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This Week at Amana / March 20, 2012
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Dear Amana Family Members,
What makes a vibrant school? When most people hear the words "March Madness", they typically associate the phrase with college basketball, but as you will read in this newsletter, this month also reflects examples of vibrancy at our school as the energy level and activities at Amana really ramp up in March.
There is an article below on teachers attending a middle school training institute in Utah sponsored by Expeditionary Learning. This opportunity points to a key benefit we receive from our consulting agreement with  EL, as teachers at all grade levels receive professional development on instructional best practices.
The Expeditionary Learning model provides our teachers and students with a framework for instruction that immerses students in the learning process at a much deeper level than worksheets and text books. As you will read, students have started their spring learning expeditions that bring together various disciplines while exposing children to experts in the field thereby fostering a greater sense of responsibility for learning.
Meanwhile, our parents have been busy modeling our service ethic - a hallmark of what the Arabic term Amana really means. Examples include the Big Creek cleanup with Keep Roswell Beautiful, Hands On Amana day projects, and preparing for the Verizon Fun Walk this coming Saturday (hope to see you there for the new mascot announcement).
As the weather warms, March is a busy time indeed at Amana as it reflects the ingredients that make for a vibrant school: students, parents, teachers, community...supporting each other in learning.
Ehab Jaleel
Executive Director
 | | 6th grade students skyping with a school in the Ukraine |
 | | KG students encounter a turtle during recess - how fun! |
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Verizon Matches Your Donations* on March 24th Walk
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 *Verizon matches up to $10,000 in support of TECH 2012 Fund.
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Key Dates
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3/24 - Verizon Fun Walk
3/29 - Amana Board Meeting
4/2 - First day of spring break
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Connect
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Amana Helps Keep Roswell Beautiful
 On March 10, many Amana Academy families participated in the Big Creek Cleanup with Keep Roswell Beautiful (KRB). "Keep Roswell Beautiful is a fantastic organization that put together a flawless event," says Michelle Engel, who organized Amana's efforts. "Amana was well-represented, and KRB was so impressed with the amount of kids that attended!"
Keep Roswell Beautiful guides led the volunteers in the day's tasks of "pulling" and "planting." KRB volunteer Dave Smith worked with Amana as they "pulled" out invasive plants such as Privet, a non-native plant that gets in the way of native wetland growth. "Dave was fantastic at pointing out wildlife like deer and Red Tail Hawks," she says. "He took the kids into the woods to find Speckled Salamanders, crawfish, slugs and all sorts of nasty stuff that they LOVED." Michelle notes that Amana's representatives worked with about fifteen other volunteers and that the area they were assigned was completely changed inside the two hours they were on site. "Personally, I was impressed not only with the kids, but also with the parents," she says. "They were amazing." Many thanks to the following families who participated in Saturday's project: Sara, Jawdat, and Sammy Ead Michelle and Ben Engel Banke Tuyo and Faith and Rotimi Flaveney Simone Jenkins and Alexa Mason
Rihad, Ibrahim, and Yahya Merchant Jennifer and Ketsiya Ouanzin
Zakiya and Eason Sloley Tammie Crenshaw and Isaiah Venable Qassem and Mohammed Zaher Tommie Thompson 
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Congratulations to Our March Students of the Month
The goal with Amana's Student of the Month program is to appreciate and acknowledge student leaders whose efforts and attitudes reflect the strengths conveyed in the Expeditionary Learning Design Principles. Each month, we recognize students from our elementary and middle school who exhibit the following characteristics:
- Are Open to Self-Discovery
- Always Have Wonderful Ideas
- Take Responsibility for His/Her Own Learning
- Show Empathy and Caring for Others
- Understand the Importance of Success and Failure
- Display Collaboration and Positive Competition
- Embrace Diversity and Inclusion
- Respect the Natural World
- Appreciate Solitude and Reflection
- Model Service and Compassion
We are eager for these successful students to act as role models for others and we offer our congratulations to the following Students of the Month:
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Elementary School
Bilal Ahmed
Joshua Albright
Aliya Farah
Sommer Imam
Ayesha Mansoor
Sadia Mehnoor
Areej Osman
Jenan Salahat
Faisal Selim
Claire Smith
Rajae Krabe
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Middle School
Mohamed Ahmed
Loleek Curtis
Assiya Muhammad
Arneeb Panwala
Zaeem Siddiqui
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Cass Anderson Wins at AOMA
 Seventh grade student Cass Anderson took home 1st place in Katas and 1st place in Sparring on March 10 at the American Open Martial Arts State Championships. Cass defended his Kata in 4 rounds and won each round.
Cass will travel to Michigan for Nationals in August of 2012. He is happy and his brother Mars is proud.
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Parents Put their Hands On Amana
Many thanks to Liz Lambert for organizing the event, and the following parents who signed up for Hands On Amana projects on March 17th (sorry if we missed someone): Tamara Echols
Sara Ead
Esmeralda Flores
Ramzi Abdi
Samer Bashir
Johnny Imam
Aziz Dhrif
Jennifer Norton
Karen Spann
Isaac Laluo
Loyal Christensen 
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Fieldwork: 6th Grade Science Mission at Rock Eagle 4H Center
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Middle School Crew Attends EL Conference
by Dr. Christina Arpante
 Recently, four middle school Crew members flew out Salt Lake City, Utah to attend the first ever Expeditionary Learning Middle School Institute. Dr. Arpante (Administrator),Ms. Korthof (6th grade), Mrs. Kumpf (7th grade), and Mrs.Rivera (8th grade) spent five days with over thirty teachers and administrators from EL schools across the country and were immersed in all-day EL-modeled sessions. The conference offered a unique and in-depth understanding of the importance of Crew in the middle grades, the significant differences in adolescents' perceptions of academics, and the challenges presented because of adolescent brain growth and development.
