MCC Academy News
December 2015
Upcoming Events:



December 2 at 7pm - MCC Academy "School Night" at the Skokie Public Library
Families are invited to attend a special evening where faculty and staff from MCC Academy will be reading to students at the Skokie Public Library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie, IL 

December 6, 2015 thru February 21, 2016 
Junior Crescents Basketball Skills Camp
OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY, f or boys and girls in 1st-5th grades, this skills camp will meet on Sundays from December 6, 2015 - February 21, 2016, from 12-1:30pm. Please note: No Camp on Sundays December 27 and January 3 due to Winter Break. 

December 7 - Picture Re-Take Day
Students who need a new photo take and/or who have missed our original Picture Day will be taking photos at both campuses. Please make sure students are dressed in proper school uniform.

December 10 at 1:30pm - 2nd Annual Chili Cook-off
Hosted by the PSG, this annual event is a fun way to show your culinary skills and enjoy the afternoon with other MCCA parents. Please see PSG section below for more information

December 13, 10am-3pm - 
Muslim Community Center (MCC)
Board Elections at both MCC and MEC
All MCC Academy parents should take the opportunity to vote in the MCC board elections. As parents of students at MCCA, all MCCA parents are MCC members. You can vote on this day at either MCC or MEC. 

December 21, 2015 thru January 1, 2016 - 
Winter Break (NO SCHOOL)
School resumes on Monday, January 4, 2016 

January 6, 2016 - March 23, 2016 - Fiqh of Salah course for women 18+
Wednesdays from 8:30am-10am
OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY




SAVE-THE-DATE
MCC Academy Annual Dinner
Saturday, March 12, 2015, at 6:30pm
White Eagle Banquet Hall in  Niles, IL

 

A Note from the School Council

Assalamualaikum,

Recently, MCC Academy was honored to have been s elected from among a handful of other public and private schools in the country to submit a commentary, op-ed article, to Education Week National News, one of the country's oldest and most  prestigious education publications. The opportunity to submit an opinion piece to this news organization was truly a phenomenal recognition to have received. 


Students, teachers, and parents enjoyed seeing their school highlighted in the article titled "Building Community, One Student at a Time," submitted by Principal Mr. Habeeb Quadri, and the video and photos Education Week came out to take to complement this op-ed. 

The article and video was published last month and is still available to view online  here.

Inshallah, the MCC elections will be held  Sunday, December 13, 2015. Every vote counts- show your support for our community and make sure to voice your choice. Please remind your  friends  and family also.   

We hope all of our families enjoyed the long Thanksgiving break.  Please make certain your children are keeping up the momentum they have achieved throughout the next few weeks prior to Winter Break. We are proud of their accomplishments and want to see them continuing to really strive, inshAllah!

Jazakallah Khayrun,
Farisa Hussain

Parent Support Group (PSG) Update

Key Dates:
Dec 10 - Chili Cook-off at Morton Grove Campus
Dec 4, 18 - PSG meetings
Dec 2, 16 - School Store
Dec 9 - Popcorn Sale
Dec 1, 8, 15 - Pizza Sale at Skokie campus
Dec 2, 9, 16 - Pizza Sale at Morton Grove campus

Coupon Book Project: Led by Fahad & Halima Ahmed

PSG is very excited to have launched the Muslim Family Entertainment Coupon Book on November 16th. Each book has a value of $250 in coupons and is available for purchase for a discounted rate of $20 each (price will be $25 after Dec 31st). Inshallah, this project has a potential to raise $10,000 and we look for your support to sell the books to family and friends. Also, every student that sells at least one coupon book will get a 'Homework-free Winter Break' pass. So make sure you get yours today, not only to support our school but also to get a pass for your student!

Teacher Grants: Inshallah, up to $7000 of PSG funds will be disbursed in teacher grants for classroom resources. PSG has been soliciting grant proposals from all teachers over the past 2 months. Alhumdulillah, PSG Vice President Belinda Tibayan has been working diligently to evaluate the proposals, discussing with PSG board and finally consulting with the school administration to move forward with the approval process. The funds that are raised during the year are being utilized for our teachers and students, alhumdulillah!

Family Night at Giordano's was a success!
Alhumdulillah, MCCA families had a great time at Giordanos on November 12th for Family Restaurant Night. We saw many families dine-in that evening as well as stop by to pick up their dinner. Giordano's has sponsored MCCA Family night every year for the past several years and we appreciate their continued support.


