Meet Sh. Abdullah Hammoud, our Imam, Br. Abou Tarek Smoudi, one of our judges, and Sr. Sousan Khaled, our Administrative Assistant.

Here are a few of our eldest competitors.

Be sure to listen in to hear how wonderful they sound, masha’Allah!

quran-competition-2009

Eat a Healthy Breakfast

Never take a test on an empty stomach! A healthy breakfast is the first step in properly preparing for an exam. Fuel the brain with whole wheat, fruits, and even nuts in the morning to give your best performance.

Don’t Cram

You made flash cards, memorized, and reviewed questions and problems over and over. The most important thing now is a good night’s sleep. If you have covered the content thoroughly, it’s time to rest, focus, and stay calm and confident for the next day.

Be Prepared

The night before the test, gather everything you need for the test: pencils, pens, scrap paper, erasers, calculator, etc. This will allow you time in the morning to eat a healthy breakfast and review notes, if necessary. You don’t want to start your day rushing out the door stressed and with an empty stomach!

Relax

Your attitude and outlook will reflect greatly on the outcome of the test. Make sure you stay calm and confident throughout your exam. If you start to feel nervous or anxious, take a few deep breaths to collect yourself.

Set a Pace

When you first receive your test, quickly survey the entire test so you can determine how to budget your time. Set a pace throughout the exam: Don’t spend too much time on one question, and don’t speed through carelessly. Try not to spend more than one minute on each question. If you get stuck on a question, skip it and return to it later. Make sure you read each question carefully and answer accurately.

Show Your Work

Be sure to show as much of your work as you can. That way both you and the grader know what you’re trying to do. Even if you can do the problem in your head, write it down. If you don’t finish the question or get the final answer wrong, you might receive partial credit for doing the work correctly.

Guess Aggressively

If you don’t know the answer to a multiple-choice question, don’t leave it blank and don’t guess randomly. First, eliminate the choices you know are wrong, and then make an educated guess on the remaining choices. This will give you a better chance of choosing the correct answer and earning points.

Accurately Fill in Answer Grids

If the answer sheet is a bubble grid, make sure you fill in the answer on the correct number of the sheet.

Ignore Other Students

Don’t worry if other students finish before you. Take advantage of the allotted time for the test by double check (but not double guessing!) your answers. Make sure you have answered all the questions and that your handwriting is legible.

Shahnaz Zafar

تدور هذه المكالمة الهاتفية حول زيارة المريض , فعيادة المريض حق , وواجب أوصى به الرسول (صلى الله عليه وسلم) حيث قال عليه السلام : ( عُودُوا المَريضَ , وَأَْطْعِمُوا الجَائِعَ, وَفُكُّوا العَانِي ) . امّا الدعاء الذي ندعوه للمريض حتى يشفيه الله فهو كالتالي : (نَسْأَلُ اللهَ الكَريمَ , رَبَّ العَرْشِ العَظيمِ , أَنْ يَشْفِيَكَ . ).

Listen in on this phone call…

Feed the Hungry

Assalamu alaykum, Sisters and Brothers.

Please, please, please check out this website: www.freerice.com Your students – even YOU – will learn while helping to feed the impoverished.

About FreeRice

FreeRice is a sister site of Poverty.com. Our partners are the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the United Nations World Food Programme.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide education to everyone for free.

2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on this site. Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your education can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself. Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Use it when you need to have your students practice any of the following:

ART- Famous Paintings

CHEMISTRY – Chemical Symbols (Basic), Chemical Symbols (Full List)

ENGLISH – English Grammar, English Vocabulary

GEOGRAPHY – Identify Countries on the Map, World Capitals

LANGUAGE LEARNING – French, German, Italian, Spanish

MATH – Basic Math (Pre-Algebra)

By Sousan Khaled

إنَّ لقارئ  القـرآن الكـريم آداباً ، يجب أن يتحلَّى بها وأن يحافـظ عليها عند تلاوته له ، كما عـرَّفنا رسـولنا الكـريم سـيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم أن القـرآن الكـريم كـلام الله تعالى.

ومن تلك الآداب ما يلي:

1ـ على القارئ أن يجلس للقـراءة وهو على طهارةٍ كاملةٍ للجـسـد ، والثياب ، والمكان ، متطـيباً ، ومسـتاكاً.

2ـ عليه أن يكون خاشعاً ، متواضعاً ، مسـتحـضـراً عـظمة الله تعالى ، متدبراً لمعاني الآيات ، متأثراً بما ورد فيه من آياتٍ وأحكام ، فعند آيات النعيم والجنات يعلو وجهه البشر والفرح ، آملاً أن يكون من الذين يحظون بهذه المنزلة الرفيعة ، وعند آيات العذاب والنار يكتئب وجهه ويعلوه الخوف والرهبة من عذاب الله تعالى ، يرجو رحمته ويخاف عذابه ، وبذلك يزداد إيمانه وتصلح أحواله.

