Homeschool 4 Muslims

Assalamoalaikum

2012-02-08T12:54:00.001+02:00

My kids are growing and my life is changing in more than one ways. I am a lot more busy now and I feel that I need to re organize stuff, spending more time on some and letting go of others. Therefore it is no more possible for me to post on this blog on a daily basis. I will post when and as I get time but this will disrupt the schedules for series posts like wednesday weekly and monthly worksheet series etc. So from now on these series are no more scheduled series so that means that wednesday weekly posts will be posted here and there and not every wednesday etc.

Jazakumullah to everyone who has encouraged me to carry on sharing and making these resources.

Wassalam

Please note…

2011-11-26T10:26:00.001+02:00

….that this blog will remain dormant for some time. Regular posting will start again in the month of January 2012, Insha Allaah.

Wassalam

Blogs For Kids

2011-11-01T16:07:00.001+02:00

“When thinking about “BLOGGING” , the untrained eye (in regards to blogging) of an educator usually will think of “Technology Integration”. When digging a little deeper he/she might recognize that blogging is more about WRITING than technology. But let’s roll blogging back even a little further and we will discover that blogging starts with READING!”
Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

To get your kids in the habit of blogging, it is important for them to first subscribe to a number of quality blogs and read them on a daily basis. Below I have compiled a list of blogs and websites whose content may appeal to young readers. Encourage them to set up their own RSS readers and start following blogs and websites before they start writing their own blogs. Many of the sites are incredible as resources for education as well.

(Sometimes some of the content available on these sites may not be appropriate for Muslim children, like the news stories about actors and singers etc. , so make sure that adult supervision is available and children have a sense of what content type may not be suitable etc.)

NEWS SITES FOR KIDS

CBBC Newsround
BBC news site for kids and teens.

GOGO News
Big news for little people.

CNN Student News
Many discussions and quizes based on news. Can be doubled as a teaching resource.

Scholastic News
Complete in-depth reports and activities on the latest news for kids.

Time for Kids
Well it is just that! TIMES for kids.

News Bites from National Geographic
Some cool bits of news with National Geographic’s signature photography.

Youngzine
News + more for the young.

MAGAZINES FOR KIDS

National Geographic Young Explorers
A must must for young kids.

Bear Essential
Many past issues are available as well to read.

Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
All about poles.

Children’s Web Magazine
A safe magazine for ages 8+

ANIMAL SITES

WWF News
Conservation news and stories.

National Geographic Stories

Zoo Borns
The newest and cutest exotic baby animals from zoos and aquariums from around the world.

MUSEUM AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC SITES

Science News for kids

Smithsonian Kids

Exploratorium Online

BLOGS BY OTHER KIDS

Miriam’s Magical Moments
Blog by a fourth grader. High content quality and nice blogging etiquettes.

Ibne Muhammad’s Blog
My son’s blog which serves as an eportfolio at the moment but we plan to make it more than that in future Insha Allaah.

Binte Muhammad’s Blog
My daughter’s blog which serves as an eportfolio at the moment but we plan to make it more than that in future insha Allaah.

Interactive Math Calendar for Nov 2011

2011-11-01T09:00:00.000+02:00

… is up! As always you can access it here. I have tried to include a diverse range of activities and as always it is suitable for kids from 7-10 years insha Allaah.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Light Bot

2011-10-26T16:42:00.001+02:00

Light Bot

Review: Light Bot is an amazing and quite addictive pre programming game for children and adults alike. You have to use programmer-style logic to tell the bot (robot) how to light up all the blue tiles! You have to use Functions, conditionals, recursions and loops! An excellent way to sharpen your logic and getting kids ready for computer programming all the while having fun. Logic and algorithm are two vital skills needed in computer programming no matter which programming language you are using and this game introduces both the skills to kids in a very informal way. There is music but it can conveniently be switched off by clicking the speaker icon in the game. There are also walkthrough videos available for the game, incase you find it too hard.

Suitable for ages: 7-70

Water Cycle Webquest

2011-10-22T12:32:00.001+02:00

I have made a webquest for my kids on the topic of water cycle. I like the idea of introducing a topic through different web activities and books. From there we go to the more hands on activities which may include experiments and further exploration.

What I like about webquets is that it eliminates “a teacher delivering information” setup. Learners are able to learn on their own with out some one delivering the information to them. It is a first step towards being a self directed learner. From webquests, I would like to go on where my children search, analyze and sift through the information on their own.

I have included some review activities at the end, some from the lower level and some from the higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. As always, this activity was made specifically for my kids, so it is suitable for an age range of 7-10 or grades 2-5.

You can access it on Muslim Kids’ Interactive Blog.

Techno Tools - TurtleArt

2011-10-20T09:00:00.000+02:00

TurtleArt is a very cool tool for not only designing your art, but for learning the basics of computer programming while having fun with colors and shapes. The website itself explains this program as:

TurtleArt lets you make images with your computer. The Turtle follows a sequence of commands. You specify the sequence by snapping together puzzle like blocs. The blocks can tell the turtle to draw lines and arcs, draw in different colors, go to a specific place on the screen, etc. There are also blocks that let you repeat or name sequences. Other blocks perform logical operations.
The sequence of blocs as a program that describes an image. This kind of programming is inspired by the LOGO programming language. It was designed to be easy enough for children and yet powerful enough for people of all ages. TurtleArt is focused on making images while allowing you to explore geometry and programming.

This is a must do for all your learners! Have a look at the gallery to see what and how others have made. This program is completely free but you need to email the developers in order to obtain a copy. I got the reply with link to download my copy fairly quickly and it has been a big hit with my kids ever since. There are five books available on the site under getting started section that guide you through using different tools in this program. Overall it is a very good quality resource.

Wednesday Weekly website–Learning Circuits

2011-10-19T09:00:00.000+02:00

Learning Circuits

Review: Learning circuits is an interactive resource that takes the children on a learning journey from very basic to more complex information about circuits and how they work. It can be a good starting point when doing a unit on electricity. Topics covered include electricity basics, simple circuits, circuit diagrams, switches, changing circuits, insulators and conductors. There is also an optional worksheet available for printing.

Suitable for ages: 7-10

Wacky Poetry Writing

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000+02:00

Use this concrete poetry maker to write your own poems about nature. Use one of the shapes provided, or draw your own shape. Then use the words to write a poem about that shape. Have fun!

JCB Explore Activities

2011-10-17T15:15:00.001+02:00

JCB Explore website has tons of activities (both online and offline) to do with your kids. activities include stuff like how to construct a river and a lake, how to build a car park, make a safety helmet, making chocolate boulders, making poetry blocks, growing seeds etc. You can filter the activities by age, by mood or situation. For example there are activities for when you are feeling calm, there are rainy day and sunny day activities etc.

More Ahadeeth Cards

2011-10-15T14:19:00.001+02:00

Here are twelve more ahadeeth cards for the Hadeeth Memorizing system.

Cards 7-12

Cards 13-18

Hadith Memorizing System

2011-10-13T22:01:00.000+02:00

I want my children to memorize as many ahadeeth as possible, my ultimate goal being that they may become hufadh of Saheeh al Bukhary, insha Allaah. I had been looking for some method which can make memorizing of Ahadeeth easier and informal, as I did not wish to formally start the task along with their Hifdhul Quraan. So when I found Charlotte Mason method of memorizing scripture, I thought I will give it a try. Up untill now it is working, without being demanding on our schedules or minds, Alhamdulillah.