Chili Cook-off - Dec 10th : Led by Khadija Ahmed
PSG is hosting a Chili Cook-off on Dec 10th at the Morton Grove campus. We encourage everyone to participate as well as taste the various chilis prepared by parents, staff and teachers. We are looking forward to a fun afternoon for parents to socialize and vote on the best Chili. Top 3 winners will receive a prize. Not a cook? No Problem! You can support the event by bringing in a side dish. It will be a fun social event for our parent community. 

Please use our online form to sign on to participate:  click here

Save-the-date for the next Parent Seminar by Dilnaz Waraich
This is the second in the series of Parent Seminar workshops. Those who attended the first seminar in October will vouch that it was a very informative and educating workshop. You don't want to miss the next one.
Topic: Raising Digital Natives: Technology and Navigating Phones, iPads, Laptops, and Tablets for Family Harmony
Date & Time: Friday January 15, 2016, at 8:45am
Location: Skokie campus Cafe. Breakfast will be provided

PSG Meetings:  If you would like to volunteer for any event, please stop by at the PSG meetings, which are held every other Friday at Skokie campus from 8:45am to 9:30am. It is a great way to stay involved in school activities as well as make new friends. For questions and comments, please email Khadija Ahmed at kfahmed93@gmail.com .



MCCA Students Complete Disaster Relief Service Project

For November's service day at Morton Grove campus, Ms. Zakai, the Hifzh academic teacher, organized and lead a "Natural Disaster Relief Summit" - a community service day featuring a guest speaker and conference-style breakout sessions. Our guest speaker was international humanitarian Todd Shea. 

In a morning talk and presentation to the whole middle school and visiting 5th graders, Todd spoke of his experience in collaborating with and supporting many missions and organizations responding to disasters around the world. He has voluntarily worked on all his missions where he has provided logistical support. During Hurricane Katrina, Todd also worked on rescuing animals that were affected by the storm. The 2005 earthquake in Pakistan claimed thousands of lives and crippled the entire infrastructure of the Kashmir region. In response to this, Todd helped deploy a group of doctors and decided to stay and help re-establish and improve damaged and destroyed health facilities in these very hard-to-reach remote areas. Since then, he has been working in Pakistan to assist people who have been affected by natural disasters and conflict. After receiving a positive response and great appreciation by the people in the villages and their tribal elders, Todd decided to stay and register the organization under Pakistani law and help rebuild the healthcare system. The videos Todd showed the school were tear-jerking, showing the work the clinics do to help provide health care for those in need after disasters. One of the videos showed the joy of a young boy after receiving a plastic leg after losing his leg in a bomb blast. The video showed that after having been treated by these free clinics, the boy could now walk, pray, play, and climb stairs again. 
 
The rest of the day consisted of breakout sessions, including letter-writing to children and families impacted by these disasters. The cards and letters will be personally delivered by Todd Shea when he goes back to Pakistan in December. Other break-out sessions included a United Nations simulation where students played the role of other countries in addressing natural disasters around the world. Todd led a session on Tusnami disaster-relief. The students asked so many great questions of the teachers and speakers. In fact, the guests said their questions were much more profound than any other questions they had recieved from any adults and at any other events.

Nadia Ashraf, parent and board member of MCCA, said "I had the pleasure to meet Todd Shea today along with his son. What amazing people and humanitarians. We spent the whole morning talking to them and showing them our school with our school staff. The kids were so engaged in what he had to say and asked great questions. Along with Mr. Shea, I also met Sehrish Khan ( Miss. Pakistan 2015), who is currently working with CDRS to launch a women empowerment program."

Todd Shea is the founder of CDRS who has been doing great work to help those in need after natural disasters. His full story and what they do is on their website:  http://cdrspakistan.org
 
Mr. Shea, who by the way is not Muslim, closed his session with a great line in light of all the recent events for the students to think about, "The best way to fight ignorance is standing tall, doing good in school, and doing good for the community. You guys are the best!"

 

MCCA Students Preparing for Science Olympiad Competition in Three Categories

We had our first Science Olympiad meeting on Friday, November 13. This meet-and-greet session was a great way to kick off our competition preparation. Much thanks to our Science Olympiad volunteers: 
Mrs. Damia, who will be leading the Flying Device category by having the kids make a glider using a running elastic launch. Mr. Amjad Naser will run the Bottle Rocket and Bridge Building competition. Mrs. Azim will be assisting Mrs. Tibayan with the Scrambler competition where students will build a wheeled vehicle that has an egg attached to the front and is to travel across a given distance on the day of competition with the egg still in tact and be as close to the targeted wall as possible. 

