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Al Yasmina School Primary Newsletter

10 January 2013

Issue 12

Dear Parents,

Dates for your Diary

Sunday 6 January - Start of Term

Sunday 13 January - Maths open house at 8am-9am

Monday 14 January - ECAs start

Tuesday 15 January - Next FOY meeting at 8am

Sunday 20 January - Year 6 parents coffee morning

Monday 21 January - Year 5 parents coffee morning

Tuesday 22 January - Year 4 parents coffee morning

Welcome – Head of School – Mr Gale

It is good to be back. In assembly on Sunday, I very much enjoyed welcoming the students to the

new term. We spoke about two key words; time and new.

There has been no time wasted this week with the school now

well underway. Lots of new and exciting events planned for

the students this term.

I have really enjoyed talking with the students this week and

hearing about how they spent their time in the holiday. I now

look forward to working with the Primary school to ensure

students make the most of their time with us and reach new

heights.

I will be formally writing to parents regarding leadership,

management and communication in the primary school in the

coming days. This week‟s priority has been settling the

children back to school.

Friend of Al Yasmina (FOY)

A HUGE thank you to all those involved in the Festive Fayre, it was a fantastic day had by all and a

huge success. A total amount of around 21,000Dhs was raised so well done!!!

We are still looking for a FOY Secretary if anyone is interested in taking on this easy position please

email janineloftus@hotmail.com or come along to the next FOY meeting.

The next FOY meeting is this Tuesday, 15 January at 8am in the Conference Room, the Agenda is as

follows:

* Treasurers Report

* Feedback Festive Fayre, Swim Gala, Christmas Concert, New Parents coffee

* Table top sale - new date

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* Ball Committee

* International Day

* Al Yasmina 5th Birthday celebrations

* AOB

VOYFEG

Don‟t forget to get your orders in by 9pm tonight (Thursday), please place orders at email

foyveg@hotmail.com.

Full details on the school website.

From the School Nurses

On Tuesday morning we were sad to say good-bye to Dr. Stiles,

who has been our primary school doctor for a couple of years.

Dr. Stiles has retired and is heading back to his home in South

Africa. He will be missed by the school nurses, as well as by many

families in Abu Dhabi. The school nurses presented him with a

card and a leaving gift.

We expect it to be a very busy day in the school clinic next

Thursday, 17 January – some of the Year 1 pupils will be getting their booster vaccinations of MMR

and varicella. A reminder e-mail with all information will be sent out to Year 1 parents next week.

Teaching Assistant Vacancy - Al Yasmina School – Aldar Academies

We are seeking a full time Teaching Assistant at Al Yasmina School. The successful candidate will be

required to demonstrate enthusiasm, initiative and a willingness to learn in a dynamic school

environment.

The successful candidate will require the following:

All applicants must hold a valid Residents Visa.

Minimum qualifications – A Levels or NVQ.

Good literacy skills and an excellent command of English

Good numeracy skills

Flexibility, personal initiative and skills in prioritisation of tasks

Enthusiastic, motivated, resilient and patient

Ability to work flexibly as a member of a team

IT skills would be desirable

The post outlined above is needed to support the school‟s current mission to become an

“outstanding” school.

Salary: 4,500/- per month

Hours: 07.30am – 2.30pm

Term time only

If you are interested in applying please contact the Office Manager for a job description/person

specification. If you feel you have the skills and attributes to support us, please email your CV to

DRoberts@alyasmina.sch.ae. We look forward to hearing from you.

Closing date for applications: Thursday 17th January 2013

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From the Music Department

The Music Department would like to wish you all a very warm welcome back and a

happy and prosperous new year! We have a very exciting and busy term ahead of

us, with concerts and performances by the choirs and instrumental groups, as well

as several year-group performances and our regular monthly recitals.

Well done to this week‟s Musicians of the Week: Shamma Al Khaili from Year 2 for

her amazing note-reading in this week‟s lesson, and Alyazeya Al Shamsi in Year 3

for her beautiful solo singing in class.

