A quick note to share something we play every day in the morning and after maghrib. We listen, recite and read the Morning and Evening Du’a, Dhiker and recommended Qur’an with the beautiful recitations available on TV Qur’an here. I love starting our day after healthy, sit-down warm cozy breakfast to these recitation. Then, completing maghrib prayer to slow down the day into a healthy night once again as a family dedicated to Allah, subhanallahu wa Ta’ala, May He be Glorified.

So, what are some Morning and Evening routines you share with your family as a whole for our One Creator?

Morning and Evening Du’a (Supplications), Dhiker (Remembrance of Allah) is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

Alhumdulilah, Praise be to God, my girls of Kid Bloggers Club are my guests again. We received many kind remarks but more questions from their debut show with me, so I think we’ll be making this a more regular thing, inshaAllah.

To enlighten
Learning how my girls are learning about Major Sins, 70 Ways to Gain Reward from Allah, and the Hijab for Muslim Woman. Truly enlightening! We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

To educate

• Living life without a microwave.
• Cooking and Baking with olive oil. Healthy–But, Yummy! Win our favorite cookbook here.
• More tips about using the library.

To empower You to Take Action!
Get your kids blogging with you! But, kids should NOT do this alone. Make your homeschooling writing fun project for free stuff & profit–not just for homeschoolers!

Special Thanks to our Sponsor

As shared in our show commercial, visit Muslim Toys and Dolls and say you were referred by American Muslim Mom to receive a free gift value at $9.95. Check out the owner’s unique creation: the Little Ponn Muslim doll–a large, soft, adorable hijabi doll named after yours truly, subhanallah, Glory be to God! Having never seen a doll like this before (and we’ve traveled in many Muslim and non-Muslim lands), it’s a must-have in any Muslim home. She even has Velcro removable clothes. She sits conveniently by my bedside, and wears my glasses for safe keeping. My girls and I hug her as often as we can. After all, no one is ever too old to squeeze a doll…let alone a Muslim one!

Past shows:

#1 Ponn Sabra of AmericanMuslimMom.com

#2 Zohra Sawari of ZohraSawari.com

#3 Amanda Moutakki of MarocMama.com

#4 Debbie Al-Harbi of MuslimToysandDolls.com

#5 Ponn Sabra RE: Social Media and Islam

#6 JuJu, GiGi and JoJo Sabra of KidBloggersClub.com

#7 Ameera Rahim of Habeebee Homeschooling

American Muslim Mom Podcast #8 is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

To kick of our HomeSchool never Stops on Saturday meme, I knew if I just search my documents I’d have plenty of articles to pick from to post up quickly. Anyways, I found this entire lesson plan about Teaching Kids How to Write Poetry when we entered last year’s poetry contest, since this was dated February 2010!<=This is just one more example how I have more content that I have time to even post. So, I’m curious, it’s 4:28pm right now, if I copy & paste, what time will I hit “publish”? [5:11pm]

Kids Learning Poetry

Haiku

Japanese, un-rhymed, short 3-lined 17-syllables poem with line-pattern of 5-7-5, usually about nature (plants & animals)

1st = 5
2nd = 7
3rd = 5

Most of this Project was Guided by Grade 4 Time4Learning (A program we’ve been using for years (2008). They have a 14-day free trial. Of course, if you decide to use it please don’t forget to say “Ponn Sabra” referred you. Thanks!). But, I supplemented it of course.

Haiku project, fill in the blanks:

Wild raindrops ___ ___
Making muddy ___ ___ ___
Drying __ __ ___.

We came up with:
Wild raindrops falling
Making muddy puddles form
Drying in the sun.

For the “Praised One” Poem

Describing a typical day of the Prophet, by sirah of what we know, our 6 year old came up with her first haiku:

5-Olives, watermelon,
7-Meats, Dates, Honey, Milk and Bread
5-Foods the Prophet Loved.

Her submission, “Eating foods the Prophet Loves”

Jennah together
Eating foods the Prophet loves
Milk, Bread and Honey

- 6 year old Sabra

Tanka

Japanese, unrhymed, 5-lined 31-syllable poem with line-pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 about any topic

5- I went to Japan (done)
7- I had a lot of fun there
5- Seeing all the sites
7- It was hot and beautiful
7- Can’t wait to go again soon!

After discussing this year’s theme, of a “Day with the Prophet (sallahi wa layhi wa salam-)” we shared that

1. We can not go back in time,
2. The Prophet (s) will never return to Earth for us to spend the day with him
3. The only DAY we can possibly spend with the Prophet, inshaAllah, will only be in jennah.