I have made some Ahadeeth cards to use with this method, and I thought I will share them here, if any one wants to give this method a try as well. Right now I am taking the Ahadeeth from Tasheelul Ahadeeth series, but later I will use other authentic books as well insha Allaah. You can download the first six cards from here.

Wednesday Weekly Website–HM Spelling and Vocabulary

2011-10-05T11:37:00.001+02:00

Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary

Review: Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary is a collection of spelling and vocabulary games by Houghton and Mifflin. It is a part of the Eduplace site. You can find games and activities for grades 1-6. Basically the activities and games are supplementary to the Houghton and Mifflin text books, but you can benefit from the site even if you are not using their text books. Games are versatile and include crosswords, word builders, word sorters, mad libs, proof reading etc. These kind of games can be a fun substitute for regular spelling drills.

Suitable for ages: 5-11

Art Generator of October 2011

2011-10-04T09:00:00.000+02:00

Sketchcast is a new way to express yourself. You can draw or sketch something and record yourself doing it WITH OR WITHOUT voice. There are lots of possibilities with this tool. You can explain stuff, make tutorials or simply have fun while drawing or making art. The finished sketchcast can be shared via email or can be embedded in a blog. You will need to register in order to use this tool, but registration is free and quite easy. You can learn more about using this tool here.

Sneaking in Learning: There are really tons of activities you can use this tool in. Fro language practice, have the child draw something and describe their art. I like to use this tool in our Arabic lessons. Or children can make tutorials and how-tos. Another great way to use this tool is to let them explain mathematical and scientific concepts as end of project assessments. You can also watch others’ sketchcasts, for inspiration or to learn as many people have made tutorials on different stuff using this tool.

Worksheet Fun for October 2011

2011-10-03T13:09:00.001+02:00

I have previously posted about Scott Foresman’s grammar and writing handbook. I have found another great grammar skills book from scholastics. Just click on “skill builders” for the grade you want (1-6 grades available) and save the PDF. It is free to use and you can even download the teachers’ manual with it.

Augmented Reality–Next Generation Of Learning

2011-09-30T12:24:00.001+02:00

This article calls it wicked cool, and I kinda agree. You have to watch to believe.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Exploriments

2011-09-28T09:00:00.000+02:00

Exploriments

Review: Exploriments is a site that has interactive simulations that help students learn and understand math and science.They get to explore different topics and ask, and answer, questions like "what-if" and find the cause and effect of things. There are learning objectives for each Exploriment and everything works together and builds on previous knowledge. The Exploriments are organized by three subjects: Physics, Chemistry and Math and then further organized by topic. The free access does not give you full features, but there are some great things to use. You can upgrade to the premium access if you want to.

Suitable for ages:7-15

Big Picture Science Magazine

2011-09-26T16:06:00.001+02:00

Big Picture is a science magazine from Welcome trust. Published twice a year, it is a free post-16 resource for teachers that explores issues around biology and medicine. Past issues are also available for download. The content is high quality and can be easily used as the main lesson source on given topics. I found that some of the content is even suitable for 14+ ages. There is reference to evolution and Darwinism though, so you will need to be careful in explaining Islamic believes regarding evolution. Topics like Sex and Genders also contain material which may be unsuitable for young learners. And in the Obesity issue, some pictures are not in accordance to Islam. So you will need to review the issue before introducing it to the pupil. There are also some animations available on the site on topics like DNA, parasitic diseases, bacterial diseases etc.

Techno Tools - Twine

2011-09-22T09:00:00.000+02:00

Twine lets you organize your story graphically with a map that you can re-arrange as you work. Links automatically appear on the map as you add them to your passages, and passages with broken links are apparent at a glance. As you write, focus on your text with a fullscreen editing mode. Rapidly switch between a published version of your story and the editable one as you work. Twine is free to download and use, and you can share it with anyone you like.

The following videos will give you an idea of what twine is all about.

Creating A Simple Story from Chris Klimas on Vimeo.

Formatting a Story from Chris Klimas on Vimeo.

Finishing Touches from Chris Klimas on Vimeo.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Sun and Moon Scope

2011-09-21T09:00:00.000+02:00

Sun and Moon Scope

Review: Sun and Moon Scope is a neat interactive to help you study the relationship between earth, moon and sun. You can use it when learning about the moon phases on any given date or any other lunar/space study. Easy interface and no music! It will show you the sun and moon phase of current date, and current season. You can change the seasons or dates and see how it effects the positions of the moon and sun.

Suitable for ages: 5-50

Wacky Smoothie Writing

2011-09-20T16:32:00.001+02:00

Whip up your own smoothies, with your own recipe. If you don’t have enough ingredients in the kitchen, then try making some smoothie in this interactive smoothie maker. (make sure to turn off the speakers by clicking on the speaker icon, otherwise the music starts as you blend your smoothie.) Once you are done, write down your recipe and share. You may want to use this graphic organizer to write down your recipe. Happy smoothie-ing!

10 Free Ebooks from Scholastics

2011-09-19T10:45:00.001+02:00

Scholastic’s back to school dollar sale is expiring tomorrow. You can download from a vast collection of books in PDF format for just $1 each. And here's the best part... there is a coupon code you can enter at checkout... 10THANKS to get $10 off your order. That means that you can get 10 eBooks for FREE! I already downloaded my ten books successfully, Alhamdulillah!

Tafseer Posters

2011-09-16T13:36:00.001+02:00

I really like the method of strewing in homeschooling. Many a times, I just keep things lying around and leave it at that. Soon things start happening, great discussions and exploring takes place until we are quite done with that object and move on. I wanted to use this approach in teaching Islamic studies, as it doesn’t look at all like studying but sticks to the mind nevertheless. I started with putting up various sayings (ahadeeth) of Prophet Muhammad (saw) on our fridge and my kids responded pretty well. They read it most of the times when playing in the kitchen and many a great discussions took place while preparing supper.

Now I have started making these Tafseer posters (for the lack of any other word, though they are not like posters in the real sense, only simple printables). But rather than emphasizing on the translation or other Quraanic sciences, I wanted my children to learn what lesson Quraan offers us in any given verse. So I came up with these Quraan Tafseer posters, the first page gives you the Quraanic Arabic text (an excellent form of revision for the hufaadh by the way), followed by a descriptive translation (Dr. Mohsin Khan) and then there are some colorful cards, each card for a lesson learned from these verses. I will try and write the “lessons” in a simple language, easy enough for the younger kids, but as they are lessons from Quraan, they are beneficial for everyone. It is one of the miracles of Quraan that everyone no matter the age, gender or social standing can benefit equally from this book of Allaah, insha Allaah.

I post mine on the fridge, and the plan was NOT to point it to them or try to get them interested in them. But my plan backfired, as my little girl was very eager to type out the lessons “to share with everyone”. You can post them on your fridge with magnets or a bulletin board. The cards can be cut out or left on the sheets. You can display the cards as a bunting or make a small box and put the cards in there. Whatever works for you! You can rotate the posters every few days or whatever works best for you, insha Allaah.

Here is the first set, Surah Al Baqara verse 1-7. I will try and upload a set every one or two week, insha Allaah, but all further posting will be done on Taaleemul Quraan blog, not here so if you are interested in following through, watch out that space.

