New Horizon School - Los Angeles

Assalamu Alaikum and whew! I can’t believe it is already December! This first trimester, of what I imagine will be an incredible school year, is almost coming to an end. And all I can say is “Wow!” How these days have just whizzed by us. The students have successfully taken two sets of tests, many field trips, learned many new and exciting things in science. Students have expanded their vocabularies, read curriculum relevant stories, and worked on major Math and English concepts, well on track to complete these concepts by April.

In December, we will be visiting the Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center in Irvine, California, to experience what this amazing place has to offer. We will spend two days and one night expanding educational opportunities, gaining hands-onexperience learning about native plants and animals and how people used to live.

In the next few months, we will be very busy flying through the earth and conducting various experiments in science, experiencing new people and places in reading, and learning interesting new concepts in math. Please remember that I am always reachable by e-mail nishukhala@yahoo.com. My page on www.schoolnotes.com is continuously updated, if you want to see what we are doing or review my classroom policies.

I want to wish all of you a very happy and blessed New Year and a safe, enjoyable, restful holiday break. Insha’allah, the next trimester will be very exhilarating!

Nishat Alikhan

Assalamu Alaikum, welcome back to school, and Eid Mubarak! This has been an interesting first few weeks of school, trying to adjust from those deliciously blissful lazy summer days to the fast-paced, always moving, hectic school routine. With the addition of Ramadan, our routine is even more chaotic than usual. May Allah bless everyone this Ramadan!

As the last couple of weeks of September roll on through, I want to welcome all of you to the 2009-2010 school year. To all my 4th and 5th grade parents and students, I just want to say, “Welcome to the Rainforest!” This first month, of what I imagine will be an incredible school year, has already gotten off to an exciting start. We have ushered in Ramadan, visited Masjid Omar, feasted at the Family Iftar Potluck, celebrated Eid, and enjoyed our trip to Chuck-e-Cheese. We are currently exploring the depths of the rainforests and discovering all the new things being a year older comes with. It is during our explorations and discoveries that we can truly be amazed at the wonder that Allah (SWT) has created around us! Our young explorers are gearing up to wander into a wonderful Back-to-School Night, an exciting trip to the Los Angeles County Fair, our Fall Midterm Tests, Parent-Teacher Conferences, and our first Family Night – “Who Wants to be a Champion?” Can you believe all of that will take place soon and it’s only going to be the second month of school!

Alhamdulillah, this will be an exciting year full of academic, athletic, social, and emotional success for all of us! It will take all of our combined efforts to garner the success for our children that I know they are all capable of achieving. I don’t need parent volunteers as such, except for in transportation during field trips. The only thing I ask is that you, the parents, work with your children to ensure homework is completed nightly. As the ancient African proverb says “it takes a village to raise a child.” Our children are our future, so let’s help make them successful, proud, and confident American Muslim citizens in this ever-changing, ever-developing world! Feel free to contact me at nalikhan@newhorizonla.org. Nishat Alikhan

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!

 This year is drawing to a close! It is getting to be time for the traditional blue caps and gowns crossing stages and another class to move on. Feels like only yesterday this school year began, but as all good things must come to an end, so too must this year. Don’t despair, there is still a lot more left to do before we can say adieu. These last weeks of school are going to be the busiest time ever.

The month of April and early May were both exciting and hectic. We had our Spring Fair, the School Spelling Bee, the Interschool Spelling Bee, Earth Day, our Accreditation visit, and Spring Open House and Arabic Day. These were all very successful events. Quickly following these events is the Mothers Day Breakfast, our WrAP testing, the Spring Final Trimester testing, and of course, the CTP IV testing. These bouts of testing will be interspersed with review, review, and more review. Students will review quantitative reasoning skills, writing mechanics, grammar, reading comprehension skills, as well as other basic math and English skills. Students will also be taking field trips to alleviate some of the testing anxiety.

This, as mentioned earlier, will be the most exciting and toughest part of the school year. For this reason, parents, it is imperative that students eat nutritious meals and get plenty of rest. Please make sure they complete their review assignments for homework and come to class prepared daily with pencils, erasers, a pencil sharpener, and are ready to tackle the world of academia.

The students are looking forward to all of the June end-of-year activities. Activities such as: Student Appreciation Day, One Notch-Up Day, the Spotlight on Excellence Assembly, Graduation, and the elusive end-of-the-year overnight field trip. This year our students have decided that they would like to go to Catalina Island for the overnight trip. Please expect the permission slips out soon. It is imperative that we know who all will be going among the parents and students, as we have to book the hotel rooms as soon as possible.

I want to thank all of you for making this year incredible. The students have made significant progress and I’m proud of every single one of them. I wish everyone all the best, a good summer, and good luck to my fifth graders as they enter middle school. I will miss them! 

Nishat Alikhan

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!

We have been very busy here at school, with Winter Finals, Math competitions, the Spelling Bee, & a new found dedication to reading. The 4th & 5th graders read Dr. Seuss books on “National Read around America Day.” We read all our favourite books to the pre-kindergartners and kindergartners to commemorate Dr. Seuss’ 106th birthday. The students also took part in a global math competition entitled “World Maths Day,” where students had the opportunity to answer as many questions as they could in 60 second rounds, while playing students from around the world.

Academically, I’m proud to announce that we are completing our curriculum and will soon start our formal CTP IV Math, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, & Grammar review. We will also be preparing for WrAP testing in May.

The candy sale has begun and I look forward to seeing how many boxes the students can sell. This is my favorite fundraiser; it reminds me of when my brother and I used to sell candy when we were students here. We had a lot fun doing it. It was a challenging experience for me especially, because I am the shy sibling. It helped me break out of my shell a little and made me bolder. I treasure the values and skills, both academic and social, I learned during my time at New Horizon School. This is just one of the many that set me up for the rest of my life. The strong foundation laid here, has helped me build my future.

We have many exciting events coming up. Our trip to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is on March 19th, the Costume & Talent show is on March 20th, Sport’s Day on March 24th, our trip to Disneyland on March 25th, Spring Break, then the school and Interschool Spelling Bees and the Spring Fair, and more field trips! The rest of March and April promise to be very exciting months. So during Spring Break, try to take time to get some rest, complete all assigned homework, and get ready for the last 10 weeks of the school year to be action packed. 

Nishat Alikhan