The Golden Rule

A good portion of the Social Studies curriculum for 1st grade focuses on the Golden Rule. This very Islam-friendly concept is also taught to us through various ahadith from our Imams. One such one is:

"Treat others similar to the way you would like for them to treat you."
-Imam Hassan, the second Imam [a]
Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 78, p. 116

(Found online at www.al-islam.org/flowers)

This became the monthly theme for March for my class. We made a poster with the hadith, and each student came up with one way they could follow this advice. I also had little grids taped on each of the students desk, and when I see them following this, I put a star sticker on their chart. I plan on rewarding the students who fill up their chart. Also, we have an akhlaq chart that we started early in the year. On one side there are examples of bad akhlaq and the other side good. These are all behaviors that we see in class, and put them on the chart as they occur (of course the name of the person is omitted).

Our 12 Imams Flapbook

I have been trying to encourage the students to learn and eventually memorize the names of our 12 Imams. Some of them are more familiar with these names than others. I had them make a flapbook at the beginning of the year. As we discuss an Imam, I have the students fill in their books, with a few (up to 5) fast facts about the lifetime of the Imam (AS). On the top portion, they draw a picture, usually having to do with a story I tell them about this Imam.

We sometimes pray salat in our classroom, and at the end of the salat we do a short ziyarat. I have each of the students say the name of one of the 14 infallibles, and then the rest of the students repeat, in hopes that this will help them remember all the names in order. We also made cards that are strung across the classroom, to help them remember while they are saying the ziyarat.