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Reminders
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For Amana Text Alerts -text @amana to 81010
Give to the Annual Fund - Help us Reach our $50,000 Goal!
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October 26-30
Red Ribbon Week
October 30
Pop Open a Good Book Day
Grades K-5
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Grades 3-5 Community Circle
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
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Grades 6-8 Community Circle
8:40 AM - 9:10 AM
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Grades K-2 Community Circle
12:25 PM - 12:50 PM
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Middle School Kickball Game
11:30 PM - 12:30 PM
Wills Park
November 13
Staff Luncheon
1:00 PM
November 20 Grandparents Day
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
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Stay Connected
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285 South Main Street
Alpharetta, GA 30009
678.624.0989
info@amanaacademy.org
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WHY WE GIVE TO THE ANNUAL FUND
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Dear Parents,
Yesterday my husband Craig and I gave a check to Amana for the Annual Fund, and turned it in along with my matching gift form from my employer. Craig and I talked about it, and decided to raise our contribution this year. It took some budget re-arranging for us. Yet, we gave with a clear heart, because we want to do everything we can to support our incredible school. We are also writing a proposal to my employer, Bosch, to seek financial endorsement in a bigger way. I encourage you to research your company's charitable giving programs as well. They may offer more than just the employer matching gifts also. Today I would like to share a few of the reasons why the Dean family has increased our gift this year. Candidly, I am hoping it will inspire you to do the same!
This is a Breakout Year for Amana
STEM Certification: We are very close to completing our STEM certification, which would be the 2nd elementary and the 1st middle school in our county (Fulton County) to qualify. Unlike many of the schools that have achieved STEM certification in Georgia, we are not a magnet school that only accepts the top students in their district, nor is our STEM program only for the top math and science students within our school. I truly believe that Amana offers one of the best STEM programs in Georgia to every student! Your child, who may not now be high performing in STEM classes, has an opportunity to be exposed to and inspired by an elite STEM education. Many of the world's greatest scientists throughout history did not show any hint of what they were to become in their early education.
Recognition in the Philanthropic Community: Earlier this week, it was announced that Amana was chosen as a recipient of the highly respected Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta's Common Good Fund grant. This grant is one of the most sought after awards in Georgia with about a 4% success rate. The application process for this foundation is thorough, and we were not only up against other schools, but ALL non-profits in metropolitan Atlanta. We were the only school chosen, which shows not only the importance of our mission but the rigorous financial responsibility of our administration and Board. This win will not only gains the grant itself, but also open doors for us in the larger philanthropic community.
Other Schools Aspire to Do What Amana is Already Doing
Business Partners and Newsmakers: Peter Tokar, the Director of Economic Development for the City of Alpharetta, was approached by the London based KANO Corporation. KANO Corporation was seeking a school with which to partner for a pilot program. We were Peter Tokar's first choice for a school partner! KANO offers students equipment to build their own computers, and then teaches the students to program code which drive games such as Minecraft. The 5th grade (my son's grade) is piloting this program this year. We are the first school that KANO has partnered with in the United States (or any other country). As an Expeditionary Learning school, KANO feels that Amana has a particular skill set to develop practical applications for the classroom. This month we were featured on the Atlanta 11 Alive news for this pilot program, as well as in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The President/ founder of KANO has been invited from London to be the Keynote Speaker for several local conferences, and we continue to share his limelight as the pioneers of this program in the schools. Just this month the Georgia Charter School Association asked us to develop a workshop for how we use KANO computers in the classroom.
Makerspace: Our Makerspace in the Middle School has been recognized by the Fulton County Board of Education as a model to copy, and we are regularly asked to share ideas with other schools.
Building for Our Children's Future - Big Time!
What we do for Amana this year pays direct returns to our children's future. And every parent is here at Amana because we have consciously chosen to give our children the best choice that we can. By its nature, choosing a charter school means you are invested in changing your child's outcome.
We are positioned and ready. Let's do this!
Look out - Amana's next 10 years will be unbeatable! I see this year that we parents can help change the game for our school. We all give a lot to Amana, nobody appreciates that better than me. And I don't want you to give in sacrifice. Give for joy.
With warmest regards and high hopes for our future,
Stephanie and Craig Dean
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NOTICE: NEW 2016-2017 ENROLLMENT DEPOSIT
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Dear Parents,
Starting in January during our recommitment and open enrollment period, we will require a $100 nonrefundable enrollment deposit for each returning student and each new student. The enrollment deposit is critical to our ability to predict enrollment and plan for resources. Please note, the deposit will be allocated toward your child's supply fees and a portion of their fall-semester field-study fees. Families will be able to pay this deposit in one lump sum or via a payment plan (with 50% due in January). More information about the recommitment process will be shared in a future communication, but we wanted to give you advanced notice, so you can plan accordingly.
Why are we doing this? Amana Academy is committed to providing our teachers and students with the resources they need to improve student learning. Resources are a function of funding allocation from Fulton County Schools based on our enrollment. Therefore, the most critical factor in our ability to plan for resources is how we predict our
enrollment for the upcoming year. Predicting enrollment has been challenging in the past years for a number of reasons.
