Students were treated to the beautiful experience of participat-ing in our annual Hajj Simulation Program on Thursday, October 10. Led by Mrs. Musleh and a team of dedicated staff members, the program gives kids the chance to simulate each arkan and tradition of Hajj. They chant "Labaka Lahuma LaBake" as they make tawaaf around a Kabah, sip of real Zam Zam water, do the sa'y of walking between "Safa and Marwa", continue on to Mina camp, pray on Arafat, throw "stones" at the jamarat, and end the program by pretending to cut their hair and sacrifice a lamb. Middle school students help by assisting young students and by explaining each station of hajj as the children stop along the way to learn about the importance of each ritual. This annual tradition is always beneficial and special for all who participate and witness it unfold for the students. JazakAllahkhairun for all the teacher, staff and parent support during the program.

Annual Hajj Simulation Program Astounds

M C C F U L L T I M E S C H O O L 8 6 0 1 N . M E N A R D S T . M O R T O N G R O V E , I L 6 0 0 5 3 8 4 7 - 4 7 0 - 8 8 0 1 W W W . M C C F T S . O R G N E W S L E T T E R E D I T O R : J I L L A L A L I J I L L _ A L A L I @ Y A H O O . C O M MCCFTS News

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 3 K E Y D A T E S :

Oct. 28 - Nov. 22 - MAPS Testing (2-8 grades)

Nov. 8 - First Quarter ends

Nov. 11 - Second Quarter begins

Nov. 25 - PSG-sponsored "MCCFTS 25th Anniver-sary Popcorn Party" - PSG is providing popcorn to all students during lunch time while Technology Director Azam Tai presents a film reel of past MCCFTS videos...Enjoy!

Nov. 27 - NO SCHOOL - Parent Teacher Confer-ences

Nov. 28-29 - NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Holiday Break

practices and improving skills necesary to defeat our future opponents.

Final Scores:

Game 1: MCC 41, CPSA 5

Game 2: MCC 32, AQSA 5

"What actions are

most excellent?

To gladden the heart

of human beings, to

feed the hungry, to

help the afflicted, to

lighten the sorrow of

the sorrowful, and to

remove the

sufferings of the

injured." (Bukhari) On Saturday, October 12, the MCC Crescents girls basketball team had their first two games. The Crescents showed their skills on the court by playing hard, staying focused and exhibiting great team work. Congrat-ulations to the Crescents for their enormous victory with both games. Although grateful of their success, Coaches Jumana and Gomaa ex-pressed the importance of continuing

MCCFTS Girls Basketball Team Wins First 2 Games

P A G E 2

Cooking with Nafeesa—Students Love our Homecooking! Drive by the school on most days and you will smell what's cooking! AlhumdilAllah, MCCFTS enjoys a spectacular fresh, cooked-on-site school lunch service from our beloved chef, Nafeesa, who has been providing hot meals that are just as good as a home-cooking for 13 years now.

Nafeesa started cooking as a hobby, modeling her methods after her own mother's deli-cious cooking from back home in Pakistan. She eventually turned her hobby into her livelyhood, raising her two

children as a single mother on the fruits of her labor. Alhum-dilAllah, she has provided a great service to the community in feeding our school children for more than a decade. She cooks everything from tradi-tional ethnic foods of all kinds like falafel, pilau and kabobs to American favorites like burgers and tacos.

Nafeesa regularly surveys fami-lies and students for lunch recommendations to try to cater to everyone's desire for healthy and delicious meals at a great price. Some top choices

my goal.

Explain a little about what your role is at MCCFTS?

I see students individually for counseling where the focus is to address specific concerns or issues students might be expe-riencing. Along with individual counseling, I am talking to classes about various topics addressing personal develop-ment.

What programs are you doing with the students?

I am leading a program for our students that integrates psy-chological and Islamic views. The aim is to give students an opportunity to understand different life concepts through a psychological and Islamic perspective. Topics include: identity, communication, envi-ronment, Non-Muslims and society, self-esteem and body image, peer relationships, par-ents and teachers, and many more. The topics chosen for each class were determined by

Can you share a little back-ground about yourself and what drew you toward counseling? I am currently a graduate student completing my internship hours with Khalil Center. I was drawn to this field because I saw a strong need for counseling and mental health services within the Mus-lim community during my col-lege career. I started my un-dergraduate course in speech pathology. However, when I began my work as a student clinician, I realized my interest was geared towards behavioral and mental health, specifically with children and adolescents. I applied to the clinical psychol-ogy graduate program at Bene-dictine University; and as I became more immersed in the field, my desire to create awareness for the importance of mental health in the Muslim community became stronger. Working at Khalil Center and MCCFTS is inshAllah my first

step towards reaching

M C C F T S N E W S

Meet our School Counselor—Sabaahath Latifi age and need for the particu-lar topic. The goal is for stu-dents to have a healthy sense of self as well as to create a skill set that will allow them to form successful relation-ships throughout their lives. The program is discussion based; this gives students the opportunity to talk about and have their concerns ad-dressed in a structured envi-ronment.

