Weekly News & Learning

Exciting Opportunity for Our Students: NHS, NJHS, and NEHS Invitations Coming Soon!

Assalam Aleikum!

Dear NISL Families,

We are thrilled to announce that invitations for membership in the National Honor Society (NHS), National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), and National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS) will soon be sent out to students who have met the qualifications to receive an invitation to apply!

What Are NHS, NJHS, and NEHS?

These prestigious organizations recognize students for their academic excellence, leadership, service, and character at different grade levels:

• National Honor Society (NHS) – For high school students (grades 10-12) who demonstrate outstanding scholarship, leadership, service, and character.

• National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) – For middle school students (grades 6-9) who excel in academics and uphold high standards of service, leadership, and citizenship.

• National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS) – For elementary students (grades 4 and 5) who show academic achievement and a commitment to responsibility and leadership.

What’s Next?

Invitation emails will be sent out soon – Please remind your child to check their email for their invitation to join! If you or your child have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Induction Ceremony – We are excited to celebrate our new inductees on Saturday, February 1st, 2025. More details about the event will be shared soon.

We encourage all parents to check in with their children and support them in this wonderful opportunity to be part of a national network of student leaders dedicated to academic success and service.

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to welcoming our newest NHS, NJHS, and NEHS members!

Sincerely,

Aisha Blagaia

Principal

We are delighted to announce the purchase of yet another resource for NISL students! Reading comprehension is the basis for learning in all subject areas. That is why we want your child to try Raz Kids.

Check out exciting highlights:

• Accelerate reading comprehension mastery!
• Track your child's reading level!
• Practice makes better! Your child can level up as he or she gains mastery.
• Student choice! Choose from a variety of topics and genres anytime.
• Have fun! Students earn points and badges for their hard work.

Please check student/parent email and WhatsApp messages from your child's teacher regarding RazKids' login credentials. The RazKids app will assess your child's reading level once they have logged in.

So mom and day, what is your child's reading level?

On Thursday, January 16, NISL students in kindergarten through 8th grade attended a school-wide Ci3T assembly featuring middle school STUCO reps Ali Mohammed (7th), Sumayyah Vineyard (7th), Mouadh Bousrih (8th), and Malak Dridi (8th). The middle school STUCO team performed short skits related to school-wide expectations during arrival and dismissal, in the hallways, at the cafeteria, and during recess. They led an interactive 45-minute session with the help of their peers and teachers. We are all excited about what STUCO will do next! Takbir!

Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said,

“Whoever does not thank people has not thanked Allah.”

Source: Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4811

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ‏ لاَ يَشْكُرُ اللَّهَ مَنْ لاَ يَشْكُرُ النَّاسَ

4811 سنن أبي داود كتاب الأدب باب في شكر المعروف

• Muhammad Safarov (Sr. Aysha's son in PK) for giving victory to the hijab even in the snow! (Sr. Zainab)
• Sr. Nour A. I appreciate all your help when needed. Jazak Allahu for saving me on Monday! (Niveen)
• Sr. Aisha Taylor for bringing some atmosphere into her ELA classroom. Thanks for making the classroom environment more welcoming for the students! (Zainab)
• Sr. Amani, Sr. Nour, Sr. Walaa, and Sr. Bothaina for superior planning and providing parents with detailed instructions for potential school closures. You guys are ready for everything, mashaAllah! (Zainab)
• Sr. Lobna for being the first to complete NEHS forms. I appreciate you making it a priority! (Zainab)
• Sr. Matou for volunteering to escort students downstairs for PE. We know you are working extra hard these days! (Zainab)
• Sr. Noor for Ms. Desiree' for their initiative and enthusiasm getting Raz Kids started for their students! You guys are lightening quick, mashaAllah! (Zainab)

• Friday, January 17: Quarter 2 Awards
• Monday, January 20: NO SCHOOL - MLK
• Friday, January 24: NISL PTO Grades 2-5 Movie Night @ Six Mile Campus - 4:00 PM-6:00 PM
• Tuesday, January 28: Islamic Quick Recall competition (elementary &middle school boys)
• Wednesday, January 29: Islamic Quick Recall competition (elementary & middle school girls)
• Friday, January 31: NISL PTO Grades 6-12 Movie Night @ Six Mile Campus - 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
• Friday, January 31: 2025-2026 Registration Deadline (Act now to save your child's spot!)

...inshaAllah

Details

• The Tahfeedh Quran program runs Mon-Fri.
• Offering flexible time slots.
• Open to both NISL students and Non-NISL students.
• Helping students of all ages learn how to read with tajweed, memorize and deepen their connection to the Quran.

School year of 2023/2024 Highlights:

• 95% of students completed learning how to read
• 60% of students memorized 10 pages of Quran
• 29% memorized 1 Juz
• 11% memorized more than 1 Juz.

We look forward to welcoming students of all ages and accommodating their learning needs! Sign up here or use the button below to register your children.

Reminders/Notes

• Skill 6 Amplify, focusing on the ‘s’ spelling for the /z/ sound and reinforcing letter-sound correspondences.