Congratulations to the following students who were chosen to participate:
Ashira Johara
Omar Siddiqui
Amani Laliwala
Zahra Ahmed
Eiman Navaid
Hanna Choubkha
Adam Yousef
Danish Kadri
Ali Siddiqui
Abdurrahman Ibrahim
Abubaker Surangiwala

The regional competition will take place in March 2016, inshallah. Stay tuned for more information.

MCCA Student Among Winners of Morton Grove Fire Prevention Poster Contest

The Morton Grove Fire Department captain stopped by the school to present MCCA 7th-grade student Abdurrahman Ibrahim with a special plaque as one of the winners of this year's annual Fire Prevention Poster Contest. Mabrook to Abdurrahman!
   

Girls Crescents End a Productive and Fun Season

The MCCA Girl's Crescent basketball team finished their season last weekend with a strong showing at the playoffs held at MCCA Morton Grove campus against league members CPSA, Universal and IFS. Although they were defeated at the playoffs, the girls finished the season with four wins under their belt. The girls showed steady improvement throughout the season and displayed amazing teamwork and perseverance. They built off an unsuccessful season last year to make a serious come back. The girls learned from their mistakes and built themselves up as a team and a family. Led by team captain Isma Manzoor, the girls had a productive and fun season. Coach Medina Skenderi, an MCCA alum, emphasized the importance of teamwork and hard work and that as long as the girls continue to stick together as a family, the future of Girl's Crescent basketball looks promising. - submitted by MCCA Alum Medina Skenderi
 

Bait-il Lu'Lu Wins First Quarter House Challenge

Congratulations to our middle schoolers in Bait-il Lu'Lu (House of Pearls) for winning the first place victory among all five houses for first quarter in this ongoing character-building effort. House Bait-il Lu'Lu had the earned the most points for acts of good deeds throughout the quarter from Caught You Doing Good, for donating items for the food drive, giving sadaqah and even for having the most Box Tops earned. The group won a grand party! They enjoyed food from Mr. Broast and were surprised with a beautiful cake. The middle school teachers are proud of each group's accomplishments and the hard work by all of the students to earn points. We will continue to have quarterly house winners and at the end of the year we will announce the top three houses from among the total points earned by each of them all four quarters. 
 

Reading and Math Resource Team Launches Webpage as Resource for Parents

Assalamualaikum! Students, are you looking for a source to practice your reading and math skills? Parents, are you in need of a source for your child to build mastery in certain math and reading skills?  The Resource team has officially launched the  resource teacher web page ! Visit the site via the school website under the "TeacherWeb" tab for interactive tools and sources to help your child reach mastery in reading and math.  Play games with family and friends to build a stronger leaning environment at home.  Parents can email the resource teachers directly to request resources or make recommendations to enhance the webpage as a true resource for all to benefit.  

Girls Training Hard in the Crescents Cross Country Running Club

MCCA middle school girls have been working really hard at training during the girls Cross Country Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Coach Hana Alali, an alum of MCCA, has been running intense drills and sprints with the girls, helping them get into tip-top shape!

  

Library Update: Book Fair Sales Total $7,200


Alhamdulillah! We had a great great book fair during the month of November with over $7,200.00 in sales. A portion of the sales from BOTH of the book sales (Scholastic and IQRA) will be donated back to our library, enabling us to buy more books and library supplies. JazakAllah Kharyn for your support and for encouraging the blessing of literacy in your children!

I would like to extend a special THANK YOU to the many volunteers who have helped us get the library where it is now, for help with managing the book fair, and for their continued support. I would also like to thank the generous parent donors who have given gently used books that the kids love reading! We also had the recent donation of two more beanbag chairs, which have been a huge hit with all the classes! THANK YOU, PARENTS!

In an effort to GO GREEN and reduce our dependence on paper products in the library (printing word searches, coloring sheets, crosswords, etc), I hope to go into the new year utilizing centers that feature board games, audio books, puzzles, white boards, and other activities. Watch for more about this project in the new year, and if you are interested in donating complete/new games or puzzles, etc., for this GREEN project, let me know! My email is  donelle.bergeson@mccacademy.org.

