Allaah Gives Me Food To Eat (Book 8)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Alhamdulillaah, here is the eighth book that compliments sister Umm Maimoonah's curriculum for weeks 7-12. 

In book 8, children learn that it is Allaah Alone who provides our food for us. They learn that we should only worship and thank Allaah Alone, make dua' to Him Alone, etc. Children are also given a chance to make new words for the -at family and also with the -ea sound. They learn about healthy foods and how they help our body, and more!

*Note: The title in English and Arabic do not exactly match when translated. The meaning is similar but not an exact word for word translation.

I have also made a new label specifically for these books to make all of them easy to find insha'Allaah. They will now all be under "Islamic Studies Mini Books (PreK)".

Download "Allaah Gives Me Food To Eat" here insha'Allaah

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Check it Out: The Moon

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

This is a book that was also part of our storytime. It was enjoyed so much I thought you may wish to check it out from your local library insha'Allaah.

The Moonis a picture book that father and son can share, as well as mother and child, insha'Allaah. The story is actually a poem that was nicely illustrated and the cadence of the poem is gentle and easy to follow. The illustrations help children understand the meaning of the poem and if you have a nightly bedtime story routine, this book may be one that you wish to consider.

In the book, a father wakes his son for a late night trip out on the water to see the moon. His son, who loves to study planets and stars, eagerly (albeit sleepily *smile*) dresses for the adventure. As they drive along, father and son are amidst the nocturnal creatures and the quiet of the night. As I mentioned on The Well Read Muslim, it was the first lines of the poem that I found to be very enticing, "The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;/She shines on thieves on the garden wall".

The next time you're at the library, check the shelf for, "The Moon" and check it out insha'Allaah!

.

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Mini-Workbook for The 3 Questions Memory Game

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Alhamdulillaah, here is the mini-workbook for the memory game about the Three Questions:

In the workbook, children are given ample practice to memorize and write the three questions that we will all be asked in the grave. Children are presented with the questions in Arabic and English and invited to interact with the questions in different formats.

The answers to each of the questions are also in the book but I intentionally did not provide the student with the answers so that the teacher/parent can utilize these pages as classwork or homework insha'Allaah.

The last page of the book is an award that the teacher/parent can fill out to indicate successful memorization of the questions and their correct answers and completion of the book. 

Dear sis, the book may be late and I apologize for this. Please let me know if this is sufficient or if you had something different in mind or if it is too easy. If this is not too late, I will also continue to work on another game/activity insha'Alllaah. Jazakillaahu Khayr.

Download "Three Questions" Mini-Workbook here insha'Allaah

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Arabic Reader: Nahtaju At-Ta'am

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Some sisters asked for beginning Arabic reader books that included the harakaat/tashkeel (vowel marks). Sisters here is the first of, insha'Allaah, several books: Nahtaju At-Ta'am (We Need Food):

The book, Nahtaju At-Ta'am (We Need Food), is about a trip to the local market and the fun part is that children have a shopping list that they can use to help them with their shopping insha'Allaah!

The list pictured is laminated so it can be used and wiped clean and used again insha'Allaah. Using a dry-erase marker, children can circle the foods that are needed from the market. If they actually go to the market they can check them off when the foods are placed in the cart insha'Allaah.

In the file, there is also a list that does not show the foods but has boxes and lines next to each box so the child can draw the picture of what is needed and practice writing/spelling the name of the foods insha'Allaah.

This is also nice for pretend play as well insha'Allaah.

You can download the grocery lists here insha'Allaah.

Next, children have several pages of foods that they use to cut and paste into the book (these pages allow children to cut and paste the foods they have on their shopping list into the story) insha'Allaah. Many of the names of the foods in this story can be found in the dictionary in this post alhamdulillaah. The story ends with paying for the groceries and going home.

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Arabic/English Reader: Naqtasim (We Share)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Here is another beginning Arabic reader without the harakaat/tashkeel but I will be uploading a book tomorrow insha'Allaah that has harakaat for those sisters who requested this...barak Allaahu feekunna. 

