WHAT’S INSIDE: 1. letter to a parent 2. our community events 3. announcements 4. parents share 5. did you know that? 6. health & yummy
SUPPORTS HELPS ANSWERS RECOMMENDS
NOVEMBER 2018
A welcome note to parents: Dear ACS Athens community, Welcome to our first SHARE newsletter of the year! We are honored and excited to represent the PTO this year and with your help we hope to maintain a healthy interactive school wide community where parents, students and staff members can meet each other and participate in fun, educational and interesting events. We are always at your disposal! Please share with us any comments or concerns you may have through the ACS Athens website. We wish you a year full of joy and success…
CONGRATULATIONS to our school for receiving a highly esteemed award the “Regional Peace and Sports award”! The ACS Athens initiative was celebrated and recognized for the fact that with education and sports the school is integrating refugee unaccompanied children in society and in the meantime it promotes World Peace. This initiative significantly helped these refugee minors in providing them the opportunity to dream and accomplish their dreams.
THEMES FROM THE PAST MONTHS Thank you Note for the BBQ Welcome
Pumpkin Patch sale
A huge thank you to everyone who came to this event, to every volunteer who helped us, to every community member who donated to our Bake Sale and to every staff member who supported us. Hope you enjoyed our welcome BBQ and hope to see you in our next events! All suggestions and ideas are welcome!
Our Pumpkin Sale was a great success because of you, thank you for supporting us! Hope you enjoyed our games, crafts and face painting.
ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //NOVEMBER 2018
OUR COMMUNITY EVENTS This year we will be offering a variety of activities so we can accommodate different interests and tastes. We will have weekend, morning and afternoon events so that all parents can have a chance to participate and make friends with other community members from our school.We are glad to share with you some photos from our first trips this year and we are excited and looking forward to organizing many more gatherings”
Tour to the National Observatory of Athens
Hiking in Mount Immitos
On Growth Mindsets by Dr. Alessandra Sax, school counseling psychologist
Human Development across the life cycle has key developmental milestones, socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively, that may or may not come with many trials and tribulations. Early adolescence is a time of complex transitions with increased responsibility and independence. These transitions and/or changes may often be difficult for young adults, as they are often accompanied by academic and social stress. These stressors go hand in hand with emotional stress and are all interrelated to one’s overall well being. A growth mindset is a phrase that was coined by Dr. Carol Dweck (Stanford University, 2007) that refers to students’ beliefs about intelligence and how these beliefs have important implications for their learning, motivation, and academic achievement. During our discussion, we will have an overview on the basic concepts of growth and fixed mindsets (how the brain develops) and will have time to review some examples of student’s work and hear what they have to say about their own growth mindsets! Looking forward to seeing you all in the PTO coffee on November 13th Dr. Alessandra Sax, School Counseling Psychologist
#2
ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //NOVEMBER 2018
OUR COMMUNITY EVENTS
PTO General Meeting and Principals’ coffee Nov. 13
Come and get updated about our news. Meet our school’s counseling psychologist Dr. Alessandra Sax, a great opportunity to learn about mindsets and ask any question related to child psychology. Get informed about the ACS Athens Houses from our students affairs staff. Find out about upcoming events.
Agenda:
Academy School Coffee 9:00 am - 9:30 am Elementary School Coffee 9:30 am - 10:00 am Middle School Coffee 10:00 am - 10:30 am PTO Coffee 10:30 am - 11:00 am
VE SA
E TH
Where:
ACS large conference room Administration building
PTO Holiday Bazaar
TE DA
Saturday December 1st
Save the Date!
ACS ATHENS PTO
HOLIDAY
If you are looking for ways to get involved in the Holiday Bazaar preparations, decorations or through shifts on the day of the event, please sign up through the following link or send an email to: Pasant Hamdalla pasanthamdalla@gmail.com Any amount of time you can give will be much appreciated.
