The Season of Worship: Rajab, Sha'ban and Ramadhan!

Salam Alaykum!

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog, but here I am with an update for my favorite season: The Spiritual Season AKA The Season of Worship! This special season consists of three of my favorite months: Rajab, Sha'ban, and Ramadhan. It is these special months where Allah's mercy is raining down upon us, and it is upto us how much we will take advantage of this mercy through our deeds and actions.

As we tell the kids, imagine that you are invited as a guest to the house of someone very special! You look down and see that you're all dirty and smelly. What are you going to do? Well, you're going to take a shower and clean yourself, of course! Once you're all clean, you're going to put on your nicest clothes and perfume; you'll comb your hair and make sure you look your best. It is only then that you can arrive at the home of your guest, ready to have a great time.

Well, the months of Rajab, Sha'ban and Ramadhan are just like this. During the month of Ramadhan, we are the special guests of none other than Allah. So, to prepare for this special occasion, we must use the two months before. During the month of Rajab, we must cleanse of our souls from the filth of sins. How do we do this? Through istighfar, as well as other actions, such as fasting, reciting Du'a, etc. Once we have cleansed our souls in Rajab, we are ready to adorn them in Sha'ban. The best adornment is that of Salawaat and other good deeds, such as fasting. Finally, once our soul is purified and beautified, it is only then that we are able to enter the month of Ramadhan, ready to benefit from Allah's mercy and special blessings in this month.

In order to create the atmosphere of the Season of Worship in our school, we have a special bulletin board:

The board will be updated for each month. Currently, it's set for Rajab (I will post updates for Sha'ban and Shahr Ramadhan iA). The board is divided into three main sections:

Rajab Information

1. General information about the Spiritual Season

2. A hadith about the greatness of this season and especially Rajab

3. A simplified list of recommended am'aal for this month

4. Rajab A'maal cards - students are encouraged to take one and use it when completing their am's this month

5. Rajab Self-Assessment Sheets - students can keep track of their a'maal and award themselves points with these sheets

Events

Event cards tell students about the special occasions that take place this month

Trivia

The trivia section is a fun, interactive way for students to learn some fun facts about Rajab. Students are invited to write their name on a piece of paper and put it in the envelope that contains the correct answer. For each question, we will pick one winner from the winning envelope to receive a special prize!

Click here to download all the printables needed to put this bulletin board together.

Another activity for this month is the Season of Worship Plants activity.

This project uses the metaphor of a plant to explain this season. In the month of Rajab, we plant the seed of istighfar that will help our soul bloom. In the month of Sha'ban, we nourish this seed with Salawaat, and it begins to sprout. Finally, we find that in Shahr Ramadhan, our soul is in full bloom, but only so long as we took proper care of it in the previous two months!

Click here to download the lesson plan and templates for this activity

Stay tuned for more projects coming up soon! I have a great Me'raj project that I will be posting up soon, inshAllah. If you use any of these, we'd love to see pictures! 

Iltemase Dua!

Muharram Children's Activities

Salam Alaykum!

I apologize for being so MIA and not updating the blog! I have many great activities to post, inshAllah, but with Muharram coming up, I wanted to first share activities for Muharram. At our Masjid (SABA), we have special children's programs for the first 10 days of the month. Boys and girls are in separate rooms where they each listen to a short speech, and then complete Muharram-themed crafts.

The children thoroughly enjoyed these programs last year and learned a lot! It was a great way for them to connect with the events of Karbala and learn relevant lessons at the same time. If you would like to do similar programs at your Masjid, our lesson plans for this year and last year can be found at the links below. Please visit and pass it along to other Masaajid that you feel may benefit from these lessons. Please share your feedback and send pictures if you do decide to use any of the activities!


Muharram 2014/1436 Lessonplans

Muharram 2015/1437 Lessonplans

*Please note that these lesson plans are still a work in progress. Please forgive us for any errors or shortcomings.

Imam of the Month Bonfire

In our Islamic Studies classes, we have an "Imam of the Month" board. Every month, we let an Imam pick us. We have all the Imams on slips of paper. As a group, we recite a Surah Ikhlas and gift it to all 12 Imams. We then ask one of the Imams to pick us so that we can better get to know him, and we choose one of the papers.

