1. Al Yasmina School Primary Newsletter
8 November 2012
Issue 08
Dear Parents,
Dates for your Diary
Monday 26 November - Next FOY Meeting
Monday 26 November - Individual photos
Tuesday 27 November - Individual photos
Thursday 29 November - National Day Celebrations
Thursday 6 December - Year 3 Ancient Egyptian Day
Saturday 8 December - Festive Fayre
Monday 10 December - Al Yasmina Festive Concert
PINK Day

2. Last Thursday 1November was Pink Day! All of the pupils and
staff donated money and came to school wearing pink, to
celebrate breast cancer awareness. The whole school
participated and we raised 14,500dhs. We will present this
money to The Red Crescent, who assist women with breast
cancer who can‟t afford the treatment themselves. A big
thank you to the school nurses for organizing this event.
From The Music Department
Year 5 celebrated their end of topic „Lights, Camera, Action‟ with a sparkling showcase of their work
in the Atrium this morning for the Year 5 parents. Sunbirds composed and performed a piece of
music to accompany a short clip of animated film music. It sounded wonderful. Nightjars gave a
stunning performance of the song “There‟s no business like Show Business”. A very talented selection
of performers from Year 5 also sang “Burn Them Trees” from the show Yanomamo., a beautiful
cantata for choir and solo voices set in the Amazon Rainforest. The singing was fabulous. We are very
proud of them! Yanomamo is happening this evening at Al Bateen School at 5pm. Admission is free.
Well done to this week‟s Musicians of the Week
Steven Tampubolon. (Key Stage1) and Sandali Weerasekera (Key
Stage 2). Steven (Year 2 Flamingos) gave a very fine performance of
a piece called “The Haunted Mouse” on the piano for the whole class
and Sandali (Year 6 Falcons) was super-successful when she
displayed her ability to sight-read 3 difficult tunes and perform them
flawlessly on keyboard for her class.

3. We have 3 dates for your diary:
Thursday 8 November: „Yanomamo‟ at Al Bateen School. We hope to see you there!
Saturday 8 December: FOY Festive Fayre. Both primary choirs have been asked to sing. Further
details will be sent shortly.
Monday 10 December: Al Yasmina Festive Concert, including performances by all choirs and
ensembles. Further details to follow.
For any information about primary music activities, please contact cknapton@alyasmina.sch.ae
From the Arabic Department
Welcome to the first Primary Arabic contribution to the newsletter
We are looking forward to telling the parents every week about what the children have been
learning in their native speakers and non-native speaking lessons. Each week we will tell you about
the different year groups.
Y5 non- native: children have been learning about the music room and musical instruments and
they have been interested when they have been doing an Arabic activity about musical
instruments.
Y6 non-native : children have been learning about the music room and musical instruments and they
were doing an Arabic project about music festivals. The children were really happy and excited
during their lessons.
Useful website: www.funwitharabic.com
Year 5 Arabic
Year 6 Arabic

