SK1 Weekly Update

Assalamu alaikum everyone.

What a week!  It was a week full of indoor recesses and sick kids.  Unfortunately I had to be away from the class for two days because of my own children catching this yucky stomach flu that's been going around.  Rest assured that we are doing as much as we possibly can to disinfect all the popular surfaces where germs might like to congregate.  We made lots of du'aa for our sick friends, and really missed having them with us in the class.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT OUR KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOM:  Kindergarten learning is all about learning through play, and creating meaningful learning experiences.  In our classrooms we strive to implement the new Ontario curriculum strategies and we are trying our best to keep the learning environment fun, exciting, challenging, and motivating for the children.  We encourage the children to explore, ask questions, and seek answers either through experimentation or communication.  So although it may seem that we do a lot of play in our classroom, it's actually learning opportunities disguised as play.  For more information on the new Ontario Kindergarten curriculum please visit NEW KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM .

Here is what we managed to accomplish this past week:

LANGUAGE:
 - Reading story I Am Kind.
- Writing the letter Nn in our phonics books.
- Brainstorming for words that have the Nn sound in them.
- Learning the correct formation of the letter Nn using a story of the Nn mommy.
- Talking about acts of kindness and how we can be kind to each other.  Students had a chance to orally tell us about times they were kind to others masha'Allah.
- We read some stories and made some predictions about them masha'Allah.

MATH:
- Working on the number 5-five.  
- Students had a nice little introduction to addition when they were adding up their scores at the end of the Bean Bag Toss game.  This game had many purposes: improving gross motor skills, developing strategies that work, recording score, and adding the score.
- Patterning AABB patterns and thinking of other ways to create patterns using only two attributes.
- Voting and learning about majority vs. minority.
- Learning the ordering numbers 1st, 2nd, 3rd and how we use these terms when we are saying the date.  Example) October 21 becomes October Twenty First instead of October twenty one.

SCIENCE:
- What happens to food when it is left outside of the fridge? Was a question that brought many answers! "it explodes" , "it becomes yucky", "it can make you sick", "it turns black".  So we decided to conduct our very own science experiment to see what happens to some grapes and carrots when left outside the fridge.  We left some magnifying glasses, and white paper so students can document what they see.

ISLAMIC STUDIES:
- We learned the sunan (plural of sunnah) of Friday.  They are: wearing beautiful clean clothes, taking a bath, clipping nails, and smelling nice.  Please help us implement these sunnas by encouraging your children to come to school dressed a little special on Fridays.
- Why is Friday special? Because Allah swt sent the Quraan down to prophet Muhammad on a Friday. We discussed how Allah swt sent the Quraan to prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
- How many names does Allah swt have?  99 names we listened to a nasheed with all of Allah swt's names and counted them as we were listening.  We learned how the word Allah is written in both Arabic and English.
- The class did an excellent job making pretend wudu' and praying thuher in the classroom this past Friday.  Masha'Allah everyone was very focused!  
- We learned how to make tasbeeh and what happens every time we say subhanallah, alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar.

GYM:
- Relay races this week included dribbling a basketball, rolling on a mat and hopping on one foot and two feet.  Students also had to show cooperation by completing a race with all of their team members carrying a mat to the finish line.

ART:
- This week our art focus was on rhythm, and we sang the song tala'al-badru alaina following the rhythm of a drum.  The kids were clapping along to the rhythm.  * Art is divided into: visual arts, drama, and rhythm and movement. 

Looking forward to another week of adventures in SK1 insha'Allah.

Safiah Aghliw
SK1 Teacher

Week of October 10th

Assalamu alaikum!  We had a great week last week. 

Here is what we've been working on:

READING:

The class did an amazing job reading the short story I CAN.

I can see.  I can taste.  I can touch.  I can hear.  I can smell. Alhamdulillah.

SPEAKING:

Every morning we practice our oral communication by taking turns sharing special news, or announcements.  Students are learning to use the correct tense when speaking about the past, present, or future. 

PHONICS:

-         Vowels: a-e-i-o-u sometimes y.  Through the songs “apples and bananas”.

-         -Special focus on the letter Ii and its correct formation.

-         -The letter Pp and its correct formation and sound.

-         -An introduction to the letter Nn.

-         -Rhyming words, students should know that rhyming words sound the same.  We read a song with many rhyming words that the class was able to identify.

WRITING:

-         -Writing the letter Ii, and Pp in our phonics books.

COMPREHENSION:

-         -Reading the story Mmm Cookies by Robert Munsch.  Students were able to retell the story in correct sequence, and they were able to predict what would happen next mashallah.

COMING UP...

-         Letter Nn writing.

-         Reading short words made up of the letters taken so far SATIPN.