5 Pillars Game

2011-09-15T10:08:00.001+02:00

5 Pillars game is an Islamic board game designed to educate players on various aspects of the pillars of Islam. They have a facebook page, where they post all kind of fun challenges for you to answer. I particularly like their drawing challenges, where they post a picture and you have to guess what it is about. Normally the pictures represent any verse or concept from Quraan. The best part is that most of the pictures are of unanimated objects. Have a look at the following pictures and their answers:

Prophet Yousuf AS’s dream where sun, moon and eleven stars prostrate before him.

Prophet Muhammad SAW’s hijrah from Makkah to Madinah.

This kind of activity can be really appealing to kids and visual learners of all ages. You can even try your hand at making your own pictures.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Eskeleton

2011-09-14T11:53:00.001+02:00

ESkeleton

Review: ESkeleton is an excellent resource for students of anatomy. It provides an interactive environment in which to examine and learn about skeletal anatomy. The purpose of this site is to enable you to view the bones of both human and non-human primates.You can have a look at the skeletons of different animals including gorillas, chimpanzee, bush babies and lemurs etc. Click on any animal to look more closely at different bones. In the resources section there are some wonderful resources to print out, like the life size skeleton of human, (adult and child), scramble puzzles of skulls, jumble puzzles for “what are teeth” etc.

Suitable for ages: 9-15

New Resources added on Taaleemul Quraan blog

2011-09-12T13:50:00.001+02:00

I have added many new resources on my Taaleem ul Quraan blog. If you want to stay updated whenever new stuff is added there, you can follow that blog or join my facebook page where updates from all my blogs are posted.

How to increase your Arabic vocabulary

2011-09-12T13:30:00.001+02:00

Some very good practical tips on increasing your Arabic vocabulary. a very good resource.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Material World

2011-09-07T09:00:00.000+02:00

Material World

Review: Material World has been designed for use by KS1 & 2 children during lessons. Pupils will learn about materials, processes and techniques used in art through the different categories of Paint, Wood, Metal, Clay, Animal, Stone and Composite. Within each section there is information about:
. Where the material comes from.
. The different types of each material.
. The processes that are used with each material.
. How museums care for each material.
The ‘Fun’ section for each of the individual materials contains an interactive activity designed to be used by children using this site. They can gain more information about key works of art by visiting the ‘Gallery’ and unusual words are defined in the ‘Glossary’.

Although we are not big fans of all kind of arts, and as some forms of arts (like sculptures, nude art etc.) are totally prohibited in Islam, we do not study art. But I use this site as a means of introducing the different materials that make up our world.

Suitable for ages: 5-10 years.

Project Based Learning Explained

2011-09-06T09:00:00.000+02:00

I can see a lot of potential in Project based learning. This video explains the concept in plain English. What do you think about it?

Practice skimming

2011-09-05T18:18:00.001+02:00

Skimming or skim reading is an essential skill when processing information for researches etc. BBC skillwise has a nice set of activity, quiz and worksheet to practice this vital reading skill.

Worksheet Fun For September 2011

2011-09-01T09:00:00.000+02:00

Game Classroom features hundreds of worksheets on math and language arts topics for students ranging from Kindergarten through 6th grade. And while you are there, have a look at their other resources like featured games etc. and you are sure to find some thing to inspire you, insha Allaah.

One Last Resource For Ramadhan

2011-07-25T12:51:00.001+02:00

Ok so I said I will not post until after Ramadhan, but this resource I stumble upon is too good to leave out. It is a free lesson on moon phases, but what makes it so neat is the included cards to make a flip book with different phases of moon and viewing them in speed, the exactly same technique used in animation and videos. You can take it a step further and after making your paper based flip book, upload the pictures and make your own animation on computer. You can use a simple software like Power Point or specific animation tools for this purpose. Find the lesson plan here and use it as a culmination activity for your moon phase studies.

See you after Ramadan

2011-07-22T13:53:00.000+02:00

Please not that this blog will remain dormant for the duration of Ramadan. Regular posting will start after Ramadan insha Allaah.

Resources for Ramadan

2011-07-20T15:21:00.001+02:00

As the month of Ramadan is almost upon us, I just want to share a few ideas and resources from around the web.

First of all, Talibideen jr (no surprise here )has got a list of resources for pre Ramadan studies.

Talibideen Ramadan has a whole lot of resources, lessons, planners and other goodies for Ramadan.

Islamic Bulletin Boards have many printable resources for Ramadan like wall frames, lunar calendars, Ibadah tracker etc. for the whole family.

Many great books about Ramadan can be downloaded for free from Kalamullah’s Ramadan section. My personal suggestion is “30 lessons for those who fast”.

Sister at Umamah Learning academy also has many neat ideas to make learning about fasting and Ramadan more fun and meaningful.

Have a look at Pictures and printouts for Ramadan lapbook from Raising Muslims.

Look at many wonderful activities presented by Hand made beginnings for the young learners.

And sister umm Nauman over at a muslim child is born has many treasures at her blog for young Muslims to learn about Ramadan.

That’s it! There may be many more Ramadan resources out there but these are the few that I found in my short search. If you know of any other resources, please share them via comments below. Have a radiant Ramadan and remember me and my family in your duaas.

Taaleem ul Quraan

2011-07-20T13:46:00.001+02:00

I have been busy over the last few days, busy organizing the resources on my blogs and getting them ready for my new schedule of posting insha Allaah. While organizing resources on my Quran study page, I decided that the resources about teaching Quraan need a place of their own. Not only because they are many in number, but also because I have a string of new resources, some of them ready to be posted and some still in the making. So I have made a new blog Taleem ul Quraan. You can also access this blog from the Quraan Study link on the side bar.

Taaleem ul Quraan contains all the resources I have shared on this blog about Quraan and some resources that I haven’t shared here. A lot more additions are going to be made to this blog after Ramadhan insha Allaah so stay tuned.

103 Creative Ways To Teach Geography

2011-07-04T11:44:00.001+02:00

Some very good ideas can be found in this presentation.

Math Interactive Calendar for July…

2011-07-01T16:14:00.001+02:00

….is available now. You can access it here as usual.

Write a novel with Nanowrimo

2011-06-30T09:00:00.000+02:00

NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month takes place every November. Writers sign-up for the challenge through the NaNoWriMo’s website any time during the year but must write and submit the novel between November 1 and November 30 i.e. they have to write a novel in exactly thirty days which may sound over whelming but NaNoWriMo is there to help you with the process.

According to the website : “The thing that matters most in NaNoWriMo is output. Our high-velocity approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: you will be writing a lot of strange stuff, and some of it will be just plain bad. But that's a good thing! For 30 days, you get to lock that inner editor in the basement, let your imagination take over, and just create!”

Even if your young learners have never written a novel, you can still participate in this event. NaNoWriMo’s resources section contains free, detailed, and downloadable workbooks to take the budding writers on a detailed novel writing journey. The "100% Awesome NON-LAME workbooks" are highly recommended because they help writers learn about the elements of a novel and provide plenty of explanation in an engaging way. The workbooks are available for elementary, middle, and high school levels. NaNoWriMo also features tips from published authors, links to other writing challenges, and a blog-style section for event-related news.

Participating in the event is free and fun and although there are no fancy prizes to win but the satisfaction of completing the challenge is the real reward. Adults who sign up for the challenge have thirty days to write 50,000 words. Young writers under the age of seventeen are encouraged to choose their own challenging word count goal.