Primary Choirs

Choir rehearsals will commence on Sunday 20th January and will run as follows:

Sun 13th Jan No choir (Maths Open

House)

Sun 20th Jan Intermediate Choir

Sun 27th Jan Junior Choir

Sun 3rd Feb Intermediate Choir

Sun 10th Feb Junior Choir

Sun 17th Feb No choir (Half Term)

Sun 24th Feb Intermediate Choir

Sun 3rd Mar Junior Choir

Sun 10th Mar Intermediate Choir

Sun 17th Mar Junior Choir

Sun 24th Mar Intermediate Choir

If your child wishes to join either of the choirs, please encourage them to come along to the first

rehearsals, which take place in the music room opposite the primary library at 8am on Sundays. For

more information, please contact DMcLoughlin@alyasmina.sch.ae.

Instrumental Lessons

These will recommence next week, beginning Sunday 13th Jan. Mr Chris Loosemore is the new

Director of the Aldar Academies Music Service (AMS) since September. All enquiries regarding

instrumental tuition should be addressed to him at CLoosemore@albateen.sch.ae. For new families to

the school, we offer tuition in the following instruments: piano, violin, viola, cello, voice, flute, clarinet,

saxophone, trumpet, trombone, French horn and euphonium.

Primary Production – The Wiz!

For those who joined this ECA club in September, rehearsals recommence next Tuesday. Please look

out for information coming soon regarding costumes and pleas for props/help/etc!!

If you have any questions regarding Primary Music at Al Yasmina, please don‟t hesitate to contact

me at CKnapton@alyasmina.sch.ae. We look forward to working with your children in 2013!

Mrs. Knapton (Head of Primary Music).

From the Arabic Department

Year 1 non- native students learned about „break time‟ in Arabic this week. They drew fruits and then

cut and pasted on the walls of the classroom. They were really excited and happy.

Alyazeya

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Useful website : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIU0CdKT-0s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33KmQRdcKvE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33KmQRdcKvE

From the Finance Office

Just a reminder that all Term 2 fees were due on Sunday, 6 January 2013. The Finance office working

hours are Sunday to Thursday from 8am – 3pm.

Maths Open House

The primary school is looking forward to welcoming parents and family members into their classrooms

and year groups on Sunday 13th January between 8 and 9am for our Open House. This time it will

have a maths based theme with each class or year group demonstrating the types of maths

activities that we use in Al Yasmina Primary to help develop the teaching, understanding and

application of Maths. There will be a variety of fun activities being demonstrated across the school

that may help you with ideas of how to support your child at home with their learning. The classes will

not be demonstrating a formal lesson to be observed, but activities that you are welcome to join in

with. Please come along if you have time and see how great the children are in each of the areas of

maths. Please read what each year group will be focusing on during open house in this week‟s

newsletter.

Thank you.

Outdoor Area of the Foundation Stage

Please can we remind all parents and guardians that children should not be playing in the outdoor

area of the Foundation Stage before and after school! There are currently many children being

allowed to play in this area and this is causing difficulties for other year groups when dismissing their

children from class. The large playground is available for children to play in but please make sure that

your child/ren is supervised! There have been many times where an accident has occurred and the

child was unsupervised.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation

The FS Team

Foundation Stage 1 (FS1)

Welcome back children and we wish you and your families a Happy New Year!

This week we were finding out about all the animals that we might see on our

outing to Emirates Zoo. „Dear Zoo‟ was read by all and we have been busy

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making giraffes and zebras. We want to encourage the children to talk about what they have

discovered and share it with their friends and teachers. Maybe they can bring in a nice information

book or picture or even a sing a song. As we delve into learning about all the different types of

animals and their habitats maybe the children would like to do some discovering at home and share

this with their classmates.

We have been learning to listen carefully to the initial sounds of the alphabet and to help reinforce

this encourage your children to look at all the letters they can see in the world around them. The

children have also been using the Outdoor area to develop their knowledge of ring games and

trying out a little bit of yoga safari. This week we have practiced the sounds – s, a, t, i – please

continue to practice these sounds at home.