During the month of Muharram, we just happened to pick Imam Husayn (a), or rather, Imam Husayn (a) chose us. This was very exciting for the students.

To help us better get to know Imam Husayn (a), we had a bonfire. Each student had to come prepared with something to share about Imam Husayn (a): a story, a hadith, facts, a poem, a latmiyya, etc. We also prepared a story of why Imam Husayn (a) was named Husayn. In addition, we had materials for s'mores that students could make.

We turned off the lights and lit the candles. Students sat around and shared their contribution to the campfire as we roasted s'mores. It was a great activity that helped us get to know our Imam better in a fun way.

Kalimah: The Flag of Islam

Salam Alaykum!

It's been a while since I've posted, but I have some great new projects we've done recently!

In Kindergarten, we spent the past couple weeks on a very important topic: the Kalimah. We talked about how the Kalimah is like the flag of Islam because it represents our beliefs and compared it to other flags - like the US flag. We went line-by-line, learning the Arabic as well as the English and what it really means. Once all the students memorized the Kalimah in both Arabic and English, we made our own Kalimah Flags as a cumulative activity. Instead of words, we used pictures to represent each line.


These were very simple to make.

1. Use a sheet of construction paper to cut out a flag.

2. Print out the template for the Kalimah pictures here.

3. Students must cut out the pictures and glue them on the flag in order.

4. Tape on sticks or straws as the flagpole.



We also talked about how each picture represents each line:

1. La Ilaha ilAllah - There is no god except for Allah
We used the number 1 to show that there is only 1 God.

2. Muhammadur RasulAllah - Prophet Muhammad (S) is the Messenger of Allah
We used a messenger bird because these birds bring messages to people. Similarly, the Prophet (S) was a Messenger who brought the message of Allah (the Qur'an) to people.

3. Aliyun Waliyullah - Imam Ali (as) is the friend or chosen one of Allah
We use a picture of people holding hands because Allah (swt) chose Imam Ali (as), his trusted friend, to be the Prophet's successor

4. Wasiyu RasulAllah - Imam Ali (as) is the leader after Prophet Muhammad (s)
Here, I told them the story of Ghadir, and how the Prophet (S) chose Imam Ali (as), by the command of Allah, to lead the Muslims after him.

5. Wa Khalifatahu bila Fasl - Imam Ali (as) is the first khalifa
I explained how a Khalifa is like a King, and Imam Ali (As) was the first king, so we used a crown.



The first graders also reviewed the Kalimah and completed a Kalimah mobile project.

Similar to the Kindergarteners, they also went through the Kalimah, but since they had learned it last year, we quickly reviewed the Kalimah and what it means.

They made mobiles as their cumulative project. I gave each of them a CD disk. They tied a piece of string through the CD. I then gave them the template with the pictures (download here). They colored and cut out the pictures. They then spread rubber cement on the CDs and glued the pictures on in order.

They really enjoyed these projects, and it was a fun way for them to learn/review the foundation of their beliefs!

Du'a Before Starting Class

Salam Alaykum!

The way you start class is really important since it sets the tone for the rest of the day. I always try to begin the first class by having one of the students recite the Du'a for starting class from Mafatihul Jinan, but sometimes I forget. I've noticed that on the days where we do remember to recite the du'a, the class as a whole is a lot more beneficial. We tend to get more work then and have more fruitful discussions. It only takes 30 seconds, but it makes a big difference! You can download this du'a with the meanings from Duas.org and post it up in your class to help you remember!

Salah Sequence Game

Games are a fun way to teach students different concepts, especially for those concepts that are essential, such as salah.

For the 2nd and 3rd graders, a great way to help them learn the names of the actions of salah, as well as the order, we created a salah sequence game.

We created cards with the different actions of salah and students had to put them in order. To add in a competitive element, students competed to see who could do it the quickest. You can download the template for the cards here.

You will need to print out the cards, laminate them, and then cut them so they are all the same size. As an option, you could put magnets on the back of each card so that students can put them in order on the whiteboard.