Mrs. Barkat - Middle School Social Studies 


6th Grade Social Studies: As a wrap-up to our unit on Ancient Egyptian culture, the sixth grade students each designed Mummies for Dummies brochures in collaborative groups. First, students researched the mummification process and afterlife beliefs, then they synthesized all the information into a colorful, at times funny, and informative brochure. The students learned a great deal about ancient practices of the Egyptians and also about how to cooperate with each other when working in interactive groups.  



7th Grade Social Studies: In order to better understand the 13 original American colonies, as well as work on marketing skills, the 7th grade students designed and made travel brochures in interactive groups. The brochures allowed students to research and present information concerning geography, history, economy, government, and unique features of each colony.  Also, in order to understand the American Revolution battles better, the students designed Lego battlefields. They were each assigned an influential battle of the American revolution and provided a packet with details of the battle. Using legos, students constructed positions, people, and then presented enactments of the battlefields. They had a lot of fun, while learning about military strategy as well. 


8th Grade Social Studies: In order to develop empathy for Civil War soldiers, the 8th grade students wrote letters from the perspective of Northern and Southern civil war soldiers. Each student had to research a battle, then write two letters: one from the perspective of a Confederate soldier, and the other from the point of view of a Union soldier. To give the letters an authentic look, students dyed them with black tea and then burned the edges. The finished product was stunning visually and informative. 

Ms. Umar - Physical Education

In elementary and middle school P.E., students have recently wrapped up a team-building unit and are now in the process of transitioning into the fitness unit for 2nd quarter. Students from 3rd through 8th grade are self-assessing their fitness levels by taking a fitness test to determine their upper body, lower body and core strength, and cardiovascular and muscular endurance. The goal is to have them see how many repetitions they can do for various exercises in 1 minute, complete a 1-minute plank challenge, and do a timed running test, and then formulate a goal for the end of the quarter fitness test to beat all their previous numbers for each challenge. Students are not only competing against themselves and going at their own pace, but they are also competing against their classmates to determine a champion for each challenge! Inshallah, winners for each grade will be displayed in the gym and announced. We hope this will motivate students to practice working on their fitness at home and begin to form lifelong healthy habits.



Mrs. Patel - Part-time Early Childhood Program


We're deep into the fall season with lots of alphabet activities and phonics both in English and Arabic. Math mania continues with greater than and less than, as well as number words and basic operations. We made Fall crafts, completed a science unit on "Our Body", looked at the insides with some amazing Science "tilt-and-see" cards and made our own skeleton craft. We also talked about maps and the many continents and countries that make up our world as well as how each one of us has a special place on the map. 


Mrs. Saleh - Middle School Science

In 8th grade science class, we created 'elephant toothpaste' by using a catalyst to cause a reaction to occur.  Yeast was the primary substance added to hydrogen peroxide and liquid soap to create a catalytic reaction! 


In 7th grade science, w e studied the skeletal and muscular system.  They identified with the tendons, ligaments, bone, and marrow by dissecting a chicken wing.


In 6th grade science, 3..2..1... blast off!   The 6th graders are learning about space science.  They  worked on an activity to observe at which angle the balloon rocket would travel the fastest....45, 90, or 180 degrees. 

Ms. Latifi - School Counselor Update


Assalamualaikum MCCA Families! 
I hope everyone is having an exciting year thus far. Quarter two has started, and we have had a great first month of the quarter. This past November, students were challenged to increase mindfulness, both personally and socially, and to participate in charity projects that are ongoing in the school. The students have stepped up with all of the challenges and are working hard to meet their goals. C hallenges of the month were:
  • Choosing better words with teachers, peers, and friends: Students were asked to be mindful of the words they chose to use when describing their peers, talking to teachers, or hanging out with their friends and classmates. The goal was to increase awareness with students that negative words, even as a joke, can be hurtful. We want students to realize the healthy impact that positive word choices can have on their friendships, self-image, and relationships overall. 
  • The Giving Challenge: Coin jars have been placed throughout the school with house teachers. Students have been asked to regularly donate change toward a specific charity that is building a much-needed well in a developing country. Coins will be collected by houses. This way, house points can also be awarded for students who actively participate. In December, we will have a formal presentation for the students with information about the well so they know where and how their donations are helping.
  • Including and caring for our classmates: This is a challenge we were doing for a second consecutive month. Students had done wonderfully the previous month and we wanted to remind them how important it is to care about our brothers and sisters and look out for one another so we kept the momentum going. The challenge had students being mindful of individuals who were being left out of activities, and then, find a way to include them, if possible. The goal was to get students to pay attention to their peers feelings and build empathy. 
We are continuing to collect care kits for our upcoming project. All of the care kits will be donated to a local homeless shelter. Specific items have been assigned to each class. Students who bring in these items will be awarded house points. We look forward to completing this project in January 2016.  Please feel free to contact me via email with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have at Sabaahath.latifi@mccacademy.org. 


