Raising Butterflies – Day 10

We’ve only had our caterpillars for 10 days and already they’ve doubled, tripled and quadrupled in size! Masha’Allah!

When we first collected the caterpillars we were putting loose leaves from the comfrey plant into the tank for them to feed on, but they didn’t last much more than a day before wilting. So I decided instead to uproot one of the comfrey plants from the garden and pot it before putting it into the tank for the caterpillars.

They seemed quite impressed and in less than a week they had literally decimated it!  And as they stuffed themselves we found many remains of molted skins all over the tank.

 

Molted skin on a twig

Here is a picture of a leaf that one caterpillar munched through in less than 20 minutes.

It was quite amazing to watch them munching away and see the leaf slowly disappearing. And as a result of all this munching, there was also alot of pooing! It never even came to mind that caterpillars poo, but I guess like all creatures: what goes in must come out.

We started to notice a lot of very tiny pellets at the bottom of the tank and at first we wondered if they were eggs, but it soon became apparent, after witnessing a caterpillar in action, that these were caterpillar droppings. And as the caterpillars grow, their droppings get extremely large. In fact this caterpillar pellet is bigger than the caterpillar’s head!

Anyway, today I decided to get rid of the shrivelled up comfrey plant and replace it with a new one. I had to remove it leaf by leaf, separating the caterpillars and putting them into a plastic tuppaware box so that I could clean out the tank and put in the new pot of comfrey without squashing the little things.

We really got a close look and saw the difference in sizes, and we had an official count up and found we had 15 caterpillars altogether, so I’m guessing a few more sneaked in on the uprooted comfrey plant.

Our largest caterpillar, fondly referred to by the kids as ‘The Abi’ is now 4 cms long and more than 5mm wide. All of the caterpillars are now settled back into the tank to munch their way through another comfrey plant. I am going to look for some suitable branches in the next few days ready for when the first caterpillars decide to start making their cocoons insha’Allah.

'The Abi' close up

We got some fantastic close up shots and managed to do a more detailed anatomy diagram.

We are looking into how long it takes before our caterpillars enter the pupa stage and how long the pupa stage lasts.

More to come soon, insha’Allah

Raising Butterflies – Life Cycles

My daughter Samira recently completed her Butterfly Lapbook and was so keen to see the butterfly life cycle first hand. I promised that as soon as Spring comes we would try to collect some caterpillars for a project on Raising Butterflies.

Every year we always find lots of caterpillars in our garden around March time, so today I decided to go and collect the fish tank from the bottom of the garden to clean it up before we go on a caterpillar hunt. The tank had been sitting out since last summer and was covered in baby snails, so we collected a few baby snails to add to the tank too. We also spotted quite a few ladybirds which my 3 year old Basma also wanted to add to the tank! I have no idea about the ladybird life cycle but after reading this wonderful project about Raising Lady Bugs on Umm Abdul Basir’s blog I think it’s something we would love to try in the future insha’Allah

Our baby snails are smaller than a fingernail at the moment, masha'Allah!

Close up - this snails shell is only about 4-5mm tall

Once the tank was clean, the kids and I went out into the garden to where we usually spot the caterpillars. Straight away we found plenty of leaves with holes in them and a closer look revealed around 20 caterpillars perched on the leaves of a comfrey plant.

I cut off a few stems of the plant along with the leaves that we found the caterpillars on and put them into the tank. We collected around 12 caterpillars altogether.

We added in some small twigs for the caterpillars to crawl along.

Some of the caterpillars are slightly larger that the others. And we hope to have the opportunity to witness close up the caterpillars molting their skin.

Smallest Caterpillar 17mm long, 3mm wide / Largest Caterpillar 20mm long, 4mm wide

After the caterpillars were settled into their new home we went online to identify our caterpillars and find out what they will turn into. It was then that we found out, we aren’t actually raising butterflies, we are raising MOTHS.