Materials:

• Salah action cards (template here)
• 8.5x11" Laminating pouches
• Laminator
• Magnet tape (optional)

Book Review: "The Thirst of Sakina"

Salam Alaykum,

As a Shia teacher, the one thing I wish we had more of were great children's books with age-appropriate language and proper English, as well as eye-catching graphics.

One book we recently ordered for our Islamic Studies classroom is "The Thirst of Sakina (sa)."

I really enjoyed this books for several reasons. For one, the language and text was great for a variety of grades. I read it to both the Kindergarten and 2nd graders. Although I didn't read it to the 3rd graders, this was one of our featured books during the first 10 days of Muharram, and I noticed many browsing through it during free time.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the illustrations. These were actually done by orphans who are part of The Zahra Trust, and all profits from this book go to support this foundation and other aid projects. I enjoyed telling this to the students, especially since we recently learned about orphans, and this made it that much more special for them. Another bonus was that they weren't too graphic, which can be disturbing for some students.

I would highly recommend this book for parents and teachers alike.

Helping Hands: Hadhrat Abbas Activity

Salam Alaykum!

Muharram at school has been a bit hectic! We have been having many great discussions and doing some great projects. Here is a project I did recently with the 2nd graders.

We spoke about Hadhrat Abbas and how he went to get water for his beloved niece Sakina (sa), as well as the other children, but that he was unable to get them water because the enemies cut off his hands. The children were very touched by the story, and many already knew it, but they enjoyed hearing it again.

We talked about how Hadhrat Abbas sacrificed his life and lost his hands for the sake of his Imam (a), and how we should also try to serve our Imam, as this will help us to please Allah (swt). We talked about how we can use our hands in the way of Allah (swt) and did this activity.

Materials:

• Black Cardstock
• Pastels or chalk
• Silver/gold sharpies
• Caption Template (Available Here)
• Glue sticks

Procedure:

1.  On the whiteboard, brainstorm a list of actions you can do with your hands that will help Islam. Some ideas: washing the dishes, helping parents, cleaning the masjid, giving sadaqah, praying salah, feeding the needy, reciting qur'an
2. Hand each student a black cardstock. Have them glue the caption on top so that they know how much room they have for their hand. For older kids, they can write the caption.
3. In pencil, have them trace their hand and write their name in the center. Then, on each finger, they can write how they can use their hands to serve Islam.
4. Have them trace their hand in pastel/chalk.
5. Have them trace their name and their 5 deeds in gold or silver sharpie.

Allah is Al-Khaliq: Collage

In Kindergarten, we began discussing Allah and his attributes. I knew it would be difficult for them to understand what an "attribute" is, so we went around in a circle and I identified an attribute of each student (e.g., "One of Noor's attributes is that she is very friendly."). I then asked the students to use context clues to figure out what they think the word attribute means. They were easily able to determine that an attribute is a word that describes someone's traits.

We talked about how Allah (swt) has many attributes, and one is that he is Al-Khaliq: The Creator. Again, we went around in a circle, and each student stated his/her favorite color, as well as something Allah created that is that color (e.g., "My favorite color is purple. Allah created grapes, which are purple.").

Then, we sang a nasheed together called "Allah the Creator." This is available here on YouTube and you can find the lyrics here. They loved this nasheed since it's very catchy and were singing it the entire class period.

Finally, we created a collage. I gave them pages from National Geographic magazine. Any nature, animal, or food magazines work for this project. They cut out pictures of things Allah created (e.g., trees, spiders, birds, mountains, etc.). They then spread glue all over a piece of cardstock and stuck on the pictures to make a collage. I printed out captions that say "Allah is Al-Khaliq, the Creator. He made everything!". You can download the template for the captions here.

We put these up on our bulletin board, and I printed out these great Allah Created... bulletin borders from Islamic Bulletin Boards.

Usul-e-Deen/Furu-e-Deen Bingo

Salam Alaykum,

One of the most important parts of the religion is the tree of our faith. Just like a tree needs strong roots to grow, we also need to make sure our foundation is strong to help us grow as Muslims.

