Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

After seeing this book on the Internet for many months and I have finally decided to read it.

Initially, I did not find myself inclined to place this book on my "Would like to read insha'Allaah" list because I find the Montessori method of education to be sound in many ways and whatever parts I feel either contradict Islaam or do not apply to my classroom, I leave them. I was under the impression that the book was written with the goal of convincing nay-Sayers or those who were considering Montessori for their child(ren) and wanted to know more about this style of educating children.

After reading about two chapters, the book appears to be one whose primary purpose is to present Montessori in light of the scientific research that has been conducted in the fields of psychology and cognitive science that seek to better understand how human beings learn. The author uses available psychological research literature to evaluate the Montessori method of educating children and she also addresses how she feels Montessori education is a much better alternative than the current school system prevalent today. She points out that, in her opinion, the method of educating children that is widely used today is based on flawed assumptions and systems that are applicable to factories but not to children.

In her book, author Angeline Stoll Lillard looks at eight of Maria Montessori's insights on how people learn and she applies current and past research to these insights to evaluate if they are sound. Not replete with scientific terminology (to make the reading assessable to parents and teachers), the book may be of interest to parents and/or teachers who seek to understand the pedagogy behind the Montessori method. If this interest is not there, parents may not find the book very engaging or even a bit technical...waallaahu a'lam.

pages: 346

This video (6 minutes long) compares/contrasts between Montessori Education and Traditional Education. And there is another video of this same nature that may further explain Lillard's comment that 

the method of educating children that is widely used today is based on flawed assumptions and systems that are applicable to factories but not to children

Second video is roughly 11 minutes long:

Storytime: رحلة فاشلة (Failed Trip)

  السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

 

 رحلة فاشلة

 

 

In رحلة فاشلة (Failed Trip) a little kitten learns to be satisfied with what he has. After a cat named Qaatqut comes to visit Bisbis and remarks that he eats fish every day while Bisbis only eats fish twice a month, Bisbis accepts an invitiation from Qaatqut to visit a nearby market so he can eat fish every day as Qaatqut has said they will. During the trip, Bisbis looses Qaatqut and cannot not find him but he also does not know the way back to his house. 

 

This is a cute story that has, alhamdulillaah, the characters calling on Allaah for aide and also finding the way home by remembering that there is a masjid near their owners house. 

Alhamdulillaah, a story with a nice message to be grateful for what Allaah has provided you with and not look at what others have and in doing so not be satisfied with your rizq.

RTL: Busy Boats

  السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title: Busy Boats
Author: Susan Steggall
Islamically Appropriate?: Yes
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book

Age Group: 4-8

Book Review: Following a fishing boat that leaves port in the morning and returns in the afternoon, this visual feast of a book illustrates many of the vessels to be seen in a typical harbour. From freighters being loaded with cargo, lifeboats, a ferry, speed boats, rowing boats and yachts, to an ocean liner, this is a book that celebrates the variety and beauty of boats and ships of every kind. Accompanied by a rhyming and rhythmic text that will delight the youngest readers, this is a great book for adults and young children to share.The pictures are bursting with colour ...An information story as interesting as lively as this will reinforce in young minds the message that print books can be exciting and relevant.' - (Review from Books for Keeps).

This book may nicely compliment a transportation theme. 

Until the next read insha'Allaah....

RTL: The Baby in the Hat

  السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title:The Baby in the Hat
Author: Allan Ahlberg
Islamically Appropriate?: No
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book
Age Group: 2-5
Book Review: Tells the story of a boy who is supposed to have caught a baby who fell from the window with his hat. The boy was given a monetary reward by the parents and he used this to buy a train ticket and ended up falling on board a ship. The story follows the boys adventure until he becomes a man. There is a graphic pirate ship battle illustration with an amount of violence parents may not be comfortable with. There is also a wedding scene, a mermaid and a falling in love incident in the story; Concepts which contradict Islaamic legislation.

Until the next read insha'Allaah....

Storytime: ألوان ألمير (Elmer's Colours)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

ألوان ألمير (Elmer's Colours)

As the title suggests, children learn about different colours in Elmer's Colours. For children who are learning to read in Arabic or who are learning Arabic and English simultaneously, this book has easy to read text that children may be able to read independently rather quickly...waallaahu a'lam. 