Even if your learners are not interested in signing up for the challenge, the resources available on the site are excellent to use. Check out the resources page and educators page for more helpful ideas. Also don’t forget to check out young writer’s page if your learners are younger than 13. I absolutely loved the Dare Machine and some of the lesson plans are very good too.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Nobelprize Education

2011-06-29T09:00:00.000+02:00

Nobelprize Education

Review: While I do not agree with the criteria based upon which nobelprizes are given, (recent nobleprizes for peace, for instance) there is some very good educational material available on their website at Nobelprize Education. There are animated games and simulations, based on Nobel Prize-awarded achievements, that will teach the concepts in a fun and inspiring way. There are games and simulations on tons of topics. Some of the games are easy enough for early elementary aged children, while some are geared to more advance topics. Through these games children can learn things like what is a blood type, how immune system works, what are x rays, how is malaria cured, what is DNA, understand insulin and diabetes, what are conductive polymers, what is genetic code, to name only a few. I haven’t seen all the games/simulations so I don’t know about music etc, but the ones I have seen didn’t have music and they were quite straightforward and easy to understand. Use this site as an aid when teaching any of the topics or on its own. Take your time exploring this wealth of knowledge, as speeding through it can be a bit over whelming for some non-scientific learners.

Suitable for ages: 8-18

Preschool activities

2011-06-28T09:00:00.000+02:00

There are so many interesting ideas and activities for preschoolers and kindergarten aged children that I find around everyday on net. I wish I had found them a few years back! Even though I don’t have a preschooler to teach, I keep collecting these delightful activities and ideas and for those of you who do have preschoolers or early years learners, I want to share them. You can find all them here. Please note that I keep on adding activities as I find them, so if you like what I like, follow my board.

Techno Tools–AlQuran plugin for MS Word

2011-06-27T10:37:00.001+02:00

Al Quran plugin for Microsoft Word is a useful tool when you are working with Quranic text. Download the plugin and when you want to write a Quranic verse in Word, just type the number of verse and name of sura and the verse will be inserted automatically for you. You can choose from Arabic text and translations in a number of languages. When working with the holy Quraan, it is important to make sure that there is no mistake in the actual text or in the translation. Using this plugin not only assures that the text and translation of the holy Quraan is correct, it can make proofing of your work easier and quicker, insha Allaah.

Free Islamic Studies Text Books

2011-06-23T09:00:00.000+02:00

There are 4 Islamic studies textbooks for grade 1 to 4 available at Free Islamic Textbooks. I haven’t downloaded all, so I can not review all of them personally, but the one I downloaded seemed good though not much interesting. But they can be used as spines if you want an Islamic curriculum. You can add activities here and there to make them more interesting insha Allaah. Unfortunately the textbooks contain drawings of animated beings, so make sure your child knows it is wrong.

Wednesday Weekly Website–A Dog’s Life

2011-06-22T09:00:00.000+02:00

A Dog’s Life

Review: A Dog’s Life is a superb interactive from Scholastic. It is based on a book of the same name by Ann M. Martin. This book is an autobiography of a stray dog named Squirrel. This site is choked full of stuff to explore. Younger kids can make the dog on the screen move, make him sleep, give him a ball to play, make him eat or drink or hear the author read excerpts from the book. Older children can read an interactive story about Bone, Squirrel’s brother, in Bone travels on who also appeared in the original book. Children can make choices for Bone which will influence the story. In Create a Tale they can think up a new adventure for squirrel or any other character in the book and write a story and illustrate it. Children can also learn about how the book was created and see many drafts from the author. They can read/listen about how the author started writing, learn the differences between human and doggy senses, find fun facts about dog paws, learn more about breeds of dogs, create their own hybrid breeds and a lot more. Even if you or your child haven’t read the book, you can still benefit from this website. There is no music which is a definite plus.

Suitable for ages: 3-12

Wacky Bookmark Writing

2011-06-21T09:00:00.000+02:00

Do you think writing motivational sentences is easy? Think again! Motivational sentences can be so droll if not plain boring and quotes like “The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.” often makes kids (and adults like me) go to sleep. So think about what will inspire you and write it down, make a bookmark with your quote with this bookmark factory and tah dah! enjoy your reading with a bookmark of your own design and words.

Art Generator Of June

2011-06-20T15:52:00.001+02:00

BioLaboratory is an interactive Petri dish, where you can play with different types of cells. You can change their attributes, relationship between them and attract them with biomagnetic field. And it is so much fun! You can make different color cells, with different kinds of cell membrane and watch them while they push and pull and get mixed up and so on!

Sneaking in learning: This can be a perfect warm up when studying cells and their properties.

A Bag Full Of Afrikaans

2011-06-18T10:02:00.001+02:00

Here are some resources to learn Afrikaans. Please note that I can not provide personal review for any of the resources listed as I have not personally used them yet.

Homeschool 4 Muslims Facebook page….

2011-06-17T13:02:00.001+02:00

….. made it to the “Top 100 Muslim Women Facebook Fan Pages”. It was a surprise but a very nice one walhamdulillah. You can check out the whole list by clicking here.

21 Things for students

2011-06-17T09:00:00.000+02:00

21 Things For Students is a project site to provide project-based activities which are aligned to the National Educational Technology Standards for Students. All the projects introduce students to education technology tools, some tutorials and where and why to use the tools. For example for the virtual programming project, students are introduced to Scratch, some tutorials to get them started and some examples of Scratch projects created for math, ELA, science and social studies.

The 21 projects include:

There is also a teachers resources page. Overall there is a wealth of information here for the students and educators who want to integrate technology in their education and career.

Academic Earth

2011-06-16T09:00:00.000+02:00

Academic Earth is a great collection of free courses and lectures from a variety of schools and websites. Courses can be searched by subject, university, or instructor. Subjects include Astronomy, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Education, Engineering, Law, Math, Physics, Psychology and much more. Universities include Berkeley, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Yale and more. This is a good resource for teen to find courses, brushing up on material, or as a supplemental homeschool resource.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Succeeding With Science

2011-06-15T12:47:00.001+02:00

Succeeding With Science

Review: Succeeding with science is a great resource for games, videos, and other activities for teaching and learning science. All activities are organized by age and are mostly geared to learning about energy and environment. Some of the resources are online but others require users to download Zip files (as in HouseWarming unit). Many of the resources require flash capability as well. I haven’t checked out all the games/activities so I am not sure about music in every activity. There is also a teacher’s page where you can find further activities and online magazines in PDF format.

Suitable for ages: 4-16+

Free Course–Developing Applications for IOS

2011-06-14T20:05:00.001+02:00

Check out this great free course on developing applications for iOS. Applications made for iOS platform are used by iphone users. It can be great course for teens who want a career in computer programming. People working as free lancer application developers are quite in demand these days.

Islamic Online University

2011-06-14T14:50:00.001+02:00

Islamic Online University is offering many free courses in Islamic studies. The courses look well developed and easy to follow. There is no set time frame for any of the courses and you can complete them at your own pace. At the completion of each course you will get a diploma certificate. It can be a good opportunity for teens to pursue their Islamic studies, especially for those individuals for whom attending a course physically is not possible.

Worksheet Fun for June

2011-06-13T12:40:00.001+02:00

Discovery Education has a wealth of worksheets at worksheets to go, made by teachers and categorized by subject and grade level. Check it out!

GOGO News

2011-06-10T09:00:00.000+02:00

My kids love to use their RSS reader. If you are not sure what RSS is take a look at the following video.

