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November 3 - November 10 - Scholastic Book Fair at Skokie Campus -
It's time for us to kick off our fall
book
fair
! This year our fall Scholastic
Book
Fair
will begin on Friday afternoon,
November 3rd
and run through
Friday, November 10th
! The
fair
will be open
2:30-4:30pm
on 11/3 and
8:30am - 4:30pm
on 11/6-11/10.
Can't make it into the fair? SHOP ONLINE and have your books shipped to the school for free! Additionally, any orders for Morton Grove students will be dropped by the Morton Grove campus by school staff. All orders benefit our school library, so shop online today!
Click here for online ordering
In addition, we will need dependable volunteers to help out during the
bookfair. To see the days, times, and responsibilities needed, please login and sign up
here.
What better way to support your child's love of reading and help us get more of the great titles your children enjoy! See you at the
fair
!
Ms. Donelle Bergeson, MCC Academy Librarian
November 4, 10am - Girls Basketball Game at Morton Grove Campus - Come support the lady Crescents! Free admission and snacks sold in lobby.
November 6, 7, 8
- Coffee with the Principal -
Early Childhood parents,
Monday, November 6, 8:15am
Elementary School parents,
Tuesday, November 7, 8:15am,
Middle School parents - Wednesday, November 8, 8:15am
Parents,mark your calendars to attend one of our Coffee with the Principal events to learn more about MCCA curriculum at each stage in your child's education and how to better understand MAPS testing.
Wednesday, November 8 - Fall Picture RETAKE Day
-
Students who were absent on Picture Day or who otherwise need their photo re-taken, please plan for Picture Retake Day. Come to school dressed in full uniform.
November 12, 10:30am - Muslim Community Center (MCC) Candidates Forum at Elston masjid Community Room
- Meet the candidates running for MCC board and president positions in the upcoming election.
November 19, 10:30am - Muslim Community Center (MCC) Candidates Forum at Morton Grove campus banquet hall - Meet the candidates running for MCC board and president positions in the upcoming election.
Wednesday, November 22 - Parent Teacher Conferences at SKOKIE campus - NO SCHOOL FOR SKOKIE CAMPUS STUDENTS - Parents, please check your email for information on signing up to attend your child's Parent Teacher conference. Skokie campus will be otherwise closed and students in grades Preschool - 5th grade will not have school.
November 23-24 - Thanksgiving Break - No School
Monday, November 27 - Parent Teacher Conferences at MORTON GROVE campus - NO SCHOOL FOR MORTON GROVE CAMPUS STUDENTS
- Parents, please check your email for information on signing up to attend your child's Parent Teacher conferences. Skokie campus will be otherwise closed and students in grades Preschool - 5th grade will not have school.
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A Note from MCCA Council Chairman M. Sarwar Nasir
Asslamoalaikum, on behalf of the MCC Academy Council, I hope and pray that you and your families are in good health, faith and prosperity, inshAllah.
I would like to thank you for working hard toward the education of your children and the success of the school. While secular education is essential for the success of families, society and community in this world, true religious education is essential for the success of life hereafter. Mashaallah, you and your children are all involved in both.
The MCCA school council develops policies and procedures for the smooth running of the school. This includes setting up student tuition, staff hiring and salaries, selection of books and curriculum, and making sure that the school is in good financial and academic health. For this purpose, the council always needs the help of all stakeholders.
As you may know, the Muslim Community Center (MCC) is the parent organization of MCC Academy. Therefore, any policies developed by MCC directly impact the school vision, purpose and functioning. MCC is in the midst of electing a new president and many board members. Please know that it is in your best interest and your right to participate in MCC elections to help select candidates that are best for the school and its policies.
The MCC election will be held Sunday, December 10, 2017
. Both parents, husband and wife, can cast a vote.
If you think that you cannot vote on December 10
, you have until November 10 to request an absentee ballot by visiting the school office and filling out a request for absentee ballot form. In this case, you can vote by mail. Click here for additional information.
