Clarion Newsletter, May 20, 2022

Dear Parents and Friends of Clarion School!

End of year dates for the Shows, Art exhibitions and the individual class “culmination projects”:

We are slowly winding down the year- and what a fantastic year it has been! To wrap things up we will have a special day where you as parents can come in and get a ‘3-fer’:

• See your child on stage in the PE room singing and presenting
• See a class exhibit for their grade level for Art
• And go up to the classroom for the 3rd “culmination” project from the class/grade level UOI (Unit of Inquiry) done over the last 1/3 of the year!

The chart below is for you to check your calendar. PLEASE NOTE that this calendar below supersedes and replaces the published school calendar. We did this to put 3 things on one day for each class so that you are not having to book 3 days to come to school the week of June 20-23:

PreK - Monday, June 20 at 8:30am

K2 - Monday, June 20 at 9:30am

K1 - Tuesday, June 21at 8:30am

G4,5,6 - Tuesday, June 21 at 9:30am

G1 - Wednesday, June 22 at 8:30am

G2 - Thursday, June 23 at 8:30am

G3 - Thursday, June 23 at 9:30am

Oral Health information – PDF attached herewith (as sent by our School nurse, Ms. Kristine):

The DHA and KHDA have asked that we send the attached flyer to all families as part of the consistent emphasis on health and wellness for all children in Dubai and the UAE.

Please have a look!

Register for Clarion Commons event by Ms. Meher Mirchandani:

We are absolutely delighted to have this presentation for our community by Meher Mirchandani. I am very much looking forward to this and will have my seat ‘reserved’ for sure!

For parents who have missed out on registering for the event, please refer to the flyer later in this newsletter which has more information.

The link for RSVP is RSVP Here .

Re-enrollment fee reminder:

Jafar the Clarion School Finance Manager, is sending out documents to all of you for payments and re-enrollments. Thank you for communicating with Jafar directly for any questions you have!

Both re-enrollment and new student numbers are looking so positive for next year, our re- enrollment is trending better than last year, which was better than the several years before. And the new student numbers are higher now than last year so please ensure that you secure your child's place in school for 2022-2023.

Online safety for children as they reach upper elementary and middle school:

Attached is a wonderfully done flyer about an online program called “discord”. When discord came out years back it was intended for older teens and adults to use as a communication APP online for chatting, and talking and texting. It morphed into a very well used program that gamers used to communicate as a ‘team’ while playing games online.

However, with proper use sometimes come misuse- and discord, like ALL communication apps and programs online - on tablets, ipads, laptops, desktops AND cellphones - there is always the potential for misuse.

The attachment is very well done and most importantly it recommends that parents be aware of it. I highly advise that you as parents are vigilant about what is going on in the online world of your child’s use of the internet- if it is on your machine/phone or their own device, this is of no matter. What does matter is that you as the adults have a watchful eye (and ear) to what your child does online!

The Final word:

This week a group of K2 students came to present me with a ‘petition’…..with 56 names on it from K2, up to Grade 3.

It was about ….POKEMON!

LOL

I am not amazed that Pokemon cards are still with us and bigger and more advanced than ever- the fun children have trading cards, and checking out which creature has what powers, which abilities, etc. etc. is actually a form of literacy.

Now, I am not sure that I can run an afterschool club for 46+ students…especially with only 30 days of school left (who’s counting? lol). But the idea of a group of 5 year olds putting together a petition and canvassing the school for signatures (note- they said “Grade 4’s and 5’s and 6’s are TOO BIG for this”) was wonderful to see. I have to admit that I saw the children walking school and getting signatures all week long and had my usual smiley-smirk on my face.

What is this all about?

AGENCY!

Students working out how to do things, and trying their best to do them on their own, with a little guidance from adults – thank you Ms. Laurine in K2 for your guidance for the students and for bringing them to me yesterday!

I have got the petition on my desk and now have to figure out what to do.

The CLARION WAY…kids making more work for Mr. Jim!

Thank you all for all you do as parents to work with us as a school! We appreciate your feedback, your questions, and your input!

Sincerely,

Jim Pastore