We visited a website called UK Safari, where we was able to identify our caterpillars through the photo gallery. Our caterpillars will, insha’Allah, turn into the Scarlet Tiger Moth.

The Scarlet Tiger Moth is not like the common, duller moths that come out at night time. It is a brightly coloured,  day time moth.

Caterpillar stretching up and looking around

While we wait for our caterpillars to develop we are looking back and reminding ourselves of some caterpillar and butterfly facts, and learning a little more about the differences and similarities between butterflies and moths.

We managed to get a close up photo of one of the caterpillars as it crawled up the side of the tank. Samira identified and labelled the main body parts including the true legs and false legs. Most caterpillars have 16 legs: 3 pairs of true legs (characteristic of all insects)  close to the head end of the caterpillar and 5 pairs of false legs that support the rest of its body.

Insha’Allah we will be keeping a week by week photo and video diary of our caterpillars. Join us as we witness the marvels of Allah’s creation.

Masha’Allah!

Raising Frogs – Life Cycles

Back in the Spring of 2009, we started a mini project on Life Cycles, and I asked the kids to choose which life cycle they wanted to learn about. At the time Samira wanted to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly, while Yusef wanted to learn about the life cycle of the frog.

So it was rather fortunate that grandad found some frog spawn on his pond just around the same time. He collected some of the spawn for us and we were able to keep the tadpoles in a fish tank and watch them develop.

At the time, the kids completed a few activities on frogs and their life cycle while I kept a week by week photo diary of our little tadpoles and froglets. Unfortunately, all the photos seemed to have completely vanished from my hard-drive except for a few from Week 5.

We had been hoping to repeat the activities and learn more while watching another lot of tadpoles develop into froglets. But in 2010 the frogs spawned rather late and the tadpoles failed to develop.

Then this morning, we got a call from grandad to say that he and nanny have spotted some frog spawn on their pond and so, insha’Allah, we hope to collect some next weekend and start over a whole new week by week project.

The kids are very excited and can’t wait to get started, but in the meantime, we are looking back at the few photos we still have. I will share them with you below.

Week 5 - Swimming froglet. Below the water are a few tadpoles who are still developing

We put this little guy into a white bowl to get a better look at him.

Close up

Not much bigger than a thumb nail, masha'Allah

Resting on a rock in the tank

A little froglet with his long tail

So small, but already showing the patterned skin of a frog, masha’Allah

More to come soon insha’Allah …

Pillars of Islam Scrapbook

My daughter, Samira has recently been working on this wonderful little scrapbook all about the Pillars of Islam.

I came across a file at the Talibiddeen Jr. Blog which contains all the elements needed to make this scrapbook, masha’Allah.

She completed a page on each of the 5 Pillars of Islam, which we cut out and pasted down onto black card, then we bound the book together with string.

The first page shows what the 5 Pillars of Islam actually are, with the names written on the columns. And the next page begins with the first and most important pillar – the declaration of faith – the Shahadah.

On the reverse side of the Shahadah page is a page all about the second pillar of Islam – Salat (prayer).

We discussed how important salat is and how it is the difference between being a Muslim or a disbeliever. We also talked about how the Salat is the first thing that Allah will look at on the Day of Judgement, hence the image of the Meezan (scales).

We also discussed how in Sujood, we are closest to Allah and that whilst in Sujood it is good to make lots of du’a (supplication).

We looked at the 5 daily prayers and we made a flower petal style mini book, that unfolds to reveal each of the names of the 5 prayers and how many rak’ah for each.

After the page on the Salat is a page dedicated to the third pillar of Islam – Zakat.

We discussed the two different types of Zakat – the annual zakat from one’s wealth and the Zakat ul Fitr, given during Ramadhan before the Eid prayer.

I explained how the Zakat ul Fitr must be given in the form of food so that even the poor people can enjoy the Eid day, and we discussed different kinds of food we can give, such as dates, wheat, barley, rice, fish, fruit, meat etc.

