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The Pinnacle
April 2009
Message from the Head of School
On the evening of our Science Fair, a first grader approached me with a very concerned look on his face and asked why the lower school students didn’t get medals like the middle school students. I gently explained that he and his classmates would be getting certificates and that when he was older and entered the middle school competition, he could possibly get a medal then. I was worried that he might be discouraged, but satisfied with my answer, he quickly and confidently replied, “I am going to do a project about outer space without going INTO outer space.” I smiled at his earnestness and realized that we are actually meeting our goal of exciting our students about science and discovery.
Current educational research supports the role of discovery learning in school life. When they explore and manipulate objects, struggle with problems, and perform experiments, students interact with the world around them. This directly impacts their ability to retain information, making it much more likely that they remember concepts and knowledge discovered through these processes. It is also a fact that teaching others what you know helps solidify your own understanding. These concepts are the underlying basis for the kinds of learning our students have experienced in the recent months. In this issue of The Pinnacle, you will see examples of students discovering knowledge, displaying their knowledge, and teaching this knowledge whether it is a Science Fair project, a 100-Day presentation, or an Arabic Day activity. I hope you will enjoy reading about the wondrous moments of learning in our children’s lives.
Amira Al-Sarraf, Head of School
Young Scientists at Work
by Nahid Ansari, Technology Director/Middle School Assistant Director
by Nahid Ansari, Technology Director/Middle School Assistant Director
For the past 19 years, New Horizon School has been promoting scientific discovery and celebrating student achievement in science through its science fair held each spring. This important annual tradition provides our students with an exciting opportunity to learn through inquiry and exploration. Starting in preschool, our lower school students engage in either group projects in class or in individual, non-competitive projects, while our 6th and 7th graders take this process to another level by competing for medals. To evaluate the projects that are eligible for competition, we recruit judges who are professionals in the fields of science, engineering and/or education and come from various institutions such as Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, University of Southern California, California State University at Los Angeles, and at Northridge, Loyola Marymount University, Polytechnic School, Chandler School, Westridge School, and Los Angeles, Arcadia, and La Canada School districts.
Each 6th and 7th grade project is judged by three different judges who not only evaluate the projects but also interview the students. Feedback from our judges affirms that our students are quite articulate, poised, and well-informed about the topic of their research. The students whose average score from all the judges meet a certain criteria receive a medal (gold, silver, or bronze). At our recent science fair held on March 6, we handed out a total of four gold medals, nine silver medals and eleven bronze medals.
Thirteen of the highest scoring middle school projects move on to compete at the LA County Science Fair and often advance to the California State Science Fair. In the past, our students have done quite well at both the county and state levels. They have received first, second and third place as well as honorable mentions at the county level and have twice won first place at the state level.
At the school’s Annual Science Fair, the science faculty also presents the Omar Zahir Science Award to the project with overall distinction in the areas of originality, effort, and scientific quality. Dr. Omar Zahir was the Department Chair in Chemistry at CSUN and was one of our most enthusiastic judges. He passed away several years ago, and the school created this award as a way to honor him and his legacy of inspiring students to achieve in science. This year’s award went to Omar Ozgur for “The Focus on Solar Cells.
We are very proud of all our students for their diligent efforts in achieving excellence in science and discovering new ideas through this hands-on learning process.
Arabic Language Comes Alive
by Ilham Zayat, Middle School Arabic Teacher
by Ilham Zayat, Middle School Arabic Teacher
Dressed up in colorful traditional clothes, lower and middle school students engaged in student-centered, fun, educational activities that allowed them to expand their knowledge of the Arabic and Islamic world and enhance their language abilities With a great sense of joy and enthusiasm, students interacted with one another through songs, a puppet show, Qur’an and hadith recitation, skits, presentations of countries and mosques, board games, crafts and salad-making. Throughout the morning, they demonstrated their communicative skills and theatrical and artistic talents to each other and to the community.
