Salam alaykum!
Well, the school year is more than halfway through. In fact, tomorrow is the 100th day of school! I have a full day of fun planned for my kinders, with activities related to math and language arts. I was just thinking about how I could tweak these activities to fit in the context of an Islamic school. Here is what I've come up with, and please share your ideas as well!
1. Starting the day off by reciting 100 salawats, preferably using a giant set of prayer beads!
2. I'm having my students make "trail mix," by picking 10 pieces of 10 different items (such as fruit loops, raisins, goldfish, etc.). Once they pick their items, they should sort them on a piece of paper, and then we will chorally count by 1s, 5s, and 10s (hitting those Math standards!). Of course the kids can eat them at the end. To adapt this for the Islamic context, one could use beads of different types, have students pick 10 groups of 10 (or perhaps 5 groups of 20 or a different combination depending on the grade), sort and count them as a class and then make a tasbeeh (prayer beads) out of them. They could also make some sort of pattern out of them on the tasbeeh, which is also math-related! I'm sure they would love using this tasbeeh even more if it's made from their own hands.
3. For writing, I am having my students use different art materials to make a picture of what they might look like at 100 years old (insha'Allah!). They will also write a list of things they hope to do before reaching 100 years. This could be adapted by creating a collective list of 100 good deeds we want to do before we die. The students can still make a picture of what they might look like if they reach 100, and then write down good deeds they want to do (either on one big poster as a class, or dividing the 100 up amongst the students).
4. Listing as a class 100 reasons why we love our school/friends/teachers/anything else!
5. Doing an art project with the names of Allah (swt). This could possibly be related to an Arabic lesson, if your school teaches Arabic. Or perhaps it could be a mini research project. For example, each name could be written on a square, the students would have to look up the meaning of the name (at home? at school?) and then share it with their classmates. All the pieces could be joined together to make a quilt.
6. And finally, to end with a bang, the students could do 100 rakats of prayer before going home! Just kidding =)
Well, the school year is more than halfway through. In fact, tomorrow is the 100th day of school! I have a full day of fun planned for my kinders, with activities related to math and language arts. I was just thinking about how I could tweak these activities to fit in the context of an Islamic school. Here is what I've come up with, and please share your ideas as well!
1. Starting the day off by reciting 100 salawats, preferably using a giant set of prayer beads!
2. I'm having my students make "trail mix," by picking 10 pieces of 10 different items (such as fruit loops, raisins, goldfish, etc.). Once they pick their items, they should sort them on a piece of paper, and then we will chorally count by 1s, 5s, and 10s (hitting those Math standards!). Of course the kids can eat them at the end. To adapt this for the Islamic context, one could use beads of different types, have students pick 10 groups of 10 (or perhaps 5 groups of 20 or a different combination depending on the grade), sort and count them as a class and then make a tasbeeh (prayer beads) out of them. They could also make some sort of pattern out of them on the tasbeeh, which is also math-related! I'm sure they would love using this tasbeeh even more if it's made from their own hands.
3. For writing, I am having my students use different art materials to make a picture of what they might look like at 100 years old (insha'Allah!). They will also write a list of things they hope to do before reaching 100 years. This could be adapted by creating a collective list of 100 good deeds we want to do before we die. The students can still make a picture of what they might look like if they reach 100, and then write down good deeds they want to do (either on one big poster as a class, or dividing the 100 up amongst the students).
4. Listing as a class 100 reasons why we love our school/friends/teachers/anything else!
5. Doing an art project with the names of Allah (swt). This could possibly be related to an Arabic lesson, if your school teaches Arabic. Or perhaps it could be a mini research project. For example, each name could be written on a square, the students would have to look up the meaning of the name (at home? at school?) and then share it with their classmates. All the pieces could be joined together to make a quilt.
6. And finally, to end with a bang, the students could do 100 rakats of prayer before going home! Just kidding =)
