Wednesday, 9 May — Field Trip for Grades 3-4 to the Habitat Building
Friday, 11 May — Field Trip for Upper Grades to Six Flags Science Education Day
Tuesday, 15 May — Parent Discussion on Communicating About Adolescent Changes
14–18 May — KG CogAT Testing
21-24 May — CogAT and Iowa Testing for Grades 1-7
Wednesday, 23 May — AFA Town Hall Meeting at ADAMS Center Combo Room— 6:15 –8:15 pm [until Maghrib]
Thursday, 31 May — Preschool -PreK Field Trip Walker Nature Center—”Splendor of Spring”
Monday, 28 May — Memorial Day
NO SCHOOL—AFA closed
KG students impromptu art with pattern blocks
Assalamu Alaikum!
The view from the top!
Children have been growing through learning about Allah’s creation— births, renewals, changes in life, and death as well. As current events swarm around us and personal stories about life changes enter our classrooms; we will, insha Allah, work to nurture the rhythm of sakeenah and salaam for our children to draw from.
We ask Allah (s) to embrace us all in His rahmah and fill our days with His noor. Ameen.
Afeefa Syeed & Pervin Divleli
- AFA Directors
Subhan Allah! Spring and its many bounties are embracing us! Daffodils, tulips, and irises have followed the early crocuses. Students here at school found a Robin baby bird that was unceremoniously kicked out of its nest by sparrows – and this became a wonderful learning moment for us all. Susan Lilly, the Herndon Town naturalist, came immediately with her bird skeleton to tell us all about sparrows who are not native to the area and who do not take the trouble to make their own nests. What drama!
We also have been filling a compost pile with hungry worms; letting butterflies go —after having watched them metamorphose from fascinating caterpillars to chrysalises to amazing winged creatures; and finding aphids that will be eaten by ladybugs that will be eaten by spiders. We’ve also visited Ann Csonka and John Denoyer’s home to talk about what tree coverage was like in Herndon over time (Spring Street had a “green tunnel” of trees on either side).
Students have gone to the Sugarland Run creek behind ADAMS Center to clean up and test the water. Older students climbed a mountain and were rewarded by the breathtaking view and a sense of accomplishment.
Come sit in our Peace Garden (hadiqatul salaam) and enjoy an view of the Peace Tree, the promises for peace, fragrant herbs, and butterfly attracting flowers.
Through all of these experience, we have imbibed Allah’s wonders by being present in each moment of the day; something the students teach us and we aim to model for them.
TV Turn Off Week was a big hit again this year! Alhamdulillah, we found that many of our students don’t even have TVs in their homes! So the week was just another reminder to parents and students that there really is no reason to have the tube at all!
Al Fatih Academy 730 Jackson Street
PO Box 473
Herndon, VA 20171
Telephone: 703-437-9382
www.Al Fatih.org
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Reminders
Club News
Staff and Family News
Healthy Snacks and Lunches
What children eat for lunch and snack has a direct impact on their energy level and general well being during school. Please make sure your children have the proper balance of what they need with less sugary snacks and more wholesome selection of lunch items. Please no candy.
Traveling Families
While AFA encourages family time and exploration, we do want students to get the most from their school experience. Please make attempts to not disrupt class time for your child by traveling during school days. If you must, inform the teachers well in advance.
Party Invitations
Please send invitations to school ONLY IF ALL CLASSMATES are invited. Please refrain from sending invites to specific persons in a class, since it causes hurt feelings for some of those students who are not invited. _______________________
Field Tripping!
All classes have been out and about this spring.
-Preschool/PreK visited the Big Trucks in Herndon, and had a guest speaker from the Walker Nature Center.
-KG has been to the post office.
-1 & 2 grades—Recycling Center.
-3 & 4 grades cleaned up the creek behind ADAMS center as well as tested the soil and water there
-Upper Grades have been to Old Rag Mountain, the Sackler Gallery in DC, and the Sustainable Building Expo.
Visitors from Thailand. One of many visiting delegations from the Department of State - Pakistan, Ghana, Kazakhstan
Gardening Club makes dua before planting
Cooking club whips up treats
Math-A-Thon
KG and higher grades are participating in the national Math-a-thon. This effort raises funds for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Research.
Students recruit sponsors, complete a math problems booklet, and based on how many problems they attempt, they collect the pledges from sponsors.
Sponsors can pledge any amount per problem attempted (200+ problems). The end date is May 22.
We bid farewell and fi amanillah to Ms. Humera, our KG assistant. She and her husband are moving to San Jose, CA at the end of May. Her bright smile and enthusiasm for the children will be sadly missed. May Allah (s) continue to bless her where ever she goes. Ameen.
Hanaa Unus will be joining us as KG Assistant for the remainder of the school year. Mohamad Chakaki has joined our Grades 3-7 as assistant teacher, and also advises AFA in the Peace Leader and environmental programs. We welcome both Hanaa & Mohamad to AFA!