I would like to update you on the school building. The Skokie campus roof had some weather-related leaking that is currently being repaired. The sprinkler system work is mostly completed with the final water connection provided within a few days. The Morton Grove building has been power-washed from outside. Inside ceiling work is being completed at Morton Grove.
The MCCA school council meets every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7 PM at the Skokie campus where members are actively working on various policies of the school. You are welcome to attend and observe the meetings. Let us know ahead of time if you like to attend the meeting.
Council members are also planning to meet with parents and staff during the school year. Stay tuned for a date and time for this first meeting. N
eanwhile, you are always welcome to contact us to set up a personal meeting.
I thank you for your support for the school and feel free to contact the school office, principal or me directly if you have any ideas, suggestions or concerns regarding the school.
Regards,
M. Sarwar Nasir
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PSG Update
FAMILY FALL FESTIVAL
AlhumdilAllah, we had a great turnout at our first Family Fall Festival event on October 31, 2017. Many thanks to all of the PSG parents who helped in planning, organizing and managing this fun event for children and families.
UPCOMING:
FAMILY ACTION NETWORK
MCC Academy has been partnering with the Family Action Network (FAN) for the past few years to support learning opportunities for parents in our community. FAN offers regular lectures by prominent and renowned authors and scholars on a variety of topics including parenting, education, marriage, health and much more. The events are typically always free and open to the public.
COFFEE WITH THE PRINCIPAL
Parents, mark your calendars to attend one of our Coffee with the Principal events to learn more about MCCA curriculum at each stage in your child's education and how to better understand MAPS testing.
Early Childhood parents (Pres, PrK, Kg) -
Monday, November 6, 8:15am at Skokie campus
Elementary School parents (1st-5th) -
Tuesday, November 7, 8:15am at Skokie campus
Middle School parents (6th-8th) -
Wednesday, November 8, 8:15am at Morton Grove campus
WORLD'S FINEST CHOCOLATE FAMILY FUNDRAISER -
Wednesday, November 15-December 1
MCCA is asking each MCCA family to sell one box of World's Finest Chocolates to help raise funds to support our STEM program. Each box contains 60 chocolate bars that your children can sell for $1 each. Boxes will be distributed to families (via your oldest child who attends the school) and payment of $60 from selling chocolate needs to be returned by December 1st.
Students will receive prizes from a treasure box once upon returning the payment of $60. There will be a chance to select grand prizes for those that return payment sooner. More info to follow.
For questions, concerns, or further information regarding any of these programs please email:
[email protected]
.
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lllinois State Senator Dick Durbin Visits MCC Academy Students
MCC Academy students had the great pleasure of hosting Illinois State Senator Dick Durbin at the Morton Grove campus on October 12, 2017.
Recently, MCCA students wrote letters to the senator discussing their thoughts and concerns on the crisis facing Muslims in Rohingya, Myanmar, and thanked the senator for his empathy toward the plight of these individuals. In response to their letters, Senator Durbin scheduled this visit with the MCCA students to engage in a dialogue with them about this issue and others facing Muslims in America today. Senator Durbin was accompanied by his colleagues, including DC-based staffer Erum Ibrahim Ali, who happens to be an MCCA alumnus. We were pleased to host Village of Morton Grove President Dan DiMaria and Skokie Village Counsel Michael Lorge at this visit as well.
Senator Durbin first met with our students in the gymnasium where he talked to students about the importance of helping refugees and others suffering around the world. At the invitation of Principal Mr. Quadri, Senator Durbin honored students by announcing the winners of the MCC Academy Student Council election. Then, Senator Durbin headed up to Mrs. Sadiya Barkat's Social Studies class to meet personally with the students who wrote to him. These students confidently probed the senator about what further work he would be doing to help those suffering in Myanmar, what motivates him to want to help these individuals, and his thoughts on what they, as students, can do to get more involved. He encouraged students to engage people along their journey in life, get to know others, enhance their public speaking skills, read the news to understand what is happening in the world today, and to decide for themselves what is important. Students and staff truly enjoyed the excitement and honor of Senator Durbin's visit.
Senator Durbin's visit received media coverage by the Chicago Tribune. Check out the article here.
