November 28, 2022

A message from Principal Vinten

Good afternoon Manara STEM families,

While during this season we reflect upon what we are grateful for, I am grateful to be a part of the Manara family. I am grateful for each scholar, family, and staff member, as we have the BEST people in our community.

I hope you all had a restful break and were able to spend some time with those you are grateful for. We will welcome all scholars back to school tomorrow, Monday, November 28!

We also hope to see everyone at our Cultures Around the World celebration this Wednesday, November 30 from 4:00pm until 6:30pm. Please see the newsletter for further details.

Also, friendly reminder to have your yellow car tag each afternoon when picking up your scholar(s). If you do not have a yellow car tag, you will be asked to pull around the car line and come in the front office with your ID to receive a temporary tag. We will continue this process all year long, so please make sure to have your yellow tag with you each day!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend! I'm looking forward to seeing our scholars at school tomorrow morning by 8:00am!

#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.

Cultures "Around the World" Festival Event

We are very excited to host a Cultures "Around the World" Festival at our campus this Wednesday, November 30 from 4:00pm until 6:30pm. That afternoon families will be able to view classroom cultural presentations, taste foods from around the world, create a cultural craft, get a henna tattoo, view performances from scholars, participate in a cultural fashion show, and get a passport stamped! Please see this link about signing up for participating in our cultural food tasting event! Classes have been working hard on their presentations, and the PTO has been busy working on creating passports for the scholars to have and take around to "visit" each country. It will be a beautiful event full of fun and learning about different cultures! We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Cultures Around the World

Field Study Opportunities!

We are very excited to announce the opportunity for each class, along with our Irving campuses (IE & MLA) to be able to go on a field study in the month of December!

Pre-K through 2nd grade will be going to the Crayola Experience in Plano on Wednesday, December 14.
Grades 3 through 6 will be going to Kidzania in Frisco on Tuesday, December 6.
Grades 7 and 8 (along with MLA's campus of grades 7-12) will be going to AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Wednesday, December 7.

All scholars will be sent home further information regarding the excursion details, permission slips, and cost. If you are interested in chaperoning, information on completing the district background check, as well as chaperone information is also included in the information coming home with scholars. All permission slips and money for the trips for scholars are due back to the teachers by December 2. Uniforms are required for scholars to wear on their trip.

Note: Chaperoning will be a "first come, first serve" basis if we receive multiple parents interested in chaperoning. For the trips for Pre-K through 2nd grade, if you are not chosen to chaperone, you can still meet the group at the Crayola Experience, pay for the entry there, and then join your scholar's group at that time. For grades 3rd-8th, Kidzania and AT&T Stadium are only allowing a certain number of chaperones and will not allow parents to pay at the door to enter. You will be notified the week of Nov. 28 if you were chosen to be a chaperone if you turned in your chaperone request form.

If you have any questions, needs, or concerns, please contact your scholar's teacher or Mrs. Vinten at avinten@manaraacademy.org. We are excited for these learning hands-on opportunities for each scholar!

Birthday Thursday!

Since we did not celebrate November birthdays prior to break, this Thursday, December 1 will be birthday Thursday for the month of November! Any scholar who celebrated a birthday in November can bring in treats on Thursday, December 1 to share with the class. Please make sure the treats are store bought with the nutrition label, as well as peanut/nut free. Scholars can bring in treats or parents can drop treats off at the "Forget-Me-Not" table throughout the day. Treats will be given out the last 15 minutes of the school day. Please reach out to your child's teacher with any questions!

STAAR Interim

Our scholars in grades 3 through 8 will be participating in the STAAR Interim within the first two weeks of December. The goal of the STAAR Interim is two-fold.

First, it provides an opportunity for scholars to practice the online format (all tests are online this year) with utilizing all of the online tools, as well as being able to practice the STAAR question types. This year 25% of the STAAR test has new question types which require scholars to provide multiple answers and/or written responses.

Second, this practice provides great data points for teachers to be able to utilize to see what areas students may need extra assistance in within their content areas.

How you can assist at home is by helping to make sure that your scholar is brought to school on time (by 8:00am) during those weeks, make sure they get a good night's rest after each school day, and make sure they know to grab breakfast (or eat at home) to start their day.

It takes a team to make sure all our scholars are ready and prepared! We appreciate your help and support!

Arabic Exam for Grades 7 & 8

Our scholars in grades 7th & 8th will be taking Arabic Exams on Monday, December 5th & Tuesday, December 6. They have been preparing for this exam during class times, but please ask your 7th or 8th grade student about what they have been studying to prepare!

Car Line & Updated Pick-Up Information

Thank you all so much for your cooperation in helping to ensure safety for all of our scholars during dismissal. We will continue to enforce that the yellow car tag is displayed during the entire dismissal time, from the call time until pick up. A scholar will not be called to come out to dismissal unless the car tag is displayed for the staff member calling to see AND for the staff member loading the car to see. This is necessary for all families to have, as it aids with safety and swiftness within the car line. If you are a newly enrolled family or need another tag for an authorized pick up person, please email the PTO and they will make you one for your car. manarastempto@manaraacademy.org

As a reminder, if you do not have the yellow tag, you will be asked to drive around the car line and come in to the front office to check your authorization for pick up. You will then be given a temporary car tag and be able to go back into car line and pick up your scholar. Safety of our scholars is our number one priority, so thank you for following the procedures so that we can keep our campus safe. Please reach out to Mrs. Vinten if you have any questions.

Paper Tutoring App for Grades 5-8

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!

School Arrival Times/Breakfast/Attendance

Scholars should arrive on campus by 8:00am. If it is past 8:00am, please walk your child into the front office area and sign them in for the day. Scholars are counted as tardy after 8:00am.

Breakfast is served from 7:35am until 8:00am. If a scholar arrives after 8:10am, breakfast will not be available, as the cafeteria staff have to begin preparing for lunch time. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Mrs. Vinten.

The classrooms who have all scholars present at school and on time (in the classroom by 8:00am) will receive a letter in the word "attendance" to display near their classroom. The classrooms that spell the word "ATTENDANCE" in its completion will receive a popsicle party! Attendance is extremely important, even arriving to school on time. Thank you for helping to partner with us to make sure your scholar is at school each day on time!

Uniforms

All scholars should be in uniform. Please see the HOME page (upper right hand corner of the newsletter) for the link to the school uniform website (French Toast) if you need to order anything with our logo on it. All polo shirts (navy or gray) should have the Manara Academy logo, and all bottoms should be either navy or gray in color. Sweatpants and jeans are not uniform approved. Jeans can be worn on "Dress Down" designated days, but not during the week. Jackets/coats/sweatshirts should also be solid navy or solid gray in color. There should be no logos on the outerwear other than a Manara Logo (example, it should not read "Nike"). Some rooms are very cold, so please make sure your child has the appropriate outerwear available.

Scholars will call home for parents to bring them the correct uniform/colors. It is part of our Student Code of Conduct (Level 1 Offense) to be out of uniform. After three times of not being in uniform, a scholar will earn a detention on Friday afternoon. Please reach our to Mrs. Vinten (avinten@manaraacademy.org) if you have any questions or concerns.

Snack Cart this week

Snack Cart will take place this Thursday, December 1. Scholars have assigned times to attend the snack cart with their class, so if he/she forgets their money, please make sure it is dropped off to Ms. Smith in the front office no later than 1:30pm. Please reach out to the PTO if you have any questions!