Ms. Adhami's 1B Student Wins Lunch with the Principal


As one of our Caught Ya Doing Good winners, Enis Latic in Mrs. Adhami's 1B class won lunch with the principal during a Friday assembly last month. 

Enis had an amazing time eating lunch with Principal Mr. Quadric.  To show his appreciation, he wrote a thank you letter to Principal Mr. Quadri.


Ms. Zakai - Hifdh Core Studies
The hifzh students have been doing narrative writings, including story-writing and story-telling. Their writing assignment was to include all the elements of a story including characters, plot, and climax. The three hifz classes were divided into multiple groups of three to four students. One of the groups from 4th grade went above and beyond by bringing props and making a stage that went along with their story. Students competed for best story, presentation, most entertaining and how well the group worked together.


Mrs. Raabia - KG-C



In KG-C, students have been enjoying their special reading time.  After completing their work, students chose a  book  to read. To help with comprehension skills, I will call upon students to answer some questions regarding the book they choose. They get very excited to talk about what they've read. The children use this time wisely and sit together while enjoying their favorite authors. 
Mrs. Sheikh - 2A

This month has been exciting for my second graders. They watched the life cycle of a butterfly. They saw how butterflies spin their cocoons and then hatch from them. It was an amazing learning experience. They also researched about their favorite animals and presented fun facts about the m.   My mathematicians learned how to measure the length, width, and height of objects in centimeters and meters.  In social studies, my geographers are learning about land forms and bodies of water.  I would like to thank Mrs. Sumble Mohammed and Mrs. Tazneem Faez for donating books to our classroom library. I would also like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Ashfaq for their generous donation for our class.

Mrs. Baig - 2B
In science, we learned how animals grow and change. We had real caterpillars in our classroom that grew into beautiful butterflies! We were able to observe and draw each step as it happened. After ten days, we took them outside and released them to the outside world!
In reading, we read about jellyfish and came up with really cool facts about them. We learned that they do not have a brain or a heart and that they just float up and down with the oceans currents. We also created our own jellyfish with paper bowls and colored streamers.  We became experts in measuring and also learning about mass in math class. We went around the room and measured real objects and wrote our measurements down using our own rulers. For our mass unit, we were able to compare different masses of objects by subtracting and got the total mass by adding.  Crazy for contractions! We have learned how to squeeze two words into one using an apostrophe. We did many cut and paste activities to help us.  Thank you to the parent volunteers who have come so far for art. Thanks you Zahra's and Hamzah's moms for all of your wonderful time!  I will contact other parents every month so that everyone has a chance to sign up.

Also, a special thanks to Amani Saudye's mom who has donated a couple Kindles for our classroom. "Falling for Donations" are still hanging on my classroom door. If you wish to donate, please either email me or come take a leaf from my door. JazakAllah in advance!

Mrs. Pathan and Mrs. Khan - 4th Grade
Last month, fourth grade students participated in their first meeting with members of Poetry Pals, an interfaith program. Students were excited to write acrostic poems about themselves and discuss key terms related to our faith. 


5A - Mrs. Gomaa


Mrs. Gomaa's 5th grade scientists are learning about classification. To support their learning, the kids performed an experiment classifying their shoes into "kingdoms," and then continuing to separate the kingdoms into even small groups (genus and species), focusing on specific features and characteristics, just as scientists do for living things. 


3B - Mrs. Munazza


MCCA Principal Mr. Quadri visited Mrs. Munazza's third grade classroom last month during math class. The kids challenged Mr. Quadri to an online multiplication timed test. 

The class is keeping the results a secret between themselves and Mr. Quadri. He sure was serious while taking the exam!

5B - Ms. Barkat
Our 5th graders became architects for a week and they did a fantastic job! After studying about early cultures in social studies, groups not only had to research their assigned culture, but they also created 3-D models of homes/buildings. They had to be creative and think outside of the box. Check out our mini-architecture in the display by the library. 