The Arabic teachers were delighted at the success of this day as expressed by the students. To Diana, an eighth grader, this “is the day to advocate for Arabic” as the community was invited to live the language and its culture through all the various activities. Sadek added, “I enjoyed Arabic Day because I got the opportunity to use what I learned in class while having fun. I also had the chance to show others our progress in Arabic.” Jacky gave her insight with these words: “Arabic Day this year was filled with fun activities. Students interacted with each other more freely. Teaching lower school students really showed our abilities in Arabic. Afterwards, playing games showed us how the younger students benefited as well. Making fruit salad brought joy to everyone. With many smiles, full stomachs, and fun learning, Arabic Day was a great success.”
The Arabic teachers were delighted at the success of this day as expressed by the students. To Diana, an eighth grader, this “is the day to advocate for Arabic” as the community was invited to live the language and its culture through all the various activities. Sadek added, “I enjoyed Arabic Day because I got the opportunity to use what I learned in class while having fun. I also had the chance to show others our progress in Arabic.” Jacky gave her insight with these words: “Arabic Day this year was filled with fun activities. Students interacted with each other more freely. Teaching lower school students really showed our abilities in Arabic. Afterwards, playing games showed us how the younger students benefited as well. Making fruit salad brought joy to everyone. With many smiles, full stomachs, and fun learning, Arabic Day was a great success.”
United in Math
by April Wishek, 5th and 6th Grade Math Teacher
by April Wishek, 5th and 6th Grade Math Teacher
For the first time, middle school students participated in World Math Day. This tradition, in which students from around the world compete in timed mental math activities, began in 2007, but New Horizon students did not compete until this year. More than 2 million students from 204 countries around the world competed to answer a total of 452,681,681 questions in 48 hours on March 3rd and 4th.
At our school, the enthusiasm was evident by the noise emanating from the computer lab when any of the four classes were there answering questions. Shouts of “I’m playing someone from Qatar” or “I just beat someone from Pakistan” rang out as students attempted to answer as many mental math questions as they could in 60 seconds. Many students also logged on at home to continue to play after school, and several students ended up answering more than a thousand questions correctly in the 48 hours allotted for the competition. This was definitely a fantastic experience in which students were united in math for a day, and we will certainly continue the tradition of World Math Day in years to come.
At our school, the enthusiasm was evident by the noise emanating from the computer lab when any of the four classes were there answering questions. Shouts of “I’m playing someone from Qatar” or “I just beat someone from Pakistan” rang out as students attempted to answer as many mental math questions as they could in 60 seconds. Many students also logged on at home to continue to play after school, and several students ended up answering more than a thousand questions correctly in the 48 hours allotted for the competition. This was definitely a fantastic experience in which students were united in math for a day, and we will certainly continue the tradition of World Math Day in years to come.
First Grade’s 100th Day Celebration
by William Radford, First Grade Teacher
by William Radford, First Grade Teacher
For a First Grader at New Horizon, there’s nothing more exciting than the celebration of the 100th day of school. The anticipation for the big event starts on the very first day of school as students begin counting from day one until day one hundred. During this one hundred day journey, our students are immersed in every aspect of the number one hundred. As each day passes, a number line is built around the classroom. Certain days are more important than others such as crossing a five-day or ten-day threshold. On these days, there is extra learning about the importance of fives and tens in counting to one hundred.
As day one hundred draws near, students are assigned a one hundred day project. They must gather together something that represents one hundred. Projects can be a collection of one hundred items that have been put together as a display such as Adam’s project. He created a garage that had one hundred cars parked in it. Maya’s project was an artistic display. She framed an original drawing of a mosque with one hundred jewels. If a student knows someone who is one hundred years old, they are encouraged to invite them to school. The project allows children to explore the number one hundred while using their own creativity and having fun at the same time.