BAZAAR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1 12PM - 5PM
#3
ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //NOVEMBER 2018
ANNOUNCEMENTS
A Note from the IB Office A big “thank you!” to our community, our parents and students, for a successful food and clothing drive, and their distinguished readiness to support the Grade 11/IB Bonding Retreat to Ancient Olympia, Peloponnese. This was the 15th consecutive year that the trip took place serving as an exemplary collaboration among International schools. 71 ACS Athens students and 34 ISA students, joined forces to outreach to the local communities of Ancient Olympia, Pyrgos, and Lechaina. They engaged in social activities with the patients of the Home for the Elderly at Pyrgos and the Therepeutic Center (KEPEP) at Lechaina, as well as, enhanced student learning through rich experiential learning activities and out-of-the-classroom workshops. With kind regards, On Behalf of the IB Office: Ino Korbaki AP & IB Core Coordinator
Thank you note Thank you for your kind contributions to the Xamoyelo tou Paidiou organization
during the BBQ event. This year we hope to be able to do more charity work, and we would be very glad to receive any ideas about a charity organization we can include in out future events.
A Note from our Librarian Ms. Lee Anderson Our Used Book Collection could use some new books. New donations of fiction and non-fiction reading books for children or adults in Greek or English would be very much appreciated. Unfortunately, textbooks and reference books don’t sell. Thank you for your support.
#4
ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //NOVEMBER 2018
PARENTS
DID YOU KNOW THAT...?
Each month an Acs Athens parent answers these 10 questions! Please drop us a quick note in our feedback form if you would like to share!
Dana Mom of Azmi (2nd Grade) and Thea (JK)
…you can send us your thoughts, ideas and suggestions through the PTO page on the school Website? Or simply click http://www.acs.gr/pto-about/
...the correct spelling of Halloween is in fact Hallowe’en and it is known as “the day of the dead” in Mexico instead of Halloween, in other countries it is known as: All Hallows Eve, Samhain, All Hallowtide and the Feast of the Dead. Spooky! ….the song “Jingle Bells” was originally written as a Thanksgiving song. …to produce a single pound of honey, a single bee would have to visit 2 million flowers.
What is the most beautiful thing your children have ever said to you? One day my son said to me “Mommy I love my life, I want to stay close to you and daddy when I grow up”. As for Thea she always makes my day when she tells me that if I am happy she is happy.
What is the most hurtful thing your children have ever said to you? Thankfully, I cannot think of anything hurtful my children said maybe because they are still young?
What is the funniest thing you remember your children saying? I remember one day Azmi told me that he was thankful about being a boy as when he grows up he will not have to bring babies from his stomach.
What are your children’s favorite sports or hobbies?
Azmi likes basketball and reading science books and Thea enjoys swimming after a long struggle of four months trying to convince her to dip her toes in the water.
…a “jiffy” is the scientific name for 1/100th of a second. …Saturn’s density is low enough that the planet would float in water. ...the placement of a donkey’s eyes in its’ heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!
HEALTHY & YUMMY This month we present:
Our best kid friendly snack recipes
How do you get your children to eat vegetables?
Luckily both my children like cooked vegetables with any kind of meat or rice, but I do cut the vegetables into very small pieces and slow cook them.
How did you choose your children’s names?
It was very easy to name my son Azmi as he was named after his grandfather from his dad’s side. As for Thea, we wanted to give her an old greek name with a nice meaning and after many suggestions and searches we found it and it means goddess of moonlight.
What’s guaranteed to make your children smile? Pizza, popcorn and going to the airport to pick up a visiting family member!
What is the best thing you enjoy about being a parent? I enjoy watching them grow up and meet the
Turkey sweet potato Shepherd’s pie http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipe-collection/sweet-potato-ingredients/turkey-sweet-p otato-shepherds-pie-and-cran-applesauce-sundaes/10.html
world. It is fun to hear their thoughts about life.
What’s the hardest thing about being a parent?
The hardest thing about being a parent for me personally would be the fact that I had to give up my career to take care of them. They always get the priority in everything we do leaving me with little time for myself. In addition, it is very hard to watch them when they are sick or in pain, I feel helpless...
A big THANK YOU to Gefsinus, our cafeteria company, for their generous provision of coffee and tea at our PTO General Meetings!
Please complete the sentence anyway you like “Being a parent means…” Having the blessing of experi-
encing unconditional love and putting their interests before your own. #5