Mrs. Alqudsi - Islamic Studies

Mrs. Alqudsi has been working with first and second grade students on improving their prayer time. Mashaa Allah, they all know what to say and how to do the correct prayer positions. We will continue to work on perfecting our prayers. This will be a year-long process that will last them throughout their lifetimes, inSheaAllah.


Ms. Emma, Mrs. Munazza, Mrs. Patel - 3rd Grade

Third grade has been diving into a lot of new things with the start of the second quarter. In math, the weekly timed multiplication tests have been a lot of fun. Students look forward to taking their test every Thursday and enjoy cheering their peers on to pass. We have also started our division chapter, which has been challenging but the students really seem to be understanding it. In science, we have completed our chapter on animals and will be starting our first science project on endangered animals. There have been endless discussions in the classrooms during the animal chapter about endangered animals, extinct animals, and hibernation so the teachers have decided to let the students lead a project on these concepts that have them so captivated. We plan to incorporate technology into the project and have students do presentations to show off their hard work. 

We have introduced a new addition to our spelling lessons with www.SpellingCity.com. This is an amazing interactive website where students can choose different activities and games to help them with their spelling words. We got a great response from the students and we are seeing how effective this resource has been thus far. 

Writing is also in full swing. Students have gotten accustomed to writing five-paragraph essays and are loving it. The teachers have enjoyed reading all the fun details of the writing and students have been getting very creative. We recently completed a writing piece on adventures, and students did a wonderful job brainstorming and sharing their adventures. Students will be publishing one work of writing every week in their writing binders. Art has been happening both outside (during Art class) and inside (with parent volunteers) the classrooms. Parents should stop by the library bulletin boards to see some of the amazing artwork third grade has displayed.  The third grade team really enjoyed meeting all the parents during conferences. We would like to thank the parents for all their efforts and hard work.  

Mrs. Nabeel - 1C


Some tidbits of what we are learning in Mrs. Nabeel's & Miss. Ahmad's pond! 
 
Math: After learning about Math Fact Families, our class enjoyed working on the "I'm lovin math" project. It was an exciting project where students got to share 4 Math Facts [Two addition sentences and two subtraction sentences] on french fries using their assigned special frog number. We completed chapter 7: Numbers to 20. The students learned how to show numbers 1-20 using a place value chart. During math centers, students worked in groups of 4 in which they practiced how to find tens and ones and write them down. Also,
students participated in using a dice to roll, draw, and write numbers to differentiate the tens and ones. They were very eager to learn and work on this math experiment.   Afterwards, we then jumped into chapter 8: Making Tens and Adding, we started off practicing how to make tens. Students really enjoyed using the white board to find the mystery number . In addition, students participated coming up to the board to play a teacher role by helping their classmates find the mystery number of making ten.
 
Reading: Our class created Giant Ice Cream Book Reports with the yummiest scoops of information. We wrote our book reports using fiction text and learned how to find story elements such as characters, setting, problems and solutions in a story. 
 
Writing/Language Arts: Young writers in the making. Students read a biography about Dr. Seuss. As a class, we decided to write biographies about each other. First, students interviewed each other and then using the information and facts, wrote a short biography that they got to present to the entire class. Furthermore, students learned about informative writing. Students then had the opportunity to share fun and interesting facts about pumpkins after reading an article from our scholastic news magazine and watching a Brainpop. 
 
Social Studies: We learned about using directions to help us read maps. We learned a little mnemonic device trick called "Never Eat Soggy Waffles!" to help us remember North, East, South, and West. Then, students created their own classroom maps to show different areas in our classroom. Students also enjoyed creating their own personal "Where Do I Live" flipbooks to help them remember the town, state, country, continent and planet we live on.  Students have been working hard practicing and challenging each other. 

Class Celebration: We reached our goal of filling Mr. Speckles belly. We celebrated our achievement with a class party. I am extremely proud of my frogs for always trying their best. Keep up the great work. 

Ms. Damra - Middle School Literature

Second quarter will be both exciting and rewarding for 6th graders as we cover texts that expand on the topics of race and identity. Students will be reading Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, which builds on what students have learned from the previous novel they read in class, To Be a Slave by Julius Lester.

