Spring Schedule, Community Circle on Friday, and More!

January 27, 2020

WEEKLY EAGLE UPDATES

Important Dates Coming Up At Amana:

Friday, January 29th: Community Circle & Amazing Race Launch

January 31st: LAST Day to turn in Recommitment Forms

February 1st - March 1st: Black History Month

Thursday, February 11th at Noon: Lunchtime Chat with the Principal

February 12th-15th: School Holiday

2020-2021 School Calendar

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

All Students Follow

NEW Spring Daily Class Schedule

This past week, Amana's Face-to-Face AND Virtual students started following our NEW Spring daily class schedule. Please read below notes about this new schedule carefully:

Class Times: Crew (first class) begins each morning at 8:15am (Elementary School) and 8:00am (Middle School). Dismissal will be at 2:30pm.
Accessing Lessons: Students will continue following Zoom lesson links and assignments on their Daily Lesson Documents . Assignments will be posted on Google Classroom and Seesaw.
Asynchronous Friday's: Moving forward, ALL Friday's will be Asynchronous. This means that classes will be recorded and learning will be remote. F2F students will NOT be coming into the school building on Friday's.

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Updates to Specials Lessons:

KG-3rd Grade:
In response to parent feedback that the K-3 simultaneous schedule is much longer for virtual students than what they were previously accustomed to, we have provided pre-recorded options for all the specials and Arabic classes in these grades. These recordings will allow students to participate in learning at a time that suits their unique scheduling needs. Students are still welcome to join live specials and Arabic except PE due to the active nature of the class. The following pre-recorded videos will be provided per week:
Art - 1 recorded lesson
STEM - 1 recorded lesson
PE - 2 recorded lessons
Arabic - 1 recorded comprehensive lesson to cover content for the week

4th-5th Grade:
In response to parent feedback that the K-5 simultaneous schedule is longer for virtual students than what they were accustomed to, we have provided pre-recorded options for all specials classes in these grades. These recordings will allow students to participate in specials classes at a time that suits their unique scheduling needs. Students are still welcome to join live specials except PE due to the active nature of the class. The following pre-recorded videos will be provided per week:
Art - 1 recorded lesson
STEM - 1 recorded lesson
PE - 2 recorded lessons
Arabic - recordings will still be provided after the live classes.

Middle School:
PE will be pre-recorded for virtual MS students to complete. MS students should still sign in at the beginning of the live PE session for attendance purposes and then log off to complete the pre-recorded lesson activity.
All other MS specials will be live.

IMPORTANT: RECOMMITMENT FORM DUE JANUARY 31

All Families Returning in August Need to Fill Out Form

ALL Families returning back to Amana Academy next year for Fall Semester in August 2021 MUST complete this Recommitment Form.

In order to reserve your child's seat for next year, each family must complete and submit the Recommitment Form by January 31, 2021. This is only for students currently attending and any siblings that will be new to the school, next August.

RECOMMITMENT FORM

Amana Welcomes Ms. Nicole Woodard as New Assistant Principal

Amana Academy is pleased to announce that Ms. Nicole Woodard has assumed the role of Assistant Principal at our Alpharetta campus reporting to Principal Najla Abdul-Khaliq. Ms. Woodard is a seasoned educator and leader with 17 years experience, 9 of which at Amana Academy where she most recently headed our ESOL Department to its highest level of achievement in our school history.

Prior to teaching, Ms. Woodard led research and cancer awareness initiatives throughout New York City with the American Cancer Society. After the 9/11 tragedy, she decided to go into teaching as a member of NYC Teaching Fellows because she wanted to support the success of all students and believed in the power of building relationships. In her years of teaching she exercised her leadership skills working with grades K-8 including general education classroom teacher, single-gender instruction, intervention, TAG, and ESOL. When her family moved to Georgia, she made Amana her home and participated in various leadership roles including New Teacher Mentor, Teacher Hiring Committee, schoolwide events such as International Festival, and innovative approaches towards supporting our intervention students.

In 2019 she was named Amana Academy’s Teacher of the Year, and she expanded her reach by participating in the highly-selective Fulton County Schools Aspiring Coach Pathway, as well as obtaining their TAG and ESOL Endorsements.

In her most recent role as the ESOL Department Lead, for the past four years she constructed an instructional focus that brought forth high student growth and exceeded the Improvement Target among English Language Learners (ELLs) on the Georgia College & Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI). Her efforts contributed to Amana Academy achieving an “A-rating” from the Governor’s Office of Students Achievement. Moreover, while serving as the interim TAG Coordinator, she expanded our testing protocols to provide students with increased opportunities for TAG placements. Both of these initiatives demonstrate her passion for building a community of excellence. Her passion for providing an enriching educational experience for students has extended into being Camp Director for Camp Invention for six years, a STEM-based summer camp for Amana and non-Amana students.

