Trapped!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Before Ramadan, we were exploring the One Small Square series, but we took a break to review The Lonely Scarecrow. Let's stay sidetracked for a little while longer. Have you read Trapped! A Whale's Rescue, yet? No, well head to your local library and search the shelves, because this is a really good book! Read this review from Booklist and you'll see what I mean. 

"Based on an event that took place near San Francisco in 2005, this picture book depicts a humpback whale swimming, diving, and feeding freely until she becomes entangled in abandoned, drifting nets. Her struggles draw the ropes tighter until, trapped, she stops and lies still. Boats bring rescuers to the scene. Five divers cut the lines, one by one, until the whale can swim again. "She moves among the cheering rescuers, softly nudging each one, as if saying thanks." The whale breaches and swims away. In Minor's beautifully composed gouache paintings, the whale is a silent but enormously empathetic character. Several appended pages offer more information about the actual event, whale rescues in general, and humpback whales in particular. Adults reading the book aloud may want to introduce words such as spyhop, lobtail, fluke, and krill before beginning, to avoid breaking the cadence of the writing once the story is underway. Like the stately illustrations, the precise prose has a dignity that is worthy of its subject and unusual in a picture book for preschool and primary-grade children. Although the episode of the whale's entrapment and release is short, it will linger in young listeners' minds long after the book is closed."
-Booklist

The prose and tone of this book very effectively take the reader under the water, and readers will very likely hold their breath, feel a burst of concern as the whale struggles, and cheer when the whale is freed. 

And the paintings...well...subhanallaah...they are just as strong and as captivating as the prose. Have a look (But you will really need to check this book out to appreciate its strength and beauty):

Source

Source

Young children will be able to see, easily, how large and stunning whales are. What an excellent opportunity to reinforce (or teach) how Great Allaah is! This is definitely a book to consider purchasing for your classroom//homeschool classroom. 

We will return to our review of the One Small Square series (maybe - if other great books keep coming to my attention, we may not make it back to One Small Square!) in the future in shaa' Allaah. 

**A note of caution: In the back of the book, there are pages that give more information about whales and, unfortunately, in the "Did You Know" section there is a sentence that is unislaamic; it is shirk, so children should not be allowed to read this section alone.

Until the next book in shaa' Allaah

The Lonley Scarecrow

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today, we will take a break from our review of the One Small Square Series to review The Lonely Scarecrow in'shaa Allaah.

This book is a wonderful choice for read-aloud time because the story lends itself to discussions about treating others kindly. In this story, a scarecrow longs to be friends with the animals that live in the field in which he stands, but the animals are afraid to approach him because of his looks. They do not realize that the scarecrow is kind and even though he looks menacing and scary, he is not. 

There are so many concepts that this book can help children discuss and understand: compassion and tolerance are two, and you can also teach character analysis with this book.

Here is what Amzon.com has to say about The Lonely Scarecrow : A kindly scarecrow wants to be friends with the birds and animals that play at the edge of his wheat field, but they are afraid of him because of his clothing and "his beady eyes, his crooked nose, and his jagged metal mouth." Many animals watch him, but none dare to approach him. As winter arrives, the creatures run home to their burrows and nests. Then one night, snow falls and turns the scarecrow into a jolly snowman, and the animals play with him. Though he is happy now, he worries that when the snow melts, he will be alone again. But his fears are unfounded; the animals are surprised to learn his true identity, but they love him just the same.

How would you use this book in your home-classroom/ traditional classroom?

Until the next book in'shaa Allaah...

One Small Square, One Big Adventure

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

In the last post, I mentioned how delightful it is to find a book that teaches children important concepts and is beautifully illustrated.  In this post, and upcoming posts in'shaa Allaah, a series of books will be reviewed that also have these two attributes. The first book to be reviewed from the series is One Small Square.
 

There are so many things about this book that children can enjoy. The illustrations are beautiful, the tone makes readers feel as if they are being led through the woods by a tour guide who is carefully and quietly telling them about all of the wonderful things can be found in the woods - if only one is looking - and the activities are engaging and appeal to children's natural curiosity. The wonder doesn't end there. In the back of the book, in a black and white square, children are invited to find animals and insects that were featured in the book and there are several pages that picture and name the animals, insects, and plants that appeared in the book.

This is a book that you can read aloud to children, bits at a time, and then place in your home or classroom library and allow children to pour over the pages and discover so many ayaat of Allaah. This is also a book that can be enjoyed in every season because the author features the woods in each season and provides an activity (and in some seasons, activities) that children can complete independently in many cases.

Children in grades 1-4 may enjoy this book very, very much! There is only one point/sentence in the book that parents and/or teachers will need to modify: Educators will need to remind children that what occurs in the natural world only does so by the Permission of Allaah. Children must also be reminded that nature does not create anything nor does it sustain or provide for itself, independent of Allaah's Mercy or Permission.