 The fact that the elephant itself is an array of colours certainly helps to reinforce the colour concept but I wonder if it will also be a distraction. What do you think? I can easily imagine students calling out the different colours they see on the elephant as the story is being read aloud. Often during storytime, we want students to be involved in the storytelling but there are limits (i.e. when it becomes so distracting to the storyteller and other children who are trying to listen to the story but can't due to the commotion). Maybe this book is best reserved for family storytime?

When reading the story aloud, the name of the elephant can easily be changed by the storyteller or if you are a parent/teacher who chooses to keep make-believe at bay until after your child(ren) has/have a firm understanding of reality vs. imaginary (as some parents/teachers wish to do), you can simply say elephant. This is one of the many benefits of reading aloud *smile*...you can alter the story to fit your family's needs and  preferences. So Elmer becomes Ahmad, Ahmad becomes Nada, etc. 

If you do not find this book in your local library and would like to order it, you can do so here insha'Allaah. You can also ask your library to add it to their collection insha'Allaah.

RTL: Oliver Who Would Not Sleep!

  السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title: Oliver Who Would Not Sleep!
Author: Mara Bergman
Islamically Appropriate?: No
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book
Age Group: 2-5
Book Review:Oliver is a little boy who, when bedtime comes, does what most young children do....they don't sleep. Like many children, Oliver gets out of bed, plays with his toys and lets his imagination run wild.The story has magic in it and also one line of text (and illustration) seems to put yawning nice and big and loud in a nice light but the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa salam) taught us that yawning is from the shaytaan so this is a behaviour we do not wish to encourage our children to adapt...waallaahu a'lam.

Until the next read insha'Allaah....

RTL: The Friend

  السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title:The Friend
Author: John Burningham
Islamically Appropriate?: No
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book
Age Group: 2-5
Book Review: Told from the perspective of a little boy, this story explores one of the facets of childhood: having a best friend. Fun, fights and making up are concepts explored in the story but some gestures are not those that Muslim children should adapt as the Prophet (sallaallaahu alayhi wa salam) has instructed us to have the best manners and that we want for our brother what we want for ourselves. Fighting between friends does happen but how we teach our children to react in those situations is key in raising children with good manners. The story itself does not appear to encourage the gestures that are pictured in the illustrations but we also do not wish to introduce a disliked gesture to our children...waallaahu a'lam. There is also an illustration showing the two boys watching television and many parents do not wish their children to be introduced to this habit as well. 

Until the next read insha'Allaah....

RTL: Red Sled

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركا

 

Book Title: Red Sled

Author: Patricia Thomas

Islamically Appropriate?: Yes

Genre: Fiction

Book Format: Picture Book

Age Group: 4-8

Book Review: This is a story-poem about a father and son's late night sledding adventure. The story is written in what the author says is an adaptation of a poem whose elements are in the A B B A form (of poetry) and combine to make a mirror image. The story-poem in this book is short and all of the words in the sentences rhyme. Most of the words are rhyming action words that help set the pace of the story. An example of from text (not in order from the story): Red sled. Still hill. Far star. Snow aglow. To add to the fun rhyming pace, the illustrations are bright and help children understand the story-poem better.  There's even hot chocolate in the story! This may be a good book to use for any Winter themes coming up....Allaahu a'lam. You can design many activities around the story too: 1). making sleds from Popsicle sticks 2). making hot chocolate together 3). make a rhyming word memory game using the words from the story 4). make snow ball cookies and lost more!

I also decided to try writing a poem with this type of form:

Deen.

Make wudu.

Me . You.

There prayer.

Cover hair.

Saves from sin.

Women and men.

Cleans the heart.

Sets us apart.

Upon Tawheed.

Humanities need.

One. One.

No son.

Deen.

 
Care to share a poem using this style? You might even invite your students/children to try writing a poem using this form too.

Until the next read insha'Allaah...

RTL: Babies

 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title: Babies
Author: Ros Asquith
Islamically Appropriate?: Yes
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book
Age Group: 0-2
Book Review: This is a book intended to be read aloud to babies by/with their caregiver. The story depicts typical baby behaviours, those that we find endearing and those that do not necessarily fall into that category *smile*. The story ends with the parent/caregiver having the opportunity to tell baby that the baby that is loved best by mother/father/grandfather/etc. is the person baby will see in the mirror at the end of the book: baby himself/herself. 

Until the next read insha'Allaah...