After one hundred days of learning, it is finally time to celebrate. Projects come to school, and the presentations begin. Parents, families and friends come to share a potluck lunch and view the exhibition of projects. Every year, it is amazing to see how each project is so different. They are absolutely amazing and often true keepsakes like the one hundred pictures of family collage or a design showing the name of Allah and His ninety-nine attributes. Most importantly, after one hundred days of inquiry, the number one hundred becomes a concrete reality for first graders.
As day one hundred draws near, students are assigned a one hundred day project. They must gather together something that represents one hundred. Projects can be a collection of one hundred items that have been put together as a display such as Adam’s project. He created a garage that had one hundred cars parked in it. Maya’s project was an artistic display. She framed an original drawing of a mosque with one hundred jewels. If a student knows someone who is one hundred years old, they are encouraged to invite them to school. The project allows children to explore the number one hundred while using their own creativity and having fun at the same time.
After one hundred days of learning, it is finally time to celebrate. Projects come to school, and the presentations begin. Parents, families and friends come to share a potluck lunch and view the exhibition of projects. Every year, it is amazing to see how each project is so different. They are absolutely amazing and often true keepsakes like the one hundred pictures of family collage or a design showing the name of Allah and His ninety-nine attributes. Most importantly, after one hundred days of inquiry, the number one hundred becomes a concrete reality for first graders.
Other School News
International Visitors Delight in Meeting Our Students
by Fatima Cash, Development Director
by Fatima Cash, Development Director
In February, the school hosted a delegation of five religious educators from Pakistan here to examine secular and religious education in the United States. Our visitors were invited by the United States Department of State to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program.
After a session with the administration to discuss curriculum and programs, the delegation visited briefly with students in Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and a 3rd grade Islamic Studies class. They were impressed with our student diversity, interactive classroom learning environment, and our students’ Qur’anic recitation skills. One gentleman commented, “Your school is beautiful. There are no schools like this in our city, and I wish I could have gone to a school like this as a child.”
Hosting international visitors allows us to share our school’s mission and philosophy and expose our students to people from around the world.
After a session with the administration to discuss curriculum and programs, the delegation visited briefly with students in Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and a 3rd grade Islamic Studies class. They were impressed with our student diversity, interactive classroom learning environment, and our students’ Qur’anic recitation skills. One gentleman commented, “Your school is beautiful. There are no schools like this in our city, and I wish I could have gone to a school like this as a child.”
Hosting international visitors allows us to share our school’s mission and philosophy and expose our students to people from around the world.
Generosity: A Hallmark of Our Community
by Fatima Cash, Development Director
by Fatima Cash, Development Director
The theme of Phase I of our 2009 Annual Giving Campaign was “Cultivating Creativity, Curiosity, and Confidence through the Arts” and included contributions from our parents and staff. We are pleased to report that we achieved a 95% participation percentage and exceeded last year’s total. Given the current economic situation in our country, we are very pleased with the success of this campaign and the strong showing of support for our school demonstrated by our students, parents and staff.
Phase II of our 2009 Campaign appeals to the wider community and mainly focuses on our Financial Aid program. An increasing number of young families are experiencing the hardships of our current economic crisis and struggle to afford a New Horizon education. The school relies mainly on the generosity of community members to fund our financial aid program and enable many qualified students to benefit from the excellent academic and religious program. This support is vital to sustaining the aid we provide, and we extend our plea to the Muslim community to make a generous donation to help sponsor a child’s education and make her dreams come true.
Phase II of our 2009 Campaign appeals to the wider community and mainly focuses on our Financial Aid program. An increasing number of young families are experiencing the hardships of our current economic crisis and struggle to afford a New Horizon education. The school relies mainly on the generosity of community members to fund our financial aid program and enable many qualified students to benefit from the excellent academic and religious program. This support is vital to sustaining the aid we provide, and we extend our plea to the Muslim community to make a generous donation to help sponsor a child’s education and make her dreams come true.
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The Pinnacle is a publication of New Horizon School Pasadena.
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