Suratul-Balad Activitie

Suratul Balad is all about hardship. Our birth and growth are hard, and the path to Jannah is hard. But, if we listen to what Allah tells us to do, then all the hardship will end in Jannah; we will live in ease forever!

For our Tafseer study, we used the Mini Tafseer Book Series

In Surah Balad we learn about the two paths. The Path of Jannah is full of trails and tests, and the Path to Jahannam is full of ease. There are five good deeds we can do to help us on the path to Jannah. My son painted the path and added the five good deeds using our label maker and toothpicks. 

1. Freeing the Slave

2. Feeding the poor/hungry/ and orphans

3. Being a Muslim

4. Being Patient

5. Being Kind

We also added some houses. Under each house is a question related to the surah 

Each surah in this series comes with a list of vocabulary words. We practiced the words through a matching game I made for my son. 

I wrote the Arabic on one side and the English on the opposite side. I cut out some long pieces of paper. My son connected the Arabic to the English. Making a path. 

That is all the activities we did for Surah Balad. We always memorize and read the tafseer book and then I added activities wherever possible. 

Electricity Unit Study

We recently did an electricity unit study with our novel study "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind."  During this unit study, we covered circuits, static electricity, and wind turbines. 

Books We Read From:

1. The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

2. Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip

3. Electric Wizard

4. Switch on Switch off

We used this Circuit kit for building and learning all about how they work. 

We also learned about simple circuits 

We learned about different conductors. Here we used a lead pencil to create a circuit. 

We made a lemon clock. 

Along with the experiment kits and books we read, my son put together a lapbook. 

You can grab this lapbook from Undercover Classroom TPT store. 

This lapbook kit contains the following interactive parts:

1. Lapbook cover

2. Electricity vocabulary pocket and cards (battery, circuit, closed circuit, conductor, filament, insulator, open circuit, parallel circuit, series circuit, short circuit, switch, volt)

3. Pioneers of electricity flap book (Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, Michael Faraday, Joseph Henry, Thomas Edison)

4. Simple circuit diagram (energy source, electrical path, output device)

5. Types of circuits layered book (series and parallel)

6. Circuit tool kit pocket (batteries and lightbulbs) *

7. Parts of a lightbulb diagram

8. Conductors and insulators interlock

9. Circuit symbols chart

10. Troubleshooting fan book

Letter Prefixes In The Quran

In the Quran, adding certain letters to the beginning of a word will change its meaning. During our study of Surah Moorsalaat, the boys and I explored 8 different prefixes. After reading through the lesson we made these paint palate prefix craft. 

We focused on these 8 letter prefixes from this chart. 

Then the boys and I cut a paint palate from brown construction paper. 

We added 'paint' using colored paper. 

For the top part of the flap we wrote the Arabic word with the 

letter prefix. On the inside, we wrote the meaning in English. 

Ad Duha Institute Tafseer Juz 29 Book

This was a simple and fun activity to enhance our Quranic vocabulary. I hope you try it with your kids.

Learning Plot Diagram Through Islamic Stories

As we learn about different language topics we like to apply them to our Islamic studies. My 5th grader recently learned how to make a plot diagram for the stories he reads. 

Exposition: Beginning of the story where the characters and setting are introduced

Rising Action: A series of events that build the story toward the climax

Climax: The most exciting part of the story. The turning point is where everything changes.

Falling Action: Events leading up to the end of the story

Resolution: The outcome of the story. How the problem gets solved. 

We applied the plot diagram to the story of the Battle of Uhud. After reading about the story in the book When the Moon Splits, we drew the plot diagram and added all the elements. 

 

Exposition: The Quraysh wanted revenge for the losses of the Battle of Badr. They gathered 3, 000 men. When the Prophet (saw) found out, he decided to meet them at Mt. Uhud.  

Rising Action: The Prophet (saw) and his army of 1, 000 marched to Uhud. 300 men abandoned leaving only 700. The Prophet (saw) put 50 archers on a hill to protect the armies back. Hamza , the lion of Allah, unfortunately dies in this battle. The Muslims were winning. 

Climax: 38 Archers came down from the hill. Khalid Bin Waleed attacked the Muslims from the back. The Muslims scattered and some of them ran. The Prophet (saw) was surrounded. 

Falling Action: The Prophet (saw) was surrounded by the enemy. Seven men from the Ansar and two from the Muhajireen rushed to help him. The seven Ansar died leaving the 3 Muhajireen. The Muslims managed to retreat back up the mountain safely. 

Resolution: The Muslims lost 20 men but none were captured. They lost the battle because they disobeyed the Prophet (saw). They learned a valuable lesson. Victory only comes when we obey Allah and His messenger. 

" Do not worry and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are true believers."

(3:139)

Surah Moorsalaat- Tafseer

What is Suratul-Moorsalaat all about?

Allah presents a detailed case as to why Yowmul-Fasl will absolutely happen and what it will be like. Suratul-Moorsalaat also has a special countdown pattern to help us to memorize the tafseer. 

5 Groups of winds/angels Allah swears by that He will keep His promise.

4 Descriptions of the Promise (Yowmul-Fasl)

3 Reminders of Allah's absolute power and ability to make his promise a reality

2 Commands for those who deny Allah's promise on Yowmul- Fasl

1 Magnificent Reward of Jannah for the righteous who believed in Allah's promise. 

The countdown is for the righteous is a countdown to the best prize ever, Jannah. For those who deny it is a countdown to punishment on Yowmul-Fasl.

We watched this tafseer for Surah Moorsalaat

The boys wrote one of the countdowns for each flap. 

We used the tafseer book from Ad-Duha Institute Juz 29. The boys

also colored in the surah using the Juz 29 coloring pad. 

You can read about our other mapping activity for Surah Moorsalaat. Click the image below. 

Surah Moorsalaat Tafseer- Map of Destroyed Nations

Hi guys, I wanted to share with you the tafseer activities we did while studying Surah Moorsalaat. This activity was a map of destroyed nations focusing verse 16-18.

أَلَمْ نُهْلِكِ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ

ثُمَّ نُتْبِعُهُمُ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِينَ

كَذَٰلِكَ نَفْعَلُ بِٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ

وَيْلٌۭ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ

In these ayaat, Allah reminds us about the destruction of the disbelieving nations that came before us, like Fir'own and the tribes of Thamood, Iram, and 'Aad. All of these nations and tribes denied their messengers and denied Allah. They loved their traditions, cultures, and sinful behavior more than anything else. So, they paid the price in this life and will pay a higher price in the next life. That is because Allah has absolute power and ability to destroy/punish those who break His laws. 

Here are some of the resources we used. The big tracing pad is from Hands on Quran.

Our main resource is Ad Duha Education Tafseer book Juz 29 

We also watched this Juzz Tabarak series

Did We not destroy earlier disbelievers?

The boys and I talked about each of the different nations that were destroyed because they rejected their messengers. We used the Prophets of Allah map from Allamah Education.  We mapped each nation and found images online of the ruins. The boys wrote a short narration and drew a picture to represent each nation.