Why do you feel it is im-portant for counselors to be available to students?

Students can face many obsta-cles that can possibly hinder success in both school and in their personal lives. Having a school counselor, allows for students to discuss their con-cerns in a safe and confidential setting. Counseling focuses on mental health; and positive mental health is important for development as well as aca-demic success.

The best way for parents to reach me: sabaahathlatifi@khalilcenter.com

are BBQ chick-en, Beef and Chicken pasta, Homemade beef or chicken burg-ers and chicken pilau. Alhumdi-lAllah, the ser-vice she pro-vides to our community is consistent and unwavering. While some other schools serve pancakes and bagelfuls as their idea of healthy lunch fare, alhumdilAllah our parents can always count on their children being well-fed with a delicious

and nutritious meal that is reminiscent of home for a mere $3.50.

All of the meat is Zabiha Halal from Nyab Meat market. Catering is also available Friday-Sunday. Many fami-

lies enjoy the convenience of picking up food for the week-end on Fridays when Nafeesa sells a variety of food to peo-ple after Jummah salah. For more information you can call Nafeesa at 773-216-6482.

1st Grade—Miss Malik P A G E 3 V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 3

becoming better readers and writers. We shared our "All About" projects with our class-mates. After the Hajj program we spent some time talking about how Allah loves when we make dua. We wrote our duas down and displayed them for other students to see.

Elements On Fire!

The 6th graders are beginning their studies on astronomy and our lab consisted of finding out what color on the spectrum do certain ele-ments emit. They conducted a flame test burning elements like strontium chloride, copper sulfate,

Both fourth grade classes were assigned a 3D cell project. They were given free range on how they would like to construct the cell. Throughout our chapter we would conduct investigations. When read-ing about plants and seeds, students first investigated the seeds of pine cones which come from a cone bearing plant, and the seeds of a lime which come from a flower plant. The students were very ex-cited to become scientists and make observations.

In reading class, our main focused skill has been identifying the main idea and details. In order to rein-force the concepts, I do mini activi-ties that get students up on their feet. In this particular activity, stu-

dents were given 2 sentences that covered a science and social studies concept that we've already learned. Using post-it notes, students were to write a detail that gives us more information regarding these sen-tences. We then discussed im-portant details and less important details.

Lots going on!

October was blessed with Eid-ul-Adha and the Hajj program. In or-der for students to get in the spirit of Eid, our class made Eid lanterns and decorated our room with them. Students were given dua hands to fill out. Prior to writing their duas, we discussed what a dua is and its importance.

In math, we just concluded our chapter on estimation, factors, multiples, and prime numbers. We took our test last Thursday. On Monday we will begin our new chapter on multiplying double dig-its.

We just covered our first science chapter on cells, fungi, and plants.

3rd Grade—Ms. Humayoun

6th Science—Mrs. Saleh

Classroom Visitors and much more!

Miss Malik's first graders have been very busy this month. Mrs. Dza-nanovic came in and did an art pro-ject with our class and Mrs. Alali read to us one afternoon.

In math, we learned about addition. We used linking cubes to help us learn about number bonds and we also wrote our very own addition number stories. We are working on

etc. The next time the 6th grade observe beautiful star images, they'll be able to identify which elements those starts contain.

P A G E 4

Preschool—Mrs. Malik

2nd Grade—Mrs. Sheikh The Dynamic Skeleton!

Second Graders had a busy and fun-filled October. They had Eid Break and the annual Eid Carnival. They were also busy with interesting learning activities. My scientists learned about the dynamics of the human body and did a fun activity making skeletons. In social studies they learned about different communities: urban, rural, and suburbs. They did an art project on these

communities. My mathemati-cians have mastered their three-digit addition and sub-traction skills and are now working on mul-tiplication and division. In-sha'Allah this will be a productive and fun-filled learning experi-ence for my class this year.

M C C F T S N E W S

Library for a Sing-a-long (Picture 2). The children enjoyed a beau-tiful Fall weather walk to and back home from the library which is only a few short blocks away. They loved the experience of visiting the library and meeting the librarians.

Masha Allah, they had a really wonderful time and showed excellent Islamic etiquette.

Thus far, preschoolers have adjust-ed well to the classroom routine. We completed our "All About Me" theme. The students presented their family project and made family picture frames (Picture 1). The parents did a wonderful job in co-operating with their child in making the "Me Box".

The prechoolers recently went on their first field trip of the school year to the Morton Grove Public

Grammar Grooving!

