NEWS FROM THE NEST December 2012-Edition 4
January Events Jan 1: NO SCHOOL- Staff Day Jan 2: School Resumes 2-3- Wed-Thurs: Science Fair Projects Due 3-Thursday: IPTA Meeting 4-Friday: In-School Science Fair 4-Friday: Tarbiyah Program 8-Tuesday: HS Soccer vs. Indian Rocks 10-Thursday: HS Soccer vs. Calvary 10-Thursday: MS Soccer vs. Seffner 12-Saturday: HS Soccer vs. Bishop 15-Tuesday: HS Soccer vs. Cambridge 17-Thursday: HS vs. Seffner 21-Monday: NO SCHOOL: MLK Day 22-24: Sem I Exam for MS and HS 22-24: Early Dismissal @ 12:30 24-Thursday: End of Sem I 24-Friday: NO SCHOOL: Staff Day
Look inside... What’s Cooking 2
Students’ Submissions 3
Celebrating Students 4-5
Cultural Day and Fun Pg 6-7
Arabic Page 8
Newsletter Submission
DEADLINE:
January 21, 2012
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News from
the Nest
A Message from Guest Contributor: Cultural Day by Sr. Manal Ramadan Cultural Day at the American Youth Academy is an annual event that
encourages our student body to appreciate other cultures from around
the world. Teachers and parents work diligently to provide a memorable
experience.
It all begins with choosing a country. Next, students and teachers begin
to explore their designated country. This may include its geography,
religions, languages, cuisine, arts, etc. There is a wealth of information,
and each class uniquely displays this information to its visitors for the
Cultural Day event. This year, many teachers taught their students to say
everyday words that are native to the country they represented. Other
teachers assigned books that explained current events that are occurring
in their chosen country.
Prior to Cultural Day, every “citizen” in elementary is issued a passport.
Students take their passports to the countries they visit. Upon entering a
country, a Customs’ agent stamps the passport with a sticker that
represents the country they are visiting. Parents and teachers enjoy
witnessing the interaction that occurs, and the passport also serves as a
wonderful keepsake to commemorate this special day.
Another aspect of Cultural Day is that all of the students come dressed in their respective clothing. The hallways become a corridor to the wonderful cultures that make our world the beautiful place
it is. The hustle and bustle of the vibrant colors and rich
textures allow you, the spectator, to feel that you are
experiencing something truly special. Sampling the food
from the vast array of cuisines is one of my favorite parts
of the day. The administration, teachers and staff
would like to thank all of the parents who helped
make this year’s event magical.
NEWS FROM THE NEST | DECEMBER 2012 2
By: Dana Fetais, 8B and Layal Barakat, 6B
2nd Grade "Help the Needy" with Sr. Huda Taji, Quran - Our project for the Qur'an class this quarter will be: Helping children in need. Children will donate money, will write a letters
about helping children in need, and will send it all to Islamic Relief. ]
Since our theme for this edition of the newsletter is
Cultural Day, I wanted to find students who recently
moved here from overseas. First, I interviewed
Mohammad Asfour who recently came to the United
States for his education. He chose AYA because it
was the only Islamic School he found online. He
thinks AYA is a great school, and looks forward to its
future growth.
Another student I interviewed was Dena Elnagib who
came to the United States from an Immigration
Lottery, so she gets to stay here for five years!
When I asked her why she chose this school, she
replied that her mom chose it because of its Islamic
values. She says if she could change any rule at
school she would change them all, but she likes AYA
and has adjusted.
A Special AYA Thank YOU goes
out to the Boy Scouts who made our wonderful new
picnic tables!
For this month’s recipe, we wanted to pick
something from one of the countries represented during Cultural Day, so we chose
Ingredients for Couscous:
1 1/2 cups of couscous
2 2/3 cups of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Ingredients for Sauce:
Variety of vegetables like squash,
cauliflower, sweet potatoes, or potatoes,
carrots, canned chick peas, and tomatoes,
or tomato paste, and onions
Meat or chicken
Vegetable oil
Seasoning of your choice, including cumin
and salt
Directions for Couscous:
In a sauce pan boil the water, add salt, then add
couscous, and remove from heat. Let it sit for
about 5 minutes.
Directions for Sauce:
Chop the onion and fry it with a tablespoon of
vegetable oil for 2 minutes. Add the chicken or
meat, and let it cook for a few minutes. After
that, add the seasoning you like with the cumin
and salt. Add at least 4 cups of water, or as
needed. Then add all vegetables and tomato
paste, and cook it for 10 minutes or until the
vegetables are cooked. Serve sauce and couscous
together and enjoy!
