Ramadan Moon

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there was a small village between two mountains. In one of these little huts, lived Ali and his parents. Ali is a 5 year old boy, just like you. His mother, Asiya weaved mats that his father, Ahmad, sells in the town marketplace.

One day, Ali's father came back early from the market. " Why are you home so early, was there not many people at the market?" asked Ali. " Today is a special day, we are going up the mountains to look for the Ramadan moon" replied Ahmad.

So after Maghrib, Ali and his dad set out to the top of the mountain. That night, the mountains was lit up by little lanterns that the villagers carried with them. The mountains looked like they were surrounded by giant fireflies.

" Look, its the new crescent moon!" shouted someone among the crowd as Ali reached the top of the mountain with his father. " MasyaAllah, Ramadan mubarak!" shouted someone else. " Ali tomorrow we will begin our fast and InsyaAllah, you will start learning how to fast too just like us," Ahmad said to Ali. It was a beginning of a wondrous journey....

Presentation

The aim of the lesson is to remind the children of the upcoming fasting month of Ramadan. InsyaAllah, I hope to tell the story of Ali's experiences in the fasting month as the children themselves go through it. The rules of fasting, the spiritual elements, etc can thus be introduced in story form and lessons directed at a particular child can be included as a way to reach to him.

The stories are also lessons on the alphabet; here the mountains make an "M" and there is also a "M"oon. The children copy the drawings into their main lesson book. They of course have their own way of drawing and I don't suggest or tweak whatever they draw.

Extensions

While telling the children the story, I remembered the lamps or Fanoos that Shirin made last year for our Homeschooling event at Istana Kampong Glam. line. I can retell the story, relating the lamps to those Ahmad, Ali and the villagers carried with them up the mountains.

Another extension is the phases of the moon where you make three part cards of the moon phases and the explanations for each phase to match for older children.