Prayer Lesson 3

Lesson 3: The Story of the Israa and Miraj

Having talked about the importance of prayer and why we pray in our last lesson, I felt it was important for the kids to understand how we were ordered to pray through a simple retelling of the story of the Israa and Miraj.

You can watch an excellent video about the story of the Israa and Miraj (and all the steps of the prayer!) from the Pray As You Have Seen Me Pray DVD film

by Islam Productions

http://www.islamicbulletin.com/services/all_ebooks_p3.aspx#link10 

I put together this simple story of the Israa and Miraj, and we began by reading through the booklet. You can download it here:

https://www.box.com/s/eb61f1420f4184dcc624

Knowing that the prayers were ordained from above the seven heavens helped stress its importance. The kids enjoyed learning about the Buraq and its also a good time to talk about the Masjid Al Aqsa and Palestine.

We decided to put together a story map of the Prophet’s journey. It helped us visualize the steps that the Prophet took and we finally completed a worksheet about the Israa and Miraj that you can find here.

https://www.box.com/s/b8c44a54425e8ab5de8c

We also found a great laptop on the Israa and Miraj if you are looking for extra and more advanced resources J

http://muslimlearninggarden.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/isra-miraj-lapbook/

Tafakur and Nature Study

There’s been a lot of talk about how children do not get enough outdoor time and how they are ‘nature starved.’ And it’s true, if we look at how much time kids spend in front of TVs, Ipads, computers and smart phones, it’s no doubt kids are not finding time to go outdoors. Yet we have been called upon in the Quran to contemplate and ponder over the natural world, the earth and the heavens, the sun and the moon. The Quran tells us to look at how the camels were created, how the mountains were formed, and the passage of the day and night. The Quran talks about bees, ants and other creatures.  The lesson here is that we can only truly know Allah and appreciate His greatness through exploring nature.

And this is why I have decided to start a weekly Tafakur Trip! In essence it’s an outdoor nature discovery and exploration trip.  I came across a great practical guide to exploring nature that’s full of tips and ideas.  So we’ll be packing that with us in our Tafakur Trips.
(http://www.amazon.com/The-Nature-Connection-Workbook-Classrooms/dp/1603425314 )

 

So here’s what we’ll be taking along:

• Nature bag (this pink girly one was a great hit from accessorize)

• Pencil case and pencils, rubber etc
• water colours
• magnifying glass
• binoculars
• plain paper notebooks
• scissors

InshAllah as we go along I’ll post some of our nature pictures and notebook pages. Our niyyahs as we take these trips are:
1. To do Tafakur as Allah has ordered us in the Quran
2. To know Allah more and learn about His greatness
3. To spend our time as did our Prophet Mohamad SAWS did when he was a child
4. To learn to appreciate Allah’s creations
5. To develop a depth of character that will comes from contemplation and reflection

Seerah for Kids: Lesson 3

Lesson 3: The Prophet Mohammad SAWS’s birth and family

We began by reading the booklet ‘The Orphan Boy’ and learnt how the Prophet’s father Abdulla died before his birth. We learnt that it was his grandfather Abdul Mutalib who chose the name of Mohammad.

http://www.prosyst3ms.co.uk/downloads/seerah/unit1/orphan_boy_Seerah_bk3_a4.pdf

We used a family tree template to identify the Prophet’s father, mother and grandparents (although we could not find any authentic reports for the name of his maternal grandmother!)

 (http://www.obituarieshelp.org/downloads/three_generation_landscape_family_tree.pdf  )

Father: Abdullah
Mother: Aaminah
Paternal Grandfather: Abdul Mutalib (real name: Shaibah bin Hashim)
Paternal Grandmother: Fatimah Bint Amr
Maternal Grandfather: Wahab ibn Abd Manaf
Maternal Grandmother: Unknown

We also did a mini birth card for Prophet Mohammad SAWS using this template to learn the exact date the Prophet SAWS was born on.

https://www.box.com/s/bf0f80d3184c02689bce

Finally we completed the worksheet for the Orphan Boy.

InshAllah we’ll continue with a more detailed study of the Prophet Mohammad SAWSs family and life as we go along.

Seerah for Kids: Lesson 2

Lesson 2:  The need for a Prophet and the Year of the Elephant

In this lesson, we covered these two aspects.

S.EC.00.02: list reasons the world was in need of another prophet
from Allah.

S.EC.00.03:  retell some of the significant events that
accompanied His  birth.


We began by discussing that the world needed another Prophet to get rid of the Shirk and teach the people Tawheed, as well as to rid them of the bad things and teach them good manners.

We then went on to read the booklet ‘The Year of the Elephant’ and understand that this was the year that the Prophet SAWS was born in.

http://www.prosyst3ms.co.uk/downloads/seerah/unit1/year_of_elephant_Seerah_bk2_a4.pdf

We also read another version of the story of the elephant from The Life of Mohammad in twenty stories (Abdul Tawwab Yusuf), and it was very interesting for the girls to hear it as if the elephant was speaking.

Lesson 2: Why do we Pray?

Lesson 2: Why do we Pray?



I wanted to begin with this topic because it helps children visualize and understand the reasons behind why they are praying rather than just explaining to them how they do it. Elhamdulilah, I came across a great book in Arabic called 'limatha nusali' (why do we pray) and it had so many reasons all supported by the Quran and Sunnah showing the benefits as well as duties of prayer.

The hadith used in this picture is a very visual and nice one to do with your kids. Shake a branch and show the children the falling leaves. Explain to them that when they pray the five prayers their sins fall off just like those leaves. (see resource book link below)



I have chosen several of these that are the most important and easiest to communicate to kids. You can use as many as little or as many as you need but try to support them with some practical activities so that they stick in their minds :)


You can download the resource book here:

http://www.box.com/s/cd0eacc93eef9a33b393

Lesson 1: What is Prayer?

Lesson 1: What is Prayer?



Assalamo Alaikum,


This will be the first of a series of posts inshAllah that will go through all the steps of how to teach children to pray. I found that by focusing on one aspect of prayer a week, it becomes much more focused and manageable inshAllah.

The first topic is ‘What is Prayer?’


I found that a very simple manner of presenting the concept of prayer was done by
http://islaam4kids.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/the-prayer-part-1/ and we started by going through their first booklet, The Prayer part 1.

We talked about how we love Allah and that we talk to Him through prayer and duaa. We also talked about the importance of praying in the correct manner as taught to us by Prophet Mohammad SAWS. We discussed briefly that there are five prayers that must be performed at fixed times.