SUPERINTENDENT'S MESSAGE
Dear Harmony Families,
We have much to celebrate as we begin a new month!
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First, I'm happy to share the news that one of our elementary schools--Harmony Science Academy Garland--has been selected a 2021 State School of Character for their outstanding efforts in promoting cultures of character in their schools and communities. This makes the second school in Harmony's DFW District to achieve this honor. Harmony School of Innovation-Fort Worth received State and National Schools of Character honors in 2020. But that's not all--all of our remaining 16 campuses were also recognized for their character education efforts.
This recognition speaks volumes about efforts to build character education into our schools. As one of Harmony's five core values, character education focuses on traits like responsibility and respect and is a critical part of the Harmony program. These Character.org recognitions demonstrate that our students are not only benefitting from Harmony’s character education program, but they, themselves, are also committing to and taking pride in the lessons they are learning. I encourage you to read all the details in this month's newsletter!
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This month, we are also celebrating the winners of Harmony's annual Reading Challenge! The challenge ran from early October to early January and students were challenged to read at least 20 books in PK-2, 10 books in grades 3-5, and 11 books in middle school grades during this three-month period. Students were directed by their teachers to read a mix of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and choice books in order to meet their goals. And the results in our District were nothing short of stellar (details in this newsletter)! Congratulations to all our participants and winners!
Also this month, I'd like to recognize the first anniversary of the launch of this newsletter, which was created especially for you—our Harmony parents and families. You and your continued partnership not only helps us maintain that critical home-school connection, but also helps your child achieve a successful school experience.
Finally, as Black History Month begins and we look to celebrate the achievements of African Americans, I'd like to leave you with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
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"Intelligence Plus Character - That Is the Goal of True Education." |
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Thank you for your continued support, and thank you for choosing Harmony! |
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Mr. Harun Karan
Superintendent
Harmony Public Schools DFW District
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FEBRUARY CALENDAR
Feb. 2: Groundhog Day
Feb. 12: Chinese New Year
Feb. 14: Valentine's Day
Feb. 15: Presidents' Day (Student Holiday/Inclement Weather Make-Up Day/Admin PD Day)
Feb. 15-21: Random Acts of Kindness Week
Feb. 16: Mardi Gras
Feb. 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day
Be on the lookout for news from your child's campus regarding celebrating and recognizing special monthly calendar observances.
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DFW DISTRICT 2020-2021 ACADEMIC CALENDARS
Please note there are two calendars for our District--one for Dallas/Fort Worth,
and one for Waco.
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Open Enrollment Deadline Approaching
Open Enrollment for 2021-22 continues through Feb. 10. If you know of a family looking to change schools, encourage them to check us out at HarmonyTX.org/apply and be sure to take advantage of referral incentives being offered by your child's campus! Again, the deadline to apply is Feb. 10.
Other important dates to keep in mind:
- Deadline for Lottery Application: Feb. 10, 2021
- 2021-22 Lottery: Feb. 18, 2021
- 2021-22 Registration Starts: Feb. 22, 2021
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Action Requested! Skyward Consent Form
The Harmony Public Schools Research Department has added a new Parent Consent form to your family Skyward account.
The department performs in-house research to improve student learning at Harmony schools. By signing this form, you consent to allow the department to carry out data collection regarding your child's studies at Harmony Public Schools. We request that you please log into Skyward to complete the form by no later than Friday, February 5.
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Harmony Garland School Named State School of Character
Harmony Science Academy-Garland has been selected a 2021 State School of Character for their outstanding efforts in promoting cultures of character in their schools and communities. This makes the second school in Harmony's DFW District to achieve this honor. Harmony School of Innovation Fort Worth received State and National Schools of Character honors in 2020.
Six Harmony DFW campuses received “Honorable Mention” recognition, while 10 were recognized as “Emerging” campuses. Both distinctions are generally considered precursors to future State School of Character designation.
Honorable Mention:
- Harmony School of Excellence-Dallas
- Harmony School of Innovation-Garland
- Harmony Science Academy-Carrollton
- Harmony Science Academy-Dallas Elementary
- Harmony Science Academy-Dallas High School
- Harmony Science Academy-Dallas Middle School
Emerging:
- Harmony School of Innovation-Carrollton
- Harmony School of Innovation-Dallas
- Harmony School of Innovation-Euless
- Harmony School of Innovation-Grand Prairie
- Harmony School of Innovation-Waco
- Harmony Science Academy-Euless
- Harmony Science Academy-Fort Worth
- Harmony Science Academy-Grand Prairie
- Harmony Science Academy-Plano
- Harmony Science Academy-Waco
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Reading Challenge Winners
Harmony DFW had so many teachers and students participate in our Reading Challenge! We would like to congratulate ALL our readers and to the following:
- Four of our teachers from HSA-Dallas Elementary will receive $1000 to spend on books in their classroom: Ms. Gilbert, Ms. Quiroz, Ms. Smoot, and Ms. Sierra. They were part of the first 10 teachers to reach 100% participation in all of Harmony. Way to go!
- HSA Plano, HSI Euless, HSA Dallas Elementary, and HSA Waco had 90% participation and will receive $2,000 toward books on the campus.
