The Jumbled Arabic Alphabet.

We have been working our way through the Arabic alphabet, and have, Masha' Allah now moved onto the second part of our Qur'an curriculum. This part requires the Professors to be able to recognize the letters out of order. This is a great brain exercise, and we've been trying to figure out creative ways of getting it done, the best so far being the Wacky Mac letters.

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The Book

This is a shot of a page from a children's text book for learning Qur'an, that shows some letters from the Arabic alphabet out of order. We are using this, along with our curriculum book.

You might be able to imagine how intimidating this was to the Professors. They were unable to focus on the line they were to read, and were instead consumed with thoughts of 'we have to read alllll those!', so we changed things up a bit. 

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Wacky Mac Letters

Back when we were learning the Arabic alphabet, I did some macaroni letters with the Professors, and it really helped the letters to click, Alhumdullilah. So we went with our Montessori and Reggio instincts of only taking a little at a time and being creative and repeated the same process, making prints of the letters for each line, one line at a time as we learn it. These prints are of line 1. 

They hang in the corner, to the left of our Arabic alphabet poster. This has been the key to their learning yet again, Alhumdullilah. I've also jumbled the letter order on the wall, from that of the book, because I really want them to focus on learning the letter, and not get in the rut of memorizing the order, leading to brain tune out time. 

With these we incorporate lots of time with the Arabic sandpaper letters as well. Tracing the letter and saying its name. Again, only using the sandpaper letters for the line we are currently working with. 

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The Process

We've learned a few things form our past Wacky Mac sessions on how to make gluing the noodles go a little more smoothly. 

The first was to use and old ice cube tray for the glue instead of bowls or cups. Much more controlled, and much less waste, and all the Professors were able to work from one ice cube tray. 

The second was to divide the macaroni into small bowls ahead of time instead of having everyone take from the big bowl. 

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Again, here are the completed letters, Masha' Allah

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Masha' Allah the Professors are becoming experts at this activity. The only thing I help them with is controlling the amount of glue, and getting it (mostly) on the letter outlines. They do the rest, and have now started a trend of doing letters all in one color. Whatever suits them! 

The next step in our letter learning, both English and Arabic, is straight memorization of rules. Kinda boring, but insha' Allah we'll find some way to make it fun! : )