You may see the photo pasted to the bottom of the page with the warning that we must pay Zakat. This is based on the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, sall’Allahu alayhi wasalam, in which he said: The one who neglects to pay the (annual) zakat, while he has the means to, his wealth that he withheld from the poor will be turned into a snake on the Day of Judgement which will bite him on the face and neck.  

Then we learned about the fouth pillar of Islam – Saum ul Ramadhan – the fasting of the month of Ramadhan.

We made the flip circle mini book which breaks down the verses from Qur’an on the command to observe fasting during Ramadhan. I made a similar flip book with Yusef, my 8 year old, when he made his Ramadhan Lapbook. I originally found the template for this over at Umm Abdul Basir’s blog.

The pictures on each circle are originally from a colouring page available to print from the TJ Ramadan website.

We also put together the fasting cycle wheel, available courtesty of Raising Muslims blog.

As the wheel spins it shows the times of day when Muslims begin their fast, break their fast, when they eat and when they don’t eat.

We also included this element from the scrapbook pages which I cleverly managed to turn into a fan-wheel. It shows a typical day of fasting, which include things such as doing good deeds, and controling one’s anger etc.

When folded up, the fan-wheel is wedge shaped and fits neatly into the top corner. It can then be fanned out to form the complete circle showing a typical day in Ramadhan.

And the final page is all about the 5th Pillar of Islam – Hajj – Pilgrimage to the Ka’bah in Makkah.

We talked all about the journey of Hajj, making tawaf of the Ka’bah, performing Sai’y between the hills of Safa and Marwa, heading off to Mina and Muzdalifah, the stoning of the Jamaraat, the Miracle of the Well of Zam-Zam etc.

Then Samira put together this fold-out, 3D model of the Ka’bah. She has been desperate to make one ever since Yusef made one for his Hajj Lapbook.

As a separate activity a couple of years ago, I got the kids to make their own model of the Ka’bah from a cuboid net, which they decorated with gold glitter around the edging and the stuck on miniature photos of the Ka’bah door and the black stone.

I thought it would be nice to make something similar that could be contained in a lapbook, so instead of taping the cuboid together, I worked out a way to fold it so that it can lie flat when the lapbook is closed and can be erected when the lapbook is opened, masha’Allah.

And that completes this neat little project.

Masha’Allah, Alhamdulillah!

If you would like the files to make the 3D Ka’bah you will find them available to download for free from my file sharing widget. You can find it as you scroll down the menu bar on the right side of the screen (it’s a white box containing yellow file folders).

Homeschooling our Children is an Act of Obedience to Allah

Shaikh Muhammad al-Jibaly was asked:

If a woman wants to homeschool her children, to protect them from evil influences, can she do so against her husband’s wishes? Can you provide any articles about educating our children, especially in this secular liberal society?

His response was:

The danger in the non-Muslim schools is definite, and sending our children there when there is a good alternative available is an act of disobedience to Allaah. If you know that you can properly home-school your children, and you know that you can get by it despite your husband’s opposition, then do it by all means, because, “No obedience may be granted to any creature that involves disobeying the Creator.”

The following is a brief background on Shaikh al-Jibaly:

Secular background:

BS physics 1977 Beirut. MS Physics 1979 Syracuse. Doctorate Positron Physics 1987 U Texas. Physics teaching and research until 1994.

Islamic background:

1. Extensive self study and teaching since 1978. Student of al-Albani. Met with or studied under a large number of students of al-Albani and others, most prominently Mahmoud Atiyyah in UAE 1983-84, Ali al-Halabi, Salim al-Hilali, Husayn Awayshah, Abu al-Hasan al-Misri, Abu Ishaq al-Huwaini, etc. Keeps close contact and consultation with all of the above and many others on a regular basis.

2. A main figure in the Salafi da’wah in N America and other parts of the world. Well known to most scholars of our time.

3. Wrote and translated various monographs on Islam including “The Quran and the Sunnah” 1981, “The Magnificent journey” 1995, “Celebration in Islam” 1996, “The Night Prayers” 1997, etc.

