Dear all,

Our students had a very exciting week! They learned about patterns and number bonds in Math class with Mrs. Aysenur Lawson. She also taught them about the 3G’s (God, Gold, Glory) which were the main causes of early exploration. In addition, students were able to complete their narratives after adding dialogue.

Students were able to really bring together the lines of inquiry for our UOI as they learned more about the key reasons and causes for exploration and attributes of explorers as they learned about famous Muslim explorers that few people have learned about. Please ask your child to tell you all about Zheng He, the Chinese Muslim explorer who traveled around the world and was a key figure in spreading Islam to Southeast Asia. Also, ask them about Mansa Musa and his older brother Mansa Abu Bakr II who traveled to the Americas 200 years before Christopher Columbus. Ask your child to explain the evidences Christopher Columbus found that led him to believe that African Muslims had reached America long before he did.

I have sent videos to your child’s email about the explorers above and others. Over our vacation if they have time please have them watch the following videos below and have them write a one paragraph (3-5 sentences) response for each video about what they learned from the videos. I will give extra points for each paragraph response they complete.

Ahmed Bin Majid (Lion of the Sea)
Herodotus of the Arabs – Al Masudi, Arabic historical geographer and biographer
What happened to Muslim Majority Spain?
Al-Idrissi – The Muslim Geographer
Muslim Explorers: Russia to the Mediterranean (Ibn Fadlan and Ibn Jubayr)
I hope everyone has a wonderful Eid holiday!
Mr. Jaymz