PRIMARY points

FROM THE PS PRINCIPAL'S DESK  

 May 24, 2018

Dear Parents,


As parents, we’re all imperfect. Remember that, and be kind to yourself during the stressful moments. 

(Mindful Parenting)  

This week, I encourage you to practice Mindfulness and Self-Compassion. When you recognize you’re in a stressful moment, acknowledge the difficulty by saying, “This is hard right now.” Then ask yourself, “What do I need?”

Acknowledging and querying allow you to open up to wisdom you have within and build self-trust. Maybe you find that you want to have more patience or be free from the stress that’s hitting you in the moment. Try placing your hand on your heart as a gesture of caring and say to yourself, “May I be at ease, have more patience, and be free from this stress.”

If you want, you can take this deeper. You can imagine all of the other parents out there who have experienced this struggle and wish them the same. We’re all connected on this imperfect journey of parenting. Recognizing that helps us drop the burden of self-judgment, feel more connected, and open up to what really matters.


mindfulness may

During Ramadan, whether or not you are fasting, you can try mindful eating as a way to either empathize with those who are fasting or to fully enjoy your food once your fast is broken. Here is an article that explains how mindful eating can help you more fully enjoy every morsel that you indulge in. Also, consider all aspects of your eating experience in order to more fully be aware of your dining habits. The image below provides some key strategies to implement in order to become a more mindful eater. Try some of these today, and see how it changes your dining experience. Bon appetit mindfully.

SEWA Day and Ramadan in the PS, a time for giving…

Ramadan Kareem

This year we are celebrating SEWA Day during Ramadan in recognition of the hard-working support staff throughout DAA.  We will give care packages to the support staff to show our appreciation for their dedication and commitment to the school. Our goal is to teach students the importance of giving and taking care of others within our community. 

KG1 parents and students may donate toiletries such as:

KG2 parents and students may donate items such as:



Grade 1 parents and students may donate backpacks.

All items donated throughout the primary school will go into the backpacks you donate.

Grade 2 parents and students may donate non-perishable items such as:

Please ensure all donations can fit into a backpack.

All donations will be collected until June 7th

Thank you for your support and generosity!

A Message from our Librarian, Ms. Amanda Gintaut: 

End of Year Library Information  

As we are coming to the end of the school year, I would like to inform you that all students and parents need to return library books by Sunday, May 27th. On this date we will no longer be checking out books to parents or students as we will begin our inventory and reorganization of our space. We are asking students and parents to please respect this date and do your very best to return all books. If you have lost a book you will need to pay for the book. However, if the book is found and returned to the library, we will refund your money. If you are unsure of the books your child has, please email me, a.gintaut_daa@gemsedu.com and I will be able to help you.

Book Fair

Bookworm Book Fair will be help in the KG2 breakout area from Sunday, June 3 – Wednesday, June 6. Timings are from 7:45-1:15. Teachers have signed up for a specific time and date, while parents are welcome anytime. This is a great opportunity to select books for summer reading.

PS Maker's Day

The Primary School celebrated Earth Day and Maker’s Day in the last week of April. After students learned about some of Earth’s environmental challenges, they worked in collaborative groups to find innovative solutions to these real-world problems. This year, PS Maker’s Day was spent with students from Kindergarten to Grade 2 building their Future Fluency skills. Take a look at this video to learn more about how we help our PS students become more Future Fluent here at DAA!

We would like to extend a special thank you to Paul Hopkins for helping us put this beautiful video together.

innovation in counseling at DAA

Innovation in Counseling at DAA

Written by: Aarti Daswani

Counselors in Focus: Antonio Tyson & Cassandra Ford

Innovation has been a pervasive theme at DAA this year, and our PS Counseling team has been working hard to bring innovative teaching methods into their classes. Besides organizing and implementing division-wide systems including PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports), Mindfulness in May, The Great Kindness Challenge, and assemblies with Pepper, our counselors strive to link important counseling units to real-world experiences. They meet regularly to collaboratively brainstorm different ways technological tools can be integrated into their curriculum to augment student learning. This has increased student engagement across all grade-levels and has allowed students to connect more deeply with the Future Fluencies.

