January 9, 2023

A message from Principal Vinten

Good afternoon Manara STEM families,

The last half of the school year is upon us! There are a lot of events that will be taking place as we continue down the last half of the 2022-2023 school year, so please make sure and read the newsletter each week for upcoming events and opportunities!

Enjoy your Sunday! 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

As the 4th 6-week period begins, 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!

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 5-8. 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 5-8 should be using the Paper app on Clever at home with homework support.

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!

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 12. 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!

Manara STEM in the News!

Manara STEM Academy in Arlington was featured in a national and international news feature. Over 90 news outlets have picked up this story celebrating the great work our teachers, scholars, parents and community put into our Cultures Around the World Community event! This was a fantastic celebration of the community coming together, featuring the work of our students and efforts of our teachers. Our PTO did an outstanding job of creating a memorable experience as well.

Please click on this link to read our press feature! I am so very proud of our community! What a beautiful article focusing on the great things our campus is a part of!

Manara Academy Press Feature-Manara STEM Celebrates Cultures Around the World