My Body Theme Pack

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Alhamdulillaah the school year is under way. After students have learned classroom routines and things about themselves that make them unique they can explore more about who they are with this next packet. This packet, My Body, teaches children about the body that Allaah Created for them.

{ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا النُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْمُضْغَةَ عِظَامًا فَكَسَوْنَا الْعِظَامَ لَحْمًا ثُمَّ أَنشَأْنَاهُ خَلْقًا آخَرَ فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ} 

 

Then We made the Nutfah into a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood), then We made the clot into a little lump of flesh, then We made out of that little lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We brought it forth as another creation. So Blessed is Allah, the Best of creators.

 

{14: سورة المؤمنون} 

 

 

{وَانظُرْ إِلَى الْعِظَامِ كَيْفَ نُنشِزُهَا ثُمَّ نَكْسُوهَا لَحْمًا}

 

Look at the bones, how We bring them together and clothe them with flesh.

 

{259: سورة البقرة}

The pack contains the following material:

• Learning that it is Allaah Who has created our bodies in a good shape
• Naming the parts of the body
• Learning authentic ahaadeeth related to the body
• Putting together a "Parts of the Body" mini-dictionary
• Independent/Shared reading and comprehension
• Cut & Paste activity
• Puzzle with hadeeth 
• Math Skills: Addition (to use the spinner in the file, place a paper clip in the centre and affix it with a push pin to the paper. Children spin the paper clip to see what number it points to)
• 1:1 Correspondence Activity (Math)
• and more!

Download My Body Theme Pack with Cover for Boys (pictured above)
Download My Body Theme Pack with Cover for Girls (not pictured)
 

*Please be familiar with the Terms of Use for materials on A Muslim Child is Born before downloading*

You can also use this felt board story to go with the story on page 6 in the pack. The story in the pack is an Islaamic adaptation to the story found here.

 

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Back to School: Using Flannel (Felt) Board Stories

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Back to school! Planning, planning and then more planning. Looking over your curriculum and doing all of the necessary long range planning, you might decide that this year you would like to incorporate the Flannel Board Friday concept (or something similar) into the classroom routine insha'Allaah.

Flannel/felt board story sets are abundant on the Internet alhamdulillaah and you can make your own patterns very easily as well. The bathtub and squirrel with acorns flannel board sets are both largely made free-hand or from hand drawn patterns. 

Because you can make flannel/felt board story sets easily, this gives you the freedom to make up your own stories/rhymes to accompany the sets you make. For example, this felt story set, can be used at the beginning of the year to teach your students how to use the classroom/school/public library (mini individual books not shown). If you add a circulation desk and a computer that would expand its teaching potential insha'Allaah.

Click on the picture for larger view insha'Allaah

Also, alhamdulillaah, there are many books that lend themselves to being told on a flannel board. This story, هل أنت سمكة؟ (Are You A Fish?) is one of many examples.

Using clipart, you can easily make this flannel board set (download flannel board set here insha'Allaah).

Flannel/Felt Board stories have many benefits:

• they allow for learning in multiple intelligences (i.e. visual learning, tactile learning, auditory learning, etc.)
• they help children develop problem solving skills, math skills and they can help children begin to understand cause and effect.
• the limit of creativity is almost unrestricted. What you can design and what the children can imagine allow for many possibilities.
• they provide hours of fun for children.
• they are great for hands on learning
• they can help children develop the following skills:  retelling stories, sequencing, problem solving, patterning, hand-eye coordination and many others skills.
• they are inexpensive to make and/or buy
• they are safe for children to play with
• they are engaging. They help children connect with the story they are hearing and it also helps them recall the story from memory.
• they are ideal for involving children in their learning. Children enjoy coming up and placing the pieces on the board when invited to do so buy the teacher.
• they help bring life to the story. The story leaves the pages of the book and is in front of the children and they enjoy this.
• teachers/parent-teachers can teach a wide variety of subjects using flannel/felt stories.
• they are easy to store and they can be washed (hand wash gently).

You can visit this site for many free flannel board patterns. Some are not Islaamically appropriate but you will find a number of sets that are insha'Allaah. You can download the pattern for the boat here insha'Allaah (upper left hand corner).

Toddler Butterfly Crafts, Activities and Books

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

These are a few books and activities that can be used when teaching about butterflies to toddlers and preschoolers insha'Allaah.

For storytime, you may wish to read aloud Ana alfaraashah and for reference you may find the book Ten Little Caterpillars helpful or it can be part of your selection of books for a unit on butterflies insha'Allaah.

The book Ana alfaraasha, like all of the books in this really wonderful series, has a bookmark inside of the book attached with a piece of ribbon. Each book mark is the animal featured in the story. Infants may also enjoy these beautiful board books as well. When using this book for toddlers, they can make butterfly book marks after hearing the story read aloud:

For the book Ten Little Caterpillars, there are many crafts and activities that can be done using this book as well.

The story of Ten Little Caterpillars ends with one of the caterpillars turning into a butterfly. For this part of the story, you can make flannel/felt pieces for your read aloud and invite children to come up and help tell the story with the pieces as you read:

The felt pieces show the apple tree branch that the caterpillar attached itself to, the chrysalis of that butterfly and the chrysalis of the Monarch butterfly, and the Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly that the caterpillar turned into. Not pictured: the little caterpillar that climbed the tree branch.

If you're wondering why there are two chrysalises pictured, it is because if you've talk a bit about how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly by the Permission of Allaah and you use the last three pages in the back of Ten Little Caterpillars as a teaching tool, later children can see if they remember which chrysalis belongs to the Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly at the end of the story.

The last three pages of the Ten Little Caterpillars show different caterpillars and the type of butterfly or moth they change into. The pages also briefly mention what type of food each caterpillar eats. Using those pages, you can make caterpillar cards and butterfly cards for some (or each) of the caterpillars and butterflies in the story. Below are the caterpillar and butterfly cards for four of the butterflies in the story.

In your literacy centre or after you have read the story with your little one you can lay the cards out and invite the child to match the caterpillar to the correct butterfly. For this age group, have the book ready to be used for help insha'Allaah.

Children can also do many other crafts involving butterflies, and they can learn the basic parts of the butterfly and label them on a worksheet. The picture of the butterfly can be found here insha'Allaah (in the section labeled Art, scroll down; it is the seventh (7th) file for download).

If you use this in your Kindergarten unit on Butterflies, you can also introduce symmetry. You can find worksheets here and here.

Enjoy insha'Allaah!