at any given moment's notice. So, I want to thank YOU for being flexible as well as you and the class had to adjust to my absence. I so appreciate your understanding.  :)

Here are just a few pictures of our fun, if you're interested:

We love going to the Sailfish Marina. It's a fun place to eat a fresh "grouper-dog," buy local arts and crafts, hear live music, watch the sunset, and relax by the water.  Their Thursday night celebration has been happening for more than 20 years. 

Right after Peter surprised us!!! 

Walking down the Juno Beach pier is always a great place to see sea life, including sharks, turtles, dolphins, and more. 

This is the Jupiter Inlet, where we love to snorkel when the tide is high and the water is clear. (Not on this particular day as they were drenching the inlet.) 

We went snorkeling under the Jupiter Island Bridge, where the water was perfectly clear and lovely! 

Oops...the instagram filter made the sand dollars look dirty, but they were all white after I cleaned them! 

Julie found this HUGE sand dollar, which will likely break the world record! She already sent her submission to the Guiness Book of World Records in the UK and should hear a reply of confirmation in about 6-8 weeks. Very exciting!! 

Adorable Keebler, the tiny puppy in the lower left photo. Growing bigger in the upper left. And, now, she's two years old and just as cuddly.

And, here's the second interrupted travel ticket issued in as many days!!

Lastly, here is a short clip of the puppies actively moving in Oakley, who just gave birth. Her puppies were born on Monday evening as I was flying to Dubai! 

Since Oakley is a breeder dog for New Horizon's Service Dogs, we don't get to keep any of these precious ones, but we know they will go to good homes and improve the lives of many people with disabilities. 

Oakley will spend 2 months there (in Deland, Florida) to nurse her cuties and then she'll get to return home to my sister, Julie.) This is her second litter of service dogs. 

Click here to see a darling video clip of the puppies during one of their initial feedings. 

Here is a close up of rubbing the puppies. They have to "annoy" them so they cry and move around a lot. This helps to dispel the fluid from their lungs. 

Crying babies! 

More milk, please (whaaa, whaaa, whaaa)! 

Happy Spring Break!

Dear Parents and Students,

I just want to take a brief moment to wish each of you a lovely spring break. We've all worked so hard these last 3 months and have truly earned this rest!

I want to also thank you for all of your tremendous support. Seeing you recently for our parent conferences was such a treat as we were able to have quality conversations about your darling and discuss ways to progress even further in our last trimester. After those two days of meetings, I honestly couldn't help but feel so thankful for such a wonderful class of students AND parents.

But for now, I hope you'll just rest, relax, and rejuvenate with your friends and family, wherever this holiday takes you. I'll be leaving to go to Florida on Sunday, right after an evening at the Dubai World Cup. I'll be returning on Saturday, April 11, so I may require some extra coffee on our first Sunday back.  :)

Until then, I will leave you with sincere love and hugs,

Ms. Laura
PS. NO TIES AFTER SPRING BREAK! Due to the warm weather that makes the wearing of ties particularly uncomfortable, students will not be required to wear ties after spring break. Please note that all other aspects of the dress code will remain in effect. 

Here are some lovely pictures of the place I call home...

We love to snorkel in the Jupiter Inlet.

Seeing the Jupiter Lighthouse is always one of the things I love best about being home.

Going home also means, seeing these fur-babies (L-R: Max, Oakley, and Keebler). Oakley, the one in the middle is pregnant and will be giving birth around April 16. She is a service dog for New Horizon's, so her puppies will become service dogs, too!

And, of course, I will get to see my FAMILY! 

This picture was taken in Dec. 2013 when we were all together in Dubai.