All about Me (Likes and Dislikes) Presentations

Dear Parents,

We are wrapping up our current theme “All about me” with a homework project. I am asking you to help your child arrange a few drawings, items, photographs, or magazine pictures that depict your child’s interests.  Please help your child attach the pictures or photos within the small text boxes in the Bristol board we are going to provide the students with or you can provide your own poster and decorate it the way you and your child desire. It is important to encourage active participation from your child in getting the poster ready. This activity will provide the children with the opportunity to discover common interests with new classmates. It also provides the children with the opportunity to recognize that all people have likes and dislikes and that people are alike and different in many ways. 

Over the following weeks, each child will have the opportunity to share their poster with the class. During this time, I will be encouraging the children to verbally say: “السلام عليكم أصدقائي، أنا إسمي ......، أنا عمري 4 سنوات، هذا أنا (صورة)، لون عيني ...............، لون شعري............، هذه عائلتي (صورة أو رسمة)، أنا سعيد، أنا أحب ...........، أنا لا أحب.......... ".  

“ Assalamu Alikum my friends, My name is ………….., I am ………… years old, This is me(Student’s picture), The color of my eyes is………….., the color of my hair is……….., This is my family (a picture or drawing of the family), I am happy, I like…………., I do not like.

Students can list more than one thing in their likes or dislikes text box.

We will begin sharing our presentations on November 10^th, Insha’Allah. Please note that students will start their show and tell presentations right after we are done with ‘All about Me” presentations. I appreciate your help and cooperation.

November

Please post on the fridge

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10 معلمة نرمين معلمة نجوى معلمة هبة	11 هند يوسف نورة	12 محمد مايا بلال	13 عبد الرحمن تسنيم عمر	14 طه ياسين رشاد	15
16	17 آية ريحان لونا	18 لينا ريان فاروق	19 شانزة لينة آدم أ	20 ليث مهام عثمان	21 آدم ي أميرة هبة	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Some hacks that can make a parent's life easier

Cut a fun sticker in half and place one in each shoe. This will help your child to know which shoe goes on which foot.

Help your children grip their pencil better with a RUBBER BAND.

To stop your kids from wasting toilet roll, place a sign on the wall to give them a visual limit of how much they're allowed.

To prevent your kids from wasting lots of cups, give them their own and attach magnets to them so they can be stuck to the FRIDGE.

A Play-Doh confetti maker is perfect to use for making home-made puff treats.

YouTube Channel

Please check JK2 youtube channel for new Arabic nsheed videos.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcCr-JBrx-tlwfih2hCyRMjSLd5H4qGGk

Jazakum Allahu Khyran

Weekly Update. Oct 20-24, 2014

Happy New Hijri Year

Language Update:

-          It was nice watching the students of JK2 moving their little fingers as they were learning the word عنكبوت  and singing the nasheedالعنكبوت الصغير (The translation of the itsy bitsy spider).

العنكبوت الصغير صعد إلى فوق

هطل المطر نزل إلى تحت

أشرقت الشمس وجفت المياه

والعنكبوت الصغير صعد من جديد

-          Students waved goodbye to the year 1435 and removed all numbers from the calendar to welcome the new Hijri year. They started counting the days of the month of Moharram محرم.

-          We are still practicing the words for the weather (sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy and snowy مشمس، غائم، ممطر ، عاصف ، ومثلج)). Ask your child to look at the sky every morning on your way to school and try to practice these words with him/her.

-          If you had an ear on the JK2 door, you would have heard the class singing loudly a song from a story called Mortimer by Robert Munsch.  The story is extremely funny as it talks about bed time and as we all know, our kids dislike going to bed! We used a variety of different instruments to sing it. I read the story in Arabic and called it “Moneer”. Students laughed at the part where Moneer said:

ماما أنا أصرخ ..... لا أريد أن أنااااااااااام 

Here is the link to the English version of the story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LOjdOwo-UM

-          Classroom rules and routines became a bit easier since we placed students names on the carpet. The students learned how to recognize their names and know exactly where to sit on the carpet.

-          Our beloved students آدم أ، آدم ي، أميرة، آية، بلال، تسنيم   felt very special as we used their names to tell the story of the letter أ، ب   and ت. We started learning about the letter ت through the following:

( Printing the letter with Bingo markers, cut fresh apples and eat them, listen to the story of تسنيم تأكل التفاح والتمر, to integrate to Islam we talked about the benefits of eating تمر  as reported by prophet Mohammed PBUH, trace the letter ت,  color the pictures of تفاح، تمر ، تمساح ). Students will work on their letter ت craft on Monday, Insha’Allah.

-          Snack and lunch time is a good time for learning too. We try to repeat the names of food students have in their lunch bags in Arabic.

Math:

-          Students are practicing counting 1-10 on a daily basis during calendar, circle time, recess etc…

-          Learned how to count number 1, show 1 finger, write 1 on the air and know that Allah is 1. واحد واحد هو الله ، واحد هو الله.

-          We are still working on recognizing the 6 colors of our tables. The دائرة shape and started talking about the مثلث shape.

-          Patterns are also part of our daily learning routine. (إغسل، كعكة، قرد)

Science:

-          After teaching students about the life cycle of the butterfly last week, we continued talking about life cycles of human beings, plants and butterflies. We showed students seeds and showed them how they turn to be flowers.  Furthermore, they got to see firsthand how a real caterpillar looks like. We discussed how it becomes a butterfly. Unfortunately we did not have a real baby to talk about the life cycle of the human being.