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MCC Academy Alumni Raise More Than 100K for Haitian Orphans
MCC Academy alumni Bakir Dzananovic and Rahim Amlani, co-founders of The Humanity Projects charity organization, recently hosted their 2nd annual fundraising dinner at MEC to raise funds for their ongoing orphanage project in Haiti. The event opened with a recitation from the Holy Qur'an and an introduction of the first year gains taking place at Madinah Orphanage & Academy in Miragoane, Haiti. Dzananovic and Amlani shared the curriculum program and progress at Madinah Academy, how the 30 children attending the orphanage and school, just in the past year, have gone from 0% literacy in reading and writing in French to 100% literacy as well as basic conversational ability in English. Guests got to speak directly with the orphans via live webcam feed, giving everyone a chance to learn about the children's favorite food (rice and chicken), favorite activity (soccer) and their favorite Surah from the Qur'an (Surah Duha). The audience was also treated to a special recitation from the orphanage of Surah Duha from Yaqoub, aged 12, and a read-aloud from Musa, aged 12. Ustadh Azam Hashmi led the rest of the evening with an emotional talk reminding the dinner attendees of their duty toward helping orphaned children. The Humanities Project raised $129,865, alhumdilAllah. These funds will allow them to move onto the next phase of further developing the orphanage and school, which is building a permanent facility that will house and feed 50 orphans.
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Student Council Winners Announced to Great Fanfare!
The winners of the 2017-18 MCC Academy Student Council election were announced with great fanfare last month by United States Senator Dick Durbin when he visited students at the Morton Grove campus. It was quite a treat for these young students to have their name and council position announced by such an honorable guest! They each came up to greet Senator Durbin as their name was announced. Mabrook to our new Student Council winners: President, Fatima Hussein; Vice President,
Zainab Ibrahim; Treasurer, Raza Mian; Activities Manager, Yaseen Mahmood; Secretary, Furqaan Khan; Publicities Manager, Aaidah Zubair.
All of our middle school candidates ran positive campaigns, giving thoughtful speeches about why they would make good representatives. We are very proud of each of them. Student Council meets bi-weekly alongside one male and one female representative from each grade/section. Their aim is to discuss ways to improve the school. They come together to share ideas and plan for improvements. We pray these school representatives have a productive year inshAllah.
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Heroic Hearts Demonstrates the Importance of Service
The Heroic Hearts organization's Mrs. Sara Hassan visited MCCA's middle school students to share their mission of
helping those in need. Recently, Heroic Hearts
launched a move to make 3D-printed prosthetics for children in need. Mrs. Hassan led the s
tudents in brainstorming and developing an idea of their own that would make a great project to help people in need. Students worked in their "houses" and their projects were rated with the winning house earning the most house points.
Heroic Hearts works on a global scale to assist in bringing nutritional, medical and educational relief to struggling communities around the world. Students really benefitted from learning how grassroots efforts can grow into huge, impactful life-saving efforts.
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Middle School Students make Nealry 1000 Meals for Homeless
Last month, MCCA middle school students partook in the annual Project Risq workshop, making nearly 1000 meals for homeless in Chicago. Our thanks to the many families that contributed food items for this project. Great work by all of our students and teachers who participated, mashAllah!
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Early Childhood Teachers Attend Conference for Professional Development
On October 14, the MCC Academy Early Childhood team attended the GOAEYC Conference for Professional Development. The conference rolls around annually and this year the theme was 'Commitment to Quality'. This conference had a variety of workshops that covered the broad field of teaching children from birth to 8 years old. Teachers were able to pick three different sessions to attend, including communication development, musical learning, incorporating science and math in the classroom, and how to deal with different student behaviors. Our Early Childhood teachers took a lot of crucial information and reminders home with them that day.
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Girls Cross Country Club Update
This year's MCCA Cross Country Club has 20 girls from 6th through 8th grade, and we run every Friday after school. We start off with warm-ups and take different routes around the neighborhood of our Morton Grove campus for 30-40 minutes! We vary our speed between power walking, jogging and sprinting to get an intense HIIT workout and increase our cardiovascular endurance. Afterwards, we end with a relaxing stretch session to recover our muscles and work on flexibility. The girls really enjoy exercising together and motivating each other to get better! It's not only a great opportunity to get fit, but it has also created a bond between these girls all across middle school.
