Clarion Newsletter, March 18, 2022

Dear Clarion Parents and Friends of Clarion,

It was so great to see parents in school today for some of the special project work going on. One in particular crossed paths with me in the atrium and said “I’m going to PreK with juice!”

Well I ‘missed it’ as I was doing a walkabout upstairs in Grade 2, where 2C showed me their class tree and handmade nest in class, and then HAAAD to run outside to show me the birds nests with eggs and chicks in the tree at the far end of the street! While upstairs, I was checking out culmination prep in Grade 1 as well. Note to parents- your little ‘entrepreneurs' have loads of things to sell to you when you come in next week!

As a follow up to the juice, I passed by PreK - A and PreK - B and the children in PreK - B were soooo excited to have had the father in to class to talk about where juice comes from and Ms. Shafaq shared, that in PreK - B they also have oranges to ‘make juice’ next Monday. Note to self- wear clothes that can get orange stains on them Monday!

Then on the way to the buses one of the PreK - B boys noted the brother of his classmate whose father had just been in class and shouted out joyfully “Your Dad is the juice man!”

What a great way to wrap up the last half hour of the week in classes!

On to other items.

Reenrollment: You have received the forms and so many of you have replied and our reenrollment looks fantastic so far. Thank you to those who did it already, and thank you in advance to the rest of you for getting to this item of ‘business’ as soon as you can.

STUCO Movie Night yesterday: The STUCO (Student Council) ran a “Movie Night” yesterday after school. Over 80 students in PreK to Grade 1 stayed to enjoy the movie and have popcorn. The students in charge did the set up and clean up (as far as I know since I was in a meeting! LOL) and the STUCO worked with their teacher sponsors over several weeks to plan, debate, decide, re-decide, re-plan and then set up yesterday afternoon. The other Grades will have a movie night next Thursday as well.

Next week:

Book Fair March 21-23: Open from 8 AM to 4 PM in the atrium. We will have a donation box if you can think about buying a book for the book-drive for Tanzania as well.

Sports Day for Grades 2 to 6 on Wednesday the 23rd- the flyer is attached to this email!

Sports Day for Grades PreK to Grade 1 on Thursday the 24th!- the flyer is attached to this email!

Book Character DRESS UP Day on Friday, March 25th: We wrap up in school “Reading Month” with “Book Character Dress Up Day.” I’ve prepped you from several weeks back, and the best thing is homemade- even a single item to represent a character is fine. Yes, I am participating….it’s a secret! (How could I not!) and many of the staff enjoy this day as well. Parents are encouraged to dress up as a book character also on the 25th!

Culmination Projects: Each year students work on 3 ‘culmination projects’ as their “Unit of Inquiry” for a term. This is an important part of who we are as the DNA of Clarion School. You will receive invites from your homeroom teachers as to the date and time for this and we welcome you all- remember masks ON in class and in the halls, masks OFF in the street if you wish.

You still need either proof of vaccination or a current 48 hour PCR to come on campus- thanks for understanding!

Ramadan Timings: No, we don’t know yet. As soon as we do we will send you a specific email about this. KHDA has promised to tell us “next week” so Inshallah we know sooner in the week rather than later. In the last 6 years schools were asked to be open for 5 total hours each day. However, the new weekly calendar with shorter ½ day Fridays may have something to do with KHDA taking their time with deciding how to go forward.

When we know you will know as soon as we can compose the email!

Spring Break: Starts at 12 noon, on Friday March 25th

We return to school in Ramadan timings on Monday the 11th of April.

In closing: I am so impressed at how our teachers instill in their students ‘student agency’ as they prep for Culminating Projects next week. This type of prep is harder than traditional schools when they do what they call “project based learning” (PBL). At Clarion the process is messier, more complicated, and harder…but ultimately more rewarding due to the way in which teachers have to step back and let the children work things out; form teams; help each other; fix problems with solutions; go in different directions; and sometimes start all over again. I am in awe of how our teachers and ATs (Assistant Teachers) manage this process day in, day out. They truly are special people.

Have an amazing weekend- the weather is cooperating so get outside and enjoy it while you can!

Sincerely,

Jim #SpringBreak7DaysButWhoIsCounting Pastore