Newsletter October 2009
Assalam Alaikum! This past month has been wonderful getting to know your children. MashaAllah, each offers something unique and exciting to the class. I know this year is going to be great inshaAllah! Hello October, Hello cold weather…so we hope! InshaAllah fall weather will kick in, so teaching seasons will make some sense to the kids! This is one of my most favorite seasons, as it captures the passing of time in a single leaf! Enjoy!
Important Dates and Reminders:
Wed. Oct. 14: Class visit from Dr. Yahya Radwan (dentist), 10am-10:30, parents welcome to attend.
Friday Oct. 16th: Field Trip Vallco Farmer’s Market
Week of Oct. 19-23rd: Parent Teacher Conferences
Wed. Oct. 28th: Field Trip Hidden Villa Farm
Fri. Oct. 30th: Scholastic Book Orders Due
Sign In/Out
The folder outside, is not just for licensing reasons, its also a communication folder. Please look to it for scholastic book orders, tuition receipts, incident reports, and other paperwork.
Cold/Flu Season:
Its that time of the year, that runny noses and fevers become common. Here is a quick reminder of illness guidelines:
Please keep your child at home if:
*persistant coughing and sneezing
*excessive runny nose, green in color
*fever: children may not return to school unless they are fever free for atleast 24 hours prior to school without the use of fever reducing medicine.
*lethargic, in-active behavior
If your child has something that maybe contagious, a docotor’s note is recquired before they can return to school.
We will try our best to keep hands washed and toys/area sanitized, please help to reduce the spread of illness by doing your part!
Parent/Teacher Conferences:
This is something new we are doing this year. We would like to work with the parents to help make an optimal learning environment for each child. These short 15-25 minute conversations will be used to create dialogue to assess individual needs, concerns, and celebrations of the child. We will be doing these periodically throughout the year. Please sign up on the Red clipboard for the best time for you to come and meet.
Receipts:
Did you know that your Pre-K tuition is tax deductable? We are a licensed day care facility with a tax i.d. and the receipts collected can be deducted from your returns…so don’t lose them!
Field Trips:
Alhamdulillah the kids did a great job practicing safety and listening skills at Raynor Park. We will be having more great fun outside of school this month, at the Farmer’s market we will be collecting food that will help different parts of our bodies
(protein for muscle, milk for bones, veggies for vitamins to organs, carbs for energy etc.) , at the farm we will be doing hands on chores to figure out what it takes to produce food for a whole community! We look forward to volunteers, if you would like to join us, please let me know ahead of time, thanks!
Last Month…
September, was busy busy learning about ourselves, our names and in particular a month long look at “our hands”. We went over the ideas of giving hands, helping hands, caring hands, gentle hands, hands that make, and feel, and create and count. Our classroom apple tree blossomed with leaves inscribed with the children’s personal explorations about their hands. September brought us to the end of Ramadan, with our specially collected “Baraka Blossoms” presented to Sr. Dian of the Give Light Foundation. She talked to the kids about orphan children, and our responsibilities to them. We also went on a treasure hunt to find mail for our mailboxes. JazakAllah khair for all the parents for helping to make this time so memorable for them. Their goody bags were brimming with treats! Our classroom “mailperson”, chosen everyday, would deliver mail to the all children, from the parents and teachers. They had a great time sharing stories about their families and exploring different textures at the sensory table. In the take home art, you will find projects including, our “hand book”, B is for bones, our Ramadan moons, various Arabic art, and any other drawings/paintings done.
This month:
October will bring us into the season change, explored through the obseravations of leaves, color mixing, and a continuation of our seed study. From learning about food that helps our bodies, we will be moving into the country to learn about farms as sources of food for the community. We will also, comparing and contrasting night and day animals, sounds, and colors. We will begin our Pumpkin study, as we learn about respecting food and appreciating its purpose, texture, and flavor as one of Allah’s mercies to us.
Arabic:
We are going through the alphabet in order and so far have covered Alif for um(mom) and ab(dad) , Baa for bayt (house), Taa for tamar(date), tin(fig), and tufaahaa(apple). Each letter has been introduced with a short song/rhyme to help remember the vocabulary. This month we will continue with, Thaa, Jeem, Haa, Khaa, and Daal. Children will now be grouped in Arabic with either Teacher Miral or Teacher Lubna. Teacher Miral’s group will start with Surah Adiyat and work toward the end of the Quran this year. She will be handing out homework sheets, to help review letter and small letter taught that week. All homework is OPTIONAL, and is only to be used to help the child review concepts, they will neither be collected or graded. As these older children get geared to read 3 letter words, its very helpful to become familiar with the half letters. Teacher Lubna’s group will memorize from Surah Naas and back up to the larger surahs. We use a tool called “active memorization” for the younger children, in which they participate in various listening, hand building, and movement activities to help keep them engaged while memorizing. Here is a weekly Arabic program schedule:
Monday: Teacher Miral’s Group(G1): Memorization, song, and half letter introduction
Teacher Lubna’s Group(G2): Memorization, song, and Surah review through Listening centers.
Tuesday: G1: Memorization
G2: Memorization
Both Groups do the song, and Letter intro and Review through an Active Game
Wednesday: G1:Memorization, song, half letter inro.
G2: Memorization, song,
Both do the letter art project
Thursday: G1: Memorization
G2: Memoirzation
Both do song, and pre-wrting/writing activities.
Friday: G1: Memorization, song, Active Game
G2: Memorization, song, Active Game
Both do Arabic storytime.