- HSI Carrollton, HSA Fort Worth, and HSA Garland had 80% participation and will receive $1,500 toward books on the campus.
We are so proud of all of our students for meeting this challenge! Thank you to our dedicated teachers and campus leaders for supporting the Reading Challenge on their campus.
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College Counseling Success Plans
Harmony Public School's College Counseling Department has created Junior and Senior Success Plans in order to provide support in key designated areas to help students succeed.
Seniors will be focusing on support for making key college decisions that help allow a smooth transition to their college or university. Juniors will focus on identifying best-fit majors to create potential college lists that meet their needs so that they can start to explore their corresponding applications, the average SAT/ACT scores for accepted students, and be as prepared as possible by the time they become seniors. Juniors will also focus on creating a goal for the upcoming SAT (on April 13) that will help support their application for their desired colleges/universities.
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Partners In Education-The University of Texas at Dallas
Harmony Public Schools DFW District is honored to partner with the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). Through this mutually beneficial relationship UTD's Engineering & Computer Science Department generously provides youth programming through virtual and in-person coding camps and after school activities as well as speakers for career exploration sessions.
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In return, Harmony supplements their recruitment pipeline with potential applicants who are qualified to succeed at a top-tier university such as UT Dallas. We are honored to work with such a prestigious state university located right in our "backyard." Thank you University of Texas at Dallas! |
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MONTHLY TIP FOR
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL) AT HOME
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Social and emotional learning (SEL) provides a foundation for safe and positive learning, and enhances students' ability to succeed in school, careers, and life.
This month's tip: At-Home Tools to Help Kids Manage Their Emotions.
While pausing academics to talk about feelings may sound counterintuitive for learning, more than 20 years of research shows it can actually boost academic performance, increase mental health, reduce drop-out rates, and more. When kids feel better, they do better overall.
Below are a few ways to help kids manage their emotions.
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Take a belly breath. Use this tool to help kids calm down, before they react to a situation, or before they sit down to focus and do homework. Have them breathe in through their nose until their belly is full of air, then out through their mouth slowly.
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Build a family charter. Create a document that outlines how each person wants to feel, then list activities that everyone can do to get there.
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Share roses and thorns. At dinner, check in with each member of the family and ask them something positive (the rose) and something challenging (the thorn). Resist the urge to try and solve the thorn, instead asking them how they handled it. Then ask what help they need to work on their challenge together.
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Think for three. Before starting a conversation about something they have done, give kids the space to think, allowing their thoughts to run independently for 3 minutes. This allows them to tap into their intuition about what happened prior to just being told about it.
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Try a mood meter. Use a feeling chart of words that kids can use to pick about how they are feeling at any given moment; it helps to identify emotions more accurately. Understanding emotions is the precursor to regulating them and making decisions that aren’t based solely on that moment. There are many available that you can print on the internet.
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Read aloud. When sharing a story, reflect on how the characters handle conflict, what makes them strong, or why a challenge happened. This helps to build vocabulary for talking about emotions and situations.
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Share your feelings. Sharing your own emotions makes children feel more comfortable sharing their own.
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Take a beat. When a situation occurs, encourage kids to stop, name the feeling, then think before they react, asking themselves how their best self would react to the situation.
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Making Room for Maker Space
Harmony School of Innovation-Dallas has renovated two of its classrooms and combined them to create a Maker Space lab for students for the 2021-22 school year. The lab will be used for CTE Pathway and GT classes.
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HSA-Euless Students Advance to State Engineering Competition
Harmony Science Academy-Euless's Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME) Club recently participated in a regional competition with more than 160 student competitors from the combined region. This year's contest was entirely comprised of a high-level engineering challenge related to oil exploration and drilling. Three HSA-Euless students qualified for State Competition in April by being on the first place or second place engineering team or by qualifying through the regional tests this spring.
HSA-Euless students advancing to TAME State Competition are:
- Wafiqah Zubair - Ace Award (First Place Math, First Place Science - Spring)
- Utsawb Lamichane - 2nd Place Engineering Challenge
- Ojaswee Aryal - 2nd Place Engineering Challenge
Additional award-winners include:
- Edgar Maldonado - 3rd Place Engineering Challenge
- Pratyush Nirula - 4th Place Engineering Challenge
- Dave Park - 5th Place Engineering Challenge
Judges Awards for Team Work and Diligence:
- Damien Konys - 10th Grade
- Nora Naveen - 6th Grade
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Harmony Teacher Develops Math Website
Harmony Science Academy-Dallas (High) math teacher Ali Kaya has developed a math website as a resource to help students, parents, and other math teachers. Called Abakcus, Kaya developed the website during the pandemic for users to actively search and discover math-related articles, books, projects, videos, and tools.
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LOOKING AHEAD - MARCH 2021
March 12: End of Quarter
March 14: Daylight Savings Time Begins & National Pi Day
March 15-19: Spring Break (All Harmony DFW Schools and District Office is Closed)
March 17: St. Patrick's Day
March 20: First Day of Spring
March 22: Start of New Nine-Week Period
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Follow Harmony DFW on social media! Like and share these stories our social media platforms. |
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