PARENT UPDATES 20 September, 2020
A NOTE FROM OUR DIRECTOR Dear Parents,
Director
IMPORTANT DATES Monday, 21 September: International Day of Peace We are excited to take part in the International Day of Peace. On this day, students will be doing special activities in their classrooms and having discussions around peace, and what it means to promote peace and actively work toward making the world a more peaceful place. Stay tuned on our social media for highlights of this special day.
NO UNIFORM FOR STUDENTS: WEAR YOUR HOUSE KIT OR HOUSE COLOURS TO SCHOOL IN RECOGNITION OF INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE All students may come to school dressed in their House Kit or House colours if you haven't yet had a chance to purchase your child's House Kit, which are available in the school uniform shop in reception. Tuesday, 22 September, 9:30a.m: Zoom Coffee Morning For families new to the International Baccalaureate program and the Primary Years Programme (PYP), please join us on this collaborative information session. You will learn about the framework of the PYP (prek to grade 5 students), the key elements that support student learning and the organizational structure of the program. As we did last year, we provide this session to family members new to the school and new to the PYP but if you are still a bit unsure or have questions, please join us.
FROM OUR PRINCIPALS Dear Parents,
During these first few weeks of school all students from G1 upwards will be completing their CAT4 assessments. These assessments provide us with information about how we can support your children with their learning. The 4 areas that this addresses are verbal, non verbal, quantitative and spatial. The purpose of this assessment is to gain valuable information about students' strengths and weaknesses which will guide teachers towards personalising their instruction. These assessments do not require any preparation from the students as they do not directly reference curriculum based material.
Best regards,
Matt Greenwood Primary Principal
Seema Desai Secondary Principal
FROM OUR HEAD OF COUNSELLING Dear Parents,
International Day of Peace Day and Dreams Tomorrow, Monday, 21 September, students and teachers will mark the International Day of Peace to reflect on peace around the world within school and within ourselves. The Peace One Day movement came about as an effort to have a ceasefire in conflict regions, if only for one day, to allow humanitarian aid to make its way to people in need. As an IB school we try and make learning meaningful to inspire action that impacts positively on our communities and the world around us. This week, we saw the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of equality. Her words inspire us all to lead a meaningful life, "living not for oneself, but for one's community". In these difficult times, we are grateful for the support of our parents and Fairgreen families. May your families near and far, be healthy and at peace. In our Dreams lesson in MYP we are looking forward to working with the Moonlight School in Nepal, so that we can learn more from them about resilience and dealing with adversity following the Earthquake, and with the impact of Covid 19. We also will embark on a fact finding to see how best we can support them with their education and hopes for the future. I am sure you will hear more from your children in due course about how we can engage in service action with our Nepalese friends.
Please mark your calendar (more info to follow)
COUNSELLING SIGN-UP LINK If you wish to have a 30 min 'walk-in' with a member of our wellbeing team - no issue too small, as we wish to support you please use our sign up HERE.
I will contact you after the session for further follow-ups, or for signposting to other services if we agree they would be useful. Unfortunately only short term support can be offered at this time.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me at jgreenwood@fairgreen.ae.
*Your privacy is strictly protected and the code of conduct for counselling remains unchanged during online sessions.
Kind regards,
Jackie Greenwood Head of Counselling
HOUSE COMPETITIONS UPDATE Mascots Thank you very much to everyone that created mascots for their house. Everyone that submitted a design has scored a point for their house and these will be added to this weeks total. We are excited to announce our House Leaders soon and their first role will be to pick a mascot for each house from all the wonderful entries. We have attached some for you to include. International Day of Peace: Wear Your House Kit or House Colours to School On Monday 21st September Fairgreen will be celebrating the International Day of Peace. On this day, we invite students to wear their house kit to school, or your house colours. Everyone that wears their house colour to school will score a point for their house! As a school we recognize that there are lots of differences in the world. Society today is all about divisions and although we have 4 different houses, we are one school. We understand the importance of cooperating with each other and treating everyone with care and respect. We will be taking part in a range of activities throughout the day to celebrate the International Day of Peace.
This Week's House Point Total See the chart below indicating where our Houses stand in House point totals. Looks like it's Ignis in the lead.
NEW! PARENTS' BOOK CLUB TO SIGN UP TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FAIRGREEN PARENTS' BOOK CLUB VIA ZOOM, PLEASE CLICK HERE OR VISIT THE COMMUNITY TAB ON OUR WEBSITE
REMINDERS OPEN SEATS IN OUR NEW PRE-KG CLASSROOM Help us spread the word! We have opened a new section of PRE-KG and still have a few remaining seats to fill. Space is limited, please inquire asap via email to admissions@fairgreen.ae
OCTOBER LUNCH SERVICE SIGN-UP Dear Fairgreen School Parents,
Would you like to sign up for hot meals for your children for October?
Looking for Nutritious & Balanced lunches without the hassle of cooking every morning? We offer the full month package or voucher option for hot lunch service. CLICK HERE to learn more about order options.
Sign Up for October Service Order your lunches now, don't miss out! Please note that all orders are due Friday 25th September for lunch service starting 1st October. Click the link below and fill in your children's details for hot meals delivered to the school daily for the month of October: https://swisscanonica_order_form_snack.formstack.com/forms/fairgreen_lunch_order
Lunch Menu The lunch menu is always available to view on the Fairgreen website under "Community" or CLICK HERE to view the menu.
Vegetarian menu option available upon request. Please get in touch with us via email to fairgreen@swissconica.ae if you would like to sign up for monthly vegetarian menu.
For those that have signed up for the 1st term – no order necessary, lunch service will continue till end of December 2020.
If you need to contact SwissCanonica with any questions, write them directly at fairgreen@swisscanonica.ae.
Kind Regards,
Katarina Suballyova Operations Manager Canonica Restaurant & Catering LLC
HIGHLIGHTS MS CLARKE'S STUDENTS LEARNING ABOUT MAORI ART AND DEVELOPING THEIR SKILLS IN OIL PASTELS
In Ms Clarke's G5 art class, students have been studying the Koru symbol widely used in Maori art, which is based on an unfurling frond representing new beginnings and growth. Students created their own designs while developing their oil pastel techniques.
GRADE 8 COMPLETES FIRST PRACTICAL INVESTIGATION INTO CHEMISTRY For their first practical investigation into chemistry, Mr Copeland's Grade 8 students investigated the reactivity series of metals. Once they had researched and designed their method, students were given access to four metals and four metal solutions and challenged with ordering the metals in order of reactivity. Once the experiment was complete, the data was used to practice transforming experimental data and writing a scientific conclusion and evaluation.
GRADE 5 PRACTICING THINKING SCIENTIFICALLY Grade 5 is practicing thinking scientifically in Ms Katie's science class. Some of the plants in the hydroponic towers are not growing well, so Ms Katie asked her students to make observations on why this could be happening. They spent some time discussing what makes a good scientific observation, then students practiced this skill on the tower gardens. Next, based on their observations, students came up with possible problems. Then, students devised investigations to test their theories. Could it be the sterilization of the fogging machine? Could the water pump not be functioning as it should? Working in small groups, students will conduct their investigations by manipulating variables to come up with some interesting results. Looking forward to seeing what their investigations turn up!
FROM OUR FRIENDS IN THE SUSTAINABLE CITY Beitfann, an art center located in The Sustainable City, is offering the following classes for children and adults.
Bookings can be made through artstudio@beitfann.ae
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