ELEMENTARY

June 10th, 2021

Dear Elementary Families,

I would like to begin by thanking you for taking the time to submit the GEMS Parent Survey over the past few weeks. If you have not yet done the survey, we would very much appreciate your time to complete it.

This week we continued with MAP testing and we were so impressed with our students for the drive and perseverance they demonstrated to achieve and extend beyond their goals. This has been a challenging year but through the hard work of our teachers and students we have had many learning success stories to be proud of. I found it particularly poignant to have so many students stop me in the hallways over the past two weeks to share the excitement they felt in their accomplishments.

As we get closer to the end of the school year our teachers are finalizing assessments and closing out their units in preparation for report cards. We were very proud to learn through our Future Design School survey that over 90% of our families appreciate the personalized nature of our report cards. Report card writing can be a long process and we were thrilled to know that the work we do is benefiting our families.

Finally, we await direction on the next school year but we are hopeful that our classrooms may return to pre-covid learning environments. This week we set up a classroom to remind ourselves of our set-up and inspire our hopes for the next school year.

Thank you as always for your continued support of our school and have a fantastic weekend.

Craig Cantlie

Executive Principal, Elementary

The DAA Elementary library is closing for the school year and beginning our annual inventory. Books are due back before June 14, 2021. Please take a look around the house for any overdue books and return them to the library as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued support.

Our storytelling focus taught students “I can write about small moments”. When we write about small moments we learn to capture a part of a story. Like a picture, it allows us to focus on specific details. We looked at our weekend and pretended to take a picture of our favorite moment. We then used our five senses to describe the moment.

~KG1LG

Fine Arts Showcase

In Grade 1, the students are learning about the different instrument families. They are learning to classify and identify small percussion into woods, metals, shakers, and membranes. They are also using these instruments to explore musical opposites (high and low, fast and slow) in higher detail.

In this showcase, they will play a variety of percussion instruments properly and learn different songs that highlight music from around the world.

Grade 1 video new.mov

Message from Middle School

Bring your Own Device in Middle School

As part of our school BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program, all Dubai American Academy students in Grades 6-12 are required to bring a laptop to school daily.For parents of students entering Grades 6-12, who have not yet purchased a laptop, we highly encourage you to purchase a MacBook Device so there is continuity in the use of Apple technologies (specification listed in the table below). If you have already purchased a PC laptop, this is still applicable to the BYOD program and your child’s learning will not be disadvantaged. In the absence of covid restrictions, we have a number of iPad carts available for student and class use. The middle and high school libraries also stock extra laptops for students to sign-out on a daily basis if needed.

As part of our school BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program, all Dubai American Academy students in Grades 6-12 are required to bring a laptop to school daily.For parents of students entering Grades 6-12, who have not yet purchased a laptop, we highly encourage you to purchase a MacBook Device so there is continuity in the use of Apple technologies (specification listed in the table below). If you have already purchased a PC laptop, this is still applicable to the BYOD program and your child’s learning will not be disadvantaged. In the absence of covid restrictions, we have a number of iPad carts available for student and class use. The middle and high school libraries also stock extra laptops for students to sign-out on a daily basis if needed. For Students Who Already Have a LaptopIf you already own a laptop please answer the following questions:1. If my laptop is a MacBook, it has Mac OS 10.14 or higher, in English.2. If my laptop is a Windows laptop, it has Windows 10 Version 1901 or higher, in English.3. My laptop is not older than 3 years.4. My laptop has at least 4GB of RAM (Preferably 8 GB RAM).5. My laptop has a 3 to 4 hour battery life.6. My laptop has working WiFi which supports 2.4Ghz/5GHz FrequencyAccessories: 1 set of inexpensive headphones (mobile phone earbud sets are fine)If you answered ‘YES’ to all these questions you do NOT need a new laptop.For students who need a new laptop, please find our recommendations below.MacBook Pro
Apple M1 Chip with 8-Core CPU and 8-Core GPU
8GB Memory
268GB SSD storage
Retina display with True ToneMacBook Air
Apple M1 Chip with 8-Core CPU and 7-Core GPU
8GB Memory
256GB SSD Storage
Retina display with True ToneOur Apple-approved vendor, JTRS will be able to assist you with your purchase. JTRS also provides trade-in options for old Mackbooks. Please see the flyer below and E-Store Guide for details. JTRS GEMS FlyerJTRS Estore Guide

Elementary Update from June 3, 2021

A window into our world as a learning community.

https://us20.campaign-archive.com/?u=b0f2c74df3ae442779b0e2e9b&id=fb49b5c922

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