Storytime: Clang! Clang!, Beep! Beep!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركا

 Storytime for today is Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep! Listen To The City by Robert Burleigh

This story with its short rhyming verses may immediately capture young ears (and their attention). The story begins with the little boy sleeping and upon waking up we journey with him as he travels around the bustling, busy city. Landscapes and different types of transportation vehicles commonly found in large cities are sprinkled throughout the story and bright illustrations show scenes of the city from sunrise to sunset. Have a peek at some of the interior pages insha'Allaah:

 Bridge arms lifting; Barges drifting

 Drivers shouting; In-and-outing

Picture source

RTL: Hello! Goodbye!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title: Hello! Goodbye!
Author: Aliki
Islamically Appropriate?: No
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book
Age Group: 3-6
Book Review: Told from a multicultural perspective, Hello! Goodbye! is intended to teach children that these two words can contain many subtleties and different meanings depending on factors such as location, situation, etc. The story also intends to teach children the varying emotions that can accompany those two words - again depending on the situation in which they are used. In several places, the text and illustrations contain concepts and ideas that Islaam does not approve of. For instance there is a ghost, people bowing to each other, musical fanfares, etc. Perhaps, I will find another book in the library that essentially teaches the same concept but is Islamically appropriate insha'Allaah.

Until the next read insha'Allaah....

RTL: My Kitten

  السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title: My Kitten
Author: Margaret O'Hair
Islamically Appropriate?: Yes
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book
Age Group: 2-5
Book Review: A little girl gets a new kitten and she lovingly enjoys watching it play, sleep and engage in all of the activities kittens are notorious for. The story is written as a poem and its rhythm and rhyme are very nice. There is a picture and text of the girl and kitten yawning but the girl is covering her mouth which is from the good manners. This page can be a teaching point wherein children learn what we say when we yawn and the manners we should observe when yawning. There is also a picture of the girl standing while she is drinking. As this is not from the sunnah, it can be pointed out that we sit while drinking as the Prophet -sallallaahu alayhi wa salam- did. Overall the story is quite suitable and the illustrations are very nice. The colours in the art work are very likely to attract young listeners. 

My Kitten is a book that will be used for storytime insha'Allaah and may appear on the teachers bookshelf too! *smile*

Until the next read insha'Allaah....

RTL: The Ways I Will Love You

 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title: The Ways I Will Love You
Author: Rachel Boehm
Islamically Appropriate?: No
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Board Book
Age Group: 0-4
Book Review: This story is of a mother telling her child the many ways she will love him. The mother mentions that she will love her child with toys, visits to the library and the zoo, with shape sorters and games and walks in the park. The first lines of the story include the mother telling her child she will love him with music and throughout the book the family dog is present. For these two reasons (i.e. the music and the family dog), I would not recommend this book. If the dog had been absent, I think I would have been inclinded to suggest an alternative way to read the verse that contains the mention of music and then list this book as a recommended one, but as infants and toddlers take in everything around them (visually and auditory) without an ability to discriminate between that which is beneficial and that which is harmful, I would not suggest this book, despite the fact that the story has some nice aspects. 

Until the next read insha'Allaah....

Book Reflections: The Book Whisperer

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Written by a grade 6 teacher, the Book Whisperer explores how the author rejects conventional means of teaching children reading and comprehension. Instead of book reports, worksheets, comprehension tests, vocabulary lists and other common resources used to teach children reading, this teacher has developed her own unconventional method to teach children to love reading.

[Starred review] Miller, a sixth-grade language arts and social studies teacher and blogger, has enabled students of many different backgrounds to enjoy reading and to be good at it; her students regularly score high on the Texas standardized tests. Her approach is simple yet provocative: affirm the reader in every student, allow students to choose their own books, carve out extra reading time, model authentic reading behaviors, discard timeworn reading assignments such as book reports and comprehension worksheets, and develop a classroom library filled with high-interest books. Her students regularly read more than 40 books in a school year and leave her classroom with an appreciation and love of books and reading. Miller provides many tips for teachers and parents and includes a useful list of ultimate reading suggestions picked by her students. This outstanding contribution to the literature is highly recommended for teachers, parents, and others serving young students.—Mark Bay, Univ. of the Cumberlands Lib., Williamsburg, KY (Library Journal, March 15, 2009)