So, on the spot our 9 year old came up with this tanka for the contest

“In Jennah with the Prophet – A Tanka Poem”

5- When I’m in jennah
7- Insha’Allah the Prophet
5- Will be there waiting
7- For me and my family
7- To see Allah together

- 9 year old Sabra

Acrostic poem

- Uses a person’s name with the first letter in each line.

I wrote this last year, as a sample when I was teaching our class for the previous year’s “Praised One” poetry contest:

MUHAMMAD salallahu alaihi wa salam

Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa salam, is the most beloved, and our last and final Prophet,

Unique was His life, as He was the most perfect of all humans in His manners, words & leadership,

Humble in His actions as a Prophet, unlike any human before Him or any human to follow,

Admiration consumes me, and aspiration fills my being whenever I read, hear, learn or remember Him,

Many a night, I seek peace and blessings upon Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa salam, and his family; as Allah, Subhana wa ta ala, gave to Prophet Ibrahim, alayhi waslam, and his family,

May I always strive to achieve a fraction of the Rasul’s good deeds for He taught me that actions should follow my intentions.

Acquiring the knowledge and acting according to the Qur’an and Sunnah (His Life) despite any hardship or obstacle I face should be easy; because I will never encounter what he has in His life — May Allah forgive me when I have doubts or complain; but I am…

Destined, only by Allah’s blessing, to live as You — a true believer.  So, it’s my duty to always seek Allah’s pleasure and forgiveness for I pray that my life allows me to reach Jenna (heaven) so I can meet You and Our Creator. ~ Ameen

- Mama Sabra

Ponn = Mama Sabra & the Girls Playing

Playing
On a swingset
Never stopping, soaring high
Night time has arrived…oh no, time to say ‘Bye-Bye’!

A special place poem

Having never seen this kind poem, they shared us this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay called “Afternoon on a Hill.”

Tips to my girls: Just answer the questions, don’t think hard, let the visions flow and write what you feel. You, too, should be able to write quickly and effortlessly.

I quickly typed up ‘My Special Place’, while I had them answer the questions alongside me, silently on their own paper and netbooks.

By the creek under the tree
A weeping willow shades me
Wild flowers not too strong, the scent always pleasing
The water lightly ripples a peaceful tune
The soft grass below my legs warm me
I’m grateful for all Allah’s blessings, subhanallah, He’s perfect and majestic.
-Mama Sabra

Our 6 year old came up with this:

Outside in the snow
Igloos and snowballs
Fresh air smells like nothing [close your eyes, picture yourself outside, what do you smell?]
I hear birds even in the Winter
[What do you touch?] I make snowballs to throw at someone, but no one is here…
Now, I’m happy, because my sister arrived and I have someone to throw the snowball too! [I had to finish up her throughts myself]

Classic sidenote: Today, February 5, 2011 (not Feb. 2011), if you haven’t been keeping up, my girls and I are going on Phase 5 of our 6-foot tall igloo. Phase 1, our middle daughter fit in, Phase 2 our youngest joined in, Phase 3 our eldest fit in comfortably, Phase 4 I can sit straight up. Phase 5, 6…will be to get 5’5″ Papa/Daddy in and end with 6’2″ Hubby/Baba, inshaAllah (God willing).

Autobiographical poem

Give facts about the poet written by him/herself.

Autobiographical Poetry Prompts

1. Think of four adjectives to describe yourself.
2. Think of three adverbs that describe the way you act sometimes.
3. Think of three people, places, or things that you love. Remember that a person, place, or thing is a noun.

Brainstorming:

Together, my 6 year old and I came up with:

1. Happy, Funny, Good sense of humor & tiny
2. Silly, fearless, dress stylish, writes neatly
3. Baba & Mama I love, I love home, I love rabbits and horses

We couldn’t finish the autobiographical poem and moved on to Couplets & Limericks and combined to two to come up with:

Couplet

Fun, simple 2-line poem that rhymes and is often funny.

Fun examples were found here. And, once we read what a Limerick was, we decided to join forces…

Limerick

Funny little poem with 5 lines and rhyming pattern AABBA

- This was more difficult to do, we (my 9 & 6 yo and I) came up with it all together.

A- Horses and rabbits are some of my favorite things,

A- My baba is so funny and I love him–he’s my king,

B- I’m tiny like my mama,

B- And, fearless like Baba,

A- Nasheeds make me happy–they’re the only songs I sing.

