Ramadhan Story Book, Moon Phases

we read Fatima’s First Fast tonight: http://ad-duha.org/digital_library/Mini_Mumin/DS_FF_Flip/DS_FF_Flip.html

didn’t finish it, just read it halfway.

and explored the meaning of taqwa, from wiki(!):

According to Tafsir ibn Kathir, the root meaning of taqwa is to avoid what one dislikes. It was reported that Umar bin Khattab asked Ubay ibn Kaab about Taqwa. Ubay said, “Have you ever walked on a path that has thorns on it?” Umar said, “Yes.” Ubay asked, “What did you do then?” to which Umar replied, “I rolled up my sleeves and struggled.” Ubay said, “That is taqwa, to protect oneself from sin through life’s dangerous journey so that one can successfully complete the journey unscathed by sin.”

Ibn Abbas said about verse 2:5 in the Quran, “guidance for the Muttaqin”, that it means, “They are the believers who avoid shirk with Allah (swt) and who work in His obedience.” He also said that Al-Muttaqin means, “Those who fear Allah’s (swt) Punishment, which would result if they abandoned the true guidance that they recognize and know. They also hope in Allah’s (swt) Mercy by believing in what He revealed.”

and also looked at the moon (it’s 5th of Shaaban, 7th July) it’s a waxing crescent, but as I’m writing, it now says the moon has entered the first quarter and here’s is one of the best visual explanations of moon phases I’ve seen, unfortunately it’s not public domain, so no cut&pasting here

here’s a similar diagram:

from this page, with more explanations on seasons, eclipses,solstice,equinox etc.

and a moon calendar for one’s own locality.

Buttoning felt flowers

I’ve never bothered or thought that I should bother with a lot of the Montessori practical life equipments, as they are mostly as you go and as you grow up kind of activities that I think really don’t need to be set up or prepared so much at home, as they do in a school setting. This thinking is slowly changing when I see these really frugal, prolific, creative mamas churning out really crafty ideas like this one:

An original idea from Chasing Cheerios, it’s good to have kids playing and refining their motorskills, while learning to button up all in one go!

Oh, and I love this alphabet bean bags, with velcroed pictures to match them with!

A prolific Montessori Mum – Counting Coconuts

Check out their classroom/play area!

with a cool homemade school calendar:

She has loads of DIY MOntessori all laid out clearly here. Some that I like, and could probably make:

Weaving

Buttoning turkey feathers craft to make – really cool!

Drawstring Bags tutorial link, I’ve been wanting these for sooo.. long.

So cool and inspiring to have tried spinning yarn.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38060609@N05/4145218487/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38060609@N05/4145976534/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38060609@N05/4145974556/in/photostream

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2011/01/diy-activity-board.html

and a link to 1+1+1=1 tot books: http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/search/label/Tot-Books?updated-max=2009-08-21T13%3A21%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=20. These are really cool!

About Montessori

http://www.montessoricandy.com/2010/10/montessori-materials-purpose_08.html

http://www.michaelolaf.net/

http://mariamontessori.com/mm/

Learning to Share
Everyone Should Learn Math the Montessori Way
The Silent Journey & Discovery – A Photo Essay (Experiencing a Montessori school)

Dinosaur Classification

http://www.txtwriter.com/backgrounders/Dinosaurs/DinoBGindex.html

Prophetic Timeline

http://www.prophetictimeline.com/Prophet/Timeline
Another cool, really beautiful timeline. A bit on Prophet Ibrahim (2000 BC) until 11 Hijrah (632 CE)

Great Lessons – Timelines

Creation of the Universe – now

http://eps.berkeley.edu/~saekow/chronozoom/launch/index.html

http://chronozoom.cloudapp.net/firstgeneration.aspx

Big History Timeline, one version is spread over a year:
http://www.bighistoryproject.com/Big-History/Timelines#

http://www.bighistoryproject.com/The-Latest-Word/BHP-TED-photo-gallery#

has an engaging talk by David Christian on the Big History, intro a bit boring for kids, history starts at ~4.20minutes on:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/david_christian_big_history.html
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
and the timelines can be downloaded here: http://www.bighistoryproject.com/The-Latest-Word/Download-Print-Big-History-Timelines
Here’s a nice simple timeline, with stargazer’s (astronomers) bio:

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/universe/itsawesome/cosmiccalendar/index.html

The creation of the Solar system/Earth – now

Interactive, chock packed with information:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/change/deeptime/index.html

Here’s a graphically excellent geologic timeline starting from the formation of Earth 4.5 billion years ago, except that it’s pro monkey to man evolution: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/prehistoric-time-line/

Anyway, Montessori’s own presented was a story, translated into English here: God Has No Hands

I’ve yet to work out how to do a series post. Anyway, I intend to edit the above link to be in line with Islam. So InshaAllah in a later post.

I saw something great about spotting galaxies in a Khan academy presentation, but have yet to locate it. Maybe later:

http://www.khanacademy.org/#browse

So, ain’t it all overwhelming? I’m looking for everything above laid out nicely a story in a book with magical illustrations, am I asking for too much? Here’s a poem from an overwhelmed poet anyway:

When I Heard the Learned Astronomer
by Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with
much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

Montessori Preschool – Math, Birds, Planting, Motor Skills

Overview of Montessori Math Curicullum

Birds
Planting a Flower Garden

Montessori-inspired Easter Activities
Exploring South America

History of Writing

Arabic Script

A visually pleasing, easy to read history of arabic script and khat:

http://www.sakkal.com/ArtArabicCalligraphy.html

another shorter history of arabic script:

Arabic Script ala Montessori by Yemenlinks:
http://www.yemenlinks.com/contentdisplay/displaydoc.aspx?name=alphabet_mat1
Arabic sandpaper letters

becoming a callighaper (khattat)

Montessori Grammar – Nouns

http://montessorimom.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/03/links-for-2010-03-05.html

Montessori NAMC Curicullum/Albums – H2′s current stage

I’ve been focusing so much on M and H these days, I feel H2 is neglected in terms of acquiring skills and learning. Well, he’s happily cycling the tricycle and doing lego, menggentel plasticine (like playdough), roleplaying/acting with his sisters, maybe it’s not all that bad. However, a lot can still be done.

So I went to the NAMC site, and identified that H2 is at the infant-toddler stage. Alhamdulillah, when looking at the TOC of the manuals for infants and toddlers, he seems to be acquiring and have acquired most of the skills he should have for his age. Below is the current checklist for H2. I don’t think I’ll be so rigid, and necessarily be doing all, but they are mostly good ideas. It’s a good list for mummies to do with their 2yo.

So I’ve put a ‘/’ to some of the activities that I think H2 has been exposed to. Once the activity is re-enforced, another ‘/’mark. I think maybe 3 slashes ‘///’ for me means thatH2 is suitably exposed. So there’s the plan!

Oh..added an Islamic Studies list at the end, still working on it.

The Table of Contents for the Infant and Toddler – Twos Manual B

LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Identifying Pictures of Objects with Unusual or Complex Names
Activity 2: Naming Parts of the Human Body /
Activity 3: Naming Pictures Starting with the Same Phonetic Sound
Activity 4: Naming Objects Starting with the Same Phonetic Sound
Activity 5: Looking at Number Booklets /
Activity 6: Creating a Story from Pictures
Activity 7: Becoming Familiar with Letters and Their Sounds /
Activity 8: Listening to an Audio Book
Activity 9: Using “I Spy” to Practice Identifying
Activity 10: Matching Letters on an Alphabet Board

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Opening and Closing Doors Quietly /
Activity 2: Practicing “Please” and “Thank You” //
Activity 3: Pulling Together
Activity 4: Singing the “No” Song and the “Yes” Song
Activity 5: Making Group Art
Activity 6: Recognizing and Describing Emotions /
Activity 7: Planning a Trip
Activity 8: Imitating an Action Story /
Activity 9: Changing Partners
Activity 10: Making Butter Together