Ms. Woodard earned a Master's degree of Public Health from Virginia Commonwealth University followed by a Master of Science in Education with a concentration in Special Education from Mercy College. She received her School Administration Licensure from Wingate University. Nicole is a big believer in our school’s motto, We are Crew, not Passengers; and in her new role she wants to have direct systems influence on the structures and operations of the school to propel us to reach for higher levels of achievement and impact.

Please join us in congratulating Ms. Woodard on her role!

KG - 2nd Grade Link Pass: 067278

3rd - 5th Grade Link Pass: 351000

6th-8th Grade Link Pass: 927043

Amana Academy Celebrates Black History

Black history has been a fundamental part of American history for centuries, and Black History Month (February 1st - March 1st) gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture.

With Amana’s diversity, this month allows us to build on our cherished sense of community - not just in our classrooms with our students, but in partnership with our parents, staff, and community supporters.

This month, our school community will learn about and celebrate the legacy of black changemakers whose value and contribution to society has changed our nation (and our world's) landscape forever. We will engage you- our families- by encouraging many of you to share your own personal stories, and we hope that by doing so, we build bridges and create safe spaces to deepen our empathy for each other's experiences.

And finally, we know that this work is continuous and does not stop here. We've formed a "Be The Light" Taskforce that will forge a 12-month work plan to integrate equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice into our learning culture at Amana.

We're excited to partner with you in the weeks and months to come! If you're interested in sharing your perspective on this ongoing project, please send us a note at info@amanaacademy.org. Thank you!

Have You Toured Amana's

Brand New Website?

We're so excited to unveil our new Amana Academy website! You can access it here: www.amanaacademy.org. We've put together a quick video tour to make sure you're able to navigate the new site. Click below to view!

8th Grade Graduation Committee - SIGN UP (ONLY 6 spots left)

From your Committee lead, Shakirah Sconion Milford

The time has come to start planning for 8th-grade graduation. It's important that we plan early because as we've seen recently things can be unpredictable. I welcome 8th-grade parents and 7th-grade parents to help with ideas and volunteering. I myself helped with 8th-grade graduation before to allow the 8th-grade parents to actually get to relax and not have to volunteer on the actual graduation date. I'm hoping for us 8th-grade parents to be afforded that this time around. We need all the help we can get so please sign up to join the committee.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4AAAAB29ABFC1-8thgrade

PTO Shoe Drive: Donate Your Used Shoes!

Amana PTO is working with a local non-profit to be of service by asking that our community support H.E.A.L (Help Educate Assist Lives) by donating gently used shoes (all sizes, colors, styles, adults, and children).

H.E.A.L (https://heal-lives.org/) focuses on providing basic needs and educational resources for orphans and underprivileged youth in the communities we serve, with the purpose of creating a better living and learning environment. The organization provides services, funds, and material goods to communities in Liberia.

We are pleased to partner with them and extend our #WeAreCrew spirit outside of our walls and into the world.

Please drop your shoes in the bins that will be available in front of the PTO offices from Tuesday, January 19th - February 28th.

Thanks as always for your partnership in making Amana principles a part of the world's norms!

COVID-19 Reporting for ALL Amana Families

ALL AMANA FAMILIES - whether your child is returning Virtually OR F2F - are expected to fill out this COVID-19 Reporting Form if your Amana student fits into one or more of these categories:

Has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 15 days
Currently waiting for the results of a test for COVID-19
Has been in close contact (within 6 feet for at least 15 mins) in the past 15 days with someone diagnosed with COVID-19

If your child meets any of the above criteria or is ill or unwell: DO NOT send your students to school until you have spoken with Amana’s clinician (Ms. Fowler).

COVID-19 Report Form can be found on our main site North Fulton -> Parents > COVID-19 Form

COVID-19 REPORTING FORM

Help Desk & Tech Support Phone Numbers

If you have any questions or need general tech support, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team below:

7:00am - 10:00am : Morning Support Line: email somar@amanaacademy.org
10:00am - 12:00pm : Support Line #1: (470)-456-1082
12:00pm - 2:00pm : Support Line #2: 770-329-3406
2:00pm - 4:00pm : Support Line #3: (470)-456-1011

Reporting an Absence:

To report a student absent from school, please go to Amana's NEW website and click:

North Fulton
Parents
Attendance Form
Complete and submit the form

ATTENDANCE FORM

Amana's Before & After-School Programs

The Amana Academy Before and After School Programs are currently accepting registration. Please use the link here to sign up for either or both Programs.

Also, did you know that we are a CAPS childcare provider? Parents who are eligible can apply for CAPS using by going to their website and using Amana's provider id included below: https://caps.decal.ga.gov/en/

Amana Academy CAPS Provider id: 96907

Please reach out to Ayesha Haddad: ahaddad@amanaacademy.org with any questions.