-         Rhyming words continued.

-         Use of descriptive words to describe objects in the classroom.

-         Good manners words and phrases.

-         Short story: I AM KIND.

MATHEMATICS

-Working on patterning skills. AABBAABB, and ABCABC patterns.

- Learning the correct way to write the number 4-four.

SCIENCE

-Talking about the Earth’s rotation around itself and how it produces night and day, and how the Earth rotates around the sun and this produces the four seasons.  (Students were interested in this topic so we made it into a topic of discussion, with the class globe as a visual).

ISLAMIC STUDIES

-Doing good deeds to please Allah swt.

-Talking about Jannah, and the story of Prophet Adam (AS).

- Learning the steps of wudu’ and salat. 

ART

-Learning the art of painting using water colours.  Learning to draw by following step by step instructions.

GYM

-Learning different types of movement.

-Forming teams, and learning the process of relay races.

SK1 Update Week 3 and 4

Assalamu alaikum!  

We have been in SK1 for 20 days now masha'Allah.  Every day has been a really busy learning adventure for us.

Here is what we have been working on:


LANGUAGE

Phonics:

-   The correct formation of the letters Tt, and Ii.  The sound of this letter and the action that goes along with this letter.  Students wrote the letters Tt, and Ii in their phonics book.

Reading:

-   Students are reading the following poem and focusing on high-frequency words (the) & (and).

The leaves are falling down.

The leaves are falling down.

Red, yellow, green, and brown.

The leaves are falling down.

Oral Communication:

-      Every day students enter the class and share their special announcements using the sentence “my special announcement is….”.

-      

    We also talked about our five senses, and what Allah swt has given us the ability to do with each of these senses.

Vocabulary:

-          -The names of the 12 months.

-          -The names of the days of the week.

-         - The weather conditions.

-          -Names of clothing articles i.e. shirt, pants, socks, hair clip, head band etc.

High frequency words:

-the 

-and

Insha’Allah we will be learning the letters Pp, and Nn next week and we will also be working on our “I can” booklet.

MATHEMATICS

We have worked on the numbers:

0 zero

1 one

2 two

We are also working on extending AABB patterns.  

Next week we will be working on subitising using fingers, dice, and dominoes.

SCIENCE/ISLAMIC STUDIES

Talking about the wonders of Allah swt and how he has blessed us with our five senses, and what the function of each of these senses is.  We experimented with our sense of touch, and insha'Allah next week we will be using our sense of taste and smell to see how we feel about  different flavours and scents.

Our character theme for the month of October is "KINDNESS", please help your child with some new ideas of how they can be kind to their peers in the classroom.  We talked about the hijra and are learning the song tala'al badru alaina.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Every day we incorporate physical activity into our classroom either through yoga, games of Simon Says or during our two scheduled gym classes.  This week we spend both gym classes out in the yard where the students climbed, pushed each other on the spinning climber or worked out their hand and arm muscles on the monkey bars.

ART

Student explored symmetry by making leaves out of a leaf outline and a folded paper, while others worked on tracing triangles to make characters.  We also used our writing centre to write letters of love to our moms and dads and family members.

QURAN

In quraan the students are learning surat At-Takathur.  Please help your child review ayas 1-4 of this sura.

Week 3

Assalamu alaikum!

This is what we did during this awesome week that has passed.

LANGUAGE:

•          Learning the correct formation of the letter Aa, and writing the letter Aa in their Jolly Phonics books.  We brainstormed for words that begin with one of the two sounds that the letter Aa makes.
•          Every morning we read the morning message together focusing on the words I, am, and the.  The students were able to read the morning message on their own masha’Allah, this gave me goosebumps (I explained to the kids what goosebumps were and now they always ask me “teacher did you get goosebumps?”. 
•          We sang an Arabic/English song about the four seasons, and an English song about Fall.  Insha’Allah we will be working on this song in print so that the kids will become familiar with the repeating words in the song.
•         We read a story called The Dot, and another called Babysitting Grandma.  The kids really enjoyed making predictions in the story, and I enjoyed listening to the different ways the children understood the stories.

•          We talked about our favourite animals, and our favourite colours.

MATH:

•          In math we are counting everything we get our hands on, counting kids, counting shoes, counting blocks. We are counting down the days to our field trip.  Insha’Allah next week we will start our number booklets that helps us learn the numbers and number words from 1-20. 
• 
  
•         We are also working on comparison words such as: more than, or less than or most and least, or first and last.

SCIENCE:

•          Talking  about the fall and the changes that happen in the fall.
• 
  
•         Did a science experiment on how germs spread (using glitter and high fives), and the importance of washing our hands.

