CONTACT INFORMATION:
Saima Adnan (Homeroom, Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies): adnans@dupeoria.org
May Ghazawna (Qur'aan and Arabic): ghazawnam@dupeoria.org
Fatima Mubeen (Islamic Studies and Computers): fatimam@dupeoria.org
"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."
- Sydney J. Harris
By clicking on above, you can access the documents. If you issues opening the above documents, please email me at adnans@dupeoria.org. Thank you.
NOVEMBER Character of the Month:
CARING
Allah (SWT) says: “Verily, Allah commands you with justice, and caring and the giving of rights to near relatives. (Quran 16:90)
Nov 6—Family Reading Night
Nov 7—Uniform Free Friday—Support Palestine Day!
Nov 20—KG and 1st Grade Bake Sale
Nov 17-21—Arabic Spelling Bee
Nov 26-28—Fall Break
Please refer to the school website dupeoria.org for more detailed information regarding upcoming events.
PLASTIC ZIPLOCK BAGS
When the students are unable to finish their snack, they ask me for a zip lock bag. I ask the students to leave the zip lock bags in their lunch bags for future use. Same goes for the zip lock bags in which the students bring money for bake sales. I ask them to store them in their lunch bags for future use. This is to teach the students not to waste and to reuse items whenever possible. Your support and continued teaching at home would be greatly appreciated.
FAMILY READING NIGHT
Get ready to blast off for a cosmic evening of literacy fun at our annual Family Reading Night, 'Explore the Reading Galaxy', on Thursday, November 6, 2025, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM!
Here's the mission schedule:
6:00 PM - 6:20 PM: Kick off the night with a Student Council organized Play in the Gym.
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM: Celestial Craft Station where your children can create their own stellar wonders.
Stellar Extras & Fundraisers:
Competition: Enter our Best Costume Competition throughout the evening!
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Support our high school students at their Face Painting Fundraiser—be sure to come prepared for a stellar design!
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Concession Stand Fundraiser (food and drinks will be available for purchase).
We can't wait to see your family for a night of reading, creating, and community fun!
We need your help to make this event a success! Please consider volunteering your time to assist with set-up, activity stations, or clean-up. We are also kindly requesting donations of food and drinks to serve as simple concessions for the evening. Any contribution helps make the night more special! Sign up to be a Parent Volunteer or Donate a Concession Item here.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
Recently there has been an increase in uniform policy violations, particularly among our boys, and we want to kindly remind all families of the school's dress code to ensure a focused and cohesive learning environment.
Key Uniform Guidelines
Please ensure your child adheres to the following:
Non-PE Days: Track pants and joggers are not permitted for any student.
Elementary Girls: Must wear the navy-blue jumper with a light blue shirt underneath.
Cold Weather Attire (Colder Weather):
Elementary students and Middle School Boys are only to wear a navy-blue sweatshirt in the classroom.
Middle School Girls are to wear a black sweatshirt over their abayas.
Coats and Jackets:
Coats are not permitted in the classroom unless there is a confirmed issue with the HVAC system.
Elementary students should hang their coats in the cubbies outside their classrooms.
Middle and High School students should store their coats in their lockers.
Your support in reinforcing these guidelines at home is greatly appreciated. Consistent adherence to the uniform policy helps maintain a positive and respectful learning atmosphere for all students. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school office. Thank you for your cooperation!
COLD GEAR
With the shift to cooler temperatures, please remember to send your child to school dressed appropriately for the weather. It is essential that they dress in layers each day. This allows them to stay warm during outdoor activities and easily adjust their clothing as the temperature changes throughout the school day. Please ensure your child brings a jacket daily. Also, a specific reminder: all students should bring their navy-blue sweater with them every day. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us keep our students warm and comfortable.
ARABIC SPELLING BEE
DU is excited to announce that our school’s Arabic Spelling Bee is just around the corner! Here are the important dates:
Grades 1–3: One round on Monday, November 17, 2025
Grades 4–8: Elimination rounds begin on Monday, November 17, 2025
Final Round: Friday, November 21, 2025, Grades 4-8
All students in Grades 1 through 8 are welcome to participate. Study lists have been posted and are accessible to all students on the Arabic section of the class website. We encourage everyone to review and prepare throughout the month. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s Arabic teacher or Mrs. Sassi. Thank you for your support in making this year’s Arabic Spelling Bee a great success!
REPORTING ABSENCE
To report an absence, please email Daarul Uloom and the homeroom teacher. We request parents to notify us before 9:00 AM for each day’s absence.
LATE PICK UP
Please note the following policies regarding pick-up times: All students must be picked at 3:20PM. Daarul Uloom gives parents a grace period of 15 minutes to pick up their children. If a child is not picked up by 3:35PM, it is considered a late pickup. A charge of $5 per 15 minutes per child will apply.
WUDU AND SALAH
We pray Dhuhr in school everyday. I need your help in this:
Please make sure that your student makes Wudu in the morning and then puts on socks after drying their feet. I have already reviewed the steps of Wudu in class and how to do masah (wiping over socks) especially in school. Your help and support in review and reinforcement would be greatly appreciated. The students do not have time to take their socks off to make Wudu, then dry their feet and put on socks. The students use the restrooms that are attached to the gym ONLY when they have recess. The restrooms in the school wing do not have sit-down Wudu making area like the gym ones.
