NJ Maarif School

Corona Ramadan 20 Tips for Parents *Adapted from the Islamic Schools League of America for Maarif School This last month has been something many generations have never seen or even imagined, My father, who -- A lhamdulllah   -- is 84-years-old, doesn’t remember ever having the masajid closed or businesses shut down for this long. This is a great time for us to reflect on our lives and take advantage of the blessed month of Ramadan to reconnect with Allah ﷻ , both for our families and ourselves. As our local Imam reminded me, people are asking, “When will it go back to normal?”   He replied “God is not happy with what normal was. We need to become better people after this.”   One way to jump-start the new normal is doing `ibaadah as a family. Here are a few ideas for us to maximize the blessings of Ramadan as a family: Try to eat suhoor as a family , for the Prophet said, "There is blessing in eating suhoor." Remind the kids you get good d...

Assalamu alaikum to all our dear Maarif community, In’sha’Allah this post finds you well and safe. We are now in the middle of the 5 th week of our Covid19 closure. It’s been challenging for all of us, with our school closed and all of our religious and cultural touchstones unavailable to us. We can’t attend Jumu’ah prayers. We can’t have dinner with friends and extended family. We must wear masks if we go out to the grocery store, and may find empty shelves when we get there. Our children can’t play in the parks. We are separated from loved ones even when they are sick and need us most. Covid19 has touched many of us personally with the loss or illness of family members and loved ones. A lot of us are struggling financially with the loss or downturn of our business or jobs. Truly these are scary and trying times for all of us. Many of us have never lived through such challenging and uncertain times. It is easy to fall into despair and anxiety. The blessing for us i...

Subhanallah! These are certainly strange times. Many of us are struggling with the stressors of having everyone at home all. the. time. We are cooking every meal and doing sinks full of dishes. We are trying to work from home or worrying about finances if we are unable to work. And perhaps most challenging, we are having to help our kids keep up with their schoolwork and learn new skills.   In’sha’Allah the following are some tips that may help to alleviate some stress from your lives. Bear in mind that there are many scenarios. No one solution or idea will fit every family. The number of children will vary. Issues in multiple kid homes like sharing devices for schoolwork, having so many people underfoot, and juggling the needs of so many different personalities will differ greatly from single kid homes. There the issue might be loneliness for the child or having no one to play with because friends and cousins are locked down in their own homes. See which ideas are helpf...

Scripps National Spelling Bee is now offering their official Word Club app at no cost.  Students can host their own mini spelling bee at home and hold a special ceremony for the winner.  Don’t forget the rule… say the word, spell the word, and say the word!  You can find the Google Play Store   link  here. And you can find the Apple store  link  here.

Assalamu  alaikum, I hope this message finds you all in the best of health and safety and I pray that Allah brings us all through this difficult time in the best state in'sha'Allah. The situation was very hard at the beginning, especially for us as teachers when the authorities made the decision for a statewide school closure. However, it was only through the amazing, hard work and effort of our administration that we as teachers were able to handle and manage this huge change. Not only did our wonderful administrative staff help prepare for this, they managed to do so in a very short time. They equipped any teacher and any family with computers if needed to allow everyone to have the proper access to our new learning environment. It goes without saying how challenging these times are for all of us; I personally have never experienced anything similar to this situation in my entire 24 years of teaching. Of course, being able to have the students physically with us as t...

Dear Respected Maarif Families,  We pray this post finds you and your dear ones health, safe, and happy. In'sha'Allah the past week of spring break has given everyone a chance to rest and recharge.  Report cards have been issued and emailed to each family. You can also access grades on Quick Schools as always. If you have any problems with this please email info@maarifschool.us.  As you know, tomorrow, Monday April 13th we will resume our classes and virtual meetings. All of our teachers have been working hard over the past days to refine virtual instruction and to make the most of the technology we have available to us.  We are looking forward to starting back and "seeing" all our students again.  As always, you can reach us with any comments or concerns at njmaarifschool.us Allah hafiz,  Sr. Ozlem and Sr. Pam

Happy Sunday to everyone! As we enter week four of Maarif Online , I wanted to share this article  with you from Star Ledger education correspondent, Adam Clark. It serves as a reminder that all of our students across the state and even globally are dealing with the same issues and problems. As you know, we at Maarif take our amana to educate the next generation very seriously. Because of this, we have been paying close attention to what other schools have been doing to gauge our efforts and to see where we could improve in our delivery of services. We began planning more than a week before the closure requesting "gmail" addresses, planning teacher workshops on online methods led by Mr. Wright, and talking to our teachers about what virtual instruction would look like. We were fortunate that when we changed curriculum two years ago, we had the foresight to add digital access to all our core textbooks. While many teachers had no need to use them prior to the closure, th...

Bu yazıyı sadece bir Maarif çalışanı olarak değil içinde bulunmaktan onur, gurur ve mutluluk duyduğum Maarif ailesinin bir üyesi olarak yazmak istedim. Sevgili müdüremizi daha önce dost meclislerinde tanımıştım. Onun Maarif School’un müdüresi olduğunu öğrendiğimde çocuklarımı bu okula gönderme konusunda hiç tereddüt yaşamadım çünkü onun bu işi layıkıyla yapacağına hiç şüphem yoktu. Sonrasında Sr. Pam’i ve diğer eğitim kadrosunu tanıdıkça ne kadar isabetli bir karar aldığımıza şükrettim. İçinde bulunduğumuz bu zor şartlar altında göstermiş oldukları basiret taktire şayan. Bu takımın içinde yer almaktan duyduğum gururu anlatacak kelime bulmakta zorlanıyorum. Allah hepinizden razı olsun. Translation: I wanted to write this blog post not only as a Maarif employee, but also as a proud and happy member of the Maarif family. I had met Sr. Ozlem in our community. When I found out she was the principal of Maarif School, I had no hesitation in sending my children to this school because I had ...

One of the benefits of this current stay at home order has been getting to read the Star Ledger on the actual day it's published instead of trying to catch up on weekends. (Yes, I am a person who still has the paper delivered to my house.) I came across this piece  by columnist Steve Politi and it mirrored what I am sure a lot of you are experiencing now with kids at home, teachers on a remote feed on the laptop, and everyone at home all. the. time. A special thank you to all of our wonderful teachers who mentor, teach, coach, and nurture our students all the time, even now that they are doing it on Webex. Enjoy the article and Jumuah Mubarak! All the best, Sr. Pam

مَدرسةُ المَعارِف هِي صَدرٌ رحِب  يَحتَضِنُ الاَبنَاء وَيَرعَاهُم رِعَايَة الأُمِّ لِصِغَارِهَا  Translation:  Maarif School provides nurturance and care to students like a mother provides nurturance   and care to her young ones.

What does online school look like for me? - Online schooling looks like dedicating one subject to each day of the week. - Online schooling looks like sending out 3 reminders a day for work that is due via three different modes of communication (i.e. Google Classroom posts, emails, and direct messages) - Online schooling looks walking away from my computer for 10 minutes and coming back to 11 more emails. - Online schooling looks like 5 of those 11 emails being just about how to use a computer, rather than what the actual assignment is asking. - Online schooling looks like spending hours recording my lessons as videos to send to the kids. - Online schooling looks like spending more hours of lesson planning just looking for different videos and apps I can use to make learning more enjoyable. - Online schooling looks like Live Sessions with the entire class as well as additional one on one time with each student who needs help. I’m sure by now, many of y...