This book is a fun way to introduce/teach the concept of sharing. It also helps children practice counting and is an introduction to division. At the end, children read/learn the hadith about wanting for your brother what you want for yourself. Alhamdulillaah, the English version of the book is in this post.

Here is the way that I presented the book Naqtasim (We Share):

I placed the book and 10 crayons (in their box) in a basket. I did not place more than 10 crayons in the box because the story uses 10 and each child (at the end) ends up with an equal amount of crayons and sees how sharing benefits each person.

As I read the book, I used the crayons to help children "see" the story and experience it. For toddlers, sharing is not always an easy thing to understand or practice.

This page (above) for example is talking about how we have a lot of crayons walhamdulillaah and so we can share them.

As I read each page, I placed crayons in front of the child and in front of me (as appropriate).

In the story here, it says, "One for you. And one for me."

"Two for you. And two for me."

At the end, we all end up with five crayons apiece (the page before mentions how much fun we had sharing and invites the child to share again insha'Allaah) and then we read the hadith about wanting for your brother what you want for yourself.

Download the book here insha'Allaah

Download 'We Share' (English) here insha'Allaah

Download 'Vi delar med oss!' (Swedish) - jazakillaahu khayr sis Umm Mohamed for translating

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Do you have these games?

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

I believe that books are an essential part of any classroom or home. Like many other voracious readers, I can't imagine not having a book within a child's reach (or my own). I also value having games in my classroom that support reading and encourage children to have fun with words and with language. There are three games that I am considering that I would like to know if any of you have or have played and a fourth game that supports the math curriculum in Kindergarten. The first is called Bananagrams.

The game is a portable crossword puzzle. Players don't need pencil, paper or a game board. The game description says there are multiple ways to play. To win each player tries to use all of his/her tiles first. The description also says the game is great for beginning spellers.

The second game is called Pairs in Pears

From the same company who makes Bananagrams,this game's description says, that the game is a "fun way for children to develop memory and cognitive skills while learning alphabetical order, word construction, consonants, and vowels, vocabulary, rhyming, etc. Entire alphabet in each of 4 patterns (104 ivory-like tiles)" .

The third game is called Appletters

Also from the maker of Bananagrams,this game is described as a dot to dot game that requires players to connect the letters and not dots. 

The last game I am curious about is the Qwirkle Board Game 

For a Kindergarten classroom or a family with kindergarten - grade 2 aged children, this game looks like it would be fun...waallaahu a'lam. The game is described as a tactile wooden block game that combines the logic and strategy of Set® with the creative multi-maneuver game play of Scrabble®. The rules are said to be easy to learn and will allow children to create columns and rows of matching colors and shapes easily. 

If you have any of these games or your children have played them, I would enjoy reading what your children and/or students thought of them. Jazakum Allaahu Khayr!

Arabic Letters Bingo (Beginner and Intermeadiate Games)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

These Arabic Letter Bingo Boards with the different vowel marks were an idea that I realized, late, may already be available on the Internet for free (I didn't google first..hehe) but I was almost done so I thought...maybe you can use them? Each game has four (4) boards (each with a different design). If you have a class, you can print boards from each set and give students different boards insha'Allaah. The call cards and tahave no tashkeel (vowel marks) so you can print off as many copies as is needed and write in the vowel marks to allow you to mix the game up if you'd like insha'Allaah. This way your caller will be calling out letters from each board (but it may make the game last a bit longer). Also, here are the call cards for the two letters ta marbota and hamza as I forgot to include them with the first set subhana'Allaah.

The first is for beginners. The letters as they appear in isolation with no tashkeel are presented. The caller would simply call the name of letters in random order based on which card he/she picks from the stack of call cards. Download this game here insha'Allaah.

The second version has the letters as they appear in isolation but with the fatha on each letter. So the caller would say, "Ba fatha ba" instead of just ba. This will help children learn how each letter is pronounced with the fatha and it helps the child who is the caller because he/she has to say almost the entire alphabet with the fatha! *smile*. There are four (4) different game boards in this file also. Download this game here insha'Allaah.

The third version as you've probably guessed is has the letters as they appear in isolation but with the kesra on each letter. So the caller would say, "Ba kesra bee" instead of just ba. There are four (4) different game boards in this file also. Download this game here insha'Allaah.