While typically 9 out of 10 Amana families recommit, the rates do sometimes vary by grade. For new families that apply for our lottery, we have made more of an effort to communicate with them on an ongoing basis, but the degree of commitment is sometimes hard to pin down in the months leading up to the first day of school and can lead to "no-shows". For example, some families may complete enrollment paperwork, but they move out of the district without informing us. By the time we find out, it is too late for families on the waiting list to uproot their children from their schools. All of this uncertainty causes a lot of work for our admissions staff, and more importantly it inhibits our ability to accurately predict our budget for the school year. The enrollment deposit will help to minimize the uncertainty of this process.
Again, more information about the recommitment process will be shared in a future communication, but we wanted to give you advanced notice, so you can plan accordingly.
Thank you for being a member of the Amana community!
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The IXL board has been updated as of Monday October 26th, 2015. Look for your child's name on the IXL board in the main hallway. Three students, Josue Ayala Dominguez, Makayla McCain and Ahmad Junearick-Echols have passed the last milestone, which is 5,000 problems. Students who pass this milestone will be recognized during the honors ceremony in January. For our overachievers, we have added an additional challenge with a milestone of 10,000 problems. All students who get their names on the IXL board will be candidates for a drawing to win an iPad!
Here are the students of the week: 
K - Jayden Ayala Dominguez
1st Grade- Noah Samson
2nd Grade - Muhammad Ammaar
3rd Grade - Saifiullah Mohammed
4th Grade - Jade Sloan
5th Grade - Baraa Alkhatib
6th Grade - Makayla McCain
7th Grade - Toqa Wahid
8th Grade - Tasneem Wahid
And our class of the week for the third time in a row with 3,327 problems worked out is: Ms. D'Anzi's class. Congratulations!
If you would like to receive certificates sent to you by email, go to settings once your child is logged into IXL and enter your email address.
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VOTE IN UNCLE BEN'S CONTEST FOR CAFETERIA MAKEOVER
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Vote for Daya Newton's rice dish recipe and our cafeteria can get a $30,000 makeover! Spread the word to show support for her tasty Uncle Ben's rice dish. You can vote daily. Voting ends November 3rd.
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| IMPORTANT UPDATES FROM PIE |
Grandparents and special friends are invited to join Amana Academy students on Friday, November 20 from 8:00 until 10:00 am to visit their classrooms in order to see what a day at school looks like for them. Light refreshments & photo booths will also be available. We look forward to welcoming these special guests to our school! Grandparents and special friends MUST register. Please follow the link below:
Box Tops Winning Classroom for the Fall submission - PIE would like to THANK those who participated in the Box Tops Fall Contest. Together, we collected 4,664 box tops for the Fall submission. Please keep bringing box Tops. There will be 2 more collections until the end of the year (one in November and one in December). Then, we will kick off the Spring Contest. The winning classroom for the year (fall and spring contests combined) will receive a class party at Sky Zone!
Here are the top 3 classrooms:
1st place: Ms. Williams, 3rd Grade, 504 Box Tops
2nd place: Ms. Woodard, 1st Grade, 424 Box Tops
3rd place: Ms. Ham, 2nd Grade, 381 Box Tops
Congratulations to Ms. Williams' 3rd grade class for winning 1st place!
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SHOP LONG-SLEEVE POLO'S NOW TILL NOV 9
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The seasons are changing, order your long-sleeve polo shirts now. Amana Academy has partnered with French
Toast Premium for our required polo-shirt! Our custom uniform
web store, featuring our required polo showcasing our logo, Be sure to place your order by going
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BRING A NOTE FOR YOUR TEACHER DURING THANKFUL TOTES WEEK
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The week of November 16-20 is Thankful Totes Week! Each classroom teacher will have a special tote in their classroom. Students are asked to bring in personal notes and cards to fill in their teachers' totes during the week on as many days as they wish. It's a great time for Students, Parents and Staff to write and share handwritten notes to show appreciation for all the hard work and effort.
Specials teachers, support staff, and administration will also have Thankful Totes. Let's remember to appreciate all of them! Staff who does not have a classroom will have their totes placed in the front lobby.
Teachers and staff appreciate small gifts as well! Please give gift cards directly to the recipients rather than placing in the totes.
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BRING A DISH FOR TEACHER & STAFF APPRECIATION LUNCH
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Here are a few tips to help ensure everything goes smoothly on November 13:
1. Kindly, drop off the food between 12:30 pm and 1 pm at a labeled table in the front lobby near the front desk.
2. Please bring your dish in a disposable pan with a disposable serving utensil. Also if you can kindly add a little sign with the name of the dish and the ingredients to help teachers who may have dietary restrictions (NO PORK dishes please).
Thank you!
We Are Crew 
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KENDRA SCOTT SHOPPING EVENT AT AVALON
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All unclaimed items in lost & found will be donated to local charities on Friday 10/30/15
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Amana Academy is celebrating Red Ribbon Week this week.
Red Ribbon Week is a week dedicated to educating students about the effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. It is a campaign with a mission to lead and support students, families, and communities to be healthy and drug free.
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It is our 10 year anniversary! Students may enter a creative drawing for our yearbook cover contest. Submissions will be judged by a panel. There will only be 1 winner! To enter, draw a picture of what you think best represents this theme, our school, and YOU!
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