Create a portrait representing Ramadan with the phases of the moon.

• 1.

  More than 1 billion people in the world, from various countries and walks of life, are Muslim. They use a lunar calendar to determine the length of the months and the year. During the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, Muslims mark an important time in their religion with the observance of the fast of Ramadan. Starting with the sighting of the new moon, Muslims follow strict practices to clean and purify their bodies and minds for a month.

• 2.

  Not allowing anything to pass through one's mouth from sunrise to sunset for the month may be the most strenuous of Ramadan disciplines. Families gather together in the morning before the sun's first light to eat a meal and then feast together at night to celebrate their successful fast. What kinds of things do you think you would learn from not eating or drinking for a whole day? Might you better understand what it is like to be hungry or to not always get your way? To purify their minds, during Ramadan Muslims try especially hard to practice the important themes of their religion: prayer, charity, sharing, social interaction, and celebration.

• 3.

  Research the dates on which Ramadan is observed for the current year. Cover your work area with newspaper. Paint a picture that illustrates your understanding of this solemn Muslim observance using Crayola® Watercolor Paints. You might choose to illustrate moon phases, a mosque, traditional Muslim clothing, important cities such as Mecca, or other symbols of the fast of Ramadan. Dry.

• 4.

  Add details with Crayola Colored Pencils.

Standards

• LA: Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
• LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• MATH: Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.
• SCI: Obtain and communicate information about the sizes of stars, including the sun, and their distances from Earth to explain their apparent brightness.
• SCI: Use a model of a rotating, spherical Earth and the relative positions of the sun and moon to explain patterns in daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the phases of the moon.
• SS: Compare ways in which people from different cultures think about and deal with their physical environment and social conditions.
• SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
• SS: Give examples of and explain group and institutional influences such as religious beliefs, laws, and peer pressure, on people, events, and elements of culture.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of ideas.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Under the Ramadan Moon by Sylvia Whitman; Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Kahn; Night of the Moon: A Muslim Holiday Story by Hena Kahn
• Encourage students to construct a lunar calendar and compare it to the calendar they typically use. How is it similar? How is it different?
• Students work in small groups to sketch a world map, including all countries' boundaries. Identify the 50+ countries where Islam is the religion of the majority of the people. Investigate what other aspects of live these countries have in common.
• Students sketch the phases of the moon and other symbols of the observance of Ramadan. What is the meaning of each of the symbols?