Islamic Studies:

-          Students worked with us in the morning 8:00-8:30 to make a cave and glued a spider web on it. A toy spider was used to tell the students the story of the Hijra of the Prophet PBUH. We focused on the importance of saying عليه الصلاة والسلام for every time we hear the name محمد  or الرسول. 
_ Students practiced reciting طلع البد علينا nasheed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5wxAqUMntw

-          Every day we have a new Duaa’ leader, Alhamdulilah! It is heart melting listening to JK2 recitation of the daily Duaa’s.

-          A new nasheed has been recited with students about Allah is my god

الله ربي، الله ربي

أحب ربي من كل قلبي

الله ربي وفي علاه

أدعوه ربي، أرجو رضاه

Arts:

-          It was extremely exciting watching our little ones having a lot of fun playing with the shaving cream and water beads. The students did the following:

-painted a picture with a brush and shaving cream.

-placed shaving cream on tables and drew with their fingers.

-added water beads to the mix and played to strengthen their fine motor skills.

-missed up the whole classroom J

Gym:

-          Slow to fast gym exercises have been practiced with JK2 students.

-          The “What time is it Mr. Fox” game was played, but with a slight change. This time with a student hiding behind the curtainsJ.

-          The “Duck, Duck, goose” game (بطة، بطة، وزة) was also played differently. Students came up with new names for the game (بطيخ، بطيخ- باذنجان) – (تفاحة، تفاحة- تمر) …etc.

An e-mail will be sent to update you on the English Language, French and Quran subjects, Insha’Allah.

Jazakum Allahu Khyran

Weekly Update

October 14 - October 17,2014

Arabic Language:

- Mash'Allah, students are starting to use their Arabic words in the classroom.
- We read the Calendar and weather everyday. Nasheeds like سبعة سبعة ، شهور الإسلام، ما هو الطقس اليوم are easing the process of reading the calendar.
- Learned how to recognize, trace and pronounce the letter "Baa'" (بلال، بيت، بطة، برتقال، بيض، بطيخ).
- Memorized some Nasheeds (قشر موزة، العنكبوت الصغير،أعضاء الجسم ، ان كنت سعيد، الله ربي، اجلس قف....).
- Read some story books to help enriching vocabulary.

- Learned how to to respond to: Assalamu Alikum, How are you?, What is your name?, What is your mom's name?, what is  your dad's name? what do you need?

English Language (Tr. Hiat):

- Learned new nasheeds.
- Read some story books and some were on the felt board.
- Participated in daily discussions.

- Started learning the letter B. Recognizing, tracing and pronouncing. 

- Learned number 1. Worked on number 1 worksheet.
- Tr. Hiat, Jazaha Allahu Khyran is helping a lot in building student's social skills, Mash'Allah.




French Language (Tr. Said):

- Learned some action verbs from Tr. Said, Jazahu Allahu Khyran.
- Watched the play ( La Poul Maboul).
- Started learning the letter B. Recognizing, tracing and pronouncing. 
- Learned the words that start with A (Arbr, Anana and Avion)
- Learned the words that start with B (Banan, Ballon and Babe).

Quran (Tr. Sahar):

Masha'Allah, Students did very well in Surat AlFatiha test that took place on Tuesday.

Teacher Sahar, Jazaha Allahu Khyran, Started working on Surat Annas with our dear JK2 class.

Library (Tr. Nancy):

- Story telling with Tr. Nancy is so much fun, Masha'Allah!
- Students are so excited about borrowing books from the library. Please remember to return the books every Tuesday.










Mathematics:

- Students are doing amazing recognizing the 6 colors of our tables (أحمر، أبيض، أصفر، أزرق، برتقالي ، أخضر).
- Counting to 30.
- Learned new nasheed about numbers.
- Learned how to count number 1.





Science:

  
- Continuing in our Living and Non-Living things lesson students learned about the life cycle of a butterfly through the following:
- Watching a video about the life cycle of the butterfly.
- Listened to The Very Hungry Caterpillar's  story.
- Observed 2 live Woolly Bear Caterpillars moving.
- Answering a worksheet about the life Cycle of a butterfly.
-New Vocabulary (بيضة، يرقة، شرنقة، فراشة)

Arts:

-Started working on all about me book.( Draw one's self, print hand, write name...etc.).

Regards,

JK2 Team

 Nermin, Nagwa and Heba

Junior Kindergarten Homework Letter

October 8, 2014

Junior Kindergarten Homework Letter

Dear Parents,

We will be assigning homework because we believe it is important that students begin to develop good homework habits in the early grades. Also, homework gives us a way to have students practice what is taught in class.

We will assign homework Friday through Wednesday. Every Friday homework will be sent home and is expected to be returned on Wednesday in the folder provided. If there is no school on Fridays students will receive their homework on Thursdays instead. A record will be kept of all homework returned on time for each child; however the homework will not be graded nor recorded on the report card.

Please ensure your child uses a pencil (not a pen) to complete his or her homework. All pictures are to be colored (with crayons only) even if the directions do not specify coloring. Please do not use markers.

Reading to your child on a daily basis is required and highly recommended. You can start a routine of making reading part of your child’s homework. I also suggest you take the time to visit the library on a regular basis with your child. You can create a separate library card for your child so he or she will feel it is their responsibility to read and take care of the books. I would like to inform you that the public library has an amazing variety of Arabic books. Even if you are not a speaker of the Arabic language, you can still ask your child to point out the letters/words they learned at school.

We encourage parents to praise their child’s work each night. We do believe that parent’s words of support are the single most important way to motivate children to do well in school.

If your child is having difficulty completing the homework or think the homework requires longer time to do, we ask that you take a few moments to review the related skills.

Please note the following:

-          Green folder is for student's school work (what they do in class). Students need to keep the work sheets at home.

-          Red folder is for homework (English and Arabic). Please keep weekly checked homework at home.

-          Orange folder is for French homework.

Please do not hesitate to share any suggestions and/or comments with me by e-mail.

Jazakum Allahu Khyran