Sunshine News: 2009

Cairo 27. 10. 2009
Dear Parents and Pupils of the Sunshine Unit
Today we received from the authorities the order to close the school due to two swine flu cases among pupils of the NRC.
The school will be closed for 15 days. After this period the authorities will decide about further procedures.

In order to facilitate learning for our pupils we have prepared assignments in Arabic, mathematics, English and reading. Each pupil will receive a folder with his/her personal assignments. We have tried to prepare the work in the way that the worksheets could be managed by the students alone. In case of difficulties with the assignments or in case of need for further explanation, students can contact the teachers daily from 9:00 – 13:00 per Internet. We installed for all students an E-mail account which we have written in their assignment books. We will post any news on our blog.
URL – http://sunshineunitcairo.blogspot.com/
E-mail- sunshine.unit@yahoo.com
You can reach me under my E-mail: wissda@hotmail.com

Miss Mary will coordinate the Internet work and she will help the students to open a Skype-account in order to be able to communicate with their teachers. To be able to use Skype you need earphones, microphone and a camera installed in your PC.
Mrs. Mary can be reached under the E-mail: marysourial@yahoo.com
Mrs. Margret Prager can be reached under: merkherit@hotmail.com
Mrs. Nevien Gerges under: nenagerges@yahoo.com
Mrs. Gina Mokbel under: ginamokbel@yahoo.com.uk
Mr. Jay Anthony under: jacasiano@yahoo.com
We will send to you as well a telephone list of all students that you have the chance to keep in touch.
In order to increase the immunity of your children make sure that they get good long sleeping hours, that they eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in order to have a good supply of Vitamins and Minerals. Keep away from Junk food and sweets. Provide them with fresh cooked healthy food. Avoid crowded places and contact with sick people. Try to be out in fresh air as much as possible.
I hope for all of you to stay healthy and I hope that this problem will pass soon for all of us. In case of any questions or problems feel free to contact me or any member of the team.
Thank you for your collaboration in this difficult situation.
Regards
Margarethe Wissmann-Darwish

Welcome Back.
Here is the calendar for the year. if there are any changes as the year goes on we will post them for you.

Letter to Parents 1.9.09

Sunshine Unit News Letter for Parents and Pupils
September 2009
Welcome back to the Unit
We wish a Happy Ramadan for all our Islamic families
Content of the letter:
1. Introduction and Welcome back
2. Timetable in Ramadan
3. Calendar of the Academic year 2009/2010
4. Swine flu information and precautions in the Unit
5. Parents’ collaboration
6. Information exchange in the Unit
7. Rules in the Unit

1. Introduction and Welcome back to school
Dear parents and pupils of the Sunshine Unit,

I hope you spent nice holidays with your families and you come back to school relaxed and ready for work. We are interested to hear about your news.

We are welcoming five new pupils and we hope that all members of the Unit will help them to integrate easily. Successful learning can only happen if all of us feel comfortable and happy. To create a happy and productive environment everybody in our small Unit community has to share and contribute to the Unit culture.

I am very happy to announce that all our teachers from the previous school year are with us this year. We have Mrs.Saskia Reese, a German Student from the University of Giessen, from the Department of Special Needs Education with us for the coming six weeks. Mrs. Saskia will do a practice in the Unit. Since she is our guest it would be very much appreciated if the parents would contribute in offering some sightseeing programs or entertainment for her after school as we have offered it in previous years to our visiting students. Each practice of a foreign or Egyptian student has a positive impact to the Unit. Educating students in the Unit is part of our Mission statement. You all know how important it is to increase the awareness about Learning Disabilities and to contribute our knowledge to others.

We are always interested to improve the quality of instruction and the culture in the Unit. Last Spring we had six of our teachers enrolled in the Continuous Education Program of the American University in Cairo. All teachers passed their exams with very good results. This continuous education will contribute to improvement in the Unit as it gives a positive feedback to the intellectual and teaching community in Cairo. All teachers will continue in the fall 2009 and in spring 2010 to study for their continuous education certificates.

2. Timetable in Ramadan
During the Holy month of Ramadan we will work a short timetable in the Unit.
From the 1.of September until the first day after the Eid El Fetr, the 27.of September, we will start lessons at 7:30 am until 13:00.
Make sure that you pick up your child punctually since traffic jams are horrific at that time.
After the 27.September we will start regular timetable according to the NRC bus schedule. We will send to you an updated version of the timetable before the feast holidays.

3. Calendar of the Academic year 2009/2010
Attached to this letter you will find the calendar of the academic year 2009/10.
The Calendar is for180 school days. There are still some flexible dates which we will need for additional conferences and for the Midyear vacations since we did not get the final dates for the Midyear vacations from the Ministry of Education. We will inform you about these changes at a later time.
The official holidays in this academic year will be as following:
September 2009: Eid El Fetr/ End of Ramadan 20 - 26. September 2009
October 2009: Thursday the 6. of October National holiday
November 2009: Thursday 26. 11.2009 - 30. 11.2009 Eid El Kebir
December 2009: Friday 18.12.2009 Islamic New Year
Thursday 24.12. 2009 – 27.12.2009 Christmas
January 2010: 6.and 7. 1.2010 Coptic Christmas
February 2010: Friday 26.2.2010 Prophet Mohamed's birthday
April 2010: Friday 2.4.2010 – 5.4.2010 Eastern and Coptic Easter
Sunday 25.4.2010 Sinai day
May 2010: Saturday 1.5.2010 Worker's day
21.5.2010 – 23.5.2010 Eid El Ghattas
End of school year will be Sunday the 13.June 2010 (Friday or Sunday according to parents and staff decision)
Changes to the school calendar can be matter of higher orders.