لقول الله تعالى في كتابه الكريم :” إِنَّمَا ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ ٱللَّهُ وَجِلَتۡ قُلُوبُہُمۡ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتۡ عَلَيۡہِمۡ ءَايَـٰتُهُ  زَادَتۡہُمۡ إِيمَـٰنً۬ا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمۡ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ “                                                             سورة الأنفال (2)

3ـ ينبغي للقارئ أن يكون مثالاً للأدب والوقار والإحترام ، وأن يقرأ القرآن مرتلاً مجـوداً ، محافـظاً على حقوقه من أحكام التجـويد بقـدر الإسـتطاعة ، محسناً صوته بالتلاوة ، راجياً من الله القبول والفوز برضوانه وجنته.

4ـ عليه أن يبدأ بالإسـتعاذة من الشـيطان الرجـيم ، والبسـملة عند أول كل سـورة.

5ـ على القارئ أن يتجنب قطع القراءة للحـديث مع الناس إلا لضرورةٍ كردٍّ السـلام.

6ـ عليه أن يُمسـك عن القراءة عند التثاؤب بوضع يده على الفم ، ثم متابعة القراءة بعد الإنتهاء منه.

عن أنس ابن مالك رضي الله عنه عن أبي موسى عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: ” المؤمن الذي يقرأ القرآن ويعمل به كالأترجة طعمها طيب وريحها طيب ، والمؤمن الذي يقرأ القرآن ولا يعمل به كالتمرة طعمها طيب ولا ريح لها ، ومثل المنافق الذي يقرأ القرآن كالريحانة ريحها طيب وطعمها مُرّ ، ومثل المنافق الذي لا يقرأ القرآن كالحنظلة طعمها مُرّ أوخبيث وريحها مُرّ “.                         رواه البُخاري

Even though it’s cold and snowy, winter is a great season to go outside and be active.  Try activities like building a snow castle, walking to school, or hiking on a nature trail.

Safety tips to remember:

• Dress in layers.
• Wear mittens or gloves, a hat that covers your ears, a neck warmer and boots.
• Wear sunscreen to prevent sunburn.  The sun’s rays can reflect from ice and snow.
• Use the correct helmet for snowboarding, skiing, tobogganing, and skating.
• Keep children off snow banks near roads.
• Always supervise children playing in the snow.

And don’t forget, indoor activities count too.  Have fun, stay safe, and keep active this winter.

By Nisar Ahmed Malik.

Adapted from:

Government of Canada. (n.d.) Ideas and Activities. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from:

www.hkpr.on.ca/uploadedFiles/winterActiveResource.pdf

Check this out!

By Sonia Dabboussi

When children start having difficulty in school, their love for learning soon begins to fade. Poor grades, social problems, and even problems at home are the inevitable results. If your child is having problems at school, or perhaps you’re having trouble yourself as a high school or college student, finding the right tutor might be the answer.

Finding a tutor is the first step.

The first place to start looking for tutoring assistance is in the educational system. Teachers and professors will often moonlight for a little extra pay and give a student the extra help he or she needs. College towns usually have no shortage of tutoring skills available. Tutors can be found in the student body of the college or university by contacting the institution’s office of student affairs or hanging a note with your phone number in places student gather to eat and study.

Another place to look for tutoring assistance is the local social services agency. Referrals to excellent tutors may be available since the need is a common one. An excellent tutor can sometimes be found this way.

Checking for online tutoring services will produce good results. Tutorial services connect the student with a tutor who will work with him or her as needed. The results will be improved grades, an increased comprehension level and a better all-around attitude toward the learning process.

A potential tutor should never be hired without at least a minimal checking of references. It certainly would also be worthwhile to check with a site like Family Watchdog, which contains a database of known offenders. And just to be sure, always be present or nearby when a tutor meets with your children.

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Zafar M. Momin

Alaska

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska

Amazon
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the world’s oxygen supply. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States .

Antarctica
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world’s ice covers Antarctica . This ice also represents seventy % of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil
Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning ‘ Big Village .’

Chicago
Next to Warsaw , Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Detroit
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road any where.

Damascus , Syria
Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul , Turkey
Istanbul (AKA Constantinople) , Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles
Los Angeles’ full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula — and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

New York City
The term ‘The Big Apple’ was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930′s who used the slang expression ‘apple’ for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time – The Big Apple.

There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Ohio
There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio , every one is man made.

Pitcairn Island
The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles.

Rome
The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia
Siberia contains more than 25% of the world’s forests.

S.M.O.M.
The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.MO.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

Sahara Desert
In the Sahara Desert , there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island . There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Spain
SPAIN literally means ‘the land of rabbits.’

St. Paul, Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota , was originally called Pig’s Eye after a man named Pierre ‘Pig’s Eye’ Parrant who set up the first business there.

Roads
Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A: 1%, in Canada : 75%.

Texas
The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas . It is as deep as 20 empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide.

United States
The Interstate System requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

Waterfalls
The water of Angel Falls (the World’s highest waterfall) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet. It is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

Zafar M. Momin