After teaching my kids about RSS feeds and subscriptions and all the baggage, the problem I came across was that they loved the idea a lot. And they wanted a nice big list of sites in their RSS reader. But there are very few websites/blogs out there which are for kids and are suitable for Muslim kids as well. So I am always on a look out for good sites which they can enjoy subscribing to. GoGo news is one of them. The site features many short news stories that can be read and listened to. The stories that Go Go News covers aren't hard, breaking news stories. The stories are more of a interesting and educational nature so this is a perfect site for little people to add in their RSS readers.

Creative Commons for kids

2011-06-09T09:00:00.000+02:00

Creative commons, licensing, copyrights can be difficult concepts for kids to understand. But it is very essential that kids understand that all material available on web is not everyone’s property. This comic I found at ICT and Science education is a good attempt at explaining the creative commons to kids. Check it out!

Wednesday Weekly Website–Whizzball

2011-06-08T18:00:00.001+02:00

Whizzball

Review: Whizzball is a great site from Dicovery kids. The concept of the game is simple, a ball needs to be guided to the target. But what makes this game such a great one is that there are not only hundreds of puzzles made by kids all over the world, but kids can make their own puzzles for others to solve. Building a puzzle is a simple matter of dragging and dropping objects like simple catapults, tubes, springs and tiles on your game board. Once you are satisfied with your puzzle you can submit it online for the others to solve. It is one of those web sites where you need to visit before you understand the full potential. It can be a wonderful warmer activity when studying simple machine. These types of puzzles are great way to develop the logical thinking and problem solving skills in kids. There is some music but this site can be used to full advantage even without speakers. You will need to register before you can play, but registration is a matter of simply choosing a name for yourself. Once you have submitted your puzzle you can even send it to friends and invite them to play it. Also don’t forget to explore the other games in discovery kids.

Suitable for ages: 6-12

Al Israa wal Miraaj

2011-06-03T12:49:00.001+02:00

The month of Rajab is upon us, and the count down for Ramadan has begun. The month of Rajab was the month in which the miraculous journey of Al Israa wal Miraaj took place. As an aid in educating our young Muslim learners about this miraculous journey of Nabi Muhammad (saw) I had created a power point activity (it is not a regular slide show, it is quite interactive). If you do not want to download the file, you can still play the activity online by going over to my Muslim kids interactive blog.

Wednesday Weekly Website- Switcherzoo

2011-06-01T09:00:00.000+02:00

Switcherzoo

Review:Switcheroo Zoo is an awesome website for young learners to learn more about animals and wildlife. This is one of the “must see” sites to visit when studying animals and their habitats. Switcheroo Zoo has fun interactive games and activities such as “Make New Animals” where you can create your own animals (without the need to draw them), “Build an Online Habitat” where you choose animals and build a correct environment with vegetation and biomes, “Switch Zoo Puzzles”, “Where do I Live” where you help return rescued animals to their homes, “Sound Match” where you match the animal song to the correct animal, “Meerkat Grab-a-Snack” where you can help feed a Meerkat by catching food, and “Catch the Moment” where students take ‘pictures’ of wildlife, all the while reading interesting facts about animals. Switcheroo Zoo also has short films, sound clips, and photographs about animals for students to watch and listen to. Young learners can become a “Switch Zoo Guide” by completing the Switch Zoo Quest for which they will play nine fun animal related games and activities to become a guide. When they finish, they will receive a Switch Zoo certificate of merit and a guide badge. There is also an educational section that includes lesson plans for art, science, creative writing, and persuasive writing. To introduce children to online research, Switcheroo Zoo has on-site data with 142 animal profiles, a US endangered species map, and stories about unusual animal feats on a Zookeeper’s blog. In short, this site is packed full of fun, useful activities, lessons, and resources! and you can always take the learning further. For example, take the “Make new animals” activity. Kids can make all sorts of weird animal species, invent silly names for those animals, write a profile for these animals, decide what kind of foods they eat, and what enemies do they possess, what kind of environment is suitable for depending on their unique bodies etc. There is no music, a definite plus but the site contains ads so adult supervision is advisable.

Suitable for ages: 4-12

June Interactive Math Calendar

2011-05-31T20:48:00.001+02:00

…. is ready! you can access it from here. This month’s calendar is dedicated to 3d shapes. Hope you have a blast!

Get Ready For A World Of Cardboard

2011-05-25T09:50:00.001+02:00

Well I am totally blown over by the creativity and imagination of these people! Have a look at 32 things to make using a cardboard box and see for your selves.

Teachers TV is back again as Teachers Media

2011-05-24T09:44:00.001+02:00

For those of you who liked and used Teachers TV videos in their home education, it may have been a disappointment when they announced to close down. But I recently discovered that the same team is behind the new site Teachers Media. I would recommend taking a look around. The videos are filtered by categories such as by role, by age groups, by subject etc.

Wacky Turtle-ish Writing

2011-05-23T12:44:00.001+02:00

Do you know today is world turtle day? Ever wonder what it would be like to be a turtle or a tortoise? Well imagination can help you here. Write a story from a turtle/tortoise’s perspective. Think about the wonders of living under a shell, or partaking a diet of jellyfish and microalgae! Learn more about turtles/tortoises from here before embarking on the journey and whip up a multimedia story with the help of this simple booklet tool. Have a look at my story below:

Smart Application–Project NOAH

2011-05-19T09:00:00.000+02:00

Details by Developer

Noah stands for networked organisms and habitats. Think of Project Noah as a tool people can use to document and learn about their natural surroundings and as a technology platform research groups can use to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere. Read on to find out how it all works.
The Project Noah application has 3 modes:
Spottings: Grab a photograph of a plant or animal that you find interesting or want to learn more about, select the appropriate category, confirm your location, add some descriptive tags, and submit it. If you need help identifying species, no prob, just select the check box and the community will suggest species IDs
Location-based Field Guide: See what kinds of plants and animals have been spotted near you and learn more about them. Search through a map view, list view, or grid view of most recent spottings all based on your location. You can filter wildlife by categories so you can explore what you’re most interested in.
Field Missions: We work with labs, environmental groups, and various organizations to help them gather important data for their research projects. Missions can range from photographing squirrels or mushrooms to tracking migrating birds or invasive species. Missions allow users to contribute to ongoing research projects, but they can also be for fun and exploration.

Links for:

iphone
ipad
android

Price:

Free

Wednesday Weekly Website–Project NOAH

2011-05-18T09:00:00.000+02:00

Project NOAH

Review: Noah stands for networked organisms and habitats. Think of Project Noah as a tool people can use to document and learn about their natural surroundings and as a technology platform research groups can use to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere. Once you register with Project NOAH, which is free and can be done via one of existing accounts on google, twitter, face book etc., you can start uploading pictures of animals or plants that you have spotted. It can be a butterfly in your backyard or a lion in your recent safari. For each organism you can further add its scientific name, description of the specie, any additional notes, date and place of spotting etc. You can also participate in missions, in which you are given a particular topic like birds of the world or the color red, and you have to upload pictures on that topic. The more pictures you submit, the more ‘patches’ you will earn. You can even download the Project NOAH applications for your smart phone to make the process an easier one. Want to find out the true identity of that shrub growing outside your yard? check in the growing catalog of animals and plants submitted by thousands of spotters world wide.

These kinds of approaches to science can be an exciting one for all ages, even those who are cynical about application of sciences in real world. classifying animals into sub categories can be a good starting point for young learners who will need to think about an organism’s characteristic before sorting. Children can learn all sorts of facts about animals and can learn about the kind of habitat they are found in. Have a look at our spottings.

