January 23, 2023

A message from Principal Vinten

Good afternoon Manara STEM families,

This week's STEM Connect Family Edition is FULL of great information about a lot of things happening on our campus in the coming weeks and months! Some of the things to look for in the newsletter that are coming up are the Scholastic Book Fair, Yearbook Cover Art Contest, Family Fun Nights, Arabic Spelling Bee, and much more!

Thank you to all the families who have filled out the Intent to Return forms for the 2023-2024 school year! Our slots are filling up fast, so please refer any family or friends so they can enroll and save their scholar's spot on our campus! It is exciting to see us continue to grow, as there are many exciting adventures to come for the Manara STEM campus!

Happy Sunday and Happy Reading! If you have any questions, please reach out, as we are always here to serve!

#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.

Arrival & Dismissal

Friendly reminder of school times are below:

Monday - Thursday:

Arrival is 7:35am until 8:00am (scholars are counted tardy after 8:00am).
Dismissal begins promptly at 3:30pm.
- Please remember to have your yellow hang tag visible in your dashboard, as this helps in the swiftness of the dismissal process!

Friday:

Arrival is 7:35am until 8:00am (scholars are counted tardy after 8:00am).
Dismissal begins promptly at 1:15pm.

We appreciate your help and support with our arrival and dismissal processes!

Reenrollment Time!

A big thank you to all of the families who filled out your scholar's Intent to Return for the 2023-2024 school year! Those scholars will receive a week's worth of free dress down the week before Spring Break (March 6-10)! A notice will go home with those families as a reminder of the free dress down days.

Our spots are filling up very quickly! If you need assistance in filling out reenrollment documentation, please reach out to Ms. Smith (asmith@manaraacademy.org) and she would be happy to sit with you to help. The class with the most reenrollment/intent to return forms filled out by February 10th will receive an ice cream party! We love referrals as well! Bring in new families who are interested and we would be happy to give them a tour to learn more about our campus! Reach out to us if you have any questions!

Hearing & Vision Screenings

Hearing and vision screenings will take place on Monday, Jan. 23 through Friday, Jan. 27. Scholars in grades Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th, as well as newcomers to Texas, will be screened. If your scholar wears glasses or contacts, please be sure to send them to school wearing them each school day, especially this week. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ms. Smith (asmith@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.

Testing Windows & Volunteers Needed!

Our district testing windows are open for Pre-K through 2nd grade. Each scholar in those grade levels will be taking middle of the year (MOY) assessments throughout the next two weeks. Your scholar's teacher will have the results to share with you after all assessments are complete.

If any parent is available to come volunteer in the Pre-K through 2nd grade classrooms within the next two weeks to assist the teachers in watching scholars while the teachers are giving these exams, please reach out to Ms. Smith to let her know your availability. Each one of these assessments are individually given and it would be a great help to have volunteers to help assist other students while the teachers are working with individual testers.

Scholars in grades 3-8 are continuing to prepare for the upcoming STAAR exams in the spring. Scholars in grades 4-8 should be utilizing the Paper App at home to help assist with studying/homework each night. This free online tutoring service is a fantastic way to get FREE TUTORING every day! See the information above about the Paper App!

TELPAS Testing

Please read this link regarding the upcoming TELPAS testing. The state testing calendar for TELPAS is February 20, 2023 through March 31, 2023. We will be assessing students between February 27th and March 10. If a student is absent on the day of testing, a make-up test will be administered before March 24, 2023.

The assessment components for grades K–1 and 2–12 differ in the following ways:

Grades K–1: Holistically rated listening, speaking, reading, and writing assessments based on ongoing classroom observations and student interactions.
Grades 2–12: Online reading, listening, speaking and writing tests.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to our ESL teacher, Ms. Stoker (ahayesstoker@manaraacademy.org) or our Director of Special Populations, Ms. Chamri (cchamri@manaraacademy.org).

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

Autism Awareness Advocacy

Our district will be hosting an event to support Autism Awareness within the month of April. National Autism Awareness day April 2. To help celebrate the event we will be hosting, there is an opportunity to also purchase shirts for this event. Please share this ordering link below with friends, family, and students who are interested in purchasing a shirt to support this event. All ordered shirts will ship to the district office and will be distributed them once they arrive. Here is the link to order shirts if you are interested. More information on the event to come!

Book Fair!

Our spring book fair will be the week of January 30 through February 3. Be on the lookout for setting up an E-Wallet for your scholar to be able to purchase books! The book fair will be open from 11am-4pm each day, with it also being open for parents to shop with their scholar on Tuesday, Jan. 31 from 4pm-5:30pm during our next Family Fun Night! Any purchase from the book fair helps our campus earn Scholastic dollars for us to purchase more books for our classrooms! More information will be passed out this week and sent home with scholars regarding the book fair and setting up the E-Wallet. Reach out to your scholar's teacher with any questions!

Family Fun Night!

On Tuesday, January 31, we will have our next Family Fun Night! From 4:00pm until 5:30pm, the campus will be open for families to participate in the following activities:

Coding robots
Art activities (Celebrating the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rabbit)
Games
Legos
Book Fair Shopping

Please come by and hang out with the teachers, shop at the book fair, and enjoy some family fun! We look forward to seeing you all there!

Arabic Spelling Bee

Our Arabic Spelling Bee for grades 5-8 is January 27. Volunteers are needed to help judge the event. If you are interested, please reach out to Ms. Chamri at cchamri@manaraacademy.org. We are looking forward to a fun event!

Snack Cart this week

Snack Cart will take place this Thursday, Jan 26. If you will be bringing money to your scholar that day for Snack Cart, please deliver it to Ms. Smith no later than 1:30pm. Thank you!

Birthday Thursday This Week!

Birthday Thursday is this Thursday, January 26. If you have a scholar who's birthday is in the month of January, treats can be brought in on Thursday this week. You can send in the treats with your scholar in the morning, or leave them on the "Forget-Me-Not" table at the front door of the school. Ms. Smith will make sure all treats delivered and placed on the "Forget-Me-Not" table will be distributed to classrooms. All treats will be given to scholars around 3:15pm at the end of the school day. Reach out to your scholar's teacher with any questions!

Yearbook Cover Art Contest

Please see the information from Ms. Corey on Class Dojo regarding our 1st Annual Yearbook Cover Design Contest! All entries are due to Ms. Corey by Jan. 25. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ms. Corey (mcorey@manaraacademy.org).