Seventh grade has been focusing on the theme of identity with a variety of texts such as, The Black Cat, The Tell Tale Heart, Qismati and Nasibi, and the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Students are currently reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, which further explores the theme of identity.

Eighth grade has been examining texts from a postcolonial lens, observing through literature the systematic suffering of native people when faced with colonization and oppression. Sherman Alexie, Jamaica Kincaid, and Chinua Achebe were writers students examined during first quarter. Now, students will begin William Shakespeare's Othello, an Elizabethan drama on revenge that examines how the main character is subjugated as an outsider, or criminal, for his ethnicity. I look forward to delving into these texts with my students and creating engaging lessons that help them to think deeper about the themes within each text that are prevalent in our everyday lives. Salam!

Prek-A - Mrs. Metovic


This month Prek-A has been enjoying story time by acting out what we read. One of our favorite books that we read is called Cassie's Word Quilt. As a follow-up activity, we made our own quilts! Students wrote their names and decorated their quilts. We also had our first Pom-Pom party since we are such great listeners. We must say, it was super-awesome! As we know winter is coming, we have been playing indoor hot potato and toss the ring. Every Friday during our gym time, we have been learning new exercises. Lastly, we have been such great actors as we have been hosting our very own puppet shows! Until next time, inshAllah!

Mrs. Elmassry - Middle School Language Arts


Sixth-graders started a new unit on expository writing with a creative and fun project. They used facts to write about an imaginary club they would like to start at the school. They wrote about their clubs using compound and complex sentences. Then, they added pictures on each poster. Students came up with a variety of different clubs based on his or her interests. S tudents gave me a lot of positive feedback about this project, including: 
"I admire how Mrs. Elmasri made learning fun." -Fariha Siyadath 
"I love Mrs. Elmasri's ideas and creativity." - Manal Ghori 
"I loved this project and it was very fun! I love the way Mrs. Elmasri made a simple topic, like compound and complex sentences, into a super-fun topic by assigning us this fun club activity!" - Hira Khan
  
2C - Ms. Bozai

We've completed first quarter and are well into the second, alhamdullilah!  Here are some updates on what we've been doing in class: 

Reading: We've been reading folktales like 
How Chipmunk Got His Stripes and informative texts like Jellies: The Life of a Jellyfish

Math: We have become experts in measuring objects using meters and centimeters. We practiced by measuring ghosts, goblins, bats, and spiders!

Social Studies: We are learning all about different landforms and bodies of water. 

Science:  We learned about the human body and different organ functions. We also observed the life cycle of a butterfly with five caterpillars this month! It was exciting to release them once they became beautiful butterflies.  



1A - Ms. Malik


We're getting smarter and more independent everyday. In math, we learned about place value and had a chance to use dice and play-doh to solidify our understating of groups of tens and ones.

In reading, we are increasing our fluency. We started doing a lot of partner reading so we can listen to and correct each other as we read.  This also helps us become active listeners and pay closer attention to the stories we read.

In light of the refugee crisis and all that is happening around the world, we took some time to reflect on all the blessings in our lives. We discussed how important it is to be grateful for the little and big things in life and to always remember to thank Allah for the good things He has showered upon us, Alhamdulillah!

Thank you to Mrs. Ayub and Mrs. Ahmed for coming in to do art with our class. We love visitors and art.
Preschool - Mrs. Malik


Our preschool students have been playing a favorite game called "Guess What?" every Friday where the children bring an item that starts with the letter-of-the-week. While hiding the item, the student describes it using clues. The rest of the students must guess the item.
Kids have also been playing "Teddy and Me." Every week a student is chosen to take Teddy home for the weekend and take him on an adventure. The students then make a journal and put in entries of their weekend with Teddy. The parents are extremely involved with this project, as well. When the student returns on Monday they present their journal to the class.
As the preschoolers learned about their body, they created skeletons out of pasta. Preschoolers also made foot and handprints on paper. We lamenated the paper and saved it as a keepsake for the parents. Another fun project the preschoolers did was retelling the story of "The Three Little Pigs" by making their own houses out of straw, sticks, and bricks.

Mrs. Khawla Abdelmajeed - KGB Arabic


Mrs. Khawla's Kg Arabic class worked in four stations set up across the room where they wrote the Arabic alphabet. Students had fun writing the alphabet in shaving cream, play-dough, and sand as well as on the white board. Kindergarteners learned how to write the Arabic letters using these fun materials. The class really enjoyed this project, mashAllah!