Assalam Alaikum,
Rain Rain Go away…. No, no, nix that…stay to replenish what we have used, and then come again another day… so my pre-k kids can go out to play!...Here we find ourselves in February, my my time flies fast, I find it hard to keep up sometimes! Happy reading!
Important Dates/Reminders:
Tues. Feb. 9: Field Trip to Seascapes Fish Store, Mountain View
Mon. Feb. 15-19th: Mid-Year Break, No School
Wed. Mar. 3: Field Trip: Marine Science Institute, Redwood City, $15
11:30-2:30, Please pick up children at 3:00 on this day.
*please log in and out
*take home artwork in cubbies
Progress Reports:
At the end of this month instead of parent teacher conferences I will be handing out progress reports to give the parents an idea of what has happened since the last conferences. After receiving these parents will still be welcomed to schedule an appt. for a parent teacher conference if needed.
Re-enrollment and Open Enrollment:
Re-enrollment will be offered to all students currently in the program. The deadline to re-enroll is March 15. After this there will be open enrollment to the general public which will be on a first come first serve basis. Please remember we have limited spaces available for next year, and they do fill up quickly. There will be a deposit of $50 recquired which will go towards your September tuition. Forms will be available after the Feb. holidays.
Last Month:
January was Rockin’!!!!, literally… experimenting with sound vibrations, trying to grow crystals, a rock hunt.. that was all cool, but nothing was as awesome as seeing the children’s faces light up as their volcanoes exploded…man… that’s what we want to see, excitement, enthusiasm, and the feelings of achievement the children feel when their projects come together! Dinosaur week was not too shabby either… earning their archeologist badges took some work, but boy did they deserve it. They dug to find fossils, which they “hypothesized” was a brachiasaurus because of the long neck bone… but put together the skeleton, and made plaster moulds of the bones, which was a lengthy but worthwhile process. We also reviewed our adding skills with our Dino-mite Dino-math! Well, as you see the projects come home, don’t be afraid to ask what was involved in making them, sometimes I can’t write about every detail in the class, but would love to share with you. Lastly, the kids were totally well behaved during the showing of Good night moon, and found the play quite entertaining and silly. As for Planet Granite, the pictures will be worth a thousand words, but I want to thank Liqa for her terrific climbing demonstration and skills!
This month:
We will be diving deep into the ocean blue to discover all kinds of sea creatures, the first week will focus on introducing some sea-life, location of oceans, and the letter O, the second week will revolve around knowing the ocean through our sense, mainly texture and sounds, the last week, will be about the beach and sea-shore. We will be acquiring our new “class pet” in Feb, to be chosen by the children, and a great opportunity to actually feel and see sea-life through the science institute.
Field Trips:
1. Seascapes: this is a fish store located off of evelyn in mountain view, the owner will be talking to the kids about salt water and fresh water fish, how to take care of them, and differences between fish and reptiles. The kids will help choose our class pet and we will be setting up our own school aquarium.
2. Marine Science Institute: The children will be taking a 2 hour tour of the tide pools and shore, and will be rotating between 4 centers in which they will be interacting with the marine life in different ways. The total cost of the field trip is $250.00, so I am asking the each child bring $15, to cover as much as possible, and inshaAllah the school will cover the rest. I highly encourage the kids, who do not regularly come on Wed. to participate for the very special field trp. All parents welcome to come as always. The timing will be 11:30-2:00, and we will expect to come back by 2:30. Pick-up at 3:00 for this day only!
Arabic:
MashaAllah, I am so proud of our children, Teacher Miral’s group will be finishing up Surah Takathur and will be starting Surah’s Asr and Humazah this month. Instead of surah review, on mon, wed. and fri, Teacher Miral has been focusing primarily on pronunciation of certain words and letters, and has been doing 3-Letter reading with the Fath-ha for the older children, including the half letters. Surah Review is done on tues and thurs, along with the vocab and letter review. Teacher Lubna’s group started Surah Lahab, and will cont. onto Surah Kawther, inshaAllah. The activity based listening centers have been key in helping them memorize so quickly and easily. Last month we did the letters Sheen for shaheena(truck), and Saad for sakhr (rocks), and Daad for dirse (back molar teeth). This month we will be doing Letters Ayn, Ghayn, and Faa.
The children are also doing well in speaking conversation style.. they so far can say: ma ismooka/ki, what is your name, isme ***, my name is **, kayfa halek, how are you, alhamdulillah, fine, ayna **, where is **, hiya/huwa hunna, he/she is there. We will cont. to practice this along with a new part to this conversation.