Physical Education Department Head
Physical Education Lead Teacher
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Drama Club Update from Mrs. Bergeson
Alhamdulillah, we are off to a great start for Drama Club this year! Once again, our club is at full capacity with lots of happy students in grades 3rd-6th participating and enjoying this experience. After some deliberation, we have decided to do a staged adaptation of Marcia Brown's "Stone Soup." This is a timeless classic that centers on the importance of sharing, hospitality, and community.
We hope that you will mark your calendars for our family and friends performance that will be held on
Wednesday, December 13, at 6pm.
We look forward to a full audience.
Thank you for your support!
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A Message from School Nurse Mrs. Plummer
Seeking Volunteers:
I need regular help throughout the year in conducting health lessons with students on various topics. If you like to present in front of a class and have a sense of humor, you'd be a great fit to volunteer in this capacity. No prior health knowledge needed. I will work with you on this. If you're interested in helping, please email me at [email protected]
October was Breast Cancer Awareness month. We must take care of ourselves, so we may better take care of our kids/family. Share this with women in your life. Ask your family about diseases that run in the family.
Please don't forget to keep checking your child(ren)'s head every weekend, preferable when their hair is wet. If you find nits or lice, please let me know.
Check out the Nurse page on the new website for the following:
- Monthly Themes- October is "Breast Cancer Awareness"
- Medication- All medications, even over-the-counter medications require authorization from a licensed prescriber (MD, NP, PA)
I look forward to serving your child(ren) this school year. May Allah (SWT) keep us all healthy, Ameen!
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Physical Education - Ms. Zeenat Umar, Mr. Kadir Oz, and Mr. Azam Tai
For the past month in P.E., students have been having a blast alternating between playing team-building games on fitness days and practicing passing skills for soccer on their sports days! Thus far, we have played "Steal the Baton" and "Powerball," both of which involve students practicing healthy competition, good sportsmanship, exercise in a fun way, and a chance to work cooperatively with their classmates to try and win. In soccer, we have worked on implementing correct form and accuracy when passing the ball. In upcoming lessons, we will practice dribbling and kicking skills before we start the anticipated tournament games!
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Hifdh Secular Studies - Mrs. Sherin Saleh
MCC Academy Hifdh students enjoy reviewing reading skills through games, team activities, and task projects of their choice in their secular studies courses with Mrs. Sherin Saleh. Students started the year with several growth mindset activities to set the tone for success during the year ahead. They also set a specific goal they hope to achieve this year. At the end of the year we will see how far they have come in attaining their goal. May Allah guide them on their journey in attaining their ultimate goal to memorize the Holy Quran. Ameen.
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A Message from School Counselor Dr. Samar Harfi
Each individual has an average of 50,000 thoughts per day. Thoughts can have a big influence on how we feel about ourselves, about others, as well as on our actions. Changing our thoughts towards more positive and optimistic thinking can increase our level of happiness, motivation and productivity.
This is in line with our prophet Mohammad's (pbuh) teachings that encouraged believers to have an attitude of gratitude in all matters. Acknowledging gratitude, even during times of challenge, is always something positive to focus on.
This past month, the MCC Academy School Counseling Department led activities focusing on positive thinking. We introduced the importance of positive thinking during an assembly in October, encouraging kids to share positive thoughts on a poster placed near the cafeteria. We shared how thoughts can be similar to seeds we plant; positive thoughts grow positive trees that branch out and carry sweet fruits for us, negative thoughts grow thorny plants that could hurt us and make us feel stuck. Students who had trouble thinking of positive thoughts were encouraged to "take a free positive thought" from posters hanging around the school.
Some beautiful posts shared by students include:
* Everyone is nice once you get to know them.
* I can do this! Alhamdulillah, I am on track.
* I am forgiving.
* Allah will help me get through this.