4. Writer/editor/reviewer for many Islamic/Salafi journals such as al-Hijrah, Hudaa,..

5. Chairman of al-Quran was-Sunnah Society 1991-present.

You do not have to be a teacher or have a university degree to teach your children at home. Studies have proven that home educated children are approximately five years ahead of children that attend public school, regardless of their parent’s level of education.

More and more Imams are encouraging homeschooling and some are stating it is a requirement, alhamdulilah.

 

Source: Sisters Seeking Ilm.com

Early Phonics Worksheets

I taught my eldest two children (and I’m starting now with my 3 year) to read by creating a series of worksheets and activities that helped them to learn the combination blends of sounds.

I have made all my worksheets available to download for free from my BOX.net file share which you will find as you scroll down on the right of the screen.

I made worksheets for the following blends:

sh, ch, th, ee, ea, oo, ai, ay, ou, ow, igh, qu, ph, kn, ng, ll, ck, oa

When introducing a new sound I would give my kids a ‘sound’ worksheet

This consists of 5 or 6 words containing the new sound. There is a picture of the object (some of which can be coloured in as an additional activity) and next to the picture is a box with the name of the object for the child to sound out and  re-write the word 3 times.

After becoming familiar with the words, I would have my kids complete a word search activity, where they would have to find all the words beginning with ‘ee’ for example. I made this activity, simply by drawing around a dinner plate onto some A3 coloured paper and writing out the words into the circle.

The kids circled the words as they found them and then when they had found them all I would have them read them back to me.

After this activity, we would move onto the ‘Read & Draw’ worksheets. On two pages are boxes with 6 words containing the new sound. They would have to read the word, re-write it underneath and then draw a picture to represent what the word said. To test them I would have them do this activity without any help, to check that they were reading the word correctly. You can tell by what they’ve drawn if they have read the word correctly.

To reinforce the new sounds I also created some other drawing activities.

After learning several new sounds, I would give my kids a ‘Missing sound’ worksheet. They used the picture to help them identify the missing sound.

For a couple of days we’d review and practise the sounds and spellings and finally I would give them a ‘Spellings’ worksheet based on combinations of sounds.

It is important for children to write the words as they learn them because this helps reinforce the sounds and the correct spelling and helps with quicker recognition of words in the future insha’Allah.

Below are more examples of worksheets:

Sound Worksheet

Sound Worksheets

Word Search Activity

Missing Sound Worksheet

Spellings Worksheet

Butterflies Lapbook

This is my daughter, Samira’s lapbook all about butterflies. We were planning to save this for the Spring but she was so keen to get started that she got it finished in time to share with you all just as Spring time begins, masha’Allah.

We were also planning to do a project on raising butterflies alongside this lapbook, but as of yet, we’ve not spotted any butterflies or caterpillars. Alhamdulillah, the weather is becoming milder and we are finally seeing some much needed sunshine, so insha’Allah we’ll be able to get out into the garden to have a look for some creepy crawlies soon.

When the lapbook opens out, inside are various mini-books and templates.

I found the lapbook templates and study unit on the Homeschool Share website. Some of the templates I made myself and you can find them available to download for free from my BOX.net file sharing widget, which you will see as you scroll down on the right on the menu screen. The other templates you can find here.

First up is a lovely little mini book all about the different flowers that butterflies like.

This is a little flap in which Samira wrote up a little bit of information on the life span of butterflies.

Next is a T-book all about how butterflies defend themselves from predators.

We were all really amazed at how this wonderful little creature camouflages and disguises itself … the Dead Leaf Butterfly is truly one of Allah’s wonders.

Next we looked at the anatomy of the butterfly, and although the diagram below doesn’t show great detail we learned from a book that like all insects, butterflies bodies are divided into 3 parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen.

As a reminder of our Honey Bee Project, we also learned that butterflies are important as pollinators too.

