October 30, 2023

A message from Principal Vinten

Good Morning Manara STEM Families,

Red Ribbon Week was a success! Thank you to the community members who came out and shared their trucks and professions with us. The scholars enjoyed learning about what you do!

Report cards will be sent home on Friday, November 3. Please reach out to your scholar's teacher(s) if you have any questions or would like to see how to further assist your scholar in their learning progression.

Please read the "Upcoming Events" section and mark your calendar for all the items coming up within the month of November. Only three weeks until Thanksgiving break! Enjoy the weekend with your family!

#MAWAY!

Principal Vinten

The mission of Manara Academy is to provide students with a creative, adaptive and ethical environment to become knowledgeable inquirers and future leaders in a diverse and evolving global society where we master languages, honor cultural heritages, and respect diversity.

Red Ribbon Week Highlights!

Red Ribbon Week was a lot of fun for our scholars and staff! It was fun seeing all the scholars participate in the dress down days with the focus on remaining "drug-free"! A big thank you to the PTO for coordinating the week and to Arlington Charities for coming to our Family Fun Event on Thursday! The winners of the "Principal For A Day" are below:

Principal for a day: Anas G. - 3rd grade

Lunch with the Principal: Melak - 2nd grade, Rayan - 2nd grade, Jawad - 5th grade, Ahmed F. - 6th grade, and Lara - 6th grade

I will let the winners & families know what date will be chosen for both events. Congratulations to the winners!

Student-Led Conferences

The week of November 6 begins our district student-led conference week. Teachers will reach out to you regarding signing up for a time where your scholar can lead you through some of the items they have been working on throughout the school year, as well as show you how they are progressing. Please look for the messages from your scholar's teachers and sign up for a time to meet with your scholar!

STAAR Interim in November

STAAR Interim tests are STAAR review/practice tests for scholars in 3rd-8th grade. Taking these several times within the school year helps our teachers know where to help our scholars in the academic areas of Math and Reading for grades 3-8, Science for grades 5 & 8, and Social Studies for grade 8. In the "Upcoming Events" section at the end of the newsletter you will find the dates and content of the testing with the grades involved. We treat the STAAR Interim as a practice for the STAAR testing in the spring, so we practice as we want our scholars to perform - meaning on these days the campus runs in a quiet/silent mode, scholars have all school day to complete the interim, and our campus will be closed to visitors (no eating lunch with scholars on campus on these days). More information from your scholar's teacher to come regarding STAAR Interim expectations!

Uniforms - IMPORTANT!

All students should be in uniform. Jeans are not part of the uniform, and scholars will call home if not in uniform. Uniform expectations:

Manara logo navy blue or gray shirt
Navy blue or gray pants
Sweatpants are NOT acceptable uniform pants

Any scholars not in uniform will initially be given a warning and parents will be notified. After three uniform violations, a scholar will be given detention on a Friday from 1pm-4:00pm. After the first detention, if uniform violations continue to occur, an in-school suspension will be given.

Friday dress down days will start to be taken away for those scholars who are not in uniform during the week. If you have any questions regarding the uniform, please reach out to Mrs. Vinten.

As the weather gets cooler, scholars will still be going outside for PE and recess. Any type of jacket is fine for outside, but if they are wanting to wear it in the building, it must be SOLID NAVY OR SOLID GRAY in color. You can order uniform jackets, but solid navy or solid gray jackets do not have to have the Manara logo on them.