Newsletter Nov. 2009
My, my my, November starts with even more warm weather…what a trip! InshaAllah all this sunshine will help keep the colds at bay and rev up some energy for the coming winter. Woohooo…Bakrah Eid is almost here, and I can’t wait to teach the concept of Hajj. MA, Prophet Ibrahim’s story is the one of the few that I have seen have such a strong impact on the children. I look forward to a great November! Happy Reading…
Important Dates and Reminders:
Nov. 6 TBC, Field Trip to Library
Nov. 18 TBC, Field Trip to Fire Station
Nov. 25th: Eid Party
Nov. 25th: Scholastic Book Orders Due
Nov. 26-Dec. 2: Thanksgiving/Eid Holiday No School
*extra change of clothes
Updates:
Scholastic Book Orders will be available for those parents interested, and will no longer be passed out in the folder. Please ask me for the monthly catalogue if you wish to take a look or order.
Canned Food Drive: For last Eid, we collected coins in our Sadaqa jars and dollar leaves for our Barakah Blossoms. This Eid we will be collecting non-perishable and canned food items to be presented to Rahima Foundation to help feed people in our local area. Please periodically send canned food, or non-perishable items with your children. Each time something gets brought in we will be adding a person to our community poster which will be presented on the Eid party day! Lets encourage our children to share and give what we have with open hands!
Smocky Situation: I have to apologize for the lack of smocks this year, unfortunately the new ones haven’t come in yet. In the meantime, please send your child with an old t-shirt (adult size) that they can wear during art activities, to be kept in their cubbies.
Parent Conferences: JazakAllah Khair to all the parents who came in to talk with us. InshaAllah Khair with everyone on the same page, it will help to make the child’s transitions between school and home smooth and consistent. IA, we will have conferences again in the spring. Please feel free to email me whenever you feel the need.
Oh where, oh where has my cell phone gone?: well, I hate to say it, but its gone to the cell phone graveyard, and until I can find a replacement please call me on the school number 408-530-9550 to report absences, schedule changes, etc.
Journals: This month we will be starting our weekly journals, in which children will collect photos of themselves , and we will be writing dictation from the children, and keep their drawings to help them not only remember what they have learned, but encourage their writing, organization, and communication skills. InshaAllah they will be kept in class and will be sent home at the end of the year as their “year book”.
Eid Party: Please sign up for a dish, we will be having our party from 10-12, IA i’ll be bringing all the gifts, so please don’t send anything with the children, except maybe the food! We will be having an art activity, games and a presentation from Rahima Foundation!
Lima Bean Plants: will be sent home this week. To take care of your plant, please transplant to a larger container and keep indoors on a windowsill or sunny area. Water daily (to keep soil moist). Enjoy picking beans from the plant and encourage your child to count seeds inside, or to tell you the story about how the seed grew. Mashaallah they planted the seeds with a dua to Allah to make their plants grow, and by Allah they did! At the time I had told them the story about how one plant grows out of one seed, yet Allah’s Rahma makes the plant have multiple fruits, each fruit having multiple seeds, and each seed having the capability to produce so much.. this is Allah’s Rahma “Allah loves to give so He blesses us with more!”
Pumpkins: Please look to the recipes below to put your pumpkin to use. The children learned about respecting food, and made many observations on the pumpkin. This is the season where they see an abundance of this food, we wanted them to have solid truthful connection to it. To make pumpkin puree (as used in recipes) do the following:
1. wash pumpkin
2. cut into 4 pieces, remove seeds and stringy insides (bake seeds separately with spray of oil to have toasted seeds… yum!)
3. spray with oil, or butter
4. place on cookie sheet on 350^ and bake for 45-60 minutes until pumpkin is soft inside (you can easily slide fork in and out)
5. scoop out insides with spoon and blend
6. follow any pumpkin recipe, should yield about 1.5-2 cups of puree.
Last Month:
We ventured to the countryside where we enjoyed the coming of fall and spent a lot of time on the farm. Our goals last month included making observations with our 5 senses and comparing and contrasting two things. On the farm we learned about the letter “A” for apples, food that farmers grow that help our bodies, plants and what they need to grow, the circle of life from seed to seed, pumpkins (pumpkin math, cooking projects and scientific observations), “B” for bones, and Mr. Bones who needs milk/dairy to stay strong, Teeth:bones we can see, day and night animals(compare/contrast) including opposums, raccoons, bats, fox, and owls, mapping areas for farm animals, and comparing and contrasting ducks and chickens.
We had a great time with Dr. Radwan who showed us what it takes to keep our teeth strong and healthy. We thank him for his time and creativity with the children. On our visit to Hidden Villa the children explored the garden, tasting fresh food, and learning about composting. They loved feeling the sheep’s wool and running after the chicken. Our two guides did a great job helping the children to learn respect for food and animals. Lastly at the farmer’s market, the children had a blast identifying the different food groups and shopping together to make a complete meal. JazakAllah khair to all the parent chaperones! The artwork is being sent home through the cubbies, so please clear the cubbies out every so often!
Arabic:
The children have picked up many phrases and words in Arabic. Please try to use them at home also to encourage their responses and familiarity with the language. It’s really exciting for them to totally understand what is being said. MashaAllah you’r children are amazing! Here are some transliterations:
-Maa ismookaa(boy), ismookee(girl) what is your name?
-Ismee____________. My name is ______________
-Hal thureed(boy), Thureedeena(girl) haleeb?, Would you like some milk?
-Maa zhaa thureed(boy), thureedeena(girl)? What do you want?
-alaa: higher
-aseera: faster
(there are many more…I can email later)
Teacher Miral’s Group: We are working on the last few lines of Surah Adiyat, and will start Surah Qariah soon. We have been playing games to help the children associate the Arabic letters with their small form (in writing). We have done the letters that have already been discussed in class: Alif, baa, taa, thaa, jeem, haa, khaa, and will work on daal, dhal, raa, zaay, this month.
Teacher Lubna’s Group: Alhamdulillah the children have finished surah Naas, and will be working on Surah Falaq and Kawther this month. We have been memorizing with hand gestures to convey meaning, and the children have especially loved the jumping game.
This past month we learned thaa for thaalib, fox, jeem for jubn, cheese, haa for hissan, horse, and khaa for kharouf, sheep. Please keep the Arabic artwork at home, as it will inshaallah become a my first Arabic letter book for them that they made all by themselves. It will be a great source of review for the summer, not to mention a very cute keepsake!
This month: Our goals for this month include:
*expanding the observation process to include educated guesses and making conclusions
*continuing the concept of adding in math
*team games to encourage the sense of unity, belonging, and working together as an ummah
*cont. of maps: expanding the idea of a local map/farm map to a global map
This month we will be in the city, learning about our community helpers: where people work, and how they are part of our community, modes of transportation:cars, planes, boats, trains, animals etc, hajj, Prophet Ibrahim (A), helping those in need, our ummah, and lights and energy used in the city (neon, glow in the dark,light bulbs etc.).
Have a good one!