ISLAMIC STUDIES:

•         Talked about Allah SWT the creator.  Being thankful to Allah for giving us eyes, ears, mouths, hands, and noses.
• 
  
•         Learning the steps of wudu and learning the etiquettes of a masjid when we transform our classroom into a masjid for our Friday prayer.
• 
  
•         Today our friend Hamza did the iqama and last week it was our friend Adam.  Insha’Allah the boys will be taking turns leading the prayers and the girls will be leading the du’aa.

GYM:

•         We are still working on gym safety and following the rules, especially the freeze command in the case of an emergency.
• 
  
•          Tuesday the weather was really nice so we decided to go to the city park for gym class.
• 
  
•          We played a game called ANT TAG, and the kids did a really good job of following the rules mashallah.

Looking forward to another exciting week, and our Eid field trip insha’Allah!

Safiah Aghliw

SK1 Teacher

saghliw@abraarschool.com

Week 2

Assalamu alaikum everyone!

Alhamdulillah we finished another successful week of school.

This week we worked very hard on perfecting our classroom rules and routines. 

Signing in as soon as we enter is part of our morning routine.

In the morning when the kids are dropped off, the classroom is set up in a way that will encourage them to socially interact with their peers to further help them develop their social, problem solving, and analytical skills.  We normally have some puzzles, writing material, play-dough, building blocks, and unfinished work that the kids can work on and finish.  We start our circle time at about 9:15 this is when we say our morning quraan and du'aas.  Here are some of the things we have been working on in each subject:

LANGUAGE:
- Learning the names of the 12 months of the year through a fun and interactive song.
- Learning the names of the days of the week through a song.
- Talking about the different weather conditions and talking about what the expected high is each day.  (feel free to share this information with your child each day, and they can come to school and share this information with us)
- We are also practiaing answering sentences in full form "What did you do on Eid?", "on Eid, I went to the masjid or Toronto or to Fun Haven etc.".
- We learned the letter Ss, and the correct formation of this letter and where it sits on the line.  
- Brainstormed for words that begin with Ss, and stretched them out to see what other sounds we can hear in them (this will come in handy later one when the children try and write on their own!).
- Reading stories daily, and working on predictions, and comprehension.

MATH:
- Counting the numbers on the calendar.
- Counting objects in the classroom.
- Practising simple patters found on the calendar.

SCIENCE
- Talking about cleanliness and how germs spread.
- The importance of washing our hands, and covering our mouths with our arms when we sneeze or cough.

ISLAMIC STUDIES:
- Talking about our Eid celebrations, and creating beautiful Eid crafts.
- Learning the du'aa for the month of September and this is the du'aa of Porphet Ibraheem (AS).
- Making pretend wudu' in the classroom to learn the steps of wudu'.
- Introduced the class to the power of making du'aa and how Allah swt loves it when we ask him for things.  
- Making du'aa for our friends that were absent because of illness.

ART
*Every week students have the chance to participate in some art activities that are left out for them in centres to choose from, and there are other art activities tied to the curriculum that we make sure they all take part in.
- Beading necklaces and bracelets.
- Tracing shapes to make beautiful masterpieces.
- Cutting and pasting furniture pictures from an IKEA catalogue of items they like.

GYM
- Learning entering and exiting routines, and safety measures in the case of an emergency.
- Playing the PIZZA game. 

OUTDOOR PLAY
Every day the children will be going outside for 35 minutes of active play.  Please make sure your child comes to school dressed for the weather.  

Looking forward to our first full week of school insha'Allah!

Safiah Aghliw
SK1 Teacher

Welcome to SK1 - First Week of School

Asslamu alaikum everyone and welcome to the SK1 blog!

This blog will be your source for all that is happening in SK1, please check it on Fridays for a weekly update insha'Allah.

It was a great pleasure to meet 22 of my 25 SK1 students, and we look forward to meeting the rest.

We spent the week learning some very important routines, and procedures that will helps us accomplish many of our goals this year insha'Allah.  The class has gotten quite good at lining up, signing in, packing and unpacking, using quiet voices in the hallway and sharing.

Insha'Allah we will be starting our curriculum after Eid.  Here are some photos from the activities we did over the past four days.

Have a great long weekend,

Safiah Aghliw
SK1 Homeroom Teaacher / SK2 Language Teacher

Library Update From Tr. Nancy

Dear Parents,

Asalamu Alaikum

I hope this message finds you well and in good health.

We need your immediate help, please. We are in the process of gathering up all of the overdue library books. Students with overdue books received a library notice and a request to return the overdue books to the school library as soon as possible. Please make sure that your child  returns all of his or her library books.

Jazakum Allahu Khairan for your help and cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

Nancy-Ann Brethour
School Librarian