I would like to ask parents to do the following activity with your children at home: Share three positive thoughts a day with your child and encourage them to share three positive thoughts as well.
Following are some examples of positive thoughts you can help your child formulate, especially if they are expressing negative thoughts:
* Instead of: [I am bad at math] --> Math is challenging, but I know I can practice and ask my teacher for help to get better.
* Instead of: [I don't have a best friend] --> I played with some students during recess and it was fun.
* Instead of: [I'm never going to get an A on this] --> Alhamdulillah, this week I am a little bit better than last week.
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Morton Grove Police Present Life Skills and Drug Prevention Education Program to 6th Graders
Our 6th grade students have been partaking in the "Lead the Way" drug-prevention education program with local law enforcement officials from the Morton Grove Police Department. This 9-week, research-based prevention program aims to eliminate or reduce risk factors for drug and alcohol use. Students meet once a week during one class period with Officers Gina and Adam where they are learning about the dangers of cigarette smoking, alcohol use, marijuana and other drug use. During one exercise, students wore special glasses to simulate the mind-altering effects of drugs and alcohol as a way for them to understand how scary it would feel to be under the influence of these substances.
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MCC Academy Middle School Sports Updates:
BOYS FLAG FOOTBALL
After two successful runs in the last two school years, MCCA introduced our third year of CAFL, the MCCA Crescents Athletics boys flag football league, to the middle school boys starting last month. The boys got to choose their own teams through a draft, name their own teams, assign positions, and develop key leadership and sportsmanship skills. This is the third year that CAFL is running and so far it is off to a great start. Currently CAFL has 35+ student athletes going into Week 3 of their flag football season. The boys are meeting every Friday after school from 4-6PM until November 3rd.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
The MCCA Crescents Girls Varsity basketball team led by Coaches Medina Skenderi and Amerah Alkhatib currently holds a record of 3-5 headed into the Southwest Conference playoffs. The girls are looking to stay focused and to keep improving every week in practice. With MCC Academy being a part of the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) the girls will have a chance to play for sectionals and regionals if their record holds up. The Southwest Conference playoffs will take place at MCC Academy
on November 4th
, with the first game being played
at 10a.m.
On Monday October 30th, the MCC Academy girls basketball team took on the Parkview Warriors. This game served as an exhibition game for both teams as the Warriors begin their season this week, and the Crescents will begin their playoff push on Saturday vs IFS. Although the Crescents did fall short against Parkview, the girls left with a lot of positive things to build off of moving forwards. We appreciate Parkview for competing with us and showing a great level of sportsmanship!
Please come support the Crescents at Morton Grove campus on Saturday, November 4, at 10 a.m as they will be taking on the IFS Chargers in the first round of the Southwest Conference Playoffs. There will be snacks sold outside the gym and there is no admission! GO CRESCENTS!!
BOYS BASKETBALL
The MCC Academy Crescents Boys Varsity basketball team opened practice
on October 24th.
With a completely new roster and only one returning player from last years championship team, the Crescents have their work definitely cut out for them. Many of the boys have been on previous MCCA teams at the JV and Varsity level so they are familiar with a winning culture, and 6th year head coach Kadir Oz's philosophies. Coach K describes this years team as, "a young, hungry, talented, and eager group". He also says, "this year we are going to have to have each others backs. We are going to have to lead by example and hope it spreads to everyone on this team. MCC breeds winners, and thats everything we are about".
The boys will begin their season on
November 11th and hope to have a similar season as last year.
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Middle School Technology Class Update:
6th grade:
6th graders creating brochures. They chose country they would like to persuade their classmates to visit. It covers description of their country, (including culture, food, land masses, climate), tourist places to visit, fun facts, hotel reservations, airline fare and photos. They will be presenting their projects to the class in few weeks inshAllah.
7th grade:
Students recreating trailers and commercials. They downloaded movie trailers/commercials they like, composing and editing to remake them with their own choice.
8th grade:
8th graders are creating a short movie. Groups created a script, acted and recorded themselves. Right now they are editing the clips and turning those clips into a movie. They will be presenting their movie in few weeks iA.