Next week is all about the Artic and the animals that live there and who we might find in a zoo. Next

week we need to bring in hats and scarves as FS1 are going to have a really cold day and pretend

they live in the Artic. Please remember to bring in the hats, scarves and gloves all named and keep

them in school all week.

The Maths Open Morning on Sunday will be a fantastic opportunity for all to see the marvellous

activities the children do in class. We will be looking at positional language, counting, comparing

groups of objects and looking at shapes in our environment.

Don‟t forget! Trip money needs to be handed in by January 17th along with a consent form. A letter

with the details about the trip has already been mailed out to parents.

See you Sunday have a great weekend!

Foundation Stage 2 (FS2)

Welcome back everyone; we hope you have had a wonderful break!

FS2 were raring to get back and we have certainly started this term with

a bang! The children have started their new topic of „At the zoo‟ and

have enjoyed learning about the Savannah this week.

They‟ve been on safari and written about what they saw and they

imagined that they were lions, trying to find lots of different smells

hidden around the classroom – we had a ROARING time!!

This term is an exciting one for FS2 as we will be going on a school trip to the Emirates Park Zoo. You

should have received a letter, by email, on Tuesday outlining when your child will be going and what

they will be doing there. This needs to be signed and handed in, to your class teacher, with 70AED by

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Thursday 17th January at the latest! Please speak to your class teacher if you did not receive the

email.

On Sunday, you are invited to our Maths Open House. All classrooms will be open from 8am-9am

where you will be able take part in various interactive Maths activities with your child. This will be a

great opportunity to see how Maths can be taught in school as well as having lots of fun with your

child, in their school environment. We look forward to seeing lots of Mums and Dad on Sunday!

Next week we will be visiting the polar enclosure and will learn all about the different animals we can

see in the North and South Pole.

In Maths the children will be introduced to the concept of sharing objects into equal groups (simple

division)

You could help at home by:

• Talking about the different types of animals one could find in the North and South Pole.

• Research information on polar animals on the internet

• Equally share groups of toys, books or even sweets between members of your family.

Phonics Focus:

This term we are revisiting all Phase 3 sounds in order to consolidate last terms learning. Therefore,

next week we will be practicing sh ch th ng ai sounds

Phase 3 tricky words: he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are, big, put, but, see

Helpful website:

Below is a „you tube‟ website that is a great resource we have recently found to help the children

secure their knowledge of sounds that we have learnt so far. You might find it helpful at home too:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mr+thorne+does+phonics&oq=mr+thorne&gs_l=yout

ube-reduced.3.0.0l4.8739993.8741332.0.8744741.9.7.0.1.1.1.574.1068.4-1j1.2.0...0.0...1ac.1.u5kKRPoeli0

Here are some other websites your children might like to look at:

National Geographic - http://kids.nationalgeographic.co.uk/kids/animals/creaturefeature/

Maths, Sharing - http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=sharingv2

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Year 1

Welcome back Year 1! Everyone has made a great start to the new year and new term. Well done!

New topic

This week, Year 1 has started our exploration of the jungle.

Your children have been telling us what they would like to find out about

this topic, and have enjoyed using lots of materials to transform our

classrooms into jungles! We have compared life in the jungle to our own

lives in Abu Dhabi.

Learning „The Animal Boogie Woogie‟ song has been fun and you too

can learn with them using following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0wQ1HOSrVA

In our literacy learning we have been reading „Rumble in the Jungle‟

and acting out the animals movements to help our learning about verbs.

Next week we will read „Brown Bear, Brown Bear‟ by Bill Martin which can

also be found on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHCYgO9zh8

We will discover where jungles are using world maps and what they are

like to live in. During Art the children will explore animal patterns and use

oil pastels to create their own designs, as well as using some drawing programs in our ICT lessons. In

Design Technology they will be making some useful jungle door hangers!

Changes to homework

Your child will be bringing home a jungle project to be completed this half term. This entails all

literacy and numeracy homework until the half term holiday. This is to be completed in the separate

project book your child has brought home. Spellings will continue to come out weekly in the current

homework book. Please see your child‟s class teacher if you have any further questions.

