Session Overview
River Garden is a pilot program which means that we are constantly analyzing, discussing and revising the program to make improvements and test out our ideas as well as suggestions from parents. There are a few notable changes from the previous two years. The main addition is the inclusion of an Arabic language portion to the day.
The session begins when the student enters the classroom and is greeted by one of the teachers. Students organize their belongings and start with their responsibility for the day while waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. After completing their classroom responsibility, the children will gather for “line time.” Line time provides an opportunity for the entire class to meet together and for individual children to learn how to be group members. Line time discussions and activities are theme-based, focusing on a new theme each month with a new topic each week. During line time, the class might listen to a story, discuss various topics such as the mercy of Allah, and learn about characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings be upon him), sing a song, or recite a chapter of the Qur’an.

On Tuesdays, the next forty-five minutes of the session will focus on the language instruction where students will sing songs, play games and converse in Arabic with the teacher and each other. On Thursdays, there will be an abbreviated fifteen minute lesson of the Arabic program. The next thirty minutes or so will be dedicated to a special project. This can be anything from gardening to baking to creating an art project.

The next portion of the session is where the student is free to select a learning activity. These two hours consist of sustained, uninterrupted periods in which the student chooses his/her own activities from the room’s many rich options. Children flow from one activity to the next as their interests and abilities dictate. They learn to put one set of materials away before another is taken out and to respect the work of the other children. The teachers circulate in the classroom, giving lessons and assisting where necessary. A child may choose to eat lunch or pray the afternoon prayer anytime during the work period. Each child will also have a chance to have a lesson in tajweed, surah memorization or Arabic reading and writing.

At the end of the work period, the afternoon’s work is put away, and the class returns to line time. Following line time, the students are readied to leave the program for the day and return home.