The 3rd graders were having a hard time remembering the names/meanings of the Usul-e-Deen and Furu-e-Deen, so we decided to play Bingo.

I found this great website where you can generate your own Bingo cards. I made Bingo cards that were 4 words by 3 words (since there are only 15 branches, 4x4 wouldn't work). I printed these out on cardstock and gave one to each student. I then gave each students some candies. M&Ms and Skittles work great for this kind of game.

The rules are the same as Bingo, with a slight difference. Instead of calling out the root/branch, I would say the definition. For example, if I pulled out the word "Salah," I would say, "This is the branch that means praying 5 times a day." Or, if I pulled out "Tawheed," I would say, "This is the root that means believing in one God." If they had the corresponding word on their card, they would cover it with a candy. Once they got 3 in a row, they had to shout out "Allahu Akbar!"

This game is great because it's a fun way to help them remember the meanings of the roots and branches. The 3rd graders loved this fun (and delicious) review game!

40 Days of Kulayni

On the 1st of Dhul Qa'dah, Prophet Musa (as) took his spiritual journey to Mt. Sinai. Originally, his journey was only supposed to be 30 days, but it ended up being a total of 40 days. When he came back down, he was spiritually fortified and brought with him the Taurat to guide his people.

According to our urafah, these 40 days are known as the "40 Days of Kulayni." They hold high spiritual significance, and it is greatly recommended to engage in a 40 day aamal during these days.

We explained this story to our students (in grades 3-7), and encourage each child to pick an aamal to help them build their "spiritual muscles." We reiterated that their aamaal of choice didn't have to be long or complicated and that sometimes it's actually better to pick something simple but to do it repeatedly.

The children were really excited to engage in these 40 days of spirituality and chattered amongst each other about which action they should pick.

Some students were ambitious and decided to recite Dua Tawassul or Surah Waqea for 40 days. Meanwhile, other students picked something as simple as Surah Fateha, tasbih of Hadhrat Zahra (sa), or 5 salawats. We encouraged them to set a realistic goal that would help them get closer to Allah (swt).

We made trackers with 40 squares (Download template here). Each morning, we would ask each student if he/she did their aamaal for the day and put a sticker on that day if they did. We also featured a large version of this tracker (download here, 8.5x14") and a list of potential aamaals outside (download here) our classrooms for teachers to join in on this feat.

This is a great way to instill the tradition of a'amal in children and introduce them to the importance of spiritual development in a simple way. It was also something we did as a group, which further increased the barakah of our actions.

Wudhu

Salam Alaykum!

The 2014-2015 school year has begun, and we've been busy with Islamic Studies! Everyday, the students recite jama'at salah, but we noticed that many of them do not actually know how to pray or do wudhu, which is fine, since many of them are not yet baligh. However, practice makes perfect, and the best way to learn is through repetition, so we thought it was important to dedicate the first complete week of school to relearning wudhu and salah, with appropriate adjustments for each grade level.

This is one of those topics where you need to incorporate creative methods to really ingrain the procedure and order in the children's head. So, for the 3rd graders, who have a lot of energy, we decided to channel their energy into a fun activity that would help them remember the order of the steps of wudhu.

First, we wrote out each step of wudhu on a stick note (10 steps in total).

We then handed each student a sticky note. They had to arrange themselves in the correct order without speaking to each other while we timed them. It was interesting during this part to see how some students' leadership abilities shined through and they took it upon themselves to direct each classmate where to go.

Once they were satisfied with their order (it took them 1 minute and 43 seconds), each student went in order and explained his step.

They were a bit off the first time, so we had them do it again. This time, they were correct, but it took them more time, so we had them do it one last time in hopes of beating their record. This time, they got them all correct in 40 seconds.

The children had a lot of fun with this activity, and it really made them think about and internalize the different steps of wudhu and what order they should be in.

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).

Wudhu Book

This is another project from my neighbor. As the students are learning to do wudhu, it can be hard for them to remember all the steps, including which ones are wajib, mustahab, etc. The teacher next door had her students each make a wudhu book, with a step on each page, and a drawing of a child performing that step.

