Peace Terrace News

Excellence Through Knowledge


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Class of 2020! What a Year!

Every graduating class at Peace Terrace is very special but this years graduates are truly exceptional. MashaAllah they are all motivated toward acquiring excellence both academically and socially. We are confident that they will all do well in all of their future endeavors.

Through the years we have seen these students cross many milestones that have made us proud and are excited to introduce you to our graduating class of 2020. May Allah subhanahu wa’tala protect them and give them success in this world and in the hereafter.

Here we go…….

Abdullah is one of our Hifdh students at Peace Terrace Academy and he has completed 17 Juz of the Qur’an thus far. Abdullah first arrived at Peace Terrace as a 5th grader and was quick to make friends and get acquainted with his peers. Abdullah is described as an excellent leader by his peers and teachers. He is an excellent athlete and loves sports.

Afsoun began her education journey at Peace Terrace and has flourished during her years at Peace Terrace. She is a 4.0 student and the recipient of the Principal’s Honor Roll. In addition to her academic excellence she displayed excellent character traits that made her beloved to all as she is slow to anger and quick to forgive, mashaAllah. She faces every challenge head on and will inshaAllah find success in all of her endeavors.

Aleena hopes to become a doctor in the future and we have no doubt that with her qualities of being a dedicated student and creative thinker she will reach her goal. In addition to being a 4.0 student and the recipient of the Principal’s Honor Roll award, Aleena made the most goals in last years soccer season. She is kind, compassionate, and hard working and an excellent friend.

Amatalkhaleg is an excellent writer and poet. Her entry in our school-wide poetry contest won second place. Amat is well liked by her peers and has a tendency to play the peace maker role when conflicts arise. She is creative, extremely funny, and compassionate. Amat is not afraid to speak up for the rights of others and recited a beautiful poem that she wrote on Civil Rights Day at the school.

Azhan would always greet his teachers with the full ¨Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuhu.” He is a confident student and would do everything in his own way and was often found creating imaginative games to play with friends. He had a relaxed and low key temperament is loved by his classmates and teachers. When asked about high school, he stated, “I’m both excited and scared!”

Masha´Allah! Ayham always offered to help his classmates with anything they were struggling with. He was a key component to creating a lasting camaraderie amongst the Jr. High boys and offered reflective solutions when conflicts arose. He’s a very polite and kind-hearted young man with excellent leadership skills. He’s engaged in all of his classes and has a great sense of humor.

Bieshtah is kind and compassionate and has an excellent sense of humor. Her friendly nature draws her classmates to her and is helpful in building lasting relationships with her peers. Bieshtah is an excellent team player and has loads of creative and artistic talent. Bieshtah will excel in whatever endeavor she sets her heart to!

Faysal is a true gem of a student masha´Allah! He finished memorizing the Quran and is now a ¨Hafidh¨. Whenever his teachers ask him to do something, he never forgets to say ¨for sure¨. His teachers appreciated his dedication towards excellence especially in his science class. He was also a recipient of the Principal’s Honor Roll Award masha´Allah!

Maryam is a recipient of the Principal’s Honor Roll Award and an excellent student. She is dedicated and motivated to learn and grow. Maryam did not hesitate to take on leadership roles at the school and would often take the lead with confidence and skill. We’re sure that she will excel in high school and beyond.

Mohammed is a well rounded student in every aspect. He is a 4.0 student and the recipient of the Principal’s Honor Roll Award, he is friendly and kind to peers and teachers, and he is an excellent athlete. We’re confident that he’ll excel in all of his future endeavors.

Friendly, respectful, and high achiever are some words that best describe Naima. MashaAllah she is a 4.0 student as well as a recipient of the Principal’s Honor Roll Award. She has matured into a confident and ethical young lady who is not afraid to speak up for the rights of others.

Nasser is always full of energy masha´Allah and is gifted with excellent leadership skills. He loves to play sports and was an excellent addition to our soccer and basketball teams in the last season. He likes to be of help to his classmates and teachers always. He also did an amazing job during distance learning and showed a lot of maturity and responsibility masha´Allah! We wish him the best insha´Allah in his high school experience!

Saaira is a wonderful young woman with a beautiful heart. She’s very artistic and creative and her finished art pieces are always gorgeous. She is also a great leader and team player and works very well with her classmates. She loves to play sports and did an excellent job as our team goalie in the past season. Saaira is very responsible. Wishing her the best in her future insha´Allah!

Sayed is a very kind young man who has been at Peace Terrace for many years. He loves to converse in the Arabic language and takes pride in his Muslim identity. We are confident that Sayed will write the next great American novel as he loves to write and is always creating and discussing fictional characters. Sayed is a great friend and he also likes to spend time with his family and two younger sisters.


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Peace Terrace PTO Meeting Notes

January 10, 2020 PTO meeting summary

The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at Peace Terrace Academy plans on instituting a robust organizational structure to ensure the effective and efficient execution of the PTO mission this year and the future and aims to provide greater access to the school administration. Plans are underway to codify the structure and function of the organization through a newly drafted constitution and by-laws as well as establishing standards for conducting meetings and business of the organization. The goal would be to finalize and adopt the constitution within the next few months.

The PTO will also have the school administration provide a “State of the School” Address to inform parents and have a teacher representative at PTO meeting to ensure PTO activities are in line with the school. The PTO will also aim to provide meeting minutes and other communications to the parents to inform the greater PTA community of the activities of the PTO. Finally, the PTO will seek to establish an income-generating component in the PTO activities and a formal way to track money and budget.

The school and the PTO seeks to adopt the “Green” School concept. The process will be implemented over time and smaller steps that are doable can be adopted sooner. Sister Homaira Wassel pointed out wants the school not only to implement the guidelines administratively but also to make it a long term goal to educate students to be proponents of these concepts.

