March 6th- March 17th

Director's Message

Dear Community Members,

Welcome to this Edition of the What’s Up Cobras.

I would like to extend to the members of our Muslim Community, Ramadan Moubarak Said.

School hours during Ramadan:

Please be advised that as in the past years, we shall be changing school start and ending times for the holy month of Ramadan. School hours during the holy month of Ramadan will be from 8:30am to 3:30pm. School Doors will be open at 8:10am to receive students. More details will be shared by the respective principals. As a reminder, Ramadan is expected to start either Thursday, March 23rd or Friday, March 24th. Again, Ramadan Moubarak Said to our Muslim Community.

If you would like to contribute to our CAS Workers' Ramadan Drive, these are the items that are most useful for them and their families during the holy month of Ramadan: Rice, Chickpeas, lentils, Milk, Coffee, Tea, Sugar, Cooking oil, Flour (riz, pois chiches, lentilles, lait, café, thé, sucre, huile, farine).

Again, we sincerely thank you for the Generosity!

As a reminder, Morocco is switching to day-light savings time this Sunday, March 19th. All clocks and devices will move 1 hour backwards.

Let's all reflect on Covid 19 Pandemic:

Exactly three years ago, Morocco declared a curfew due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some CAS families lost dear ones and our thoughts are still with them.

Morocco was one of the first countries to establish clear procedures to counteract this novel disease. Casablanca American School took this serious and deadly threat to another level by advanced planning and offering online courses. In no time, and during a hectic weekend, teachers and principals met extensively to establish the protocols so that our students could connect and follow online courses. Remember, this was all new to us.

I would like to thank especially our teachers and principals and our Support and Administrative Staff for adapting to the new situation and accommodating our students, families and instructional staff during those unusual times. My thanks also go to our expatriate teachers and Interns who were far from home and decided not to leave Morocco and abandon their students, while the U.S. Consulate was offering help to those who wanted to depart Morocco.

Thank you to all of our families and the PTC members for offering their help and support to our expatriate teachers.

CAS also offered assistance to families in need by asking them to share their affiliations so that other families could receive their help.

After students came back on campus in 2021, CAS was the first and the only school to offer drive-by antigenic tests. That helped to identify those who had contracted the disease and thereby reduce the risk of contamination to others.

Following the Health Department guidelines to vaccinate students at school through the MASSAR CODE, we invited our CAS families to have their children under the age of twelve vaccinated at school.

CAS also followed the protocol established by the Moroccan Health Department by vaccinating our staff in the different local health Departments centers. We also offered our Seniors Graduation by allowing students and their parents to come to school in 2021 after having a drive-by graduation in 2020.

As normal life is now returning everywhere, I must say that we all have learnt a lot from this pandemic. It has taught us how much we need each other in our life, socially and emotionally, how much we care for each other, and it has definitely taught us what is important in life.

Last but not least, as we always like to share our events with our CAS community, please let us know if you do not want us to publish your child/en pictures or yours in our social media platforms.

Sincerely,

John J. Randolph

Academics

From the LS Principal

WOW! Family Math Night was wonderful!! Thank you to the FOC Math Night committee AND the large group of volunteers from across the Preschool and Lower School!

Way to go Kahdija Kibal, Charlene Leaderhouse, Susan Ladd, Amy Griffith, Amina Chafi, Bouchra Daifi, Cassie Garvin, Cecilia Cracknell, Eileen Achaoui, Holly Czuchna, Houda Hannouni , Mackenzie Poelker, Meghan Lydon , Stefanie Osbourn

We'll need to review the attendance sheets but I believe it was the highest attended in-person FOC event to date. Both kids and parents were engaged and the gym was full of engaging math tasks and games. And a thank you to the many student volunteers. It was very thoughtful and well organized...executed without a hitch!

Enjoy our Family Math Night Gallery here!!!

Please be on the look out for a message from Ms. Phillips with reminders and important information.

