Volume 3, I s sue 1

Date: 10 -2011 S r . D i a n a A b d i - P r i n c i p a l

Principal Speaking 1

Don’t Give Up—Change

Directions 1

TIP 1

Daydreaming Child? No

Worries 2

Good Sportsmanship

Matters 2

Avoid An Authoritarian

Approach To Discipline 2

Hadeeth of The Month 3

School Connection 4

Content

5110 MANOR Rd

AUSTIN, TX 78723

Phone: 512-926-1737

Fax: 512-926-9688

principal@apacademy.org

Principal Speaking Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh

TIP

Do your prep

work the night

before

What’s worse than night-before

-school fatigue? Morning chaos!

Get most of your child’s school

-day prep work done before

heading to bed, including:

• Packing her lunch.

• Loading up her backpack.

• Choosing her outfit.

Tackling these tasks can be

tough when all you want to do is

collapse on the couch after a

long day. But do it anyway—and

as much as you can— together

with your child.

When you wake up to a calm,

peaceful morning—and child—

you’ll be glad you did!

Last month, we focused on the theme Responsibility. A child who learns and accepts

responsibility will do better in school and grow up to be a productive, responsible adult. It

would be nice if learning responsibility happened overnight. But it’s a work in progress—

and it takes practice.

Here are some things you can do to let your child practice responsible habits every

day:

Give your child an alarm clock.

Expect her to get herself ready for school in the morning.

Establish a regular homework time.

This will make it easier for your child to be responsible

for her school work.

Have a set place by the front door

Where she can place her backpack every night—ready to go with everything she

needs for school the next day. Have her pack her lunch at night too.

Don’t expect perfection. Remember that mistakes happen to everyone. Allow your

child to experience the consequences of her mistakes—and she will learn important lessons

about responsibility. If you’re always running to her rescue, she’ll only learn that she doesn’t

have to take responsibility for anything.

Remember that it’s just as important to reward responsible behavior as it is to

comment on mistakes.

Don’t Give Up—Change Directions

Hard work often leads to success. But what if it leads to failure?

Imagine your child does poorly on a math test, even though she studied. Talk calmly about what happened. She may realize she needs to practice multiplication every day, for example, and not just before tests.

Remember that failure can lead to future success!

Source: M.H. Raskind and R.J. Goldberg, “Life Success for Students With Learning

Disabilities: A Parents’ Guide,” www.ldonline.org/article/12836.

V O LU M E 3, IS S UE 1 P A G E 2

Daydreaming Child? No Worries!

Good Sportsmanship Matters—On The Field and Off!

Is your nine-year-old daydreaming again? Don’t de-

spair! Not only is it normal—it’s expected.

Kids’ brains at this age are actively changing and

growing. And one of the areas doing most of the growing

affects—you guessed it—concentration.

So unless your child is seriously unable to focus in

class, take his “spacing out” with a grain of salt.

Like childhood itself, this too shall pass.

Source: Dr. R. Melillo, Reconnected Kids: Help Your Child Achieve Physical, Mental, and

Avoid An Authoritarian Approach To Discipline

It may be tempting to adopt a “my way or the highway” approach to

parenting, but it’s not a good idea.

Studies show that children with overly strict parents tend to be:

• Unable to express their feelings.

• Sullen or withdrawn.

• Depressed.

• Unmotivated.

So commit to being firm, fair and consistent when it comes to discipline.

And resist the urge to rule with an iron fist!

Source: M. Mamen, The Pampered Child Syndrome: How to Recognize It, How to Manage It, and How to Avoid It,

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Team sports aren’t just fun. They also offer an opportunity

for teaching good sportsmanship. To make sure your child gets

the lesson before the next game, remind her to be:

Respectful to teammates and opponents.

A good winner (no bragging).

A good loser (no whining).

Research shows that kids who hear this “good sportsman-

ship” message before competing demonstrate better conflict

resolution skills than kids who don’t. Better yet, those skills

may spill over into the classroom!

Source: G. Dewar, Ph.D., “Social skills activities for children and teenagers: Ideas inspired by

research,” Parenting Science, http://tinyurl.com/ybhxx9l.

V O LU M E 3, IS S UE 1 P A G E 3

Responsibility

It has been narrated on the authority of Ibn 'Umar that the Holy

Prophet (May be upon him) said: Beware. every one of you is a shepherd

and every one is answerable with regard to his flock. The Caliph is a

shepherd over the people and shall be questioned about his subjects. A man

is a guardian over the members of his family and shall be questioned about

them. A woman is a guardian over the household of her husband and his

children and shall be questioned about them. A slave is a guardian over the

property of his master and shall be questioned about it. Beware, every one

of you is a guardian and every one of you shall be questioned with regard

to his trust.

Responsibility and accountability go together like a

hand and a tight fitting glove. As the narration above

shows, political accountability is primary in Islam, with

responsibility in the other aspects of society a close

second.

So, people should be responsible and accountable

during their time in this world. They are accountable to

their fellow citizens for upholding the Islamic value and

conduct. They are also accountable to Allah on the Day

of Judgment when they will be questioned about what

they used to believe, say and do.

Activities in Oct 2011

Oct 01: Marathon

Kids Kick off

Oct 01: Capital Area

Food Bank

Oct 08: Debate Com-

petition - Blanco

Oct 12: PSAT

Oct 20: Class Picture

Day

Oct 22: International

Restaurant Day

Oct 31: Parent Confer-

ence Day

We are on the web!

www.apacademy.org

Did you already know about the new Advanced Placement classes at APA? How about revisions to the uniform policy, the new reading programs in the elementary school, or the new homerooms in the middle school? If not, we hope you attended the 2011-12 parent Orientation meeting on Saturday, September 10th. Over 100 people attended the meeting and lunch that followed.

Principal Diana spoke for a little over one hour covering nearly all of the new

developments surrounding the school. Parents were introduced to the faculty and encouraged to visit their classrooms. Nearly every faculty member attended at least one summer continuing education program. Principal Diana also discussed our new technology acquisitions, the newly aligned curriculum in Arabic and Islamic studies, discipline policies, and she directly approached the desperate need for more parental involvement.

While this meeting was the largest turnout for an academic event in the history

of the school, there is still a significant need for parents to get involved. The school can use parents to help out on special days, judge science fair, speak on career day, cook for sports day, bake for International Restaurant Day, and help prepare special mailings to the community. “Every time parents attended a meeting at school their children notice,” said Principal Diana. “Your kids know when you lend a helping hand to the school and they will model your good deeds.” Please become more in-volved in our Parent Teacher organization.

Parent Orientation at APA

Our Open House took place on Friday evening, the 30th of September. School provided dinner for the parents along with entertainment, illusion, and tricks for the children. We had over 120 kids and well over 100 parents. This was the largest turnout for this event in school history.

Parents followed their child’s schedule, met each teacher, and heard about the classes and grading for each subject. Many of the teachers showed off power point presentations through projectors which have now been installed in their classrooms. Ms. Nahed gave parents a presentation via Mimo technology used as a smart board. The parents were fascinated by the advancement of the technology. We thank all the parents for attending. You made this a success.

Open House at APA