And the last version, yes, has the dumma with the letters as they appear in isolation but with the dumma on each letter. Download this game here insha'Allaah.

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Postcard for the letter Ra

Alhamdulillaah, here is the postcard for the letter Ra:

Download postcard for the letter Ra here insha'Allaah

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Together We Read Activities: December

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

This month we read First Snow

We did a few activities to go along with this delightful, beautifully illustrated book.

(*To participate in Together We Read, you do not have to use the same book. Pick a book, read together and if you do some activities we'd love for you to share what you did insha'Allaah.*)

We did a multi-sensory activity for the letter Tha (not pictured), and we coloured the postcard for the letter Tha also (Tha for thalj - snow). Next we did a snowflake matching activity:

Then we did an activity about sizes (i.e. small, medium, and large):

This activity has games for different levels. The games pictured are for young toddlers and twos. There are files below to download that have label cards in Arabic only, Arabic only with a mat (pictured below), and Arabic with transliteration and Arabic with transliteration and English.

With the exception of the Arabic only snowman mat, the snowmen in the other files have no words on them so children can label the pictures correctly using the word/label cards insha'Allaah.

This activity opens a door for a lot of discussion about how Allaah Created things in different sizes. You can also turn the cards over and ask the child to hand you a certain card (i.e. medium size snowman) and then ask, "How did you know that this was the medium size snowman? What helped you figure that out?" Mention that Allaah gave us the ability to know about objects and people based on attributes such as small, medium and large.

Next, we did a math sorting activity for awake and asleep (because the rabbits in the story were sleeping and then awoke to find that the first snow had fallen).

Children sort the pictures based on if they show someone asleep or awake. Two of pictures may need an explanation if the child has never been read to in bed or is unfamiliar with this.

(*This file is also in English and black and white. Each file also has an answer sheet for the child to check his/her work insha'Allaah*)

We also did a colouring activity for ordinal numbers (in Arabic):

Children are invited to colour each rabbit a different colour

(In the file the rabbits look fuzzy for some reason but they print clearly alhamdulillaah)

Next, there are story sequencing cards to invite children to re-tell the story in the correct order:

There are ten cards in the file to re-tell the story insha'Allaah

(*These are in black and white also*)

Afterward, we read a story that I wrote about snow to include Tawheed Al-Uloohiyah:

I did this little book to remind children that Allaah is the one who causes the snow to fall and all of the other wonders that we witness each day...subhana'Allaah. Unfortunately, the book is only in colour...my apologies. And Jazakillaahu Khayr sis Mabsoota for the permission to use the graphic of Tawheed Al-Uloohiyah on the last page.

And we made snowball cookies! These are sooo delicious! Fattening but yummy! And the best part is that toddlers can really help make them because you mix the ingredients by hand! Messy but they'll love it insha'Allaah.

We used a different recipe than those listed in the link but I think they are pretty much the same insha'Allaah.

Files to Download:

Snowman Size Activity Cards (Arabic only - writing on snowmen)

Snowman Size Activity Mat (Arabic Only - writing on snowmen)

Snowman Size Activity Mat (Arabic with transliteration and English - no writing on snowmen)

Snowman Size Activity Mat (Arabic with transliteration - no writing on snowmen)

Snowflake Matching Activity

Awake and Asleep Activity - Colour (Arabic Only)

Awake and Asleep Activity - Black and White (Arabic Only)

Awake and Asleep Activity - Colour (English Only)

Awake and Asleep Activity - Black and White (English Only)

Ordinal Numbers Activity (Arabic Only)

Story Sequencing (Re-telling story in the correct order) Cards - Colour

Story Sequencing (Re-telling story in the correct order) Cards - Black and White

Who Made it Snow? Book

If you participated in Together We Read this month, we'd love to see what you and your children did together. You are invited to share by linking up insha'Allaah!

Share a picture with your link for your "Together We Read: December 2010" post by linking up here:

Link to your "Together We Read: December 2010" post (Link only) here insha'Allaah:

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

The Three Questions Game (Who is Your Lord?...)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

One of our dear sisters asked me to make a game or activity to help children learn and memorize the correct answers to the three important questions:

1). Who is Your Lord?