Sr. Kamila, our Art teacher, will be moving to Maryland in May and she too will be sorely missed. Insha Allah, she will continue to stay in touch as we work to keep art an essential component of our curriculum.
Staff members have attended seminars in: _______________________
After school Class in Arabic & Islamic Studies
Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education Meeting in Boulder, CO
Brookings Institution Discussion Group on Islamic Education
Fairfax County Office for Children
George Mason Child Development Workshops
Parent Resources
This past spring ,we have had various parent discussions. These will be made available on the website shortly for all to benefit.Topics have included Nature Deficit Disorder—how we can connect more with our environment to live holistically; Communicating with Children About Adolescent Changes, and The Stages of Child Development from an Islamic Perspective.The school library has a plethora of books and multi-media resources for parents. Please stop by to peruse the titles and sign out from the loaner’s list if you wish to borrower an item.
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Saberina Munawar
Faraz Ahmed
Pervin Divleli
Afeefa Syeed
Board contact info:
schoolboard@Al Fatih.org
The Al Fatih Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the general direction of the school, reviewing and approving the school's budget, overseeing the school administration, and approving the general policies of the school.
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The Board consists of between 7 and 11 members who serve on a volunteer basis for designated terms. Board vacancies are filled upon nomination of an individual by any interested person --including community members, teachers, and Directors -- and selection of such person by majority vote of the current Directors.
Al Fatih Academy is a non-profit educational organization operating under Muslim Education Resource Council, Inc. MERCI.
From Al Fatih Academy Board of Directors:
As'salaamu Alaikum & Eid Mubarak!
Assalamu alaikum from the Board of Directors. The Board has busied itself in the past couple months, pushing forward with plans to acquire and develop the Harding property and coordinating with the Administration to prepare for the next school year.
As many of you now know, we agreed late last year to purchase the Harding property —contingent on Herndon's approval of a request to rezone the property to allow construction of a new school on the site. We expect to file the rezoning application in the coming days. To prepare the application, we have been working with an engineering firm, architect, and attorney to develop a conceptual plan that maximizes use of the site, providing a building that can accommodate 225 students and an open area to give our students plenty of room to play. Please come to the May 23rd Town Hall meeting to see the plans and to hear more about where the school is headed.
The school continues to grow. This coming year, we expect Pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade to each have reached the target class sizes. To accommodate this growth, we expect to take additional space at the second campus for the older students. Also, to ensure the opportunity for all interested current students to return to the school next year, and to improve the experience of students in Pre-K, the Board and Administration decided to open the pre-k to four year olds only, rather than mixing three and four year olds as was the previous practice.
We would like to thank you for your cooperation with the drop-off and pick-up policies. Adherence to these policies greatly improves child safety, reduces disruptions to classes, and increases efficiency of the school's operations. We also appreciate the continued support of the volunteering policies. This is a school run by good will and collective efforts. Parent volunteering enables us to control costs and provide an enriching environment for our students.
Please support the Administration in their efforts and feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions. We look forward to meeting you on May 23rd, insha Allah!
Wasalaam,
AFA School Spelling Bee Winners Yusuf Albarzinji—1st Place,
Assad AIjazi— 2nd Place & Alternate, Hakeem Bisyir—3rd place
Yusuf, Grade 7 went on to Fairfax County’s Spelling Bee and placed 7th there.
This was the first year our school participated in the county bee!
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School Staff
Indonesia Mosaic Mural
Ms. Afeefa told the story of the South Asia tsunami through the pieces of tile, rock, pottery, and shells she collected when she visited Banda Aceh in Indonesia. She spoke about these pieces representing the lives of those who used to live in the village next to the ocean before the tsunami came. The pieces were from a masjid that was left standing; the homes of people, and from the beach where they worked as fishermen. One extraordinary piece came from a mountain near the village. A special and precious stone was found there after the winds and water tore off a portion of the mountain. Subhan Allah!
The pieces were incorporated into this mural that the upper grades created with Sr. Kamila as part of the final study on Islamic Art focusing on mosaic.
Sister Kamila's focus for this art project was the
Islamic art principles of Multiplicity in Unity, Reflection and Beauty. Students learned that it is common in Islamic art of many components coming together to make one unified body such as: pieces of a mosaic; the students that put them together; and our place in this Ummah from the U.S. to Indonesia and beyond.
The students were guided to reflect on Allah's bounty, even in the face of destruction — like the gift of ore that was found on the land. Finally, the students took images of destruction and turned them into hopes of a new beautiful home for the people of Banda Aceh.
Are you in the loop?
Please log on to www.Al Fatih.org to subscribe to the school e-list. It is a great way to find out what is happening, how you can be involved, and what to include in your calendar.
Administration
Afeefa Syeed - Director
Pervin Divleli - Director
Abdur Rafaa Ouertani – Director, Arabic Language Program