Sadaqa Jars

Our class recently made sadaqa (charity) jars, in hopes to instill a positive habit of donating to charity regularly. We talked about the rewards and benefits of sadaqa, and some of the different forms it can take (smiles, clothes, time, money, etc). I couldn't find too much information from Shia sources online, but I did use some hadith from A Bundle of Flowers and also some that I was made aware of by a local scholar:

http://www.al-islam.org/flowers/

"Sadaqa will repel calamities" -Holy Prophet (PBUH)
"Sadaqa will prolong your life" -Imam Ali (AS)
"Sadaqa will save you from diseases, such as being stingy, arrogant, and other bad habits" -Imam Jafar Sadiq (AS)
"Sadaqa will bring peace among the people" -Holy Prophet (PBUH)

To make the sadaqa jars, we used empty plastic honey bottles, which I had previously cut a hole on the top of. I taped the jar shut, so that the only opening was where the money would go through. The students took tissue paper and used a paintbrush with the glue and water mixture to stick the paper to the jar. The next day, when it dried, they wrote "sadaqa" on it with a marker, and then painted over the paper with clear, glittery paint. I had prepared a little tag with a hadith on it before hand, which we tied to the jar. Of course, there are many ways to make the same type of thing, using different materials.

Muharram/Safar Activities

The tragedy of Karbala is a huge part of our faith. Sometimes it can be challenging to teach this to younger kids in a way that will resonate with them, and come up with activities and projects.

Here are some resources that I have used:

http://www.saba-igc.org/Education/Madrasa/syllabus/books/Grade%201%20History%20Book.pdf - This is for 1st grade, which is what I teach, but on the website there are books for many grade levels.

"Tears for Karbala" - http://www.al-islam.org/gallery/kids/Books/tears/index.html

For the first days of Muharram, I went through stories with my children, like a mini-majlis, each day emphasizing on one or two of the heroes of Karbala. The resource above was great because it told the story in a couple pages of some of these people.

Muslim ibn Aqeel:

Mokhtarname (The Mukhtar Narrative), which is currently available on YouTube and http://www.shiasource.com/, has a very nice visual of Hazrat Muslim ibn Aqeel's story. You can show the part where Muslim is walking toward the court of ibn Ziyad and is slowly deserted by the people of Kufa (episode 7, about 48:05), up until the part where he fights the enemies (episode 8, about 12:40). I skip some parts in between, and also do not show his actual death.

Bibi Zainab's speech in the court of Yazid:

This clip does the job in giving a visual of Bibi Zainab and Imam Sajjad (AS)'s speech in Damascus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvdpPggY04M&feature=player_embedded (starts at about 1:27). With the movie clips, the subtitles went too quickly for younger kids, so I dubbed. For older kids, this would be okay.

Other resources/activities:
*Crossword: Easy to make on http://www.theteacherscorner.net/. (If anyone knows how to attach word docs, please let me know!)
*Maps: These make it a lot easier for the kids to understand the events, since they spanned several cities and countries. A quick google search will lead to many helpful images. If you project it onto the board, you can draw a line showing the journey of the family of the Prophet (P). Here is one map I used:

*Art activity: acrostic poem. I had my students write acrositc poems with the word KARBALA. First, we brainstormed words with each of the letters. As a class, they were able to do this. For older kids, you may want them to do it on their own. Then, We wrote the word Karbala on a black paper vertically. We used chalk. They then wrote the words starting with each letter horizontally. Then, we glued the black construction paper onto a thicker white paper (almost like posterboard). I had them use a piece of plastic (like a tile) which they dipped in red paint, to smear on the white paper. The end result looked like this:

*Art/Language Arts: Flags. This is a project my 3rd/4th grade neighbor did with her students. Each flag has a word/phrase such as strength, importance of salat, helpful, sacrifice, truth, Islam, love for Allah, faithful, justice. Then comes a "dictionary definition" of each. After that is an example of this trait as it was shown in Karbala. The flags are then strung against a bulletin board.

I would love to hear your ideas/comments/suggestions/etc!