Samira wrote about how when a butterfly lands on a flower to sip the nectar, the pollen sticks to her legs and body and is carried on to other flowers.

Then Samira completed this mini-flap book all about the predators of the butterfly.

When the flap is opened it reveals 3 smaller flaps showing the different animal groups that are predators of the butterfly. Under those flaps Samira drew some pictures of the different predators.

Then she made this cute little flap book all about caterpillars.

On the front of each flap is a question about the caterpillar and Samira wrote the answers under the flaps.

Next we did a venn diagram looking at the differences and similarities between the moth and the butterfly.

We also learned what Butterflies and Caterpillars like to eat.

When learning about what caterpillars like to eat, Samira read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to the little ones, and we watched a great time-lapse video on the Swallowtail Butterfly which showed the caterpillars eating their eggshells after hatching, then eating their way through leaves, and as they grew, they molted and literally crawled out of their old skins, and then they would eat that too!!

After learning about the body parts of the butterfly, Samira was able to complete these wing-shaped maths flaps.

The maths problem is written on the front of the flap and then Samira wrote her answer inside.

Then we did a little lesson on symmetry, we learned about the AMAZING detail of the butterfly’s wings and how Allah has created them having perfect symmetry.

We read and discussed the following excerpt:

If you look at the wings of the butterflies in the photograph you will see perfect symmetry. These wings decorated with figures, spots and colours are masterpieces of art and the marvels of creation of Allah.

While examining these wings you will easily notice that the figures and the colours on both sides are identical, no matter how complex its design. Even the smallest spot appears identically on both sides. Hence, there occurs a perfect design and symmetry.

At the same time, a colour on this very delicate and fine wing never gets mixed with another colour and the existing colours are distinguished from the others with a distinct border. These colours are formed by series of spots arranged one on another. How can these spots, that would be scattered with a touch of a finger tip, be arranged, without any loss, to form the exactly identical design on both wings? Even an extra single spot would cause the symmetry to be corrupted. But you can not find any kind of disorder on any one of the butterfly wings on earth. Each of them has aesthetic and well-arranged appearance that looks as if it was the masterpiece of a talented artist. This is because the butterflies, like all other living beings, are created by the Superior Creator, Allah.

“He is Allah , the Creator, the Inventor of all things, the Bestower of Forms (or Colours). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth declare His Praises and Glory: and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.” (Surah Al-Hashr: 24)

I cut out a butterfly template and Samira painted one side of the template, then carefully, while the paint was still wet, she folded it over so that the pattern printed (almost) the same on the otherside. Then after it was dried, I added in the ayah from Surah al Hashr as a reminder of this remarkable piece of Creation, masha’Allah!

Then Samira put together this simple little book which explains the Life Cycle of the butterfly. We got this from Enchanted Learning.

Then I made some cards showing well known British butterflies. The lapbook templates do include cards for well known North America and Rainforest butterflies, but I thought it would be nice to learn about the butterflies we are likely to see. I visited this British Butterflies website where I was able to find out which species of butterflies we are likely to spot in our region at this time of the year (March) and I decided to make a few cards on these species.

At the end of this project, Samira chose a poem to use to do some copy work. It’s called The Caterpillar by Christina Rosetti:

Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry;
Take your walk
To the shady leaf or stalk.

May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.

She copied up the poem and illustrated the rhyming couplets.

Finally on the back of the lapbook, she put together a diagram of the Butterfly Lifecycle, masha’Allah.

We had great fun learning about this wonderful and amazing insect, and I’m sure you will too. Have fun this Spring and try making your own lapbook about the butterfly. For more Spring time ideas, why not check out our Honey Bee Lapbook or our fun art and craft Cress Caterpillar.

Check back soon for news of our Raising Butterflies project, insha’Allah.

Human Body Lapbook (Part 2)

This is my son, Yusef’s lapbook all about the Human Body. It’s actually still a working progress. It’s a big project and we are adding to the lapbook as we go along insha’Allah and I shall blog it in parts. We have been using many different books as well as electronic media resources. One website I highly recommend for this subject is called “How the Body Works” – Check it out for yourself!