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Fourth Grade Arabic with Mrs. Lena
Students in Mrs. Lena's fourth grade Arabic class were able to get to know one another and work with the unit theme as they spoke in Arabic with one about their family origins. In doing so, students identified the origin of their family's roots and wrote down a sentence about it in Arabic. This initiated exciting and intellectual conversations in regards to ethnicity and diversity in our classroom. Our unit went beyond a linguistic component. It brought out the beauty in our differences that make us unique, and it also established the link we all share through our humanity. We also tied up the conversation with an ayah from Allah's blessed book
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ
لِتَعَارَفُوا
إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
الحجرات
(13)
Quran with Ms. Nida Kidwai
Our adorable Kindergarten students enjoy getting extra help in Qur'an from Ms. Nida Kidwai. We are learning the Arabic alphabet and are slowly being introduced to the concept of fatha along with other Arabic grammar terms.
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Daraloom Afterschool Quran Program at Skokie Campus Going Strong for More than 20 Years!
MCCA Quran teachers have held up a long and beautiful tradition of tutoring students in Quran after school every day Monday-Thursday for more than 20 years in the MCCA Daruloom program. Our core team of Ilham Wahdan, Suzanne Wahdan and Mrs. Khawla Abdelmajid have been leading and teaching this program for just about as long, mashAllah. The dedication and commitment to their students is commendable, mashAllah!
This year, alhumdilAllah, at our Skokie campus we have nearly 60 students benefitting from the Daruloom program from both MCCA and the general public. In addition to our core teachers, we have many other tutors helping the students.
"This program has a great impact on students. It gives them the individualized practice they need outside of the classroom," says Mrs. Ilham. Students who need to catch up in reading will benefit greatly while others who are excelling in reading will focus on tajweed rules and finishing reading the entire Quran. If parents request, our teachers will focus on memorization with the students if that is the area of focus they would like.
Mrs. Ilham says that students should be reading for at least 10 minutes every day to reinforce what they learn at school. Daruloom is a great way for children to get their Quran reading accomplished with the help of tutors who can correct their practice.
You can sign up your child for Daruloom as space is available. Please contact
[email protected]
for more information.
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Middle School Social Studies - Mrs. Sadiya Barkat
6th Grade Social Studies:
The Sixth grade social studies classes are embarking on their journey through Ancient World Civilizations, such as Mesopotamia and Egypt. As an introductory activity to this stud, students designed their own civilizations in pairs. After designing and engineering their civilization, they wrote up brochures which could be used to settle their civilizations. Also, some students actually made three-dimensional maps out of cloth and clay to make visual models of their imaginary civilizations. In the process of this activity, students learned about the main features of a civilization as well as the thought processes that go into governmental, geographic, economic, and legal design. In addition to all the learning, the creativity of our amazing and talented sixth graders also became evident. I look forward to more fun and educational projects to enhance the understanding of history.
7th Grade Social Studies:
Seventh grade American History class just finished learning about the thirteen colonies during their foray into American history. In order to effectively end the unit, students designed travel brochures for the colonies. Students first used school iPads to adequately research their assigned colony and collate information regarding geography, history, reasons for founding, resources, culture, religion, and social life in their colony. Then they brought their marketing skills forward and designed a brochure whereby they would convince other students to come to their colony. Some students chose to use their own artistic talents and handwriting to make this project come to life. Many others used their computer graphic design skills in their designs. This was an incredible learning experience for our 7th graders and a means to learn valuable marketing and advertising skills.
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. At first, students did primary source study by reading actual Civil War letters. They learned through this process how much the English language has undergone change as well as the lack of education that existed among many soldiers at that time. Then, they went home and did in-depth research of a specific battle and composed their own letters. As a final touch, to give the letters an authentic historical aged look, they dyed them with black coffee and then burned the edges. The finished product was stunning visually and an informative read. Currently, the letters grace the back bulletin board of our classroom. Please feel free to come and check them out.