From Amazon.com: The woods are full of puzzles to be solved, clues to be found. Inspired by this book's hints and fun-filled experiments and activities, and using only simple equipment, young readers unlock the closely guarded secrets of the woods­­ from the strange meetings of lazy butterflies, to the miraculous "walking" of a twig, to the riddle of why the leaves turn color and fall. One small square at a time, these "detectives" plunge deeper and deeper into ancient mysteries­­ without ever getting lost. Beautifully illustrated, Woods offers a picture field guide, a glossary-index, and a resource list.

Until the next book in'shaa Allaah....

Mini-Mu'min.com Launches Free Online Bookroom!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

What a wonderful bit of news to share! Mini-Mu'min Publications has launched a FREE online bookroom where you can read many of their books in their entirety for free in digital e-book format! Masha'Allaah! Presented in colouful high-quality flip books, each book has sound and zoom features, making this an experience that children may really enjoy insha'Allaah.

Many of their stories rhyme which is a great way to help children remember words, begin to recognize word patterns. Rhyme is an important aspect in children's literacy education for several reasons: Rhymes are easy for children to learn, have fun with and remember. For emergent readers, rhyme is very important because it helps children learn about the language by making it easy for them to hear and learn word families (i.e. bat, sat, mat, rat, etc.). Rhyme also helps teach phonemic awareness which is a key factor in learning to read. Phonemic awareness helps children successfully navigate the sounds of a language because it helps them become aware that units of sound make words. And that knowledge, by the Permission of Allaah, helps lead to reading success insha'Allaah!

Another, and a big, plus about these books is that they are illustrated without the use of facial features! Beautiful, brightly coloured fun illustrations grace the pages of the books and this makes the books very appealing masha'Allaah. If you have never read any of the Mini-Mu'min books, I think you (and your child(ren) will enjoy these books. And if you have read them, then perhaps you might enjoy reading more of their titles....FREE!

Check out Mini-Mu'min's Free Bookroom here!

Literacy Checklist - Check it out!

Assalamu alaikum,

The other day, sis Saraa from UmmahReads posted a link to an outstanding literacy checklist....jazakillahu khayr dear sis! It's been on my mind to mention her post here since that day but finding the time...alhamdulillah.

If you have not already visited her blog and read (and downloaded) this checklist, please do. These are some of the standards that teachers are asked and trained to meet. At various workshops, teachers are taught strategies to help them make lifelong readers of their students insha'Allaah. Using this checklist, I believe parents can easily adopt these points at home insha'Allaah and help their children learn to love the printed word.

Read sis Saraa's post here insha'Allaah!

Jazakillahu Khayr once again dear sis Saraa!

**I forgot to mention, of course, please omit any parts that suggest the use of music or anything that contridicts the Shari'ah. Barak Allaahu feekum!**

Reading with Babies, Toddlers and Twos

Assalamu alaikum,

This is a book I'm happily enjoying right now alhamdulillah.

This book is small, square and one I am so glad that I bought alhamdulillah. Full of useful tips to help parents, teachers, grandparents, and caregivers, choose books for babies, toddlers and twos; know what to expect at each developmental stage when reading aloud to a child (i.e. will the book be sucked on, thrown, or torn, etc.) and of course, the wonderful benefits of reading to your child are abundant and well placed throughout the book. The book also features small snippets of other parents' adventures when reading to their child (it helps to know that you're not the only parent who has had a child crawl (or walk) away right in the middle of a read aloud! *smile*).

The book has one feature that I really like: it helps parents recognize patterns in the types of books their child likes. For instance, they suggest that you ask yourself, "Do the books that my child likes all have bold or subtle illustrations?", "Do the characters talk?", and several other probing questions that help you see beyond the immediately noticeable similarities and help you see what your baby might be seeing in each book that makes it his/her favourite book to be read aloud.

I think this would make a nice gift for a sister who is expecting (that way she has time to read it insha'Allah, before baby comes...lol). This was another Amazon.com bargain that I found and I hope that you will be able to find it in your local library insha'Allah.

Reading With Your Young Child

Assalamu alaikum,

This book, Reading With Your Young Child, was one of several books put into my hand by the local librarian.

The book covers ages 0-5. Although many of the books recommended by the authors are not Islamically appropriate (but there are some that are appropriate alhamdulillah), the authors provide suggestions about how to choose books for your child, how to enrich your reading time with your child, ways to build literacy and language skills, when and where to read to your child as they grow, and lots more! A great guide to helping you make the most out of your read aloud time with your child insha'Allah. Also, you can easily implement many of the strategies outlined in the book when reading the Quran aloud to your child insha'Allah.

Have you read?

Assalamu aliakum,

A student brought this book to class one day but I can't remember the story:

I was thinking this might be a good pick for Together We Read in July insha'Allah. Have you read this book? If so, can you tell me about the story insha'Allah? Jazakum Allahu Khayran!