The Tha Monster

This is just a quick coloring sheet to reinforce a tricky letter - tha! I recommend looking at its dots, comparing it to tha/dha like in the word "the," and spending a couple minutes talking about words that contain it, both in English and Arabic.

Arabic Letter Dice

This is such a fun way to do some quick alphabet review, or to reinforce new letters. Or even to help students learn letter sounds.

I call them Letter Dice, and they are as flexible as a tool as you need them to be!

And they are fun because students get to use their hands, not to mention the element of chance.

The one on the left in the picture above was made with the bottom of a half gallon soymilk carton, cut with an exact-o knife to be a square. I put contact paper over the letters and assembled it all my with my best friend duct tape. It's very sturdy for smaller kids, but harder to make.

This is the secret to the one on the right:

Yes! It's a photo cube!

You can change the letters whenever you like, no problem.

I got this one for very cheap from a local thrift store, and it was worth ten times every penny.

Some prompts for use:

• Name the letter
• Say the letter sound
• Think of a word that starts with the letter
• Say the letter with the three harakat (ba bu bi)
• Think of a Prophet whose name begins with the letter
• Which Salat/concept/pillar/etc starts with the letter
• Think of a word that has the letter in the middle/end
• Whose name has this letter in it
• What is the letter after/before it in the alphabet
• Draw the letter you roll (plus any of the above)

I find it's great to use if you have just a couple minutes left in a lesson and can't start a new topic. The tactile element, as well as the suspense, keeps everyone focused.

Let me know how you use them!

Paper People for Storytelling

While this isn't exclusively about Arabic or Islam, I think telling stories is a great way to convey both of these subjects. These little paper people help make stories come to life.

I have used these in Islamic tales, Goha fables (you can guess who he is), and general play.

Feel free to add beards where appropriate. ;)

You can print them on cardstock or laminate them. You can use contact paper if neither of those are available. I taped mine to craft sticks (like the ones you get from Popsicles) and we used them in an impromptu theater on the back of a chair. Very cute. Even the kids started telling stories. And because of the nature of these paper people, all the stories were either about Islam or Muslims. A nice break from Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

Prayer Times Coloring Sheets

We are studying prayer times. After an extensive study of the five pillars, we have jumped headfirst into the daily prayers, and the first thing our text talks about is their times.

So I made some coloring sheets that would be good for kids 4-8+ that reinforce not only the times of the daily prayers, but their English and Arabic names.

The sun shows which prayer, and most kids in our class opted to color the names, which I thought would help introduce Arabic letters to children who haven't had any exposure.

And there's a hidden code for kids who like that sort of thing: the number of clouds indicate the number of raka'ah! I hope the older kids appreciate it.

So, here they are:

Adam's Boat

Assalaamu alaikum

Between three children, homeschooling, and everyday life, I am pretty busy. I haven't been doing much Arabic instruction, obviously, and so I haven't had much material to post here.

However, I did make one of my old projects into an e-book!

Adam's Boat is a lesson, a story, a new way to learn the elusive Arabic alphabet. It covers the first half of the alphabet and includes notes to indicate difficult letters. It's targeted at teachers who have young students, but anyone learning Arabic would benefit.

It takes you through the adventure of Adam, who has a boat and loses one of his friends as they come to shore. Each letter is part of the illustration and corresponds to a word in English that will help students retain the letter sound. I have had enormous success with this approach, and I think you will, too.

So, without further ado, here is Adam's Boat:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018WS0IBW?*Version*=1&*entries*=0