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Middle School Literature - Mrs. Gomaa
After reading Flowers for Algernon, 8th graders had a heated yet productive debate on the following topic: when is it better NOT to know; would Charly have been better off not increasing his intelligence? Both sides did a fabulous job, but the pros took it home! 
A lot has been happening in Mrs Gomaa's literature cafe class since the beginning of the school year. Students decorated "espresso yourself" mugs, expressing their personalities and character traits through words and art. Also, our literature cafe hot spot is now open! Students may volunteer to give short book talks advertising a book they've read on Fridays to earn their time at the Lit cafe hot spot with a drink of their choice. Last but not least, our monthly book clubs have begun! Morton Grove librarian, Brittney Drehobl, has been coming in to the literature classroom once a month for interested 6th graders to talk about the newest, coolest, most classic novels out there!
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Library Update from Mrs. Bergeson
Alhamdulillah, fall is in full swing at MCC Academy and winter is just around the corner. There are many things to look forward to at both campuses!
SKOKIE CAMPUS
Scholastic Book Fair! November will kick off with a fall book fair at the Skokie campus library. This is a great opportunity to support our school while building your child's home library as well. Additionally, teachers are always looking to build their classroom libraries and would welcome some new selections. Can't make it in for the book fair? You can send money with your student or order online, where there are even more selections! All purchases help fund books for our school library: http://onlinebookfairs.scholastic.com/default.aspx?f=3737036
Book Genres! In other news at Skokie, the 2nd-5th grade students have been checking out library books on an array of topics. I am encouraging students to read different genres of books to help expand their knowledge and comprehension skills. What is your child reading? Ask them today!
MORTON GROVE CAMPUS
MG Library: Alhamdulillah! Things are still moving ahead with plans for the library at Morton Grove, but we have had a delay with the arrival of the cabinets for the books. :-( However, we have been purchasing new books, labels, bookends, and we are making preparations as we wait. Insha Allah, it will be worth it! Jazak Allah Kharyn for your patience. :-)
Battle of the Books! Is your 6th-8th grader an avid reader? Well they might be a great candidate for the "Battle of the Books" team that we will be putting together in November! Each year Morton Grove Public Library hosts this program for middle school students in the area to read and compete. The MGPL provides the list of books to read, teams from other schools read, and later they join in a tournament to test their recall about the stories! Talk to your teen and let's join the battle! Read the book list here: http://www.mgpl.org/kids/battle-of-the-books/
Mrs. Bergeson, Librarian
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Middle School English Class - Mrs. Bara Elmasri
Students are using graphics organizing to gather ideas before writing narrative paragraphs.
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MCCA Girl Scouts Enjoy Fun Fall Activities
Girl Scouts Brownies, Juniors, and Cadettes troops have started up fun fall activities. The three troops comprised of nearly 50 girls meet at Skokie and Morton Grove campuses as well as outdoors to do fun activities. Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character.
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Preschool Arabic Class with Mrs. Khawla Abdelmajid
Our little three-year-old students in Mrs. Khawla Abdelmajid's preschool class are nearly finished memorizing surah Al-fatihah and will soon be moving on to Surah Ikhlas. They have learned five Arabic letters and they can now count from 1-10 in Arabic. They also memorize two vocabularly words for each Arabic letter they learn. These little ones love to sing songs in Arabic and truly look forward to learning more and more each day in this class, subhanAllah!
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Islamic Studies with Ms. AlQudsi and Mrs. Farah
Students in third grade Islamic Studies have wrapped up the Salah unit and are getting ready to begin the Pillars of Iman unit inshaAllah. We have established a routine of submitting prayer logs and taking accountability of our prayers. Third graders have a passion for doing dhikr and understand the meaning of various phrases - they love being able to plant a tree in Jannah! Alhumdulillah for a great start to the year!
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5th Grade - Mrs. Ayesha Khan and Mrs. Salma Rahman
Fifth grade are working on group research and creating a 3-D model about specific Native American tribes. Students are studying their food, clothing, culture, and adaptations about the tribes. Students are excited and putting forth a lot of creativity. In science, students investigated the process of osmosis and diffusion through a simple experiment with gummy bears and m&m's.