Ms. Barkat's 5th graders doing the S.V. Shuffle! The students worked on a matching activity to practice subject-verb agreement. Each student

5th Grade—Ms. Barkat

5th Grade—Mrs. Gomaa Getting Global! Learning life-long skills is an important aspect of 5th grade. This month, during our combinded languare arts and writing clas-ses my 5th grade students became masters in profession-ally writing letters.

Students wrote people from around the globe who they consider to be their role mod-els. The kids typed their let-ters knowing that this is a skill they will continue to practice in future educational and pro-

fessional career pur-suits. Most of the letters were sent around the United States, while a few got sent out to as far as Spain.

Before we mailed the letters out, students also properly labeled, sealed, and packaged their envelopes for the very first time. Everyone is eagerly awaiting friendly responses from family and friends from around the world.

has part of a sentence, either with the subject or with the verb. They find the match to com-plete the sentence cor-rectly and create new sentences using the subject-verb pair.

8th Grade SS—Mrs. Barakat P A G E 5 V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 3

In order to bet-ter empathize with the plight of Civil War Sol-diers, 8th grade Honors students were assigned the task of research-ing a particular battle of the Civil War and then writing two dif-ferent letters, one from the Union perspec-tive and one from the Confed-erate perspective. The stu-dents then treated the letters

siblings and family members. Going for-ward, the store will be open on Thursdays after-school.

Eid Carnival (Led by Romana Baki and Farah Ahmed)

May Allah bless all our volunteers for sharing their time to bring great events for the students. Jazakallah khair.

Upcoming Events

Family Reading Night - Friday, Nov. 15, 6-7pm

PSG Book Club - Saturday, Nov. 23, 9am, Panera Bread, 9611 Skokie Blvd, Skokie— Book selection is "Girls

October has been a very busy month for PSG. Thanks to an amaz-ing team of parents, we had a great start for the new school year. Fol-lowing are the most recent activi-ties we led:

Eid Bazaar (Led by Khaula Chaudhry, Farah Ahmed and Thazneem Faiz)

Coupon Card launch (Led by Jill Alali)

Hajj Program Support (Led by Thazneem Faiz)

School Store Launch (Led by Khadija Ahmed)

The new MCCFTS school store was timed to open right before Eid so that students were able to buy their Eid presents for

on the Edge" by Dr Leonard Sax.

PSG-sponsored 25th Anniversary Popcorn Party - Monday, Nov. 25, lunch time, FREE!

Family Roller Skating Event - Dec.

Art Workshop - Jan or Feb 2014

Abaya/Jilbab Swap -TBA

Great ideas are always welcome. Please share your comments and/or feedback at kfahmed93@gmail.com

possible school expansion. Those present voted to proceed with the expansion efforts. Currently, MCC leadership is preparing its sealed opening bid, set for submission on November 7. The School Council is actively seeking and securing funds through loans and donations from banks, masajids, Islamic centers and individuals. Please share any ideas you may have in this regard.

Like you, we want what is best for

our children and the greater com-munity. Please make dua for the best possible outcome in this en-deavor.

Inshallah, we look forward to meet-ing with members of our school family. We hope you will attend the next Council Coffee.

Coffee with the Council

Thursday, November 7, from 7-9pm.

The Council would like to express its deepest appreciation to each and every one of our community members - parents and well wish-ers, alike - who came to the Gen-eral Body meeting on October 18 and cast a vote. Everyone's views and suggestions are always wel-comed and valued. During the meeting, community members had the opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns regarding the

Council News! —Update from Council Members

PSG Update—Please Attend Weekly Meetings Weds. 8:30 a.m.

5th Grade—Mrs. Gomaa In social studies, we are learned all about the Free En-terprise System. The students created and prepared their very own businesses advertisements which they presented in front of parents and their peers. They have created commercials, flyers, billboards, and other forms of advertisements. Their presentations include the purpose of their business, goods and services they pro-vide, information about the supply and demand of their business, the profit they are earning, and more!

If you have any ques-tions or concerns to share with school council, please con-tact Farisa Hussain: farisa.hussain @gmail.com

with black tea and burned the edges to make them look like a legitimate artifact. They did a very impressive job.

composite numbers. Finally in science, students have been focusing on the basic unit of life, cells. To supple-ment the lesson, students created a 3-D cell model (out of play-doh, styrofoam, and/or edible products) during Eid Break.

The students put in a lot of hard work and really did a fantastic job!

Science and Art Collide!

Fourth grade students have been learning a lot the second month into the school year. We have discussed homo-phones, complete sen-tences, suffixes, subject/predicate, and much more in language arts.

For math, the students covered multiples, fac-tors, and prime/

4th Grade—Mrs. Pathan

We appreciate the support of these

local Muslim-owned businesses.

JAZAKALLAHKHAIR!

For sponsorship information contact: jill_alali@yahoo.com