We’re trying to write a limerick- to end with ‘ring’

When I’m silly, happy and making jokes, nasheeds I love to sing!…

Back to the Poetry Contest Theme…

Since we (and no single person) will never spend a day with the Prophet, inshaAllah, except in Jennah, we believed that envisioning a made-up past is useless, and not acceptable. So, we spent some good quality time as a family studying directly from the Qur’an & Sunnah.

Sonnet

- 14 line poem with 3 quatrains (4-rhyming lines) and ends with 1 couplet (2-rhyming lines). rhyming scheme/pattern:
ABAB
CDCD
EFEF
GG

Beautiful and a bit too hard to make up on the spot, we found more examples to help us here.

Simple Rhyming Poems

Rhythms and rhymes commonly and easily written by kids, that basically has the last rhyming syllable–a title we totally made up, because we know they exists.
Last, a simple rhyhming poem by our 8 year old,

“A Day in Jennah with the Prophet”

I would “As-salamu alaykum” to the Prophet.
He would reply “Wa-alaykum as-salam” and then, we’d knit.
We would read Qur’an together as we sit.
We’ll also enjoy playing with my Science kits.
Then, we’d eat a vanilla banana split.

The most adorable thing about ending this Poetry lesson was our 8 year old would totally do all these things, inshaAllah. Sitting in this living room right now, her knitting set is sitting right next to her, we haven’t used all our Science kits which are in the corner of this room, we are/were reading the Qu’ran sitting on the dining room floor, and well–what kid doesn’t love vanilla banana splits!?

So, there you have it, our Lesson Plan as we creatively had an Islamic and Literacy lesson to effortlessly, painlessly, and rather quickly teach Kids to Write Poems.

Have some Kids Poetry Lessons or Tips to share!? Please comment below! Better yet, post it on your blog–or anything related to Homeschooling, and grab our HomeSchool never Stops on Saturday button & link to this post!

photo credit: qwrrty

Teaching Kids How to Write Poetry – Fun Lesson Plan is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

Having participated in this poetry contest last year, my girls are eager to use creative words to share their love and admiration of our beloved Prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) again this year. It should be more interesting this year too, because we’ve been studying the various types of poetry. So, this is a perfect Language Arts and Islamic Studies/Deen project to join in.

From the page

“The Praised One” 2010

5th Annual Poetry Competition about Prophet Muhammad(SAW)
Theme: “A Day with the Prophet(S)”

Northstar School invites all Young Muslims (7 -12 years) to join this Competition!

WINNERS

According to age group (7-9) & (10-12)
Announced at Northstar Fundraising Dinner in April, 2010
Will be awarded a Trophy and Certificate signed by the Judges
POEM CRITERIA
1. Must match current contest theme (above)
2. Must be postmarked between Feb 22nd & Mar 5th, 2010
3. Must be CHILD’s original poetry in their own words
4. Must be submitted with signed Entry Form online
5. Must NOT have won any other competition or have been published

NEW! ARABIC version of “The Praised One” Competition Praise Rasulallah(s) in the Language of the Quran NO THEME, write a poem in Arabic about Rasulallah (saw). Competition for ages (10-13) & (14-17).

Download Poetry Contest Flier

Download Entry Rules

Download Entry Form
POETRY WORKSHOPS
In addition this year we have 2 workshops to help inspire kids:

1. English Workshop is a one day event (Saturday, Feb. 6th) at MCA in Santa Clara, CA. Deadline to register, Feb 2nd.
2. The Arabic Workshop is aimed at producing a 4-6 line poem by the end of February. This workshop is a series of 3 Saturdays (Feb. 13th, 20th, 27th) at Northstar School in Hayward, CA. Basic Arabic knowledge is required in order to benefit. Deadline to register, Feb 9th.

Download Poetry Workshop Flier

Any Questions in regard to the poetry contest? please email:  poetry@northstarschool.org

5th Annual “The Praised One” Poetry Contest is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

The popular Muhammad Nabeena nasheed which is played in shops in Makkah and Madina plays in our home and the girls’ cell phones throughout most of our blessed days. I believe all Muslim kids should embrace and memorize this beautiful nasheed. Alhumdulilah, this brother took pictures from Umrah and Hajj, made a gorgeous slideshow with English translation. In the right info. bar at youtube, he even writes the transliteration of the Arabic of the full nasheed.

May Allah bless you dearly in this dunya (life) and the akhira (Hereafter). Ameen.

InshaAllah (God willing), we will introduce new Muslim Kids Weekly Videos every Sunday, and keep them nicely categorized for you under the “Nasheeds” category.

Muslim Kids Weekly Video – Muhammad Nabina (My Prophet Muhammad) is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog