Sunday 25 January 2015

Weekly Update (January 19-23)


Theme: Allah the Creator “Under the sea”

وَهُوَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ الْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُواْ مِنْهُ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُواْ مِنْهُ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى الْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُواْ مِن فَضْلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ....النحل: الآية14
And it is He who subjected the sea for you to eat from it tender meat and to extract from it ornaments which you wear. And you see the ships plowing through it, and [He subjected it] that you may seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful.


Arabic Language اللغة العربية:
- We talked about some sea animals and their characteristics (سمكة ، حوت، نجمة البحر، دولفين، سلحفاة البحر، أبوسيف، أخطبوط، قرش، سلطعون، حصان البحر).
- Practiced reading the letters آ-ي.
- Finished the crafts ر  for راكون using paper bags, and ز for زهرة.
- learned the letter ز . ز is for  زرافة ، زهرة ، زيتون، زبيب، زينب، زجاجة


Arts الفنون:
- Students painted under the sea pictures using different colors of paint.
- Students identified the difference between soft and rough using velvet cloth and oats to make apricot and pineapple picture.



Mathematics: الحِساب:
-          Read the Calendar, numbers from 1-100, and 1-10 backwards.
-          Started learning counting by 10.
- Finished identifying, counting, and tracing the number 5


Gym: الملعب:

-          Students had tons of fun playing with the balancing toys.

Sunday 18 January 2015

Weekly Update (January 12-15)


Theme: Allah the Creator “ Allah Created the Plants”

(وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَنشَأَ جَنَّاتٍ مَّعْرُوشَاتٍ وَغَيْرَ مَعْرُوشَاتٍ وَالنَّخْلَ وَالزَّرْعَ مُخْتَلِفًا أُكُلُهُ وَالزَّيْتُونَ وَالرُّمَّانَ مُتَشَابِهًا وَغَيْرَ مُتَشَابِهٍ كُلُواْ مِن ثَمَرِهِ إِذَا أَثْمَرَ وَآتُواْ حَقَّهُ يَوْمَ حَصَادِهِ وَلاَ تُسْرِفُواْ إِنَّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ) الأنعام – 141
And He it is who causes gardens to grow, [both] trellised and untrellised, and palm trees and crops of different [kinds of] food and olives and pomegranates, similar and dissimilar. Eat of [each of] its fruit when it yields and give its due [zakah] on the day of its harvest. And be not excessive. Indeed, He does not like those who commit excess.



Arabic Language اللغة العربية:
- We discussed the different types of plants (fruits and vegetables) and their properties, and read some stories about them.
- Practiced reading the letters آ-ي.
- Finished the letter ر (راكون ، رمان، رَجُل، رٍجْل، ريشة، رشاد، ريان، ريحان). The story of the letter ر was inspired from the story of AlMuhajereen and Al Ansaar. Rashad and Raihan were Mohajereen (immigrants) to a new city. When they arrived to their new city, they met a person by the name of Rayan, a wealthy citizen. He had a farm full of رمان and animals with رٍجْلَيْن and other animals with ريش. He greeted them, helped them and gave them enough resources to start a new life.
- Students presented their new word with a picture to be posted on our dictionary wall.



Science العلوم:
Students worked on identifying the difference between healthy and unhealthy food. (الطعام المفيد والغير مفيد).
Students learned what food makes their teeth and body happy and what food does the opposite. They worked on cutting pictures of food from grocery flyers and pasting them in the category they fall under in their work sheets.



Arts الفنون:
- Students had lots of fun making colorful ice balls by using balloons, food coloring and water.


- They also had fun making fruit salad as a wrap up activity for our theme.

- Students participation in dress up like your parent day was fantastic. It is very pleasing seeing how creative parents are, Masha’Allah!! Students went to some classrooms singing a nasheed about parents to them.


Mathematics: الحِساب:
-          Read the Calendar, numbers from 1-100, and 1-10 backwards.
-          Started learning counting by 10.

Gym :الملعب:
-          Students had tons of fun playing floor hockey with the tiny hockey sticks we have in they gym.


What is new?
-          Marble Jar: Marble jar is working well Alahmadulilah. These are some of the sentences I heard from students:
أريد ماء من فضلك، أريد الحمام من فضلك، أريد شوكة من فضلك، أريد أن ألعب من فضلك، ممكن كرة من فضلك، أنا أحبك كثيراً J

-          Borrowing Arabic Books from the Classroom:  Please make sure to return all the books on Tuesdays.