Maths open house

We are looking forward to welcoming parents into school on Sunday 13th to participate in some

practical numeracy activities with their child. Some of the learning covered across the classes will be

2D and 3D shapes, time and number skills. We hope to see you there!

Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week

Well done to the children who were Star of the Week at the end of last term. The lucky ones

below got to have an adventure with their class mascot for the whole holiday. Star of the

week will continue all year, so Year 1 children who have not yet taken the mascot home still have

plenty of time to earn it!

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Isabelle Worth - Cuckoos, Miguel Gomez - Sparrows, James Devlin – Larks, Chloe Carter - Robins

Holly Wong - Doves

Year 2

This half term our Topic is „Click‟! To kick off our Topic, the classes

visited Manarat Al Saadiyat this week to help answer the question,

„What is an Exhibition‟? We spent the day looking around the

different exhibits to enable the children to understand what an

exhibition is, how it works and it‟s purpose. Next week, we‟ll be

doing map work and finding places of interest in Abu Dhabi.

In Literacy, we had a first-time tourist to Abu Dhabi come into Year 2 and the children were able to

guide her through questions and comments advising her of places to visit in Abu Dhabi. Next week, in

Literacy we‟ll be formulating questionnaires to find out peoples‟ favourite places to visit in Abu Dhabi.

Next week in Maths we‟ll be looking at strategies for solving problems including addition word

problems.

Year 3

Happy New Year to all our Year 3 families.

We would like to welcome 4 new students to Year 3, Ahmed Al Saadi – Buntings, Karim

Okba – Terns

Tanuli Wickramarchchi – Cormorants and Shaikh Mohammed Abdullah Bin Zayed Al

Nahyan.

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This Term we start with the Topic Australia, this week the children have been introduced to the

continent and used maps and atlases to find out where it is and why it is special.

In Literacy the children have read the Dreamtime story about Tiddalik and have used adjectives and

similes to describe characters, compared play scripts to stories and also written

dialogue using speech marks.

In Numeracy the children have been learning about telling the time on an analogue

clock and finding out about the relationship between minutes, hours and seconds

through practical activities using timers.

This week the children have had a chance to tell us what they understand about

Rocks and Soils and to come up with questions about what they would like to find out

about.

Next Week‟s Learning focus will be:

Literacy- Writing a diary entry based on the story “Are We There Yet?” by Alison Lester and linking this

to our Topic work about the immigrants who left Europe and headed for Bottany Bay to make a new

life Down Under.

Numeracy- This week we will continue to learn about telling the time and solve Time problems using

timetables.

We would also like to welcome parents to Year 3 for the Open House between 8-9am on Sunday13th

January; to see and get involved with the children doing a range of practical maths activities.

Science- The children will be finding out about the 3 main rock types.

Aussie Sleepover

The Great Aussie Sleepover will take place on Thursday 7th February. Anyone who would like to get

involved to help out would be most welcome. I would like to have a meeting to discuss various „jobs‟

on Monday 14th January at 2.30 in the Curlews classroom. If anyone is interested in helping with

shopping, dancing, art activities, cooking, grilling (Sausages), and sleeping out!!! Please just come

along and bring any ideas for fun Aussie activities with you.

Year 4

What a fantastic first week of Term 2 we have had here in Year 4.

We have started our new topic, The Romans, and it looks like it is going to be a great one! The

children have enjoyed placing the main events of Ancient Rome on a timeline and making a map of

Ancient Rome, as well as watching some clips from BBC‟s Horrible Histories. The Romans really were

rotten! In Art we are looking at the Roman art of mosaics. We have looked at several different

examples of mosaics and had a go at creating our own Roman design using coloured paper

squares.

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We continued with our Roman theme in Literacy, and we have been learning all about the Legend

of Rome. We have taken this legend and transformed it into a comic strip. It has been really

interesting learning about Romulus and Remus, although we are in mixed opinion whether or not we

believe in the legend!

