Alhamdulillaah: The Ramadan 2015 Activity Pack is Here!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

** Post Updated**

Ramadan is close alhamdulillaah! This year, because Ramadan is expected to start a few weeks before school lets out (for some), the Ramadan Activity Pack for 2015 is being posted early alhamdulillaah. The pack is over 100 pages of Ramadan Themed activities that will help children review what they know about Ramadan, perhaps learn things they did not know about Ramadan, and review crucial math and language arts standards that they encountered throughout the school year in'shaa allaah.

The pack is intentionally structured to allow children to complete the activities independently in'shaa allaah. It is hoped that this structure accomplishes several things:

• It provides beneficial activities for children to complete during the day (after the school year finishes).
• It provides engaging, beneficial activities for children to complete at the masjid while parents are praying taraweeh.
• It aids in preventing summer reading & math skills loss, which is known to occur during the summer break, and which, according to research, contributes to the ever-widening achievement gap.
• It helps children master topics that they may have struggled with during the school year.
• It helps build children's confidence during the summer months and helps them move to grade 2 with a solid foundation in Language Arts and Math in'shaa Allaah.

To help accomplish these goals, all math activities in the pack have an example that shows children how to complete the upcoming math problems; the directions for all other activities are written at grade level so children should be able to read and comprehend the directions without needing help from an adult (but, of course, still be ready and willing to offer assistance if the child should need it). There is also a table of contents that allows children/parents to choose which activity to complete and track the student's progress. Each time a child completes an activity, he/she (or the parent) can go back to the table of contents and check that activity off of the list. There are also paper dolls that children can cut out and play with! At the end of the book, there is a certificate of completion that parents/teachers/activity coordinators can download, print, and present to children. A cautionary note: there should not be pressure placed on the child to finish the pack during the month of Ramadan. Encouragement yes, pressure, no.  

And here is a language arts pack for the last ten days of Ramadan that can be used with the Big Book of Ramadan Activities (i.e. the ELA pack can be added to the Big Book or it can be used separately in'shaa Allaah). You can see which concepts/skills are covered in the pack in this post.

Click here to download your free Last Ten Days of Ramadan Language Arts pack or download it free from A Muslim Child is Born's Teacher Notebook store!

So, are you ready for Ramadan?

Are you ready to help child(ren) grow spiritually and academically this month? 

Excellent! Then download your copy of The Big Book of Ramadan Activities here in'sha allaah! You can also download the activity pack from A Muslim Child is Born's Teacher Notebook shop! Please be aware of the Terms of Use for this and all resources on the blog.

Benefit, enjoy, and Ramadan Mubarak!

Fresh Baked Place Value: A Grade 1 Math Resource

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

The time is approaching for Grade 1 students (and many kindergarten students as well) to be introduced to place value, and some have already begun working with this concept (your little one may already be working with this mathematical concept). This resource is is intended to help students master the teen numbers (11-19).  Click on the picture below to get this resource. 

Included in this resource are four interactive activities that, insha'Allaah, help solidify students' understanding of place value. The activities in this pack can be used as morning work, for small group instruction, in math notebooks, or as homework. Instructions are included for each activity for the classroom and for homeschooling use. 

Each activity, is interactive, making it ideal for use in math notebooks, or for individual and small group instruction. The activities include: 

 - Eggs in a Bowl: Students use pictures of two eggs, each with base ten rods and cubes on them, to show the number that is on the mixing bowl. 

- Fresh From the Oven: using place value cookies, students partner up and take their cookies out of the oven and then record which number is represented on each cookie.

- Place Value Bingo: this game features numbers represented by base ten blocks on the playing card. Students hear or are shown a number in its numerical form and must match the base ten representation to the numerical form of a number. 

- Place Value Flip: individual cards have numbers from 11-19 represented by base ten blocks. Students fold and glue the cards into their math notebooks and flip the cards up and write the numerical form of the shown on the card.

Also, many have asked about translating resources from the blog into languages other than English. While I certainly understand the importance of having resources readily available for homeschooling, I am unable to authorize converting files or modifying them in any way. The companies who own the clipart that I use specifically state that all images must be locked down so that the file cannot be modified and the images lifted (i.e. taken and used without being purchased from the respective company). Additionally, I also request that the files be left in their original format and not be modified in any way. A lot of work goes into making these resources, and I sincerely appreciate the terms of use being respected and adhered to. To help those of you who need resources in a language other than English, I have been researching a way to make the files editable and still respect the terms of use of the companies and still maintain my own terms of use. Your patience is requested and appreciated as I continue to look into a way to make this possible. 

In the meantime, this resource has very little text on the actual resources (on purpose) to make using it easy, regardless of the child's instructional language.

Why isn't this a free resource? Click here to learn why.

Enjoy insha'Allaah!

Composing and Decomposing Numbers: A Supplementary Resource

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

This supplementary resource is ideal for math centres, math journal work, small group instruction, or one-on-one instruction. Using the breakfast themed cards, students match the ten frame to the math problem that shows which equation is represented on the ten frame. 

The dots on the ten frames are two different colours to facilitate quick cognitive processing. Students will have the opportunity to increase their understanding of composing/decomposing the numbers 6,7, and 8 in this resource. Enjoy!

Why isn't this resource free? Click here for the explanation.