NEWS FROM THE NEST | DECEMBER 2012 3
Kid
s’ C
orn
er!
By A
hm
ad A
bdulm
agid
, 6B
On December 5th, I interviewed Belal Mansour and
Haneen Abunnur from 2A and Lara Twam and Saajid Khan from 2B. I asked them questions regarding
Cultural Day!
How was Culture Day? Belal, 2A- It was really fun! What did you learn about other countries? Haneen,
2A - I learned a lot about the Madagascar baobab Tree.
Lara, 2B - I learned that Columbia has good coffee.
When you started, did you know anything about
your country? Saajid, 2B - I actually knew a lot
about it.
By Noel Tanoukhi, 2A
By Ghadh Soukieh, 7A
This year’s book fair was a complete
success. Sr. Laura and Sr. Wafa, one of AYA’s awesome volunteers, worked around the
clock to sell students books from A to Z.
There were lots of satisfied customers, and many students won a prize for being caught red handed reading a book! Sr. Laura plans to use the money raised to help purchase
more wonderful titles for AYA’s library.
Acrostic Poem
By: Nermean
Qasem, 8B
Cloth Understanding Language Tradition Unity Religion Ethnicity
NEWS FROM THE NEST | DECEMBER 2012 4
Cele
brati
ng A
YA
Stu
dents
!
NEWS FROM THE NEST | DECEMBER 2012 5
By: Reham Ali, 8B and Iman Ahmad, 8B
K4A- Jenna Sarsour and Hadi Alhadidi
K4B - Obada Washah and Sarim Khan
K5A - Elyes Belkherroubi, Yasneem Yousef, and Mohamed Rum
K5B - Muna Atiyeh and Mounia Benbourennane
Grade 1A - Yasmina Belkherroubi and Jawad Alhadidi
Grade 1B - Tahamid Zaman and Asif Mohid
Grade 2A - Abdullah Husain, Abeir Obeid, and Shireen Abdelhafes
Grade 2B- Layalee Ahmad and Mallak Sulliaman
Grade 3A - Samah Quneibi and Sadeel Hijaz
Grade 3B - Yosef Safiah and Shahed-fatimah Aisheh
Grade 4A - Jasmin Sabir
Grade 4B - Amina Ahmed and Adam Mansour
Grade 5A - Rita Benkirane and Abdul-Hakim Zekri
Grade 5B - Rama Abdulmagid and Dina Irshaid
Grade 6 - Layal Barakat and Minahil
Cheema
Grade 7- Ghadh Soukieh, Amine Benkirane,
Osama Gurwala, Menatallah Daashoush, and
Khaled Yousef
Grade 8- Reem Nasur and Bayane
Elhayboubi
Grade 9 -Elnaz Taherkalateh, Dina Awshah
and Mariam Mekouar
Grade 10-Hasna Elhayboubi, Diana
Mustafa, Yara Twam, and Samer Sarsour
Grade 11- Faris Hawari and Serene Mostafa
Grade 12- Sarah Quneibi
By: Reham Ali, 8B and Iman Ahmad, 8B
Subrine Hijaz, Sarah Quneibi, Kamal Taha, Nadine Al-
Ashker, Faris Hawari, Serene Mostafa, Sabrina Awshah, Diana Mustafa, Dina Awshah, Sarah Gomaa,
Mariam Mekouar, Osama Gurwala, Leya Rum, Zena Omer, Ahmed Nofal, Akram Mohammad, Jihad
Gomaa, Minahil Cheema, Ayah Bensaid, Layal Barakat, Ahmad Abdulmagid, Rama Abdulmagid,
Khawlah Altoubah, Danya Awshah, Rita Benkirane, Dina Irshaid, Omar Omer, Danya Yousef, Salam
Twam, Muhammad Falah, Shahed-fatima Aisheh, Samah Quneibi, Yosef Safiah, Nagam Saleh, Lana
Shada, Banah Swar, Abdul-Malik Zekri , Abdullah Husain, Belal Mansour, Ridha Mohamed, Awwab
Azam, Yasmina Belkherroubi, Yusuf Elmenayer, Mustafa Elsayed, Aminah Khan, Zackaria Motrib, and
Waleed Yousef
Lama Mattar, Mizba Khan, Al-Anoud Fetais, Shaden Yousef, Musa
