December 2014/January 2015
Program Highlights
Elementary School
- Ms. Hissa read Dana's Trip with the KG and Grade 1 students and discussed jobs of the past and their neighborhood. KG students continued learning about their neighborhood by reading Harron and the Balloon and Where Do We Live?
- To support their classroom theme, KG2 students compared neighborhoods in Doha and Al Khor with Mrs. Fiona and read What James Likes Best by Amy Schwartz.
- KG1 students discussed their neighborhood with Mrs. Fiona and read Minerva and the Red Truck, by Janet Morgan Stoeke. Using an animated version of "The Wheels on the Bus" the students made comparisons of neighborhoods in Qatar and other countries.
- For Career Week the KG students listened to the storytelling of Trashy Town and I Stink. Discussion of how careers are very important to the community followed and then the students made maps of what places a garbage truck would stop at on the way from our homes to the school. This same lesson was adapted for Grades 1 and 2. Grade 3 listened to the storytelling of Library Lil and then came up with the super powers they would want to adopt in order to perform their chosen Career ultimately!
- _Ms. Hissa introduced Grades 1 and 2 students to the Super 3 Research Method. Grade 1 practiced Plan, Do, and Review with the story What Did You Decide, Malik? Grade 2 students practiced Plan, Do, and Review by beginning research on maps.
- Mrs. Fiona discussed fact and fiction with Grade 1 students and read The Night I Followed a Dog by Nina Laden.
- As the Grade 2 students continue their Alphabet Adventure around the Library, to celebrate “C’ authors Mrs. Fiona read Fortunately by Remy Charlip with Grade 2 students. Predicting what will happen next, the students interacted with their ideas of what would be the outcome.
- Grade 3 finished reading Yasser's List with Ms. Hissa, planned a book cover before beginning the second step, Do.
- Mrs. Fiona and the Grade 4 and 5 students discussed that math is everywhere and the meaning of "infinity." Students heard the storytelling of Infinity and Me, by Kate Hosford, and used the Online Grolier Encyclopedia to play a Qatar in Numbers game where students had to discover the significance of a number in relationship to Qatar.
- Ms. Hisa introduced Grades 4 and 5 students to the Qatari writer Khalifa Al Sayed Al Malki and read a story from his book Folktales.
- Mrs. Fiona discussed the Super 3 Research Method to prepare grade 4 students for their World Wonders Report and Grade 5 students for their Country Report by reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, by Marjorie Priceman, and discussing how authors must research before writing a book. She also prepared folders for Grade 4 with printed information about the Wonders of the World obtained from the various online databases available at QAK. Video presentations of Ryan Doyle performing Parkour at the various World Wonders provided the students with added inspiration for their research projects.
- Career Week for grades 4 and 5 coincided with the introduction to the Dewey Classification number 300. Students listened to the story telling of The Empty Pot – a folk tale about a young ‘gardener’ that takes place in Ancient China. To follow up on this they then viewed the animated version of The Curious Gardener by Peter Brown and were able to see ‘factual’ photos of the High Line Project in New York City, which is the inspiration behind the story.
- Mr. Islam helped students in grades 6-10 evaluate Wikipedia articles for reliability, and taught students how important it is to evaluate a source before using it.
Qatar National Library visited the school and activated user accounts for many teachers. - Ghanim Nasser Al Mohannadi and Tuana Alhaidari submitted a research paper about Sheikh Abdulla bin Jassim, with guidance from Mr. Islam, for a Qatar National Day Contest sponsored by the Supreme Education Council and the Museum of Islamic Art.
- Every secondary school student took a book home to participate in a Mystery Book Challenge during the winter holiday. Mrs. Melanie promoted the Reading Challenge: Mission Possible by dressing up as an international spy/secret agent.
- Secondary librarians participated in a 3 day professional development on our library automation system.
- Dr. Fawzy Yousif from the Supreme Education Council visited the Secondary Library to discuss research opportunities.
- Students in Grades 6-10 practiced paraphrasing using the RAP strategy (Read, Ask, Put) and reviewed guidelines to avoid plagiarism.
- Mr. Islam visited the International Book Fair in Doha, and purchased Arabic books for our collection.