Suitable for ages: 4-80

Wacky Errurz Writing

2011-05-17T11:58:00.001+02:00

I know its hasn’t come to this, yet! But with Errurz you can make simply delightful error messages. Create wild ones, create sweet ones, create scary ones and create fun and amusing ones but don’t make confusing ones, windows do it for you! To quote Tim Ryland,

I frequently wanted to make one that simply said:

“I HAVE NO SIGNIFICANCE WHATSOEVER. IGNORE ME”

Have fun errurz-ing!

Wednesday Weekly Website–Mount Hira

2011-05-11T09:00:00.000+02:00

Mount Hira

Review: Mount Hira “aim to create a learning website which makes it easy for people to learn and memorise important verses, which can benefit us all in our life...for protection, success...and to get closer to our Creator.”
Currently they have lessons/tutorials for Ayatul kursi, Sura Yaseen, suratul Fatihah, Suratul Qadr and from Suratul Aadiyaat to Suratun Naas. Each lesson lets the student to listen to one ayaah at a time and you can replay the same ayaah over and over again. You can also read the meaning of every ayaah. A short summary of every sura is also presented at the beginning. There are also tutorials available to memorize some duaas and the 99 exalted names of Allaah SWT. Tutorials can be downloaded for offline use as well.

Suitable for ages: 3-80

Worksheet Fun For May

2011-05-10T13:59:00.001+02:00

ABCTeach’s ABCTools are an excellent way to create printables of all kinds. These simple to use tools will let you create puzzles, games, handwriting practice sheets, math worksheets, scrapbooking pages and all other sorts of stuff in no time. When using worksheets flexible tools like these are a great way to make worksheets which are customized for your kids. Take some time exploring this wonderful set of tools. You can search for pre made worksheets by age/grade or simply go to the theme units for a directory of different topics to find the worksheets on the topic of your choice.

Art generator of May

2011-05-10T13:42:00.001+02:00

Challenge the imagination and creative thinking of your kids with this superb resource, klowdz. When you enter the site, you're given a picture of some clouds. See what that cloud in the picture looks like. Is it a castle or a cottage, a flower or a cabbage! Then you set to work and use some different drawing tools to add detail to what you "see" in your clouds. Tools like furry lines, curvy lines, simple lines and chrome can also be adjusted for size and colour. If you're not happy with your creation, you can clear and start again. Can’t see a thing in the cloud? No problem! Just press the cloud icon and choose another cloud picture. You can save to your computer as a jpg, or join the site and save to their online gallery, which gives you a url to share with your friends. No joining necessary if you just want to play, and save to your own computer. There is also a gallery of drawings based on cloud pictures made by others. Don’t forget to follow up by lying with your kids on the grass and watch clouds drift by.

Sneaking in learning: Challenging kids to recognise or imagine shapes in the clouds is not only fun, it also encourages creative thinking and develops their imagination muscles. If your kids are interested you can always write stories about the pictures you see in clouds. I would recommend keeping the pictures and stories inside the world of realm and not to encourage fantasy. For kids who like to play with photoshop or other such softwares, here and here are great tutorials on making cloudy letters. And to point out the obvious, it can be a great warming up activity when studying weather, water cycle, atmosphere etc.

Cardboard Box Challenge

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000+02:00

The cardboard box challenge at Tinker lab has lots of funny ideas to get the creative juices flowing. Have a look around and challenge your kid to come up with something of his/her own.

Britannica blog

2011-05-09T10:12:00.001+02:00

Britannica blog is a blog by the encyclopedia people. With a varied content everyday, you will receive short articles on a number of topics. I love reading it everyday in my RSS reader. It can be a good blog to subscribe for home educating parents, teachers and older kids. Many of the posts are such that they can even prove interesting for younger kids. which can spark interesting discussions or even researches. For example take a look at Rediscovering the bond between human and horse. Some content may be inappropriate for younger kids or contrary to Islamic shariah so adult supervision is recommended. You can follow the blog on facebook or twitter as well.

How do nemerals 0-9 got their shape?

2011-05-05T12:10:00.001+02:00

Thanks to EdGalaxy for sharing this interesting piece of information.

Numbers 0 9_

View more presentations from Kevin Cummins

Join my Islamic Book Club

2011-04-30T11:45:00.001+02:00

Are you interested in joining my Islamic book club? It is a place where members can add books, discuss them with other members and even have online meetings. I haven’t explored it fully yet but it looks interesting. So if you want to join go over to Bookclubit.com, you will need to register which is free. after that you can join any of the many book clubs including mine, Islamic Book Club.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Children at World War II

2011-04-27T09:00:00.000+02:00

Children At World War II

Review: Living in the present era with wars all around us, (may Allaah have mercy on all the Muslims being terrorized by America and its allies aamin) children are often curious about wars and how it affects people. Children At World War II is an interactive resource from BBC Primary History where children can learn about the often neglected human side of the war. They can learn about daily lives, education, food, shopping and other aspects of day to day life in the era of world war II and with the aid of documents, photos, sounds, fun quizzes and activities learn how the war effected the people at that time. This resource can be a very beneficial one when explaining the current affairs and current wars to kids. Many people think that wars are too morbid for younger minds and they feel the necessity of sheltering the young minds from its details. But being Muslim youngsters, our kids should know the position they and other Muslims are in, and they should learn what war does to people so they can develop a sense of compassion and sympathy for those currently living in war afflicted areas such as Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya. May Allaah have mercy on Muslim ummaah and may Allaah guide us to the love of Islam and Muslims aamin. This site is quite full of resources and may feel over whelming at first but taking one topic at a time can prove manageable. Also don’t forget to take a look at other topics in BBC Primary History if you are studying Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Children in Victorian Britain, British History or even World History.

Suitable for ages: 5-12

Wednesday Weekly Website–Robot Obstacle Course

2011-04-20T09:00:00.000+02:00

Robot Obstacle Course

Review: Robot Obstacle Course is a wonderful way to introduce children to the world of programming and computing. This fun and engaging (might I add addictive?) game introduces younger minds to the kind of logical problem solving which is needed in programming computer softwares. Children have to program a robot to navigate an obstacle course. They are offered problems of varying difficulties to solve in the form of different tiles to jump over. At the same time they are introduced to the “IF” and “AND/OR” “logical switches”. A truly delightful resource from Oregon Museum Of Science And Technology. There is no music which is a definite plus. If your children are interested in robotics and computer programming, you can take the learning further by following the online links from the site. There are also other offline, hands on activities in the take home section. Do browse around the site as there are many more gems to be found.