We are now adding to the lapbook according to the topics covered in his science textbooks. That way he can complete his written work alongside his lapbook work which helps ensure he understands fully how the various systems of the human body work.

Previously, when we first began this lapbook, we looked at the external body parts and learned about the major organs and systems in general, before looking in depth at the BRAIN, the NERVES and the MUSCLES. You can see the first part of the lapbook by visiting Human Body Lapbook (Part 1) 

Recently we have covered TEETH and BONES & JOINTS. I have made all the mini books and templates for this lapbook myself (except where stated) and they are all available to download for free from my BOX.net file sharing widget which you can find as you scroll down on the right of the screen.

This is a page from the lapbook all about teeth.

This is a flap which explains about the 4 different types of teeth in humans. During his textbook work, Yusef learned about the functions of the different kinds of teeth. He also learned a little about animal teeth and how their different types of teeth determine what kinds of food they eat.

When the flap is lifted up it shows a diagram of an open mouth which has been coloured and labelled to show where the 4 different types of teeth are situated in the mouth.

In the centre of the page is a flap with a diagram showing the parts of the tooth labelled by Yusef. I printed this diagram from the website I mentioned at the beginning. They have a pre-labelled version and one that children can label themselves.

In his text book work, he went into further detail, learning about the functions of each part, as well as how cavities are formed.

On the reverse of the flap is a wordsearch related to teeth which I printed off from the website.

Under the flap is a pocket which holds his quiz results and a Fascinating Facts flap.

After completeing the topic on teeth, the kids can take part in a quiz on the website and then print their results, which we folded up and put into this pocket.

At the bottom of the page is an accordion book which I downloaded from Homeschool Share. It shows the steps to brushing and cleaning teeth.

Next up is the page from the lapbook all about bones and joints.

On the front of the hinge flap is a large diagram of the skeleton labelling all the major bones of the body, and Yusef highlighted the different types of joints.

When the flap is turned over, on the reverse is a diagram of a skeleton which Yusef has labelled. I printed off the diagram from the website that I mentioned at the top of this page.

Under that flap is a smaller flap containing information about the rib cage.

When the hinge flap is turned over, on the reverse is some information about the bone marrow and how it produces the different types of blood cells. Yusef drew pictures of the different types of blood cells and wrote a little bit about their different functions.

On the right side of the page is a smaller flap which contains an accordion book and a flap book.

The accordion book explains all about the funny ‘bone’.

Below the accordion book is another Fascinating Facts flap.

On the reverse of the smaller flap is a word search all about the skeletal system and a pocket to hold Yusef’s quiz results on the skeletal system which he completed on the interactive website.

When the flaps are open the centre of the page reveals a large flap all about the inside of the bones and a shutter book about joints.

I took this diagram from the website and Yusef cut it out and glued it down onto the front of the flap and then on the inside of the flap he wrote the details about the 4 main parts of the bone structure.

Later on in the day, we did a little experiment dissecting a lamb bone to have a look at the structure and learn about the different parts.

Although we talked about FIXED JOINTS, this shutter book only covers HINGE JOINTS and BALL & SOCKET JOINTS.

Next we plan to look in detail at the Respiratory and Circulatory systems (Heart and Lungs), so check back for updates soon insha’Allah.

Education Tips: Leaflet Learning

As a home-schooler of relatively young children, I find that I am constantly having to come up with new and interesting ways for my kids to learn and retain the information I teach them.

My son, Yusef was recently learning about India from one of his atlas information books and I suggested he put together a leaflet to display the information and facts he had learned.

He looked at many different aspects, first about the demographics, then about the crops grown and exported. Then he focused on the tiger which is famous in India. Then he added some information about the food eaten in India and finally he added in some information about the geography and topography of the country.

By breaking down and  laying out the information in this way, it helped him remember more of the information he had learned, masha’Allah.