November 7, 2022

A message from Principal Vinten

Good morning Manara STEM families,

Our student-led conferences begin this week. Your scholar's teacher will be reaching out to you about a conference sign up time. Our district goal is 100% conference participation with each family! This conference is a time for your scholar to share with you the wonderful learning that is occuring within their classrooms, the goals they are setting for themselves, and to show you what they are proud of with their learning at school. The teachers will not be facilitating the conference since it will be led by your scholar, but if you would like a one-on-one conference with your scholar's teacher(s) at another time, please reach out to them to set up a one-on-one conference.

Report cards should be able to go home this week. If you have any questions, please reach out to your scholar's teacher(s). Thank you for your partnership in your scholar's academic successes!

We will be having our first Cultures "Around the World" Festival event on November 30! Please read information within the newsletter about some exciting opportunities for your family and scholar to participate in.

Thank you for your partnership! If you need anything or have any questions, please let us know. We are here to serve! Enjoy the weekend and don't forget to set your clocks back one hour due to Daylight Savings Time ending!

#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 on 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 the information below for ways your family can get involved!

Here is the link for the permission slip if your scholar is interested in peforming in the cultural fashion show and/or perform a cultural dance, song, or skit. Tryouts for the dance, song or skit will take place on Tuesday, November 15. Permission slips and festival handouts, as well as the google links for signing up to bring food and/or volunteer will be sent home with scholars on Monday, November 7. Please reach out to Mrs. Vinten or the PTO if you have any questions!

Cultures Around the World

Manara Website Feedback Form

Please fill out this Website Feedback Survey to let us know about your thoughts regarding our district's website. Your feedback always helps us to make changes to better our district!

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.

Arabic Spelling Bee

It's Arabic Spelling Bee time! Our school spelling bee will be held on January 6, 2023. Any scholar in grades 5-8 is eligible to participate. We will be providing the Spelling Bee study list to all scholars who wish to participate. Students must study over the Winter Break in order to be successful in the Bee.

Permission slip forms were sent home on Monday, October 10. Signed slips are due back by Thursday, November 10. The class with the most participants will receive a cookie party! Please return the signed permission slip forms to Ms. Gigi or Ms. Cabouni.

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, November 10. 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!