Elizabeth Phillips

LS Principal

From the US Principal

We want to take this opportunity to remind you of the importance of regular attendance for your child's academic success. Regular attendance is crucial for your child to fully benefit from the educational program and not miss any essential instructions. Excessive absenteeism and tardiness can disrupt your child's education and the classroom environment, which can negatively impact their learning.

We understand that there may be circumstances where your child cannot attend school, but we ask for your cooperation to ensure that your child attends school regularly. We believe that attendance and punctuality are essential to academic success, and we need your support to help us ensure that your child attends school regularly and arrives on time.

We want to work with you to support your child's academic success. Therefore, we ask that you encourage your child to attend school regularly and understand the importance of being punctual. If your child is going to be absent or late for any reason, please contact the school to let us know. We also encourage you to work with the school to develop a plan to address any attendance issues.

It is important to note that regular absenteeism and tardiness can have negative consequences for your child's academic performance and progress. They may miss out on valuable lessons and fall behind in their studies, which could ultimately lead to severe repercussions such as loss of extracurricular activities, in-school or out-of-school suspension, repeating the school year, or even expulsion from school. Therefore, it is crucial that all students are held accountable for attending school regularly and being punctual to avoid such outcomes.

Simohamed Sarhane

US Principal

Digital Suite of Assessment

The SAT test is now digital. The first Digital SAT took place at the Casablanca American School on Saturday March 11, 2023. The digital SAT is substantially shorter than its paper and pencil predecessor—lasting 2 hours and14 minutes instead of 3 hours. Bluebook™ is the custom-built application students use to take the digital SAT. Students can take the digital SAT on Windows laptops or tablets, Mac laptops, iPads. Students register for the digital SAT online using their College Board account. One to five days before the test, they log in to Bluebook to complete a quick exam setup. The app will require them to confirm personal information and make sure their device will work on test day. At the end of exam setup, the app generates the student’s admission ticket. Students must complete the exam setup before test day to ensure easy test-day check in and confirmation that their device supports the app.

For more information on practice for the digital SAT go to: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/digital/digital-practice-preparation

Link for further information: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/digital/about

Atika Amani, Registrar

aamani@cas.ac.ma

Rana Haroun, College Counselor

rharoun@cas.ac.ma

What a special Treat for Grade 4 students!

Ms. Allison Billigton's class and Mr. Jeff Ahmad's class culminated their unit about Space with a special encounter with Mr. Richard Arnold, former CAS IB Biology Teacher and actual NASA Astronaut. Students questions were relevant they have been studying, and learnt a lot from Mr. Arnold. We are looking forward to more special encounters!

NEASC Visit

I am pleased to let you know that the NEASC preparatory visit went well!

The purpose of the visit was to look into all aspects of our school in order to prepare our community for the internal reflection process as part of the requirements of the NEASC re-accreditation.

The visiting team consisted of a deputy director from Switzerland, an IB teacher from Germany, and an international consultant from Switzerland. The visitors have been impressed by the culture of our learning community! During this past week, they have met with some teachers, students, parents, board members, and administrators. They have conducted 30 class visits.

Their debriefing session with the senior leadership overall was most positive.

Of course, the visiting team has also pointed out the areas for growth that the school should focus on to continue its journey of self-improvement.

We are looking forward to receiving the formal report from the NEASC office, and we are confident that we are on the right track to enhancing the quality of learning at our school.

Thank you for your collaboration and happy Friday!

Abderrazak Behhar

Curriculum / NEASC Accreditation Coordinator

Class of 2023 University Results

Our grade 12 students worked hard this year to apply to universities. As a result, each student received multiple university offers. In numbers, 505 applications were submitted, and students have received 193 offers of admission so far. The current admissions offer rate is 85%.

In addition, 19 outstanding students received merit-based scholarships, resulting in an amount of $3,052,300 so far.

I am very proud of our students' dedication to their future.

Click here to see the full list of where our students have been admitted.

Rana Haroun

College Counselor

rharoun@cas.ac.ma

Community News

Featuring Lila Benkirane

My name is Lila Benkirane, and I'm in Kindergarten. I like my 2 teachers: Ms. Dana and Ms. Nabila. I love my school because we play a lot. My favorite corner is the kitchen corner because I like to prepare things. My best friends are Yara, Celia and Zaina. I can count up to ten in English and I know many songs in English. One of them is ABC...