Suitable for ages: 5-13

Wednesday Weekly website–Story Time For Me

2011-04-13T09:00:00.000+02:00

Story Time For Me

Review: Story Time For Me is a wonderful, new resource of rich, entertaining and uplifting stories for children to read, and it is free! Story Time For Me is the creation of Andrew Gitt who assembled a team of children’s literary experts and multi-media specialists, and the result is an array of wonderful books for children as young as toddlers. You can choose from 3 different series characters: Fern, Ben or Flame. The actual stories are rich with different animations. There are also many ways that you can listen to the stories. You can choose to have each word or phrase highlighted as it is read, pages flipped, sound on or off just by using the menu below each story. A very good resource but like many other good resources it has music. The good part is that the music is not there throughout the stories but rather on some pages, where turning the volume low turns out the music while still letting you listen to the narration. But if this doesn’t solve the problem, you can still mute the story and read it aloud yourself or let your child read those parts. All the stories have a moral lesson and according to the creator of the website:
Almost all of the books have a lesson that can be learned. It’s one thing for kids to learn to read, but quite another to teach them lessons in life and how to become responsible, caring adults. Andrew Gitt

Suitable for ages: 1-8

Do You Know…

2011-04-08T13:15:00.001+02:00

… that homeschool 4 Muslims is present on Facebook and Twitter as well? So what is different on Facebook and Twitter and this blog. On this blog I only share resources which I have used myself up to some extent or at least I have explored them nicely before sharing. I also share resources that I have created myself like the Tajweed Interactives etc. But on Facebook and Twitter I not only share these, but I also share other resources which I hear from other people, which sound interesting but I haven’t explored them yet fully. So you will find a lot more resources on my Facebook page or by following me on twitter than you find here, but for those I can’t tell you about things like music, or ideas to use them in education etc. I hope you will give my Facebook page or following me on Twitter a try.

What Motivates Us?

2011-04-07T10:43:00.003+02:00

Very interesting, though I don’t agree with all of it. What do you think?

Wednesday Weekly Website–The Scilands

2011-04-06T09:00:00.000+02:00

The Scislands

Review: The Scislands is a great resource for scientific studies. It helps to promote greater understanding and awareness of science and technology making that experience fun, interactive, and relevant. Children can choose from one of many “scislands” or scientific islands. Each island holds experiments or fun activities to try on topics like reactions, forces, light, math, nature, space, humans and inventions. The resources are very original and can be used for learners as young as toddlers and as old as teenagers. These resources can also be used as mini lesson units on these topics as they also include the explanation of processes involved.

Suitable for ages: 3-15

Smart Applications–al Quran

2011-04-05T09:00:00.000+02:00

I start this series of smart applications with the Holy Quraan. Al Quran is complete Quraan al Kareem on your smart phone.

Details by Developer

Introducing a highly optimized and searchable Holy Quran application for iPhone. alQuran will enable you to read entire Holy Quran as well as translations and commentary in various languages. Listen to verse by verse recitation of the Quran and recitations of many other famous reciters. Search the Holy Quran text and translations easily and quickly.
Features:
* Searchable Holy Quran
* Over a 100 translations in more than 30 different languages & adding...
* Bookmarking and References to verses
* Easy scrolling
* Verse by verse Recitation
* Recitation of many famous reciters
* Easy to use interface design
* Book Style Reading Experience
* And much more...

Links for:

iphone
ipad

Art Generator of April

2011-04-04T15:22:00.001+02:00

Post-it-game is not so much of an art generator as an online pictionary game. Once you get to the site, you will be given an option to register, so you can create your own nick name and save your score or you can play without registering, in which case you will be provided with a random nick name. Choose a game room to play or you can create your own game room. Each player in the game room is given a turn in which they have to draw a picture which describes the given word. The others can see hangman type hint on top of the screen and the first one to guess the word gets ten points, second one to guess gets 7 points. There are 10 turns in each round after which the winner is declared. you can leave the game anytime.

Sneaking in learning: Apart from the fun, it introduces kids to new words and spellings and challenges them to use the hint at the top to guess the word. As players are from all over the world and of all ages, parent supervision is required although until now I haven’t seen any improper doodling or language but precaution is better. Children should be explained not to draw pictures of animated objects like animals and people which can some times increase the challenge factor in this game.

April Interactive Math Calendar

2011-04-04T13:09:00.001+02:00

….. is not there . I will come back again with an interactive calendar for May insha Allaah.

Parctical Tips For Memorizing Quraan

2011-04-04T12:55:00.001+02:00

This lecture has some very good advice for people who are memorizing the Holy Quraan.

Worksheet Fun For April

2011-04-01T09:00:00.000+02:00

Scott Foresman Reading Headquarters has excellent grammar and writing hand books for grades one to six. Content is of good quality and can be a good resource on its own or as a reinforcement with any other curriculum.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Scale Of The Universe

2011-03-30T09:00:00.000+02:00

Scale Of The Universe

Review: We all know universe is big and atom is small. But looking at things in perspective is truly awe inspiring and amazing. This is what I think about Scale Of The Universe, awe inspiring. It can make you wonder and it can make you humble. If you are studying about elements, atoms, cells or even space, Scale Of The Universe will help you a lot in imagining the true picture of things and what would be their sizes in contrast. The whole interactive has music though so better keep the speakers off.

Suitable for ages: 7-15

Born To Learn

2011-03-27T15:25:00.001+02:00

Smart Applications

2011-03-26T13:11:00.001+02:00

Hand-Sculpted iRetrofone Base By Artist Scott Freeland Fuses Art With Function

Smart phones are fast becoming a part of life. With the emergence of technologies like augmented reality and QR codes, education is taking a different shape. Smart phones have a vital role to play in 21st century learning. I will post resources for smart phones, which are suitable for Muslims, as I find them from now on Insha Allaah along with ideas on how they can be used by home educating families. You can find all the posts in this series on my page on Smart Applications on the blog.

Few Things To Do With Toys (part II)

2011-03-25T11:35:00.001+02:00

This is second part of Few Things To Do With Toys. The First Part was about using toys in literacy. In this part I have gathered some ideas on how to use toys in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and history.

STEM with Toys

1. Children can do surveys among family and friends of favorite toys and represent the data in graphical format. You can use this pictogram if children are not comfortable making bar graphs yet.

2. In Toy Repair Man, children will need to decide on the correct tool to repair the toy.

3. Gather some toys and talk about what are they made from. Discuss the properties of materials. Brainstorm words like shiny, smooth, hard, soft etc. Challenge the students to find other things in the house made of that same material. You can take the activity further by sorting toys in groups like hard and soft, shiny and dull, fabric and plastic etc. You can also use this describing toys activity after doing the same for real world toys.

4. Use the same toys from step 3 or gather some more. Talk about if and how the toys move. You can again sort the toys in groups of movable and non movable toys. You can use this toy sorter to sort toys with and without wheels.

5. Using this activity children can look at when teddy bears, dolls and cars were made and what they were made of.

6. Making Scientific toys is one sure way to spark interest. There are a lot of benefits in these kinds of toy making. Not only is it a fun way to spend quality time with your child, it increase their interest in science and math, give them a better understanding of why science and math are important in everyday life (applied science and math) and increase their problem solving and designing skills. Try making some simple toys from Science Toymaker and if the child is interested follow the “whys” behind these toys.

History with Toys

1. Look at these pictures of toys together with your child. Discuss how toys have changed. Try to guess the time by looking at the pictures of toys.

2. Look at the history of some of the famous toys like Lego here.

3. Children can sort new and old toys. Talk about why your child thinks a toy as old or new. What things does he/she look at. Carry on to describing the toys.

4. Iboard has some very good resources for history using toys. Kids can compare toys of today with toys of past. They can also sort toys into piles of new and old toys. There is also a toy time line available where children can place toys according to their time of invention.

5. You can look at how teddy bears have changed over the years and find the differences between your toys and your grandparents toys here.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Story Scramble

2011-03-23T09:00:00.000+02:00

Story Scramble

Review: Story Scramble is another good site from PBS. In this easy and straight forward game, young kids are asked to put the story cards in right order. A exercise for beginner readers and comprehension. If the child is too young to read, he/she can still play the game as each card can be read to the player by hitting the speaker button. There is some music (can that noise be called music?) at the beginning of the game though.

