odds and events continued....

Following on from our previous maths lesson, we continued working with odd and even numbers, to ensure that Khadeeja fully understood odds and evens inshallah.

A quick lesson using a small hand held whiteboard (because she loves using it!). I drew out a table headed with Odd and Even, instructing Khadeeja to write in numbers 1 - 20 in the correct column.

After she completed the task, I asked her how she knew which numbers were odd and even, to which she answered that each numbers goes in turns, odd, even, odd, even, odd, even etc.

So, to make sure she would be able to recognise any given number, I further explained that any number which ends with 2, 4, 6,8 or 0 will be an even number, and any number that ends with 1,3,5,7 or 9 will be odd.
I wrote these odd and even numbers on the board for her to refer to, as I gave random numbers for her to identify as odd or even. I asked her to explain how she knew a particular number was odd or even, and alhamdulillah she answered. I then asked her to write me any even number, and then any odd number she liked.

I'll probably do a few reminders throughout the week to ensure she fully understands and retains the information inshallah!
(that's usually what I do when we introduce something new in any lesson, be it maths, literacy, Islamic studies etc....throughout the week I will ask reminder / revision questions or ask Khadeeja to explain something quickly at random times, often at dinner weirdly! ...I guess its because we are all sat down together then! )

Opposites, odd and even numbers!

We've been using MEP Maths which so far, alhamdulillah I am finding great! Today, was the introduction of odd and even numbers, and opposits. Neither of these concepts I have disscussed with Khadeeja previously.

We began explaining opposites, which she looked at me with a blank face and said "I don't understand what you are saying!", and I thought to myself, how difficult is it to understand the what the opposite of something is!
"Opposite" is a new word for Khadeeja which needed explaining and understanding. So, I gave her examples, but using the word "different" in place of opposite.
So, for example, I explained that small is different to big, tall is different to short etc. I then asked what is different to fat, wide, above, rights, top etc, and alhamdulillah she gave its opposite. I explained that this is what "Opposite means".

We then went on to odd and even numbers. Again, a concept which she had not worked with previously.
So we went back to the very basics!

We used the unifix cubes to help give a physical visual example of odds and evens.
I took 1 cube and asked Khadeeja to do the same. I explained that 1 by itself can not be split into 2 groups, so 1 is by itself without any partner to hold hands with. So 1 is odd.

We then took 2 cubes, and demonstrated that we can split 2 into 2 equal groups that can hold hands, so 2 is even.

Then took 3, and again demonstrated splitting into 2 groups, asking if we could divide 3 into 2 groups that are the same? 1 cube was left over by itself, so I explained that it doesn't have a partner to hold hands with, its all by itself and is sad. So number 3 is an odd number.
We carried on up to 5, and then did 10.

I then laid out the cubes in numbers from 1 to 10 which Khadeeja then placed the number labels (to help with the next part of the activity of identifying odd and even).

Next, I asked Khadeeja to tell me if each number was odd or even, using the cubes to split each number into 2 groups in order to visually identify which could be split equally and which could not.

We then took some beads (which her friend had given her) and I asked her to place a bead on all of the odd numbers, and then the even numbers.
We identified the pattern, that the odd and even numbers alternated.

Next, using the MEP lesson plan, I drew on the white board a number ladder from 1 - 12, which we used to identity the odd and even numbers - counting only the odd numbers aloud and the evens silently, and vice versa.

Finally, in Khadeejas Maths exercise book, we put a table with 2 columns headed odd and even, which Khadeeja had to write the numbers in the correct columns

Madinah Arabic - Lesson Plan week 2

The 2nd weeks lesson plan for Arabic, (following the Madinah Arabic Reader ) is just a revision of week 1, covering page 3 of the book.

I've also decided to reduce the number of lessons to 2 a week, rather than 3 to allow Khadeeja more time to learn the vocab inshallah.

The lesson plan includes colour flashcards ready to print off for the lesson and can be down loaded to print here inshallah.

"Qur'an teaches us....." Tree

Yesterday we did a brief lesson on the Qur'an, discussing what it is, how it was revealed and scribed.

Khadeeja made a Tree with tissue, construction and brown papers, and on each leaf wrote something the Qur'an teaches us. I helped with spellings but MashAllah she did pretty well!

First Arabic lesson

Alhmadulillah K has done her first Arabic lesson this morning, following my lesson plan. (refer to previous post for introduction to what I am doing inshallah and book I am following).

Here is her finished work from today. I've put it up on the wall so that we can revise the words throughout the week inshallah.

Introducing workboxes with preschoolers

Ok, the kids are still in bed, my dinner for tonight is cooking bi'ithnillah, I have our work for today all ready in our work boxes. (if you haven't read my previous post about Sue Patricks WorkBox system, inshallah you can read it here)

So here is what our work boxes look like. I bought the shoe-rack from Tesco online (£12). The plastic shoe boxes were 99p each from a cheapy local store.

Below are my boxes for the girls, a different colour each. Sue Patrick recommends clear plastic shoe boxes....but these are what they had in the first store I went into...and I like that they are different colours as I think it will help the kids to know which set is theirs.