As an Expeditionary Learning conference, two Guiding Questions set the tone. (1)What are my beliefs about what engages middle school students and promotes achievement? (2) How do the choices I make promote middle school student engagement and achievement? Then, there were six corresponding learning targets that focused on Crew, strategies to engage, support, and motivate middle school students, incorporating both literacy and numeracy in learning expeditions, and building a safe and supportive class culture and environment. At first glance, it was unclear how so much crucial information could be conveyed and learned in just five days. However, because the conference was modeled like an expedition, everyone had ample opportunity to learn from both the teacher and student prospective, with a comprehensive mix of independent and group lessons. As the week concluded, The Amana Crew found themselves motivated to new heights, and not because of the city's is 4,330 feet/1,320meters above sea level elevation.
Through debriefs built into the workdays and dinner reflective chats, Amana's Teacher Crew brainstormed a clear vision for the Middle School. The vision, along with ideas, initiatives and protocols, will be drafted into a proposal for Mr. Jaleel and the other Middle School Crew members who were unable to attend.
Currently, Amana's middle school is growing and the students are excelling. The ideas developed, as a result of the conference, will assist the school continue to propel forward, as a cohesive entity, with full and in-depth integration of the Design Principles. While it was clear that Amana Middle School already has so many amazing curricular goals in place that are being achieved and exceeded, the Crew walked away with looking at the EL Design Principles and the curriculum as the vehicles used to develop self confident, self assured, community minded citizens who are ready to take on the challenge of successfully living and working in a global society.
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| Tech Talk: Free Online Homework Help
by Rochelle Wilson
 Does your child struggle with his or her homework? Does your child stubbornly refuse your help, even though it's desperately needed? Do you lack the time or energy to reteach an entire lesson at the end of the day? If so, help is here in the form of TeacherTube. This free, YouTube-like services allows users to search educational videos such as history review lessons, science experiments, and step-by-step instructions for solving math problems. While it's no substitute for paying attention in class, sometimes a simple recap is all that your child needs to be able to finish his or her homework quickly and correctly.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS / REMINDERS |
Verizon Fun Walk: No Donation Too Small!
If you think your donation's too small to make a difference, think again! We're kicking our Annual Fund drive into high gear and this year we want to challenge you a little bit.
Although times are tight, most of us have a few "little luxuries" we could do without. We're not talking about your vacation, your clothing, your house, or your car--we're talking about things like that morning coffee run, a soda from the vending machine at work, a movie, or a few app or song downloads for your phone. If you didn't have your "little luxury" this week, would your quality of life really change? Probably not--we know ours wouldn't.
So why not consider doing without one of your "little luxuries" this week and donating the cost of that item to our Annual Fund instead? We think you'd be really excited to see what your donations could purchase for your students.
95 soda 12-packs = iPad 2
20 movie tickets = document camera
25 tall lattes = mini digital camcorder
115 song or app downloads = digital camera
1 bags of candy = graphic design tablet pad and stylus
128 boxes of pre-packaged lunch items = Adobe Creative Suite license
115 fast-food kids meals = Dell Volstro laptop
Here's the best part: once again, we have partnered with our parents who are Verizon employees to host a fundraising Fun Walk on Saturday March 24th at 11am in Wills Park. Verizon wants to promote health with as many people as possible and they've generously agreed to match every dollar walkers pledge up to $10,000 for a total of $20,000. It's like a Buy One, Get One Free deal! Proceeds from this fund raiser will go directly to support our TECH 2012 Annual Fund with new classroom technology.
Last year we met the target of $10,000 and were able to purchase new computers for our computer lab plus additional proj ectors and other technology. We can do it again! Please invite everyone you know to participate. |
Jean Days Are Coming!
Support Amana's Middle School by purchasing your $8.00 Jeans Day Vouchers. By doing so, you can have your child wear his or her Amana uniform shirt and jeans on the following days: March 23rd, March 30th, April 13th, April 20th, and April 27th.
To have your child participate in this fun, dress-down event, you can simply send in a check payable to "Amana Academy" in a sealed enveloped labeled "Jeans Day" and your child's name. Please also write your child's name in the memo portion of your check.
Your Middle School Crew Parents will have a table on Friday after Community Circle on March 16th where you can pick up your voucher booklet. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Khadeejah Farooq, our Middle School Parent Crew Coordinator. Amana's Middle School thanks you for your support!
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Scholastic Book Fair March 23-30
 If you already had plans to purchase books for your child's summer reading, consider purchasing them at our Scholastic Book Fair. A portion of the proceeds from the Fair go directly to Amana. Students will go to the Fair during class time and will need to bring their money with them. For more information, contact your child's teacher.
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Verizon Fun Walk: Saturday, March 24
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Thank You!
If you ever have any questions or concerns, please contact your child's teacher  directly, or any one of our Administrative team members. If your question was not addressed, then feel free to contact our Governing Board. Amana's main number is (678) 624-0989 and you may also find email contact information for all of our staff by visiting the Amana Staff Directory. On behalf of the Governing Board, the Amana faculty and staff, and the school Administration, thank you for entrusting your child's education to us. With your continued support, we will continue to mold the very best and brightest global leaders within our community! |
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