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3rd Grade - Mrs. Rashida Patel, Mrs. Aisha Aqueel and Mrs. Tabinda Siddiqui
Third grade students have been working with the themed stories of Bat Loves the Night. Students created posters to show the key ideas in this narrative text and how they "analyzed the illustrations" to help them understand the story! Ro
ses are red and violets are blue. Third grade is learning about poems and so should you! MashAllah, we started our new lesson on poetry. Students have been excitedly working on constructing poems full of descriptions and details. The lesson not only promotes students' love of poetry, but also encourages students to be creative in their writing. In social studies, we are learning about geography. Students are making their own island maps and soon we will be making a 3D map. Third grade math is getting exciting as kids have started taking timed multiplication tests. Each week, we enjoy watching our students cheer each other on to complete the 50-question multiplication test in just 5 minutes. Writing is a key component of the third grade curriculum. We have already started our five-paragraph essays and students are very proud of their work. We are continuously seeing more and more creativity come out in their writing and can't wait to share this progress with parents very soon.
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1st Grade - Ms. Deba Malik, Ms. Suad Abdeljaber and Ms. Anum Mustafa
The first graders have been digging deep into reading. They have been working in small groups to make connections with text. In math, kids are learning addition and subtraction through the use of strategies such as number bonds, word problems, and fact families.
Stay tuned next month as the first graders become experts on animals. They will learn all about animal needs, animals groups, and animal lifestyles.
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2nd Grade - Mrs. Silvat Sheikh, Mrs. Sanah Baig, Ms. Bisma Makda
Second graders have been busy playing math games during centers. In our three digit addition and subtraction unit students did taco math. They had to solve and cut and paste their answers with the matching taco. They also played "What's the missing number" with task cards. Students had to read word problems and find the missing number in the number sentence. Lastly, we rolled our dice and played Chutes and Ladder with counting! Students had a wonderful month of math using math manipulative to enforce the concepts being taught. Stay tuned for all the fun games we will do for multiplication!
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Preschool - Mrs. Saima Malik
The Preschoolers enjoyed some fun activities these past two weeks. They learned all about their bodies. The children learned to embrace the fact that we are all different in many different ways. They each made a handprint and footprint that they could take home. We also taught them the functions of different body parts and how to use them. We also taught them how to keep our bodies healthy and how to make them grow.
We learned all about families. MashaAllah, the children were extremely excited to learn about their classmates' family trees. The children also made a family collage that they presented to the class and got to take home as a keepsake. They had a lot of fun making a pasta frame for their family photos. The preschoolers learned about their differences and how that made them unique. MashaAllah, they are doing a great job.
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PreK - Mrs. Emina Kurtovic and Mrs. Edisa Metovic
This month Pre-K students had so much fun exploring the colors of the season fall. During an art activity, they used fall paint colors to paint leaves.
We also discussed about apples and their colors. This month, w
e learned letters B, C, D, E, and F. The numbers we learned this month are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Students love exploring and they love using ABC puzzle and play-do to make numbers and letters of the week. We continued learning
to count
one-to-one correspondence. Some of the things Pre-K st
udents love doing are playing at
our playground for recess, practicing letters & numbers of the wee
k, and doing show & tell
.
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Kg - Mrs. Salma Shariff, Mrs. Ghazna Siddiqui, and Mrs. Rabiaa Khawaja
Our students enjoyed a field trip to Didier Farms in Lincolnshire. We've been doing a lot of fall activities. We made the beautiful leaves hanging up in the early childhood hallway. We started sending home weekly leveled books with corresponding comprehension sheets. The kids are very excited about it. We want to develop a love for reading.
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4th Grade - Mrs. Suhaima Patel and Mrs. Nida Iftekharuddin
Mrs. Suhaima Patel and Mrs. Nida Iftekharuddin's Fourth-graders had a lot of fun this past month. They started reading "Earth Dragon Awakes" in reading. They engaged in a hands-on activity building structures on jello. And, they had their first Poetry Pals interfaith workshop - students really enjoyed it and are looking forward to meeting new friends from other parochial schools later this year.
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