Dear Parents,

Wellbeing Awareness Week was a great success this week. Students had the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities during the week, which promoted wellbeing. Our students learned about the importance of maintaining healthy wellbeing habits and about being responsible for making good wellbeing choices.

The goal of Wellbeing Awareness Week is to develop shared understandings of wellbeing, and for students to learn about and utilize health-enhancing behaviors.

Specific goals of the week were to:

• Engage students in interactive Health Education

• Communicate key messages of the Health Education program

Messages for Wellbeing Week were as follows:

• Making decisions about leisure time activities that enhance wellbeing

• Making decisions about nutrition (including water intake) that enhance wellbeing

• Making decisions about caring for our bodies that enhance wellbeing

• Making decisions about how we act and what we say when interacting with others that enhance wellbeing

Below is an overview of wellbeing focused learning activities in which students participated in at every grade level.

• Pre-K 3 & 4: Students engaged in activities such as mindful coloring, flow videos (focusing on feelings and thoughts), Cosmic Yoga, Go Noodle, and friendship games. Students were also involved in read-alouds that focus on the four ASD Values.

• KG: Students learned about the different domains of wellbeing; specifically deepening their understanding of how they can stay healthy both mentally and physically. In addition, students learned about mindful coloring, deep breathing, and used movement to help their brains focus.

• Grade 1: Students focused on two essential questions: What are the four dimensions of wellbeing and what can I do for my wellbeing? Through discussions and activities, such as yoga, dancing and meditation, students developed their understanding about the impact of the choices they make on enhancing their wellbeing.

• Grade 2: Students engaged in a variety of activities to address all four domains of wellbeing as follows: yoga for physical wellbeing, Power of Yet song for emotional wellbeing, mindfulness for spiritual wellbeing, and a dance party for social wellbeing.

In addition to providing resources to support classroom based wellbeing activities, our Elementary Health Coordinator Ms. Anne Sarafin organized a variety of recess time activities for students.

We encourage our families to take part in wellbeing related activities at home which can be accessed through this Health Choice Board link.

Halloween Celebrations

We will be celebrating Halloween on Sunday, October 31. Students will have the opportunity to come to school dressed in costumes and class parties will be held during the school day. We ask that students do not bring costume accessories to school as this will be distracting to classroom learning.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held this year on the afternoon/evening of Wednesday, November 3, and the morning of Thursday, November 4. Due to the conference schedule, there will be no school for students on Thursday, November 4. Today, you will be receiving an email from your child’s classroom teacher with special instructions and a link to schedule your child’s conference.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lana Al-Aghbar

Lower Elementary Principal

American School of Doha