Congratulations to Maria Bennani

Congratulations to Maria Bennani in Grade 7. Maria had her first opening last week-end at THEMA Art Gallery under the theme of Cycle de la Vie. We wish our young artist a shining future, as shining as the colors in her Art Work.

We had the pleasure to interview Maria and learn more about her Art Work. These are some bits of the interview:

1- Why do you do what you do?

I do what I do because I love it, and I'm passionate about it. I do what I do because it helps me release all my feelings.

2- How do you work?

I work with all kinds of materials mostly Acrelic, oil, pinch needle and straws.

3- How much time does it take you to finish a painting?

It depends on the size and the material used

4- The opening featured Cycle de la Vie. How is CCycle de la Vie related to your work?

The works are inspired by life in general. That's why it's called: Cycle de la Vie. This way, it was easy to name my paintings.

Congratulations to Karate and Martial Arts Kids

The Karate and martial arts ASA groups had their end of trimester awards ceremony this week. Congratulations to all the students on earning their next level certification and belts.

ASA Coordinators

Hala Al Hassan

Fatiha Dahbi

Model United Nations

Last week, the Model United Nations CAS club was present in Budapest for the KarMUN conference!

Model United Nations is an internationally recognized club. It is an academic simulation of the United Nations in an attempt to solve real world issues within those countries and politics. MUN promotes collaboration, debate, working on public speaking skills and learning more about current events.

Our cobras demonstrated outstanding performances as delegates in committees from the World Health Organization to UN women!

Great job Cobras and a huge thank you to our chaperones, Mrs. Mouak, Mr. Lydon, and Ms. Mitchem!

Lower School Literacy Week

Literacy Week was full of special activities; hat day, twin day, crazy hair day and favorite book character day! With a parade as the grand finale!

Our students had a blast all week being creative and learning about literature. They got the chance to discover new books at the Book Fair and immerse themselves into their favorite literary worlds.

Thank you to the Literacy Week committee who did a fantastic job in putting all these activities together and to parents and teachers who took the time to come in and read to the class.

Report Cards Distribution

The scheduled date for the distribution of report cards is March 31st. Report cards are withheld for students with unpaid dues.

Please contact the bookkeeping office to pay any outstanding balances so that we can release your child's report card.

From Newrest

Trimester III starts Monday, March 20th. If you wish to enroll your child in the Cafeteria plan, please follow the link: https://connect-eat.newrest.eu/cas

Only students who have registered for Trimester III will benefit from this service. Kindly pay on time so that your child could join.

50th Anniversary Updates

Calling for Artists!

Dear Community members,

As the Gala committee is busy putting together a wonderful event for us, they are looking for any parent, alumni, teacher or student (starting from grade 6) that either dances, sings or plays an instrument. Please reach out to Ms Anissa Peters (apeters@cas.ac.ma).

Lost and Found

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Lost and Found items will be displayed by the back gate EVERY Friday, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. Please take the time to claim lost items .

New faculty & Staff

If you have not seen our new faculty and staff biographies you can find them here. Our staff is part of our community and all have an open door policy. Feel free to reach out to anyone of interest!

Alumni Corner

Visit our alumni page here! The CAS alumni network is an important part of being part of the community. This network is meant to create a space for networking and collaboration. Students are encouraged to reach out to alumni for college questions, job/business opportunities, mentoring, and more. If you would like to submit an alumni story please contact apeters@cas.ac.ma

KEY DATES

April 3rd- April 7th

US MAP Testing

April 10th- April 14th

LS MAP Testing

Wednesday, April 12th

Students Early Dismissal

Shout out to All Alumni!

We seek to share information on our Alumni to our community and it is also an opportunity for the Alumni to stay in touch! Please email us pictures and updates and we would be happy to share them!

We are eager to hear from you! Email us at the following email address: alumni@cas.ac.ma

What's Up Cobras