April 3, 2023

A message from Principal Vinten

Good afternoon, STEM families!

Thank you to all of you who came out to our art show family fun event last Wednesday. It was wonderful seeing all the creative artwork and spending some time outside of the school day together!

The next two months are filled with a lot of learning and assessments. Please make sure to get your scholar to school on time, as learning begins at 8:00am in all classrooms. Thank you for helping to get your scholar to school on time each day, as the great habits that are created today will continue into their future.

I appreciate the time you all take to read the newsletter each week. I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

#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.

New PE Teacher

Our PE coach, Coach Ford, has decided to take another job at another location. We wish him the best on his new adventure and thank him for his time at Manara!

Please help me welcome our new PE coach, Coach Stanley, to our STEM campus! Coach Stanley will start this Monday. He comes to us with a plethora of coaching experience, which will benefit our scholars and campus!

Welcome, Coach Stanley!

Uniforms for Scholars

Please make sure to send your scholar(s) to school each day in uniform. Information about our uniform policy can be found on our district website, on the home page of this newsletter, and also within this link (Arlington STEM Uniform Information). Jackets will be asked to be removed during the school day if they are not uniform approved (solid navy or solid gray in color or a uniform jacket - Manara logo on the jacket). The uniform colors are navy and gray. Khaki is not an approved uniform color.

If scholars are not in uniform Monday through Thursday, he/she will not be allowed to participate in our dress down days each Friday. If you have any questions regarding the uniform policy, please reach out to Mrs. Vinten or your child's classroom teacher.

Fasting

If your child is requesting to fast for Ramadan, requesting to not eat any food or drink any beverages while at school, in order to help accommodate their request, they will be sitting at a separate lunch table within the cafeteria, where they can be supervised during lunchtime. Manara strives to accommodate all students and their individual needs to the extent possible.

Children who request to be excused from eating lunch to fulfill their individual spiritual/religious obligation during school hours will follow a specific format.

Due to staff coverage availability, a separate room cannot be provided to accommodate those in grades K-5 not eating breakfast, lunch, or snacks, but will be provided a separate table to sit at during lunchtime in the cafeteria.
Manara staff cannot assume responsibility for instructing your child on any aspect of any individual spiritual or religious activity, so if he/she decides not to fast, they will be able to get a breakfast (during our breakfast time), a lunch (during their designated lunchtimes), and have snack (during independent classroom time designated snack times).
Breakfast and lunch will not be served outside of the breakfast and lunch times, so if your scholar chooses to not eat and then wishes to eat at a later time, a meal will not be available to them after 8:15am for breakfast and after their individual grade level lunch times.

Scholars in grades 6-8 have received other notification if requesting to fast during lunchtimes. Please ask your scholar about the paper notification they received if requesting to fast. Please reach out to Mrs. Vinten with any further questions or concerns at avinten@manaraacademy.org.

Attendance (IMPORTANT Information)

Per the state of Texas, a child must be in attendance at least 90% of the school year to be eligible as "completing" that school year. What that means for our school, is that your child should have no more than 18 absences through out the school year (excused or unexcused) as we have a school year with 180 school calendar days. Attendance at school is extremely important in order for each child to gain the knowledge needed to progress to the next academic year. If a child misses a large chunk of the school year and he/she is not academically meeting the state standards, there is a possibility of retention. You will receive attendance notifications if your child has excessive absences, or is in danger of not meeting the 90% rule.

Our school day is from 8:00am until 3:30pm. Tardies will be accounted for if a scholar arrives after 8:00am or leaves before 3:30pm. Excessive tardies, along with attendance and grades, can factor into a scholar's grade placement for the next school year.

Please reach out to Mrs. Vinten if you have any questions (avinten@manaraacademy.org).

Paper Tutoring App for Grades 4-8

Paper is a program our district has purchased to help assist scholars in their academic progression within grades 4-8. Click on this link to learn more about Paper and how it can assist your scholar in their nightly homework. Scholars will be utilizing this daily within their classroom as well. Teachers and the adminstrator is also able to view the scholar/tutor interaction and dialogue so that we can support at school also. Please reach out to your scholar's teacher if you have any questions regarding Paper! All scholars in grades 4-8 should be using the Paper app on Clever at home with homework support.

MATHia Marathon Winner!

Congratulations to our 7th grade scholar, Fatuma Kuminga, who won the fourth round of the Spring MATHia Marathon! She competed among thousands of other scholars across the country! We are super proud of her accomplishment! She not only received a certificate of her accomplishment, but also won an Amazon Gift Card from MATHia! Congratulations, Fatuma!

Snack Cart Information

There will be no snack cart the weeks of March 27-April 17. A notification will be sent out when snack cart will resume later in the month of April.

ESL YouTube Channel & Newsletter

Below is our Manara ESL YouTube Channel link, as well as the ESL Newsletter link! Please view the links below for great information pertaining to our ESL department.

Manara Academy ESL Department - YouTube

https://www.manaraacademy.org/article/948697