4. Swine flu information and precautions in the Unit
The Egyptian Ministry of Education had initiated that all public schools and most of the private schools stay closed until the end of Ramadan. Swine flu cases have increased in the last months and it is necessary to take some precautions in school and at home. Basically the children need more hygiene instructions and follow ups.
In the Unit we will start to insist on regular handwashing every hour. We will spray the toilets with disinfection every morning.
· Please provide your child daily with a fresh towel and help us to make sure that everybody changes daily. Wash the towels at 90 degrees washing temperature.
· Provide your child with his/her own napkins and Dettol wet ones for in-between cleaning.
· Make sure that you provide fresh food for lunch and please use solid washable containers for the children's lunch. Pupils have to put their lunch packages in the fridge.
· Make sure that you care about healthy nutrition in order to build up a strong immunity. Remember soft drinks, sweets and fast food are not permitted in the Unit. Provide your child with fresh fruits, vegetables and freshly prepared nutritious sandwiches.

Five Health Tips to Avoid Swine Flu
Regardless of whether it is "a common cold", "basic flu", "Swine flu" or the "H1N1" flu virus (a more technical name for the same virus), there are certain action steps to keep you and your families healthy and safe.
Take time to review the CDC's five, flu-safety tips, which will help you avoid swine flu (or any flu). They'll also help to ensure that the virus doesn't spread needlessly.
· Tip #1: Stay home if you're sick.
· Tip #2: Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
· Tip #3: Wash your hands often and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
· Tip #4: Cover your mouth or nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing.
· Tip #5: Keep up with health information in your own community.
Flu-safety basics are the exact same whether you get the human flu or the swine flu. The swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that cause regular outbreaks in pigs. People don’t usually get swine flu but infections can and do occur.
This virus spreads the exact same way that regular flu viruses spread -- person-to-person transmission through coughing, sneezing and touching of infected people or surfaces: door knobs, shopping carts, countertops, etc. So, it’s also a good idea to carry your alcohol-based, disinfecting wipes, sprays and gels with you, as well.
There is some good news: First, there are antiviral medicines to prevent and treat swine flu. They may also prevent serious flu complications. Second, swine influenza viruses are not spread by food.
Addition: There are not enough medical supplies of the antivirus treatment in Egypt.

5. Parents collaboration
Education can only be successful if parents, school, teachers and pupils work together. We would like you as parents to increase your participation in the daily school life. The first parents meeting will be on 1. of September at 12 noon when you pick up your children. We ask you to elect a representative for the parents who will be in regular contact with the other parents and who can collect suggestions concerning wishes, comments, changes or any concerns which may appear. The increase of collaboration can contribute to higher satisfaction for all members of the Unit. All of us need feedback to initiate changes. Be sure we are as well happy about positive feedback.
Two parents assemblies are mandatory, 1.9.2009 the opening meeting and the meeting after the midyear certificates, beginning of February 2010. Besides these meetings you can ask as parents for extra meetings in case there are problems which need to be discussed together. These extra meetings and the agenda for these meetings can be subject of discussion for the parent's representative.
Individual meetings to get feedback about your child's progress will be set upon appointments as practiced in previous years.
To make sure that we can communicate easily with you we ask you to give us any changes in addresses or telephone numbers immediately.

6. Information exchange in the Unit
Your child has a homework assignment book. This book is the link between you and the teachers in the Unit. Messages will be written in this homework book. Please make sure that you look into this book daily and please sign every day so that we know you got all our messages. If you need to inform us about anything please use this book and write in your concerns. Teachers write the daily assignments of your child in this book. If your child is not able to do an assignment alone please write this information down; the teacher will explain the subject again as needed. Homework are your child's duty not yours!
Please read with your child on daily basis! Reading together should be an enjoyment and valuable time together with your child, not stress or duty.
All information about what is going on in the Unit you can find in our blog:
URL- http://sunshineunitcairo.blogspot.com/ This is a private blog only for members of the Unit.
We post information, pictures and activities of the Unit.
Since May we have a web .You can log in: http://www.sunshineunit.webs.com/
You can reach us through our e-mail: sunshine.unit@yahoo.com

7.Rules in the Unit
We care for punctuality!
Please bring and pick up your child punctually. Please instruct your driver to wait until lessons are finished.
If your child gets picked up by a driver please send us a copy of his ID and a passport size picture to make a pass for him.
Call us if your child is sick and not able to come to school.
Children wear proper and clean uniform.

Finally I wish all of you and us a prosperous and productive New Academic year 2009/10 with plenty of joy and learning.

Margarethe Wissmann- Darwish.