The Deira Daily - Issue 1 - Deira International School

The Deira Daily
Day: 1
Month: May
This week, we talked to the Primary School Principal,
Mr. Ward. Here is what he had to say about being
principal and the new Student Newspaper.
Do you enjoy being a principal and why?
I enjoy being the Primary School Principal because I
can see the development in the students. I enjoy looking
at the improvements of children.
How do you feel about the newspaper club?
The newspaper club sounds like a fantastic idea for
sharing everything across the primary and secondary
school and with parents as well.
Would you like to be in our first newspaper?
I would like very much to be in your first newspaper,
thank you for offering.
What do you like about the school?
What I like about the school is the children, first and
foremost, because without good children, we wouldn’t
have the great school that we already have. Then, the
staff who work very hard to make sure that the
teaching and learning is the best standard that it could
be so that you make the best progress that you can do.
Do you like giving certificates in assembly?
I love giving certificates in assembly so that I can find
out what you have all been doing in class because I can’t
get to the classroom all the time. It’s great to be able to
see what great work you achieve.
Do you think you are being the best principal in DIS?
I am trying my best to be the best principal.
Thank you for answering our questions.
You are very welcome
Have a nice day.
Year: 2017 issue: 1
This section will look at items trending at DIS this year.
This issue we will cover Pokémon Cards.
Pokémon cards
Pokémon cards are part of a card game based on
Pokémon. Children collect the cards and play against
other players.
We talked to Mr. Ward about this trend that was
sweeping over the school like a tsunami of candy. Here
is what the principal told us about this trend.
Mr. Ward never actually suspected that Pokémon cards
would ever be a “threat” to the student’s learning
environment. In fact, considering what happened with
football cards or previous card trends, “You have to wait
and see...” was what we quoted Mr. Ward saying.
Surprised? Mr. Ward said that the fighting negatively
affected the students during class. So, it was decided
that they would no longer be allowed in school.
Keep watch for our next issue, where we will look at the
new trend taking over, Fidget Spinners.
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The Deira Daily
Eco club wins bronze accreditation!
This week, Alya and
Zahra sat down to talk
to Miss Smith, who is
the chair of the Eco
Committee. The Eco
Committee recently won
the Bronze
Accreditation. Here is
what Miss Smith had to
say about why it is so
important to have an
Eco Committee in
school and to take care
of the environment.
Why is it important not to waste energy? Energy costs a lot of money and the more
energy we use, the more it affects global warming. The more energy that we save, the
better it is for the planet.
Why did you choose to be the head of ECO club? I am happy to be the head of the
Committee because it’s our planet and if we don’t do something to help it, who else
will? We live on the Planet Earth and we need to help the planet. I think it’s really
important because if you feel passionate about something, you can try to persuade
other people to understand why it is so important.
Why do you think it’s important for us to be an ECO school? When I worked in a
school back in Wales, we were an Eco school and we got the Green Flag, and
everyone was so excited and happy when we got the Green Flag because it meant
that we were doing lots of things to help the environment. So, I thought it would be
nice if DIS could get the same Green Flag because I know that it made everybody in
that school, all of the teachers, all of the students, the parents, everyone who was
involved in the school very happy to know that we cared about the environment.
Were you part of the Eco committee in your old school? Yes, I was the chair of the
Eco committee. We have a committee so that people can share their ideas about how
to we can reduce things that we use, we can recycle things that we use and we can
reuse all the things that we have because if we can reuse them, it’s great, we don’t
have to buy a new one! And if we can recycle, that is great because it gets made into
something else and if we reduce what we use, we won’t have so much waste in the
first place.
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The Deira Daily
Naya is in 5D and she is a gymnast. She started
gymnastics when she was 3 years old. She has been going
gymnastics for seven years. She has always been in the
same club and now she is at the highest level.
When Naya was 3 years old, she was doing ballet. That's
when she decided she wanted to do gymnastics because
she wanted to be flexible.
Recently, Naya won first place in a gymnastics
competition in Dubai. She says that she won because she
practised a lot. Naya has done four or five competitions
in Dubai so far.
Right now, Naya is waiting for a visa to travel to Canada
to take part in a competition.
Orcas, also known as Killer Whales, are part of the
dolphin family. They are often referred to as the wolves
of the sea. They live and hunt together in packs just like
wolves. Orcas hunt everything from fish to walruses,
seals, sea-lions, penguins and more! They have many
hunting techniques, including bumping seals off ice with
all their power.
The life-span of an orca in captivity is 17 years for a
male and 29 years for a female. If they are not in
captivity, they can live for 50-80 years! That’s why it is so
important to leave them in their natural habitat.
Orcas are really slow animals, they move slower than a
car!
If you would like to learn more about orcas, you can visit
National Geographic Kids by clicking on the link below.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/orca/#orcapod.jpg
In DIS we have very important guidelines to follow.
Here are some of them;
• You’re not allowed to bring fidget spinners.
• Don’t go upstairs at lunch and break time
without asking a teacher first.
• You must walk sensibly in the halls and the
cafeteria.
• Pokémon cards are banned in school.
• The weather is getting warmer, you must
have a hat to play outside.
• Year 3 and 4 students are not allowed to eat
outside at snack time or lunch time.
• Walk on the left side of the stairs.
• Be sensible in the bathroom, keep it clean,
close the taps and wash your hands when you
are done.
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The Deira Daily
Hooray for Miss HammondOur focus teacher for this issue is
Miss Hammond who teaches 4C.
Why did you decide to teach?
Because I love working with
children and I love seeing them
happy. That’s what you get to do
when you teach!
What’s your favourite thing to
teach? I used to love to teach P.E.,
but as we don’t teach that here, I
love teaching English and seeing
children’s writing.