Reading Comprehension: Knowledge 6 Amplify

This week, students will learn about Native Americans and their unique ways of life. The lessons will integrate social studies topics such as the environment, resources, and cultural traditions, with ELA objectives focused on listening, comprehension, and vocabulary building.

Social Studies Connection:
Stories like Where’s Winona? and Little Bear Goes Hunting teach about Native American traditions, the use of natural resources, and community life. Students will explore the lives of the Lenape, including their food, clothing, shelter, and how they adapted to their environment throughout the seasons.

Science Connection:
Discussions will focus on how Native Americans adapted to their environment, using natural resources to meet their needs, such as in their homes, tools, and clothing.

ELA Skills:
Students will focus on listening to and discussing nonfiction texts. They will build vocabulary related to history, geography, and traditions, such as wigwams, canoes, moccasins, and powwows. Students will answer comprehension questions, sequence events from stories, and make connections between the past and present. They will also sort objects (food, clothing, shelter) and create visual representations of key ideas, such as totem poles and the seasons.

Math

Topics: Letters and Words with Tanween Fat-ha/Du'a for sadness and trouble. Pronounce Tanween Fatḥah correctly as an "n" sound with sukoon at the end of a word.

1. Identify where Tanween Fatḥah is placed on letters in words.
2. Write words with Tanween Fatḥah at the end.
3. Understand how Tanween Fatḥah is written differently in the Qur’an and standard Arabic.
4. Find examples of Tanween Fatḥah in the Qur’an.
5. Learn and memorize a du'a for sadness and trouble.

Health

Unit 5: Lesson 10: Drawing and Coloring Software

Ref: Google or Microsoft paint

• Introduction to simple drawing programs.
• Create digital artwork and share with the class.

REMINDERS & NOTES

dime, drove, tape, these, five, spoke, share, theme, lime, store, case, seven, bike, more, cube, tune, cute, use, rude, huge, mule, rule, blue, slide, pine, bone

No art due to MLK Day.

English Language Arts

Islamic Studies

Math

Social Studies

Unit: Map Skills

Health

REMINDERS & NOTES

English Language Arts

Knowledge 3: The Ancient Greek Civilization

Lesson 5 : All for Sparta

• Explain what city-states in ancient Greek civilization were and why they developed.
  describe the city-state Sparta and analyze the Spartan way of life.

• Demonstrate understanding of the Tier 3 word Spartan.

• Record information about the ancient Greek civilization using a graphic organizer.

• Generate interrogative, declarative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences.

Lesson 6 Athens and the Olive Tree

• Locate Athens on a map and explain why it is named after the goddess Athena.

• Demonstrate understanding of the Tier 2 word ideal.

• Record information about the ancient Greek civilization using a graphic organizer.

Lesson 7 Athens: The Birthplace of Democracy

• Describe the city-states Sparta and Athens.

• Explain the origins of democracy.

• Demonstrate understanding of the Tier 3 word democracy.

• Write a short paragraph to support an opinion.

Test 2: Vocabulary Words: Tuesday 21, January 2025 (The words will be sent home with the kids and will also be posted in the WhatsApp group just in case)

Math

Test 2 - Chapter 3 -Lessons 3 & 4: Friday, January 24. (Study for the test from their book)

Technology

Unit 7: Lesson 10: Drawing and Coloring Software

Ref: Google or Microsoft paint. Introduction to simple drawing programs (e.g. Paint).Create digital artwork and share with the class.

Art

Dots and Color!

Materials:

• Paint
• (Construction) Paper
• Q-tips
• Tissues

Put a few dots on your paper with the Q-tip (different colors)use a different color and make a ring of dots over and over again around the dot

REMINDERS & NOTES

ELA

Unit 5: Lights and Sound

Lesson 6: Refraction and Lenses Part 2

• Demonstrate comprehension of the text about refraction and lenses during a Close Reading activity.
• Write for a specific task, reflecting on what they’ve learned from the reading about refraction and lenses.
• Demonstrate understanding of the domain words opaque, translucent, and transparent.

Lesson 7: What is Color

• Find key ideas and details about light and color by reading the text.
• Synthesize what they have learned about light and color through research and hands-on activities to write a summary demonstrating understanding of key concepts and vocabulary.
• Listen to the story “What Is Color?” and answer questions based on content and vocabulary in the text.
• Use the meaning of suffixes –ous and –ly to write words and sentences.

Lesson 8: What is Sound Part 1

• Write to show the relationship between content vocabulary words about light, using information from a glossary, notes, and text.
• Discuss and answer comprehension and vocabulary questions related to the Read-Aloud text about how sound waves are created and how they travel.
• Identify the correct sequence of events to explain how sound is created and how it travels.
• State an opinion about how sound travels after watching a video clip.
• Write words using suffixes –ous and –ly.

Lesson 9: What is Sound Part 2

• Compare and contrast sound and light energy.
• Write questions based on reading about sound and how it travels and then answer questions in writing.
• Participate in a group discussion following a sound experiment and share ideas and information.
• Choose adjectives, adverbs, and synonyms to expand simple sentences.