Khaled, Obaidah Fariz, Emre Arslan, Omar Altoubah, Yara Twam, Samer Sarsour, Abraham Irshaid,
Lara Mattar, Ahmad Museitef, Shihab Mustafa, Lana Sarsour, Reem Nasur, Bayane Elhayboubi, Amine
Benkirane, Sarah Elbasheer, Esraa Nofal, Khaled Yousef, Suhaib El-Dahla, Samarah Mohammad,
Karimah Ahmad, Hasan Benbourenane, Sara Nasur, Omar Obeid, Abdul-Hakim Zekri, Sabrina Atiq,
Adam Mansour, Hedaia Mohammad, Azeeza Sarour, Meryam Tazi, Seif Abduljaber, Abdulhakim
Chefchaouni, Suhaib Fariz, Abrar Hamdan, Sadeel Hijaz, Zainab Mohamed, Bilal Qasem, Malik Shalabi,
Alla Taha, Haneen Abunnur, Layalee Ahmad, Raghad Bayyari, Jood Binsalman, Otman Filali, Saajid
Khan, Fatima Mohammad, Muhammad Maarij Mustafa, Abrahim Nasur, Abeir Obeid, Mohamad
Soukieh, Noel Tanoukhi, Lara Twam, Vaniza Atiq, Wajd Binsalman, Aamna Cheema, Al-harith
Sullaiman, and Nevin Tanoukhi
Al’a Faria, Islam Ahmad, Osamah Nofal, Dania Rum, Rola Ashour, Hasna
Elhayboubi, Aya Faria, Om-Kalthoom Ahmad, Nawal Khawaja, Elnaz Taherkalateh, Iman Ahmad,
Fatima Bouarfa, Ayah Elfaouatih, Ammar Mattar, Sarim Akram, Menatallah Daashoush, Omar
Elmekabbati, Hussein Harake, Bissan Mustafa, Hany Nasur, Ghadh Soukieh, Taha Taha, Sumeyye
Erdem, Hanan Hasan, Nadene Hijaz, Razan Saad, Delnaz Taherkalateh, Raja Twam, Rahma
Elmekabbati, Mariam Elsayed, Sofian Faria, Sofia Mekouar, Iness Morabi, Eman Mustafa, Amina
Ahmed, Yazen Alkhyyat, Dana Barakat, Selma Bensaid, Noor Elfaouatih, Bilal Gomaa, Abdullah Omer,
Saji Rum, Jasmine Sabir, Samya Soukieh, Mahamed Abdel, Lydia Ben Bourennane, Farah Ghanem,
Shuhd Ismail, Wasif Mahtab, Nour Sullaiman, Bara’a Alrousan, Ahmad Dibo, Yazen El-shaafi, Malik
Falah, Bnan Hamdan, Moustafa Ismail, Su’ad Macedonio, Saleem Sekkat, Raghad Swar, Yassin Tazi,
Jawad Alhadidi, Ali Fetais, Alya Hamdan, Balqees Hamed, Hamza Kamel, Haadiya Khan, Zackaria
Mekouar, and Muhammad Washah
NEWS FROM THE NEST | DECEMBER 2012 6
Cultural Day at
By Akram Mohammad, 6B Many different kinds of sports are played around the world. They are all interesting and help citizens stay healthy. AYA students learned all about out some of the sports from different countries they studied for Cultural Day. Some sports they learned about we play every day, like soccer, and some are ones we have never heard about, like cricket, capoeira, and hammer throw.
Sports around the world
By: Ahmed Kamel, 8A and Rami Mari, 8B
NEWS FROM THE NEST | DECEMBER 2012 7
Famous figures from around the world!
Hint: His Royal Highness… Hint: He loves his country, Morocco!
Hint: Led India to independence through non-violent civil disobedience Hint: French Queen convicted for treason
“Don’t cry because it’s over; laugh because it
happened!”
.
By: Bayane Elhayboubi, 8A and Halima Hammad, 8A
NEWS FROM THE NEST | DECEMBER 2012 8
فطنة حكيم
تبخل على الناس بالكالم ؟ لم : كتب رجل لحكيم يقول
فقال إن الخالق سبحانه قد خلق لك أذنين ولسانا واحداً
لتسمع أكثر مما تقول ، ال لتقول أكثر مما تسمع .
في جيبك عشرة دوالرات
سقط منها خمسة. فماذا
يكون في جيبك؟
ثُـْقٌب ي ا أْست اذ ..
By: Fatima Bouarfa, 8B and Ayah El-Faouatih, 8B