Please continue to review salah at home. We do go over it in school regularly. Any areas that we see that the students are struggling in, we reteach.
The students were amazing during this Friday prayers. The boys who prayed in the men's musallah area got complimented by Ms. Saba Fatima. She supervises the boys during Salah. The girls were upstairs with me. We have 5 minutes discussion about the Khutbah after we came back to class. The discussion focusses on things they learned or remembered that were mentioned in the Khutbah. We did this the first Friday in school, and this last Friday the students couldn't wait to be back in class and share. I am glad to report that they were really paying attention, and some remembered points from previous one.
FIELDTRIPS AND NEED FOR AUTHORIZED DRIVERS
The students took home information about their first fieldtrip which is to Tanner's Orchard. We will be going in a school bus. While we are not limiting the number of parents/chaperones who can accompany us, however keep in mind the following:
Please let us know when you return the form along with the $7 entrance fee. We will purchase your ticket when we purchase the students' and you will be counted as part of our group.
You can meet us directly there. No need to come to school. Due to space limitations in the bus, the chaperones will have to drive themselves.
If you have multiple students going on this fieldtrip, please clearly indicate which grade you signed up to accompany.
On this fieldtrip, KG, 4th, and 5th will be joining us. As I mentioned on the Back to School night that in the absence of authorized parent drivers, we have to rent a school bus. This substantially adds to our cost. To offset individual high costs, we make the student group bigger (thus the other grades accompanying us). There are places I would love to take students, but they cannot accommodate this number since the facilities are too small. Just last year we went to WTVP station. It was just us, and this was before the new driver requirements went into effect. The year before this, we went to WTVP and the Peoria Courthouse. In order to be an authorized driver, a copy of valid driver's license and car insurance has to be submitted to the office. For current group, I would need 4-5 drivers with each taking at least 4-5 students. We currently have 19 third graders. Once I have the information that I have authorized drivers from the office, I can look into arranging these field trips. As always, Jazakallah Khairun for your support.
BLUE FOLDERS
The blue folders with the graded work be sent home on Mondays. Regular classroom work is to be kept at home, whereas quizzes and tests (or anything marked "please sign and return') are to be sent back with your signature on them. Please make sure that the folders are returned by Friday or following Monday at the latest. I can not send papers home without the folders. Email me if you have any questions about any paper sent home.
In class, we follow the procedure for class corrections. The students for do their work in pencil, and then later we review together. This is when the students use the blue pens. They can correct any mistakes they made or complete questions they didn't do. Sometimes, I may even ask them to do one or two things extra as a review. As long as the students have corrected and finished their work, I do not take any points. If there are spelling mistakes, missing additional work I asked, or missing corrections, I take points off. They can see my work displayed on the Smartboard. So when you see classwork with work done in blue by your student, that is them doing corrections. This practice gives us an idea of what the students actually know without them worrying about the grade.
VOLUNTEERING
Junior Achievement is one of those programs that 3rd graders love and look forward to. I am looking forward to a volunteer to lead this. All the materials are provided for. 5-6 sessions by the first week of December. We can work out a schedule that is convenient to you.
ROOM PARENT: Looking for someone to take this position. Their main job is to co-ordinate with other parents and organize events. During the school year, 3rd grade ha sthree main events: 2 semester parties and 1 bake sale.
AT HOME VOLUNTEERING: If you are looking for volunteering work that you can do at home, please let me know.
GUEST READERS/ ARTS AND CRAFTS: If you would like to come and read to the class or come teach art or craft, please let me know. We would love to have you.
Also, join the DU PTO! Their support make many things possible in school.
EARLY PICK-UP
If you need to pick-up your student early, I request you to please let me know if possible a day before or early in the morning the day of. I do not check my email at all when I am in the class. That time is for the students only. When I know in advance, I can make sure that your student is prepared and ready to go. Your support in this is greatly appreciated. Jazakullah Khairun.
DAILY PLANNER
On Friday, your student should have come home with a notebook marked as DAILY PLANNER. This is for every day communication. It is also help the students become more organized and independent when it comes to school. I would appreciate it if parents took a few minutes to check it everyday. Your initials would tell me that you reviewed the information sent home. More will be explained on "Back to School" Night.
LIABILITY WAIVER FORM
If you haven't yet signed liability waiver form for your student, please let me know. I can send the form home. It is one form per family.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Jazakallah Khairun for sending in the school supplies. Only the following school supplies are collected for community use in 3rd grade:
copy paper
Kleenex boxes/ Tissue boxes
Wipes
Pencils
The rest of the supplies are kept by the students for their own use. Each student has desk space and a drawer to store their immediate use. Extra supplies are kept in storage which they have access to should they need them. If later in the year, your student comes to you that they are running short on something, please note that your student was the only one to use them. Glue sticks are often the things many students run short of. If you want to take advantage of the ongoing clearance sales right now, I would highly encourage you to do so. I have already stocked up on this as back up supply.