WEEK 2: Days 1-3

No week is the same here at the Muslim summer camp. This week we had some activities and trips that were new for a lot of the students. That in its self is one of our main goals. We are providing a curriculum that expose students to different environments and situations that they might not otherwise find them selves in.  By doing so, we encourage them to explore their own ideas and help them think critically and from an inslamic perspective while gaining a better understanding of their surroundings.

Assembly

We start off each morning with an assembly.  During our assembly we read our camp pledge followed by 

our Muslim pledge. We have the students read the Muslim pledge in Arabic, but its English translation is:
                       
            "      I'm a Muslim, Allah is my Lord,  Islam is my religion, and Mohammed is my prophet. The Qur'an is my book, the Muslims are my brothers and the Muslimahs are my sisters.

           

                   The Muslim says: There is no God but Allah, Mohammed it the messenger of Allah, and he prays five times everyday and he fasts the month of Ramadan and he gives zakat, his wealth to the poor and needy once a year; he goes to hajj to the sacred house of Allah in Mecca once in a lifetime.    "                        

As part of our assembly we do a group activity. This week we did mad-libs and everyone got a chance to fill in the story with a verb, noun, adjective or adverb. After our activity we do a brief agenda review for the day and then jump right into the days activities!

Projects 

On Monday we finished the solar system project that we started last Friday. Everyone was given
a foam board and 9 different sized foam balls to represent the planets. First they painted the balls according to the planet color key they were given. Then they put the balls on toothpicks and lined them up on the foam boards according to their planetary alignment. 





Nursing Home

This week for our community service our students in fifth grade and higher visited the Bay View Nursing Home in Alameda.  We had an ice cream and bingo social with the residents.

At first many of the students were intimidated to speak with the elderly residents because they didn't know what to expect. But after introductions and some ice cream, everyone had warmed up to one another and were ready to play bingo.

Some students shared their thoughts on the experience:
"  At first it was a little uncomfortable because I didn't want to disappoint them. But in the end I had a lot of fun playing bingo. "
   - Tasneema

"   I learned that I should help the people, and that some people are less fortunate than myself. By visiting the elderly people at the nursing home, I felt that it made some of them happy. Some people there looked very depressed. "- Zubair

"   I would recommend to my other classmates to visit a nursing home, to think about the old people there and think about how they live. As Muslims we have to care for our parents." - Zubair