PRACTICAL LIFE ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Fastening Clothes
Activity 2: Washing Kitchen Objects
Activity 3: Washing Napkins
Activity 4: Preparing Vegetables and Fruit for Cooking and Eating
Activity 5: Making Fruit Salad
Activity 6: Washing Windows and Other Large Objects
Activity 7: Sewing
Activity 8: Taking Apart and Putting Back Together
Activity 9: Polishing
Activity 10: Making Snacks

TWOS – MANUAL A

COGNITIVE ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Sorting Objects by Concept
Activity 2: Matching Pictures by Concept
Activity 3: Carrying Out a Two-day Project
Activity 4: Associating Objects and Numbers
Activity 5: Matching Three Basic Geometrical Shapes /
Activity 6: Transferring Equal Numbers of Objects
Activity 7: Matching Shapes to Outlines
Activity 8: Sorting Events by Sequence
Activity 9: Manipulating a Fraction Puzzle /
Activity 10: Matching Pictures of Parents and Babies

MOTOR ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Cutting with Scissors /
Activity 2: Throwing from a Distance /
Activity 3: Using a Hole Puncher
Activity 4: Clamping Clothes Pegs onto a Rim
Activity 5: Transferring Water Using Squeezing Implements
Activity 6: Stringing Objects Using a Cord
Activity 7: Making Building Blocks /
Activity 8: Walking the Line
Activity 9: Transferring Tiny Objects Using Grasping Implements
Activity 10: Transferring Using Spooning Implements /

SENSORY ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Matching Objects by Color /
Activity 2: Hunting for Treasure
Activity 3: Pairing Objects According to Color and Pattern
Activity 4: Discriminating between Sizes of Shapes
Activity 5: Painting /
Activity 6: Exploring a Texture Box
Activity 7: Observing Nature Close Up
Activity 8: Experiencing Smell Bags
Activity 9: Growing Plants Outside
Activity 10: Visiting the Bird Feeder /

ISLAMIC STUDIES

Adab
Assalamu`alaikum
Quiet when someone is Praying
Listen to the Qur’an

Dua
Before Eating //
After Eating
Before Sleeping /
After Sleeping
Before going to the Toilet
After going to the Toilet
Rabbana Aatina /

Qur’an
Basic Iqra’ / huruf
A’uudhubillah
Fatihah
Ikhlas
An-Naas

Star Gazing in March

been a bit sick lately, but i’m slowly improving

did some browsing as usual..

astronomy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_brightest_stars

astrolabes & Miriam al-Ijli al-Astrulabi, and also arabic star names:
http://www.scienceinschool.org/print/171

a video on youtube with maryam al-astrulabi at about 8:00 minutes into it:

Arabic star names:
http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=833

one of the arabic derived names, rigel from rijl (leg):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigel

some of the constellations we saw last night right overhead, before the clouds set in, more on that later:
http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Astr201/Winter/Winter.html

and i like the pic of canis major at the bottom of this page:
http://www.siriuswalker.com/

http://www.siriuswalker.com/CanisMajor.jpg

another famous muslim woman fatimah al-fihri, and her sister is maryam:-) :

http://theurbanmuslimwomen.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/fatima-al-fihri-founder-of-the-oldest-university-in-the-world/

and as i alluded to before, here’s a written version of our observation of the night sky…err..it has my handwriting and sketches of the constellations we saw on the 24th..well, it’s like a draft…a messy draft, so you might not care to browse if you hate messyness, I’ll just save you sanity by saying that we saw orion, gemini (the twin’s heads at least..ha..ha..) and definitely canis major (the dog) before the clouds set in..:-(

and i wish i could browse this book locally before deciding if it’s a good buy, i’ve wanted to expose my children to islamic arts..maybe we should visit the islamic arts museum first:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/071483176X/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_sims_3