How do you organise your
lessons? I try to make sure that
everyone’s learning a new skill
and everyone’s challenged to do
something maybe they find tricky
and to make sure it’s something
interesting for them.
Do you get frustrated? (Smiling)
Sometimes I do, maybe when I’m
tired, or I’ve not had a chocolate!
How would you get kids to calm
down? Hmm… How do I get kids to
calm down? Count down from three,
or ask them to put their hands-on
top, or just play calming music, that
always seems to work!
What is your favourite age to teach?
I really enjoy teaching Year 4, so 8
to 9 years old. But I also like
teacher Year 3.
27th April- Year 5 BBQ CAS
event
2nd May- Teacher Appreciation
Day- SRC Initiative
3rd May- Parent-Teacher Meetings
EY1-Y6
7th-11th May – Enterprise Week
16th and 17th May- Year 5
Production- The Jungle Book
18th May- Crazy Hair Day CAS
event
27th May- 25th June- Ramadan
(More information to follow)
22nd of June- Last day of school!!!
Library recommendation
This week we went to the library to speak to Miss Kate. She
told us that her favourite book is Animalia. She said that she
liked it because it has good illustrations.
Animalia was written and illustrated by Greame Base. It is a
book about the alphabet. It has twenty-six illustrations
including an animal for each letter of the alphabet.
Miss Kate recommends this books for kids because it's a great
book.
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The Deira Daily
Year 4 India day
On Wednesday, 26 April, Year 4 had their Indian Day. They
had this day because they are going to start learning about
India.
For India Day, the Year 4 students dressed in traditional
Indian costume. In the morning, the students had class
activities to do with India. Some of the activities included;
-Making Rongoli designs
-Indian Just Dance
-Making Indian candle holders
There was an Indian buffet in the cafeteria for Year 4
students. There was rice, Indian sweets and breads, and much
more! Students, parents and teachers all helped to provide the
food for the Indian buffet.
In the afternoon, children continued learning about India.
Some classes researched facts about India and made their own
videos using iMovie.
When we spoke to the Year 4 students, they all agreed that
India day was a lot of fun and they learned lots of interesting
facts about the country and traditions.
Comic: car troubles
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The Deira Daily
Ali Hamdan 6D- Ali and Idrees are our Trends Columnists. This week they
investigated Pokémon cards and the learning environment. They have already
started to look at the Fidget Spinner trend for the next issue. Ali is also a
member of the Student Council Representative Team in school.
Idrees Mirza 6D- Idrees works with Ali in the Trending department. Because
Idrees is in Year 6, he has the ‘know’ for what is trending in both the Primary
school and the Secondary school.
Laiba Afridi 6P- Laiba is brilliant with technology and has already designed some
advertisements for the Deira Daily. Right now, she is working on a Dubai
Heritage piece for our next issue.
Muhammad Kashif 6D- This issue, MK decided it would be a good idea to share
some knowledge with the rest of the children. He did some research on Orcas and
shared an excellent link where children can learn more about orcas and other
animals, National Geographic Kids.
Theodore Nathan 6C- This issue, Theo looked at the upcoming events that are
happening at DIS for the remainder of the Year. There are a lot of exciting
events, so make sure to read the ‘Upcoming Events’ section and to check out the
advertisements!
Zeineldin Habiba 5B- Zeineldin is our only Year 5 student as they are getting
ready for their big performance of The Jungle Book coming up in May. Zeineldin
is busy rehearsing for the play and preparing a special feature for our next issue
called Amazing Apps.
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The Deira Daily
Bashayer Al Alawi 4P- This issue, Bashayer
reported on the Year 4 India Day. She also
does hoola hooping.
Yile Liu 3P- Yile worked with Shreenav to
create this issue’s comic strip. He also takes
part in choir and Kenken Maths.
Tanisha Lal 4D- For our first issue of The
Deira Daily, Tanisha took part and wrote
about India Day in Year 4. She is from India
herself, so really enjoyed celebrating her
home country.
Ilyaas Mirza 3C- Ilyaas helped to interview
Mr. Ward for our first newspaper article,
A Word with Mr. Ward. He is also in the
ECO committee and enjoys ICT.
Riddhi Agarwal 3D- This issue, Rhiddi helped
to write School Reminders and interviewed
Naya in Year 5 about gymnastics. She also
does choir and Kenken, a Maths competition.
Shreenav Purohit 3D- Shreenav worked
with Yile to create our comic strip. He has
a joke book, so keep an eye out for more
funny comics! Shreenav also does choir
and swimming.
Alya Al Awali 3B- Alya worked with Zahra
this issue to write about the Eco Club, which
she is also a member of! Read all about our
efforts to attain a Green Flag in the Eco
section.
Jessica Takla 3O- Jessica contributed to
the School Reminders and interviewed
Miss Kate for a book recommendation.
She also does choir.
Leya Almassarani 3C- Leya helped to
interview Mr. Ward for our first newspaper
article, A Word with Mr. Ward. She is also
involved with Arabic Drama and Junior
Choir.
Joudy Zaky 3B- Joudy created questions
and interviewed Miss Hammond in this
issue for our Focus Teacher section. She is
also part of the Junior Choir and plays
tennis.
Zahra El Yazidi 3C—Zahra helped to create
the Eco piece in this issue. She is also an Eco
Club member and wanted to share what the
Eco Committees main goals are.
Ali Ismail 3B- In this issue, Ali worked with
Joudy to interview our focus teacher, Miss
Hammond. Ali also does MEYSO and is part
of the ‘Getting Ready for Ramadan’ club.
Maya Fakhri 3C- This issue, Maya
interviewed Ms. Kate for a book
recommendation. She loves to swim and do
running races. Maya is very well spoken as a
reporter.
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