KG1 and KG2

Counselor: Antonio Tyson

Tyson came to DAA with a strong background in technology and the use of iPads. He is extremely comfortable experimenting with new apps and consistently thinks of ways various apps can be used by his young students. This year, he has worked diligently with Kindergarten students to build a repertoire of technology skills. These technological skills are essential in building a foundation for students so that when they reach first grade, they will be more confident and responsible in their use of digital resources. This year Tyson also participated in our RobotLab training, experimenting with ways the Pepper and NAO robots can be integrated with curricular content. He looked at ways such robots can be coded and used in classrooms with Kindergarten students. 

Through his Counseling classes, Tyson’s students have used the Draw and Tell app to create ways on how they can stay safe and problem-solve (Solution Fluency). Apps such as PebbleGo served as a resource for students to learn about specific types of community helpers and some possible future careers. Kahoot and Scratch, Jr. are also both popular apps with his students as they served as a means of making learning about different types of feelings more interactive and engaging.

Quote: “Our end goal is to have students creating their own learning. If students are able to get to this point, then the work you have prepared will be meaningful/relevant to them and most likely have a personal connection.”  

Grades 1 & 2

Counselor: Cassandra Ford

daapscounselor.blogspot.com

After attending Carnegie Mellon’s summer institute (in her hometown) on ‘Robotics and Computational Thinking’, Cassandra was prepared to jumpstart the year with technology integration. Cassandra’s focus with technology implementation this year has been two-fold. She has spearheaded the implementation of PBIS in the Primary School and had digitalized our internal reporting system. This allows Cassandra, her team, and administrators to very efficiently and accurately collect behavioral data which can be further manipulated to determine areas of need while addressing behavioral concerns in an efficient manner. When planning lessons for her students, Cassandra spends a lot of time independently exploring apps, websites, and current media that can be used to enhance her lessons. She has seamlessly integrated several creation apps into the Counseling curriculum including some key apps such as Book Creator, Seppo, Seesaw, Clips, and Puppet Pals. Cassandra uses these tools to allow her students to share their thoughts, lead discussions, or create content.

In an effort to connect what the students have been learning about safety and technology, Cassandra invited the Dubai Police Department to share ways they integrate technology in the work that they do to keep residents safe. The Dubai Police representatives spoke to all of the students in a safety assembly, and then shared their drone and robotic technology in separate presentations. Connecting student learning to real-life examples is a vital step to making learning more meaningful, and helping students start to see the applications for what they are doing in the classroom. 

Moving forward into her unit on communication, Cassandra has developed lesson plans that incorporate coding as a means of communication. She will introduce her first and second grade students to Apple’s recommended CodeSpark Academy and Tynker apps to tie in basic coding concepts with effective communication skills.

Quote: “By integrating technology into lessons, you start seeing students utilizing the skills that are going to lead them to creating new realities and possibilities in the future..and that’s exciting!

Seesaw End-of-Year Information for Parents

Please note that we will be archiving ALL Seesaw classes on Thursday, June 28, 2018.

As our school is subscribed to a full ‘Seesaw for Schools’ plan, this means that you will still have access to your child’s work and journal even once a class has been archived.

As long as your child remains at DAA, you will be able to see his/her archived classes in the Seesaw Family app and download a .zip file of all your child’s work. When your child completes Grade 5 or if you leave DAA, you will still be able to download a .zip file with all of your child’s work.

Please note that downloading your child’s journal can only be completed when you are logged in to your Seesaw Family account from a desktop computer.

To download a .zip file of your child’s journal, please follow the steps in the link HERE.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Aarti Daswani at a.daswani_daa@gemsedu.com . 

Scarf Donation Initiative

Ramadan is the time of giving. In the Primary School, we have been talking about how lucky we all are that we have shelter and food, can go to school and are loved by family and friends.

We have been thinking about  how we can help a big number of people with a small gesture: 

We are asking DAA families to donate scarves for construction workers, who are working so hard in the heat while many of them are abiding by the Islamic traditions of fasting. Scarves protect the workers from the sun, keep them just a little bit cooler, and can keep the dust away.

Scarves can be small or large, but they should be made of a light material (cotton and not pashmina).

From May 20 until June 8, there will be boxes in the PS foyer as well as the atrium, where you can drop off your scarf donations. Student helpers will deliver the scarves to the Red Crescent just before Eid so they can be distributed to the construction workers.

Thank you so much, and Ramadan Kareem.

Wishing you all a mindful weekend.

Nathalie Salameh and Tooshna Gandhi

Primary Principal and Assistant Principal