-         New toy: Magic ten with sticks and connectors.




Reminders:
·         Please remember that students are not being evaluated for homework, so please do not push students too hard to perfectly do it as this might affect their love of the Arabic language negatively. Erasing what the student did can be frustrating!
·         Please do not hesitate to share any home videos of your child talking in Arabic with me. I can show these videos to the students. You can also send these videos for Show and Tell.


Please remember JK2 team (Nermin, Nagwa, and Heba) in your Duaa’.

Sunday 11 January 2015

Weekly Update (January 5-9)



Mini Theme of the week: Prophet Mohammed’s Birth”

لقد من الله على المؤمنين إذ بعث فيهم رسولا من أنفسهم يتلو عليهم آياته ويزكيهم ويعلمهم الكتاب والحكمة وإن كانوا من قبل لفي ضلال مبين (آل عمران 168)
Translation:  Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them a messenger from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of Allah, sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while, before that, they had been in manifest error.



Arabic Language اللغة العربية:
- Since it is the month of Moharram now, we took advantage of it and talked about the biography of the prophet PBUH and the day he was born which is on 12th of Rabei’ Al-Awwal as reported by a majority of scholars.
- Students reviewed the letters (أ – د) through different activities.
- JK team are so impressed with the ideas of Show and Tell the students come up with, Masha’Allah. Please note that this week’s show and tell (Jan 12-15) will be about the word and picture students worked on during the winter break, so no need to send anything for show and tell with your child.
- We have been reading many books in Arabic to enrich the Arabic vocabulary of the students.

Science العلوم:
Students worked on identifying the different properties of various materials such as wood, metal and plastic and check their bending property. Students learned the words يَنْحَني  and يَنْكَسِرْ while discovering the result of bending the materials.
-          Students recorded their answers in their worksheet that was sent home of Friday.

Arts الفنون:
-  Students listened to the story of the prophet Mohammed PBUH and learned the Nasheed محمد نَبِينَا.
- They had fun making a tree and pasting 6 facts about Prophet Mohammed PBUH (His name, mother’s name, father’s name, uncle’s name, Nanny’s name and his tribe/last name). اسمه ، اسم أبوه، اسم أمه، اسم عمه، اسم مرضعته ، اسم قبيلته.

Mathematics: الحِساب:
-          Students were taught the name of the triangle shape in Arabic مُسْتَطِيل through different physical and mental activities. We sang the مُسْتَطِيل  song:
مسـتـَ ، مسـتـَ، مُسْتَطِيل، مُسْتَطِيل، مُسْتَطِيل مُسْتَطِيل،
مسـتـَ ، مسـتـَ، مُسْتَطِيل، هوَ طَويل
مسـتـَ ، مسـتـَ، مُسْتَطِيل، مُسْتَطِيل، مُسْتَطِيل مُسْتَطِيل،
مسـتـَ ، مسـتـَ، مُسْتَطِيل، هوَ جَميل

What is new?
-          Marble Jar: students by now have a decent amount of vocabulary words in Arabic that can help them form sentences. We thought of using the marble jar idea to motivate students to talk in Arabic. Every time a student says a full sentence in Arabic will earn a marble and will come and place in in the empty jar. Once the jar is full, JK2 will earn a party to celebrate their success.
-          Borrowing Arabic Books from the Classroom:  Since students have limited access to Arabic story books from outside the school, I thought of lending students an Arabic book every Tuesday along with the English book they borrow form the library and read it with their parents at home. You are requested to kindly take extra care of the books since we only have one copy of each book and they are considered as collection items for us.
-          Roots of Empathy: A detailed e-mail will be sent about this new program, Insha’Allah.

Reminders:
·         Thursday, January 15 is dress like your parent day.
·         Friday is PD day for teachers. No school for students.
·         Kindly send an empty toilet paper roll with your child.

Special Thanks شُكْرٌ خَاص:
-          Special thanks to sisters Naaz and Karin (Noorah and Adam’s mothers) for donating educational materials in Arabic to be used in our classroom. We are benefiting a lot form them, Alahamdulilah. Jazakum Allahu Khyran!

- Many thanks to sister Nadia (Shanza's mother) for volunteering and helping with organizing our classroom library. Jazaki Allahu Khyran.