Many, many aspects of this book appealed to me. Among them, not requiring that an entire class be reading the exact same book and be on the same page at the exact same time in the school year (i.e. class novel studies). Novel studies are very common in classrooms but I found myself agreeing with the author that perhaps many students simply do not enjoy novel studies and the teacher finds herself forcing the children to read the book or trying means of enticing them to finish the book (i.e. rewards or punishment) but in the end, after the test on the novel, many students do not remember a thing about the book and/or they find themselves loathing the idea of reading (or do some teachers successfully conduct novel studies without students bemoaning the process and actually becoming students who love to read?). By allowing students to choose what books they read based on what interests them, students will want to read and will read...many times voraciously.  Here, I must clarify that the author does not advocated allowing children to read anything and everything they want but she does advocate giving them an appropriate selection of books from many genres from which they can choose the book they would like to read. This, in principal, cannot be applied in its totality in Islamic schools or homes due to the fact that the genre of fantasy for example, almost always includes magic, shirk, etc. Children must also read things that perhaps they would not choose simply because it is good for them in dunya and al-akhira. The Quraan for example, is a book that we must encourage and require our children to read and the authentic ahadith as well. Books of knowledge from the scholars of Islaam are also books that our children must be encouraged and required to read. Allaah says: 

وَعَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَن تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

...and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know. 

{  سورة البقرة  , Al-Baqara, ayat 216}

Aside from the aforementioned point, I found myself agreeing with several ideas of the author but then found myself a bit dismayed. One of the first questions that arose from my reading was "Given the fact that many, many, many of the books available on the market today are simply unislamic we cannot allow our children to read them. So with this disappointingly limited amount of Islamically appropriate books on the market, how will Muslim children have a vast (well, okay large) selection of books to choose from? Because of this limited number of Islamically appropriate books (from grade 2 and up it seems...waallaahu a'lam) will Muslim teachers find themselves falling back on the novel studies time and time again because there are not enough Islamically appropriate books available for our students to self-select the books they will read? How will Muslim teachers help their students develop into individuals who love to read?

As teachers and parents we are obligated to refuse certain literature/genres due to the unislamic content but we also do want to develop our children's love of reading. How do we do this without extinguishing the joy of learning? 

I have touched on very little of what The Book Whisperer contains (the book is about much more than just novel studies and why she rejects them) and what the author advocates and denounces. Perhaps you will wish to read the book and decide for yourself. 

And of your students/children? What methods do you use to develop their love of reading? If you teach or homeschool, what are your opinions of novel studies? Do you use the commercially available novel study packs? How do your students/children respond to them? Do you allow your students/children to self-select what they will read? The author requires her students to read 40 books (from many genres) throughout the school year, do you have a requirement for your students/children? If so, what is your requirement? How do you determine it?

Faboulous Fishes

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

The summer draws to a close and the new school has begun alhamdulillaah. Your students/children may enjoy this book which teaches about various types of fish in the ocean. If they have had a chance to visit the ocean or sea this summer, children may enjoy knowing about the vibrant world below the water.

Fabulous Fishes by Susan Stockdale is a fun and colourful exploration of fish. Written in short rhyming verse, toddles and even young infants may enjoy this book. The vibrant, detailed illustrations alone may be sufficient to keep baby's interest insha'Allaah, and the rhyming text is the type that can be used when helping children learn to hear the ending rhyme in words. The last page has a little girl swimming underwater in her bathing suit but the view only shows her from the shoulders up. 

The last page of text is also easy to adapt to remind children that it is Allaah who is the Creator of all of the fabulous creatures we have been blessed to know about. So on the last page instead of reading "No matter what they look like, they call the water home" you can read, "No matter what they look like, Allaah made the water their home." Children may also enjoy Bring on the Birds by the same author insha'Allaah.

RTL: The Big Book of Transportation

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Book Title:The Big Book of Transportation
Author: DK Publishers
Islamically Appropriate?: Yes
Genre: Non-Fiction
Book Format: Paper Back Big Book
Age Group: 2-5
Book Review: Children get a giant view of many different types of vehicles in this giant book of things that move. Children will be introduced to some vehicles that are not common and that they may have never seen before. Snippets of information about each vehicle cover the pages and labels teaching what different parts of the vehicle are called, and what they do, are also included. Children also learn what job each vehicle does and how the vehicle does it. This book is a nice accompaniment to a transportation theme and may also be nice to have in your child's personal library insha'Allaah.

Until the next read insha'Allaah....