4. Science Challenge
Congratulations to the Science challenge winners form last
Thursday: FS winner Sophie Kay; KS1 winner Haya Halawa and KS2
winner Grace Lewis. The children had fun investigating if they
could slow down the rotting process of apples. An email has
gone out about the latest science challenge and I hope more of
children and parents will want to join in with our „Fabulous
Floating‟ experiment. We look forward to receiving your entries.
Friend of Al Yasmina (FOY)
FOY Hamper Request
The Festive Fayre on 8 December is just around the corner and FOY volunteers are working hard
organising a raft of activities. You can help make the fayre an overwhelming success by providing
items for hamper baskets, which will be raffled on the day. Each Year group has been given a
different theme for donations. Boxes will be provided in each shared area for donations. FOY needs
all items brought in by November 22 so volunteers plenty of time to wrap them.
FS1 and FS2 - Spa products - body wash, scrub, lotion, shower gel, hand cream, cuticle cream, nail
polish, nail file, aromatherapy candles or oils
Year 1 and Year 2 - Gourmet food - (nothing that needs to be refrigerated) - coffee, specialty teas,
fancy biscuits or crackers, nice jars, oils
Year 3 and Year 4 - Toys/items for children - board games, cards, small books, crayons, colouring
pencils, stickers, yo-yos, small puzzles, bubbles, balloons
Year 5 and Year 6 - Outdoor/garden - vases, candles, lanterns, small garden tools, seeds, hand scrub
and cream, gardening gloves
Festive Jar Competition
Take an empty jar, fill it with wrapped sweets and decorate it as festive as you can. Prizes for the best
decorated jars (one for boys and one for girls). Please see attached flyer for more details.
National Day Celebrations
As you are aware, National Day is approaching. We are currently
putting together an exciting day of celebrations for 29th November 2012,
but we would like to ask for some help. We hope to set up a souk to
showcase traditional Arabic customs and artifacts. We want the
children to see, learn and appreciate as much as possible about the
local culture in which we live.
Any vendors who would like to have a table at the souk, please contact
Miss Dean (see below). There are limited places available. We would like
the stalls to sell traditional Arabic items as far as possible and with prices
suitable for the children.

5. If you have any contacts or would like to help out yourself, then please send an email to Miss Dean
(CDean@alyasmina.sch.ae). We look for help and support in the following areas: Henna, Face
painting, Buffet food, Camel riding, Traditional cooking, Dancing,
Any offers / volunteers will be much appreciated!
There will be a meeting for anyone who wishes to volunteer at our National Day celebrations on
Monday 12th November 2012 in Year 2 Storks Classroom. Everyone welcome. Thanks in advance!
From Reception
When Student‟s need to leave the School for appointments, a note from Mum/Dad/Guardian needs
to be supplied either via Student Planner or email.
If an appointment crops up last minute, please give us as much notice as possible to enable staff to
locate the student.
Your co-operation is much appreciated.
Car Parking
As ever can we ask you to be patient and drive both carefully and sensibly. Our golden rule for the
car park is to please park in a marked parking bay before allowing your children to exit/enter the car.
Please avoid a situation where you hold up the traffic as you allow your children to exit/enter your
car near the entrance gates. Parents who do this mean well for their own children, but they cause
frustration for drivers waiting to enter the car park. Please seek out a parking bay.
We will be very grateful to any parent who elects to park on the sand to the side of the school and
walks the extra few meters to the school gate. We realise the temperature and humidity can be
uncomfortable but this „sand‟ parking will help ease the parking situation. For parents new to the
school we essentially ask:
1. Do not park next to the yellow or red painted pavements
2. Enter the car park from the main front entrance.
3. Do not drive against the traffic
4. Do not park your car on the pavement
4. Follow the directions and requests of the security staff
5. As pedestrians use the marked crossing points where possible
(zebra crossings). Please set an example to the children
News from Al Muna School
On Monday 10 December, Al Muna School is having a Winter Souk. They would welcome people
who would like to run an art/craft stall – contact foam@almunaprimary.sch.ae for more information.
ADDS Panto - British Club Abu Dhabi
We wondered if staff and students aged 11 & over would be interested in attending our Annual
Pantomime “Cinderella”. To be held at the British Club Abu Dhabi – Tuesday 11th December.
Flat fee of Aed 25 for Students, Chaperones FOC.
For any queries, please contact Mrs. Linda Arkley at Reception2@alyasmina.sch.ae

6. For all Year groups - Come on everybody, show off your talents!
For the attention of all Primary parents
Why not encourage your child to enter the story or poetry writing
competition which is being run as part of the Emirates Airline Festival of
Literature?
Click on the following link to find out more details.
http://www.emirateslitfest.com/writingcompetition
We have some brilliant writers amongst our children and it would be fantastic
to see them being recognized outside Al Yasmina.
If you have any further questions that can‟t be answered by the website, please email Mrs. Wood
(Year 5 Parakeets) at CWood@alyasmina.sch.ae.
Foundation Stage 1 (FS1)
„I wonder which fruit FS1 will like best...‟ There have been so many to choose
from this week as FS1 have explored their mini topic „fruit‟. We have read the
lovely story of „Handa‟s Surprise‟ looking carefully at the fruits in Handa‟s
basket, along with the African animals. We made some tasty fruit kebabs using
grapes, strawberries and pineapples, talking about how they tasted and which
one we liked best. With water paint, we
painted some of the delicious fruits from the
story. We also enjoyed counting up to 10 fruits
and putting them on a number line. In our role
play fruit and vegetables shop, we pretended
to buy and sell fruit and vegetables using the
tills and counters. Thank you very much to
those parents who contributed their ideas this
week, you made our learning even more
exciting!
Next week we will be learning about bread and cheese. We will have lots of fun making bread rolls,
tasting cheese and bread, learning some words in French and getting creative with French art. If you
think you could help make the week extra special in any way, please get in touch with your class
teacher, we look forward to hearing from you.
Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week
Our fantastic super stars from last week were Stef Markou from
Yellow class, Lea Jawhar from White class, Misk Al Mukhtar
from Green class, Fatima Al Hammadi from Red class, Hamed
Al Haddad from Gold Class and Matteus Tysse from Blue class.
Well done!

7. Foundation Stage 2 (FS2)
It‟s been a great week this for FS2 - we have had so much fun showing the teachers how clever we
are!! We have written about the different types of food we enjoy eating, we‟ve practiced our
phonics and we‟ve proved how beautifully we can write our names. We‟ve also made our own
fireworks using tin foil and glitter, practiced our tricky words using magic crayons and practiced how
to form numbers the correct way round – some of us are still finding this tricky! Why don‟t you have a
practice at home?
Next week our mini focus for our topic „Food around the world‟ is India. We have got some GREAT
activities planned including tasting traditional Indian food, a demonstration on how to make Indian
bread and we are going to make our own rangoli patterns.
In Maths the children will be introduced to the concept of adding by finding the total number of
items in two groups by counting all of them.
You could help at home by:
• Talking about the different types of food you can eat in India
• Find out information about India
• Talk about how the culture in India is different to their own
• Add 2 groups of objects together e.g. toys, books or even sweets (then they can be eaten…
YUM!)
Phonics Focus:
Revision of Phase 2 sounds: sh, ch, th, ng
Phase 2 tricky words: I, no, go, to, go, the, big, put, but
Helpful website:
Below is the youtube website, it 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
Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week
Isabelle Hodgson from Jade class, Maram Ghanem from Amber class, Mariam Barakat from Orange
class, Hind Al Omaira from Ruby class and Roy Breidi from Purple class. Well done guys, we‟re so
proud of you!!!

8. Year 1
Year 1 came into school on Sunday and found a surprise in
our shared area! It was all cordoned off ready for
construction, the teachers had run out of ideas for our
houses and homes topic! Luckily Year 1 came to the
rescue in their literacy learning this week, making designs in
teams using their labels and captions knowledge and
producing an information booklet containing many types
of houses we could create. Well done Year 1!
Year 1 continue to be busy in numeracy and have been
learning to count in 2‟s, 5‟s and 10‟s this week. They have used this learning to answer number
problems and puzzles. Keep practicing these number patterns at home.
Sparrows: Please note Sparrows PE slot has changed so that there is now not a clash with Islamic
Studies. PE is now on Wednesdays at 9 am, so please send the children in wearing their school
uniform. Swimming is still on Sunday!
Robins: Robins class also have a change to timetable. Library time is now on Thursday.
Help needed:
Also there is still a need for a classroom helper in Sparrows. If anyone could spare an afternoon or
morning hearing readers especially, this would be wonderful! Thank you. Remember that we cannot
have a Sparrows parent in our class…so we are calling on all Larks, Doves, Robins and Cuckoos
parents!
Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week‟
Larks- Cillian Mitchell, Doves- Sabrina Heymans, Cuckoos- Karen Al Mokatash, Robins- Kayed Al
Hammadi, Sparrows- Jack Wild
Year 2
This week has been another busy week in Year 2. In
maths we have been working on „inverse‟ to help us
understand the link between addition and
subtraction. We have also been working on
fractions. We used play dough to help us think
about halves and quarters and we were introduced
to the words „numerator‟ and „denominator‟ to help
us understand how many equal parts we had to
make.

9. We are all very excited about our visit to the fire station and we have been using our time in literacy
and topic to research fire safety. We even made our own adverts to teach younger children the fire
safety rules! Next week we will be moving on the „The Great Fire of London‟. We will be learning
about this important historical event in lots of fun ways. We hope you enjoy looking through a
selection of photos from our fantastic creatures of the desert day and last weeks „dress pink‟ day for
charity.
Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week
Sandpipers – Shamma Al Khali, Spoonbills - Thomas Muller, Herons – Alissar Nizameddin, Flamingos –
Hannah Barber, Storks - Adham Foud
Year 3
The children have had an exciting week with their visit to Sheikh Zayed grand mosque. They have
learned lots of fascinating facts that they have been sharing during our UAE Social studies lessons.
This week in Literacy we continued reading “The Twits” and have written another first person account,
e.g. a character‟s own account of an incident in the story. We have also written a rhyme to perform
to the class and we have been developing our comprehension skills by learning how to find keywords
and use these to help us answer questions. We have also written a completely unaided piece of
writing to describe a new nasty trick that we think the twits could perform on each other.

10. In Maths the children have been answering questions by collecting, organising and interpreting data.
They have used pictograms to represent results and illustrate their observations.
This week we have been drawing and labeling the different features of a plant and finding out why
plants are so important to us- e.g. food, furniture, building, papyrus-clothing -Egyptians, perfume,
medicine etc. In future weeks we will be planting and growing plants and investigating how best
they grow. In preparation for this we ask if the children can bring in a plant pot by Wednesday 14th
November (Between 10 and 15 centimetres in diameter).
We have continued to find out fascinating things about the Ancient Egyptians, this week we found
out all about the many different gods and why they were important. Next week we will learn about
how the Ancient Egyptians entertained themselves and we will be playing and making some board
games.
Next week we have our Assessment week and will be doing a reading comprehension and revising
some of our grammar rules that we need to apply to our writing for example changing present tense
to past tense and vice versa. In maths we will also have a maths assessment and work on problems
involving money.
Date for your diary: Ancient Egyptian day is on Thursday December 6th.
Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week
Daniel Florence- Curlews, Ziead Kaddoura – Buntings, Umar Ibn Yahya– Cormorants, Georgia
Coulston – Ravens, Ethan Wong – Terns

11. Year 4
Stop the presses! What a fantastic week it has been in Year 4!
The children in Year 4 have turned into journalists this week and
have been reporting on the exciting events from our Healthy Eating
Days.
We have learnt about the features of a news report, what makes a
good headline and the difference between reported speech and
direct speech. We even held a press conference to collect quotes
to include in our newspaper articles about Healthy Eating Day.
We looked at some TV news reports and pretended to be news
reporters ourselves, reporting live from scene of Humpty Dumpty‟s
tragic fall from the wall. We have some talent in year 4, the BBC
had better watch out!
We have kicked off our new topic,
„Architecturally Sound‟, this week and
have been looking at some amazing
buildings and structures around the world, including the 7
wonders. We used world maps and atlases to help us. It
was really interesting. We found out that the Taj Mahal in
India was built by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife and
that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space! We
are looking forward to having a real life architect
come and visit us on Thursday and discuss her job
with us.
In ICT this week we have been taking part in the Middle East Math
Challenge. It has been great fun to play the games and compete
against children from different schools and even from other countries!
Next week we will be learning all about different units of measure in
Maths and will be doing some hands on activities measuring the length and perimeter of objects. In
literacy we will be focusing on TV news reports and will be working towards writing and filming our
own! We are looking forward to learning about iconic buildings from around the world in Topic, such
as the Sydney Opera House, Empire State Building and the Burj Khalifa. It‟s going to be another a
fabulous week in Year 4!
Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week
Wagtails- Saoud Al Nassai, Pipits- Allan Murad, Warblers-
Charlton Yau, Wheatears- Julia Ebner, Sand grouse-
Charlie King

12. Year 5
This week saw our Lights, Camera, Action topic come to an epic finale. On Wednesday evening the
children (and teachers!) enjoyed the thrill of the movies, munching on hot dogs and crisps while
watching Hugo, a 2011 film based on the life of an orphan boy, living in Paris.
Many famous Hollywood actors were welcomed to Al Yasmina‟s red carpet for our Oscar award
ceremony on Thursday.
We saw Johnny Depp in his roles of Captain Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands, the glamorous
Audrey Hepburn as Holly in Breakfast at Tiffany‟s, Bruce Wayne as Batman, Judy Garland as Dorothy
from The Wizard of Oz and many many more. Children (and parents) made a fantastic effort,
working hard to prepare their costumes and their tear-jerking speeches in anticipation of receiving
the ultimate award of an Oscar. A huge thank you goes out to all who helped with this event.
In Literacy this week we have written about the adventures that an alien encountered together with
his earthling friend during a visit to Abu Dhabi and have developed our ability to describe using
powerful vocabulary. Next week we shall be finding out how to produce television news reports and
writing our own for presentation.
This week‟s Maths has focused on developing our data handling and mental maths skills. The
children have also battled it out against others from all over the UAE competing in the Middle Eastern
Maths Challenge. Children will continue to develop their problem-solving skills next week in the
context of measurement, focusing on length and time, including using a calendar.
The excitement of the recent F1 carries on in Year 5 next week with the introduction to our new topic.
Children will begin to find out about the race locations and the drivers involved in this exhilarating
sport.
Congratulations to last week‟s „Stars of the Week
Umar Bashir (Parakeets) Reem Al Rawi (Sunbirds) Riley Forbes
(Nightjars) Elliott Pollendine (Mynahs) and Jonas Greene
(Swallows)
Year 6
Year 6 have been working very hard this week and are to be commended on their behaviour and
dedication to learning. During Literacy this week we have been focusing on how to write instructional
texts. The pupils have been able to identify key features and have followed the teachers‟ instructions
wonderfully in order to produce excellently written, clear and precise instructions. In Numeracy the
pupils have been revising properties of 2D and 3D shapes, while also thoroughly enjoying taking part
in the Middle East Maths Challenge; competing against other students from all over the Middle East.
Science this week has been learning about forces. Test your child‟s knowledge by asking them what
type of forces were acting on the F1 cars as they raced around the Yas Marina Circuit last weekend.

13. Discovering the difference between the weight of an object in
water and in the air.
Next week in Literacy we shall be distinguishing the difference between instructions and guides and
then focusing on how to write a guide. The pupils will be collaborating in class to create a guide
book on how to be an outstanding student within Al Yasmina School. In Numeracy lessons we will be
continuing to classify 2-D shapes and 3-D solids according to their sides and edges and identifying
lines of symmetry within 2-D shapes.
Well done to our stars of the week this week!
Isabella Jarman (Owls), Nandini Bhalla (Eagles), Mohanad El
Chouemi (Falcons), Jasmine Cheah (Kestrels), Alexa Rayner
(Ospreys).
Al Yasmina School
Tel: 02 5014888
email: primarypa@alyasmina.sch.ae