2). Who is Your Prophet?

3). What is Your Religion?

Dear sis, this is what I have come up with so far and insha'Allaah I'll do some other activities as well. Perhaps I'll try to do a mini-book to go with this game that children can read prior to playing the game insha'Allaah.

This is a simple memory game:

These are two of the cards. The question cards and answer cards for each question have the same background colour. So, the other question and answer cards each have different background colours to help the children self-correct. For example, if they turn over a card and the colour is brown but the colour on the second card is purple, they know that they have not selected the correct answer to the question they are holding.

To assemble the game, cut out all of the question and answer cards and the card covers. After cutting all of the question and answer cards out, you would then glue the cover of the cards on:

Each card, when face down, would look like this.

The game is played like the traditional memory game except when the child turns the card over, he/she would be asked to read the question out loud before turning another card over in an attempt to find its match. You can also invite children to answer the question on the first card they turn over before they attempt to find its match. 

Download the game: "Three Questions" here insha'Allaah

Sis, if this is not what you had in mind, too easy, etc. please do not be shy to let me know insha'Allaah *smile*. We can discuss more to help me come up with something that is more in line with what you need if this game is not on target.

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Allaah Wakes Me Up Each Day (Book 7)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

*Post Updated to include missing page from the book*

Alhamdulillaah, here is the seventh book that compliments sister Umm Maimoonah's curriculum. She is now on weeks 7-12 and insha'Allaah, I will try to make books for each week as was done with weeks 1-6 (I still haven't done book one....I will try to get that done as soon as is possible insha'Allaah).

Here is book 7:

In this book, children learn that it is Allaah who wakes us each day. Children are invited to make words with the -ay ending sound and the -ight ending sound. They are also invited to join the challenge to memorize a few ad'iya (pl. of du'a) related to sleeping and waking up. They also learn two more of Allaah's most Beautiful Names walhamdulilaah.

I had to have pages 12 and 13 separate due to technical difficulties. Please download these pages and add them into the book insha'Allaah. Jazakum Allaahu Khayran!

Download 'Allaah Wakes Me Up Each Day' here insha'Allaah

Download pages 12 and 13 of 'Allaah Wakes Me up...' here insha'Allaah

Download the (Missing) Dua Page from the book

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Recommended Book: Alligator Alphabet

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Here is one very fun, cute, bouncy book!

This is an alphabet rhyme that children may enjoy immensely! Each letter features an animal that starts with that letter and then the bouncy rhyme moves on to the next letter and animal, all the way to the letter Z. The illustrations are vibrant and very kid-friendly. Colourful, warm and playful, very young toddlers as well as children all the way to Kindergarten may have fun listening to this story.

Storytime, bedtime, circle-time, anytime, this book  is one that may keep getting handed to you again and again and again. It's just that fun! But don't be surprised if you find yourself having as much fun as the children...hehe. You know, I think I may have a new favourite alphabet book now *smile*.

The next time you're at your local library, have a look, take a peek, and if you see Alligator Alphabet...check it out insha'Allaah!

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Together We Read Book Selection for December

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

For those who wish to reserve the book in advance from the library, here is the book we will be using for Together We Read: December

Insha'Allaah, this book should be available at your local public library. You can also find it on Amazon.com

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Winners of the Last Learning Roots Giveaway!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Tayyib dear sisters, are you all ready? The two winners of the game 'What's Next?' from Learning Roots are:

Number 4 was sister Tahera Umm Bilal and number 14 is sister Maleekah Umm Tahir . Sis Maleekah, did you win the last one too or do I have the wrong sister?...*smile*

Mubaraak dear sisters! Please email me the address where you would like me to mail your game and I will get it in the poste to you insha'Allaah (you can use the contact me button on the right hand side of the page).

Jazakum Allaahu Khayran dear sisters for taking time to enter this and all of the giveaways here on A Muslim Child is Born. If you haven't won a giveaway yet, don't be discouraged......Smart Ark mailed me some surprises for you!!!!!!! More giveaways coming soon insha'Allaah!