Suitable for ages: 3-5

Wednesday Weekly Website–Pete’s PowerPoint Station

2011-03-16T09:00:00.000+02:00

Pete’s PowerPoint Station

Review: Find hundreds of PowerPoint resources and interactive activities for different age levels and varying subjects at Pete’s PowerPoint Station. Subject range varies from language arts, business and occupation, geography to chemistry and physics. You will also find training tutorials on a variety of topics as well as free clip art from Phillip Martin Cliparts. Take your time browsing through this site and you are sure to find some true gems. As there are practically hundreds of resources, I do not know whether there is music in everyone or not and if the contents are suitable for kids so make sure to check the resource before showing it to your kids.

Suitable for ages: 3-18

Science With Fake Science

2011-03-11T10:41:00.001+02:00

A fun way to introduce children to a scientific concept is to first say it in a silly way like why do animals hibernate? because they can’t have any hot chocolate! After the giggles are over it often times lead to a good discussion about the topic. For this purpose I often like to use Fake Science posters. They are quite fun and once we stop chuckling over the fake fact, we try to find out the truth and many times challenge ourselves to make a “true” version of the poster.

For example, take a look at the poster below “Why do potatoes and sweet potatoes taste different?” and challenge your kids to find out the truth and make a true version of this poster.

Take a look at the archives of this site where you will find many more interesting fake fact posters. A word of caution though, there are many posters which may not be suitable for children so make sure to check them out first before sharing them with children.

Art Generator of March

2011-03-10T09:00:00.000+02:00

City Creator is a fantastic applet letting you make cities, complete with buildings, roads, people and vehicles, from scratch. Choose from medieville (a medieval city), snoland (a city covered in a blanket of snow) and blankton ( a modern city center). For every selection you would be given backgrounds, buildings, roofs, people and vehicles and roads/walkways according to your selection. Building the town is an easy matter of dragging the pieces on the canvas. Once you have finished making your town you can save your work, print it, send it to a friend as an ecard, set it as a desktop paper for your computer etc., although you will need to register in order to do the above. Registration is free but requires an email address. Or if you do not want to bother about registering etc., you can just play with the tool, and take a screenshot of your created city.

Sneaking in Learning: This tool can be great for plain fun. You can also use it when studying about medieval architecture and history, modern architecture, seasons etc. Use it as an illustration for your upcoming story or make a town setting and use it as a writing prompt. Try making math story problems based on your city. Challenge the kids to design a city which meets a particular standard etc. This tool has a lot of potential for the creative mind.

Wednesday Weekly Website–NASA Kids Club

2011-03-09T13:18:00.001+02:00

NASA Kids Club

Review: A good collection of educational games is available at NASA Kids Club. There are five skill levels available, skill level one being suitable for even pre-schoolers. The games are varied in content and graphics. There are games about space, atmosphere, NASA missions and satellites, math and even healthy eating. Some games like Buzz Lightyear have accompanying educational worksheets as well. There is music though but there is an option in all games to turn it off.

Suitable for ages: 4-13

Worksheet Fun for March

2011-03-03T11:47:00.001+02:00

Thousands of good quality worksheets can be found at Super Teacher Worksheets. Here you can find worksheets on math, science, language arts, reading and comprehension, social studies, worksheets on different themes and teaching aids like graphic organizers etc. for grade levels from 1 to 6. A real treasure trove!

Wednesday Weekly Website–A Walk in the Woods

2011-03-02T14:59:00.001+02:00

A Walk In The Woods

Review: Walking in the woods is a great experience. It is fun, it is educational and it is a sure way to spark the curiosity of a child. But sometimes, like when you are living in Johannesburg, a walk in the woods is simply impossible. So here is a virtual Walk in the woods, which can not take the place of the real thing but can at least give you a taste for the real thing. In A Walk In The Woods, you will explore textures of the barks, see fungi up close, learn about renewable and non renewable resources, eco system, decomposition and dependability of living organisms on each other, tips on staying safe in the woods, differentiating different plants etc. There are “nature notes” available on all these topics to learn more. The “fun place” at the end of the activity has a wood walker certificate, a wood walkers journal where children can make their own entries, a timber talk story writer where kids can write their own wood walk stories and a postcard creator. Also check the resources section where you will find tons of links to study about animals, plants and insects found in the woods. there is no music which is a plus.

Suitable for ages: 6-10

March Interactive Math Calendar

2011-03-02T12:02:00.001+02:00

I am a day late, but here is the March edition of Interactive Math Calendar.

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Wednesday Weekly Website–Planet Orange

2011-02-23T09:00:00.000+02:00

Planet Orange

Review: Planet orange is a world of money. Explore Planet Orange to learn all there is to know about earning, spending, saving and investing. This website tackles the finance education (which is often considered boring) with fun and engaging activities. The website explains: Through their travels on Planet Orange, they will tackle topics from the value of money, to setting a budget, to building savings goals for the future. Amy and Cedric will serve as their tour guides as they rocket across all four continents—Mandarin Mountains, Tangy Town, Navel City and Orangeopolis. While the kids are taking a break from their mission, they can hang out at their space station. This serves as their home base where they can spend Obux (that’s outer space money!) on games, decorations and gear for their astronaut. If they run low on Obux, they can even do jobs to earn a little extra. Children must make wise decisions in buying things and should differentiate between want and need when spending their Obux money. Over all a very good place to start the financial education and teaching money management. There is no music which is good. Children will need to register to use this website and although registration is free, parents will need to provide their email address. Also check out the teachers section for many lesson plans classified by grade levels and which build on upon the website itself. There are also 2 activity books available for download which are quite full of worksheet like activities to teach money management.

Suitable for ages: 6-13

Wacky Telescopic Writing Part 2

2011-02-21T17:06:00.001+02:00

Remember Wacky Telescopic Writing? Now you can do it on your own. Make your very own expandable writing here, you can even save it and share it. If you are not sure how to do it, you will find a tutorial here. And don’t forget to see our example here.

Two interesting maps

2011-02-11T09:40:00.000+02:00

These are two very interesting maps.

World in Adjectives

World as seen by US travellers

Learners can be challenged to make a map of their own like this using any picture editing software. They can make a map of world as they see it, according to physical features (mountains, deserts etc), accroding to Muslim population etc. A great warm up activity for world map study.

8 Jules Verne Inventions That Came True

2011-02-10T09:08:00.000+02:00

A Slide show from National geographic showcasing eight inventions which are more or less the true version of fanciful inventions of Jules Verne, the author of famous book “20,000 leagues under the sea”.

You can view the slide show here.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Blobz Guide To Electric Circuits

2011-02-09T09:38:00.001+02:00

The Blobz Guide To Electric Circuits

Review: If you are looking for a resource to introduce the basics of an electric circuit to your child, look no further. An attractive design, and easy interface coupled with beginners basic information on electricity are the key features of The Blobz Guide To Electric Circuits. There are five sections in this site: What makes circuits work, Conductors and insulators, All about switches, Changing circuits and Circuit diagrams. Each section has a sort of lesson sharing info, an activity and a quiz to check understanding. After completing all five sections the learner can print a certificate with their name on it. A very good place to start your early elementary electricity unit or for a quick review at the end of it. As with all studies, learning about electricity should be multi dimensional. So let your child use resources like this site and also provide him/her with basic components of a circuit. Letting him/her explore and experiment and make mistakes before introducing this site is a good idea.

Suitable for ages: 5-7 years.