Spelling List 15 Group A

helpful powerful colorful careful painful cheerful helpless powerless careless painless

colorless loudly carefully friendly safely quickly earth trouble caught instead

Spelling List 15 Group B

jumped saying helpful sadly hopefully thankful slowly wishful kindly useful safely painful mouthful weakly quickly wonderful

Math

Unit 3: Multiplication: Finding Area, Solving Word Problems, and Using Scaled Graphs

Lesson 14: Understanding Area SESSIONS 1-3/Review/Quiz

• Understand area
• Find area by counting square units.
• Measure area in square units, such as square inches or square feet.

LESSON 14 Quiz Friday 1/24

Science

Unit 3: Environments and Survival

• Lesson 22: Habitats and Ecosystems
• Lesson 23: Kinds of Ecosystems
• Lesson 24: Survival of Living Things

In this unit, students examine different factors that make organisms more likely or less likely to survive: the ability of organisms to meet their needs in a given environment, how different traits make it easier or harder for specific organisms to survive in an environment, and how this pattern of survival changes when the environment changes.

Technology

Unit 7: Lesson 10: Drawing and Coloring Software

Ref: Google or Microsoft paint. Introduction to simple drawing programs (e.g. Paint).Create digital artwork and share with the class.

Art

Dots and Color!

Materials:

• Paint
• (Construction) Paper
• Q-tips
• Tissues

Activities: Put a few dots on your paper with the Q-tip (different colors)use a different color and make a ring of dots over and over again around the dot

REMINDERS & NOTES

Language Arts

H.W Raz Kids: Read 2 Books

English Language Arts

Health:

Introduce the positive actions for meeting the intellectual needs:

• Curiosity

• Creative thinking

• Learning something new

• Problem solving

• Strengthening your memory.

PE:

• Develop the ability to deliver precise and controlled passes to teammates.

• Focus on different types of passes (short, long, ground, or aerial).

• Improve the player's ability to control the ball effectively upon reception, preparing for the next action.

• Focus on receiving the ball with various body parts (feet, thighs, chest).

• Develop the physical ability to adjust body positioning quickly for receiving or making passes.

• Improve coordination between movements and ball handling.

Technology

Unit 5: Lesson 5: Introduction to Slides

Ref : Google Slides or Microsoft Powerpoint

Introduction, Demonstration, Hands-On Activity, Review and Q&A

Art

Painting Fruits!

• Put it in front of you or in front of an interesting background.
• Use acrylic paint to paint the fruit in the background.
• Try to use light colored fruits with dark background.

REMINDERS & NOTES

• Please throughout the break check, Google Classroom (GCR) for videos and upcoming lessons to stay ahead of content during break.

• Check with child about classroom supplies (headphones, markers, scissors, erasers, and mechanical pencils).

• Select a science fair project.

English Language Arts

Unit 2

• Lesson 3.1: Investigating Attraction
• Lesson 3.2: Science You Can’t See

Many scientists study things that can’t be seen by making inferences based on evidence. Science findings are based on recognizing patterns.

Social Studies

Technology

Unit 5: Lesson 5: Introduction to Slides

Ref : Google Slides or Microsoft Powerpoint

Introduction, Demonstration, Hands-On Activity, Review and Q&A

Art

Painting Fruits!

• Put it in front of you or in front of an interesting background.
• Use acrylic paint to paint the fruit in the background.
• Try to use light colored fruits with dark background.

ELA: Check Google Classroom (GCR) and complete English packets

SOC. ST: Social Studies test on Chapter 1 (The United States) on Tuesday, January 7, covering three sections:

1. Chapter Atlas

2. History of the United States

3. The United States Today

A study guide and their notebooks will be sent home for preparation.

Art

Painting Fruits!

If possible, please bring your favorite fruit for painting (ONLY ONE FRUIT)

• Put it in front of you or in front of an interesting background.
• Use acrylic paint to paint the fruit in the background.
• Try to use light colored fruits with dark background.

REMINDERS & NOTES

There will be a Social Studies test on Chapter 4 (Ancient Egypt and Nubia) on Tuesday, January 7, covering three sections:

1. Egypt Under the Pharaohs

2. Art, Architecture, and Learning in Egypt

3. Egypt and Nubia

A study guide and their notebooks will be sent home for preparation.

• Review study sheet.

• Practice for the quick recall.

• Canva slide show and hadeeth poster

• Scientific Title
• Introduction
• Experimental Design- Focus
• References

Health:

1. To raise awareness of healthy foods by having the students raise their own sprouts.

2. what are the 05 food groups?

3. To reinforce the importance of good nutrition and to encourage students to choose healthy snacks.

Art

Painting Fruits!

If possible, please bring your favorite fruit for painting (ONLY ONE FRUIT)

• Put it in front of you or in front of an interesting background.
• Use acrylic paint to paint the fruit in the background.
• Try to use light colored fruits with dark background.

REMINDERS & NOTES

• Review study sheet.

• Practice for the quick recall.

• Canva slide show and hadeeth poster

PE

Art

Painting Fruits!

If possible, please bring your favorite fruit for painting (ONLY ONE FRUIT)

• Put it in front of you or in front of an interesting background.
• Use acrylic paint to paint the fruit in the background.
• Try to use light colored fruits with dark background.