Circle Time

Assalamu Alaikum

Finally I'm posting this. There are so much that I think to post, but finding time is the hard part.
Circle time is when children get together to learn about the weather, time, date and a lot of important lessons by listening and sitting together. They also enjoy sharing stories of their own, singing songs and learn's a lot with play.    
So, I have done a lot of browsing and searching to arrange a circle time and now it's in motion Alhamdulillah. So here are some pics for what we use for our calender time and the way we do;

This is my calender board which I made myself and some with other resources which I'll mention, details of what it includes will be given below, So let's start. 

I try to start my circle time between 9:00 am to 12:00 pm depending on $weetie's interest coz we don't have a strict schedule to follow.

So we start our circle time by reciting and revising the Surah's we learned and by reviewing small Dua's like greeting, thanking, meeting etc...

Then we talk about myself and ask questions like.Who is our God, Who is our Prophet, What is our religion etc...We also talk about the creations of Allah and the gifts that he has given. $weety has an interest talking about Jannah and Jahannam, the things in it and how to do good deeds so that we can go to Jannah. I love the way when she says Jahannam with a dreadful voice, wide eyes and scared face, and Jannah with a smiley happy face lol.  

After talking is done, we will count the date and add today's date on our calender.When I add the date for example if the date is 28, I take 28 and 29 and ask which is 28 and what number makes 28. The calender and the Hijri cards are from IBB. Sorry, I couldn't find the link for the number's. To stick the date I used Velcro both sides.

 Next we will change what day was yesterday, today and tomorrow, then we discuss about what we did yesterday, today what are we going to do and tomorrow what will you do. I also remind them what we must say when we think to do something (I mean Inshallah). This sheet was made myself.

Then the Surah of the day, as I mentioned we usually do this at the beginning of circle time, made this myself. 

Then will sing the days of the week in English and Arabic, and talk about how many days are their in a week, in what day Jumma comes, what day the school starts etc.... Made this.

And we sing the months in Islam and English months. Made this. 

Next counting upto 20 and counting backwards from 10 to 1,

Reviewing the phonics and sing the phonics song. Got this poster from Gold  Star's books 

Reviewing the Arabic Alphabet and sing the Arabic Alphabet song. I printed the Arabic alphabet's and  to get some attention I did some collage  art and craft using glitter, crayons, paint and punched color paper's.

Then we check today's weather and point it in our weather wheel. its a fun part in our circle time and discuss about the different kinds of weather Allah has made, and how he gives the weather as a blessing and sometimes as a punishment. I got this also from IBB.

You'll be thinking where's that green color sheet which was on the calender board? I'm coming to that.

The lesson of the day sheet, I always come to this at last, so that I can start my lesson right away. So as you can see there is the shape, color, animal, Dua, English letter and the Arabic letter of the day. I will take the lessons according to the sheet. Inshallah I will write a full post on how we do the lessons. I got this sheet from 1+1+1=1 and changed some to Dua of the day and Arabic letter of the day. I will also change the animal and the shape of the day to Prophets and something that I find useful as we finish the subjects.

I have kept all my all my Calender related cards in this pouch near the calender, in case of missing.

At the end of circle time we will sing poems and Islamic songs as well. Alhamdulillah this routine is working right now for us. To make circle time more interest Inshallah, I'm thinking to add a calender notebook for $weety. After it's done I'll give a post on the notebook and about our lesson sheet If I could spare time, Inshallah.