In Maths we have been looking at decimals and where we find them in real life. We have partitioned

decimals to 2 decimal places and have converted metres to centimetres and vice versa. In Science

we have started our new topic of Circuits and Conductors by creating a mind map about what we

already know about this topic and creating questions of the things we would like to find out. The

students are looking forward to getting hands on and making circuits.

Next Week we will be continuing our work on the Legend of Rome in Literacy. We will become both

playwrights and actors, writing a play script telling the story of Romulus and Remus and then

performing it. In Numeracy we will be focussing on multiplication, division and problem solving. We

are looking forward to welcoming parents at the Numeracy open morning on Sunday.

Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week

Congratulations to the Stars of the Week who had the class

mascots join them and their families for the holidays- Lauren

Kerr (Wheatears), Allison Card (Pipits), Armaan Syed Anwar

(Warblers), Hashem El Naidi (Wagtails) and Devon Den Hertog

(Sandgrouse).

Year 5

Happy New Year! 2013 has got off to an explosive start as the children have been looking at Gases,

liquids and solids and how they can change their state. Running parallel with this science topic, the

pupils have been introduced to coast lines. We are learning about the geographical features of the

coast and how they are formed.

Sunbirds demonstrate how the particles

of a solid stick close together and

whether air exists!

In Literacy we are studying the work of

Michael Morpurgo. Using the stories, The

Butterfly Lion and Kensuke‟s Kingdom,

we are learning how to create a

narrative. We have also started to

introduce the pupils to Alan Peat‟s

exciting sentences. This is a programme

which will help pupils to write more

varied sentences which will engage the

reader. This week the children have

been looking at „BOYS‟ sentences.

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In Numeracy we have been looking at place value and the effect of multiplying and dividing by

10,100 or 1000. In addition to this we have been rounding whole numbers and decimals.

During DT we were fortunate enough to have a demonstration lesson from Mr Wood, a secondary

teacher. Mr Wood demonstrated the concept of levers and mechanisms. With as practical demo, he

introduced the pupils to fulcrum, pivot, load and effort.

Next week we look forward to inviting all the parents to our Numeracy open morning. This will take

place on Sunday 13th January, 8:00am to 9:00am. This will be an opportunity to see your child work

with a variety of maths activities which will allow them to apply their maths knowledge and stretch

their puzzle solving skills.

In Literacy the children will continue with The Butterfly Lion and learn another of Alan Peat‟s exciting

sentences! During numeracy they will brush up on written calculations and apply them to word

problems. In science the pupils will look at how temperature can cause change and how these

changes can be reversible and irreversible. We continue with our topic of changing coastlines by

looking at the four stages of erosion. Whilst in DT we follow up our lesson on levers by constructing a

variety of mechanisms.

Year 6

The Year 6 children have hit the ground running this week! Many children seem to have had new

year resolutions around working hard and trying their best, so well

done to all the pupils in Year 6!

We welcome 2 new members to the sensational six team. Mrs. Wendy

Hyde has joined us replacing Miss Steele as Eagles teacher. I must

congratulate the Eagles class on how well they have been supporting

Mrs. Hyde in getting to know the school and the routines.. well done!

However Mrs. Hyde is not the only new member of that class, as I

would also like to warmly welcome Mohammed Abdulla Al Saadi.

This week the children have been really enjoying the start of our new topic “Freaks of Nature” which

has allowed them to delve into the world of natural disasters. In literacy the children have been

developing their journalist writing and interviewing each other and teachers to produce some

amazing newspaper reports. Catchy headlines and detailed interviews have ensured that readable

articles have been produced.

In numeracy the children have been developing their understanding of fractions, decimals, place

value and ordering. I would like to remind all parents that you are most welcome to attend the maths

morning next Sunday (13/01/2013) from 8-9am. You shall be able to see the variety of maths that

occurs in Year 6.

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Next week we shall be continuing our development of journalistic writing, and in numeracy we shall

be problem solving using fractions, decimals and place value.

Please could the children bring in an empty cereal box as this will be needed for an investigation in

Topic.

Al Yasmina School

Tel: 02 501 4888

email: jhupalo@alyasmina.sch.ae