One of the biggest events of the school year is around the corner on March 7th. The speakers for the March 7th fundraiser will be El-Hajj Hisham Mahmood and Sheikh Alauddin El-Bakri inshallah. The goal is to raise $50,000 through sponsorship before the events and $150,000 at the event. The sponsorship packages are ready. Parents are key to helping the school get sponsorship and spreading the word about the fundraising. An organizing meeting will be next week (January 18th at 9AM) inshallah. Parents are also encouraged to look into corporate matching as a way to leverage donations. Furthermore, many corporations match time with money for volunteer hours rendered. The school is encouraged to post volunteer opportunities through Benevity (corporate donation matching platform)

The PTO plans are keeping the student body informed and involved in the activities of the PTO. The communication chair will seek to make regular announcements during the Friday assembly to advertise PTO events to students. Furthermore, the PTO would like to have student representatives join the PTO meeting. The school will also look into restarting a student council and possibly a model united nation team lead by volunteer parents from the PTO. More concerted efforts will be made to have better relationships with other PTOs and organizations.

Through the process of events planning the PTO discussed the best way to balance having an event to further the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood without overwhelming parents.

Attendees: Homaira Wassel, Habib Hamidi, Homira Shafaq, Saima Khan, Nargis Hamid, Susan Abdullah
Absentee: Vendula Sadreddin, Siely Hassas, Nada Quraishi, Teacher Rep


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The Autumn Festival

The Autumn Festival is one of the best events at Peace Terrace.  Alhamdulillah we have a wonderful opportunity to get together as a community to have some fun.  We are so grateful to all of the folks who attended and spent their day with us and our team of volunteers who made the event so special.

The Prophet’s (peace and blessings upon him) favorite foods booth was a huge hit among the young and old.  A heart warming experience in this month of Rabi ul awwal.  May Allah increase us in love for our beloved.

Amazing vendors who brought clothing, honey, hijabs, ceramics, jewelry, and so much more.

The world’s best NACHOS, biryani, haleem, pallow, burgers, hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, shaved ice, caramel apples, fruit stand, pizza, a tea & dessert stand, and loads of other treats were shared and enjoyed.

Oh so many fun activities for the whole family!

Photo Booth portraits!

A special thanks to Vice Mayor, Raj Salwan, the Fremont Police Dept, and the Fremont Fire Dept for attending and spending time with the kiddos!

Lastly but not leastly, thank you to all of our volunteers and organizers.  You all are AMAZING & OUTSTANDING!  A special thanks to Ms. Tahira for all of the art work and signs, Ms. Zolaikha & Ms. Nargis for their extraordinary organization & shopping skills!

 

 

 

 


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Science Fair: 1st-5th

The Science Fair projects for our 1st -5th grade students is a day of discovery and sharing of knowledge.  Each grade has a theme and create projects based on that theme.  Students get to learn about the scientific process and  presentation skills in a non-competitive manner to prepare them for our Jr. High Science program.

The first graders learned about the wind, wind direction, and how to tell if a storm is coming.  MashaAllah, they created their own versions of weather vanes.

Second graders used their engineering skills to make simple machines using recycled materials.  Their inventions were quite fascinating!

The third grade class learned about air pollution and the importance of keeping our air quality pure.  The compared air quality from their city with that of a city in another country.

Self propelled cars was the order of the day for 4th grade.  Very creative engineering ideas.

The 5th graders learned many lessons in physics by creating their own roller coasters.  Converting potential energy to kinetic energy never looked so good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Girls & Soccer

These girls!

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They are pretty special.  So, far they’ve won every game of the season and mashaAllah have come a long way as a team in the past few months.  Today, in the first half of the game they were losing!  Their spirits were low as they were playing a very strong team and were feeling defeated.

But then they came together, recited Sura Al Fatiha and made the intention to score two points which would put them in the lead!  And that’s exactly what they did!  We are so very proud of them and are eagerly waiting for the finals!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Teacher Collaboration: Self Study

Yes, we’re here at school over the Autumn Break working on learning about our school community.  The questions we’re asking ourselves:  What makes us strong?  What are our areas of growth?  How do we get feedback from our community to serve our students and families better?

This level of dedication is what sets Peace Terrace Academy apart from others, MashaAllah.


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Jr. High Service Learning

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your own room here on earth” Muhammad Ali

Our junior high students participated in their 2nd service project of the year. Through Compassion Network – an organization committed to serving those in need representing all faiths, economic and ethnic groups – they were assigned to help some of our elderly in the community with some yard work. The students were split into different groups and visited different homes to get the job done. They pulled weeds, picked up dry and dead leaves, cleaned patios and windows and much more. They also presented a small gift to the tenants to show their appreciation and love for our elderly and for sharing some words of wisdom with them.

 


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Mommy and Me Tea

Our ECE teachers and parent volunteer Siely Hassas really outdid themselves today by creating a wonderful Mommy and Me tea experience for our ECE students and mothers.

We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents; in pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth” (46:15).

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A man came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship? The Prophet (PBUH) said: Your mother. The man said, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man asked again, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your father. (Bukhari, Muslim)

No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother’s love. It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star. ~Edwin Hubbell

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: ‘My Lord! bestow on them Thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood’ “(17:23-24).


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Arabic Fest 2016

This year the ArabicFest had a special meaning for all of us at Peace Terrace because it coincided with our ‘Celebrating Sirah’ month.  What a great opportunity for our students to learn about Sirah of the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him while they learned about his noble life through plays, nasheed, and stories.

Students and teachers worked for months; writing plays, practicing lines, and selecting the best nasheed to perform.  The outcome of their hard work was AMAZING to say the least.