Exhausted ...!
Assalaamu Alaikum :)
It has only been my first week (and it wasn't even a full week either) and I'm so exhausted from being a Kindergarten Teacher! Children 5 and under can really keep a person busy. But alhamdulillah, I am also having such an amazing time. I cannot stress how cute and adorable these kids are! My class is a bit bigger than what I was expecting but I think I am handling it well. It is always great when the Principal compliments the good work that she has been seeing :D Aww ... I'm doing something right! She was impressed with the fact that I was able to keep all the children quiet and still during naptime (which isn't easy, by the way) and there were less children crying this week than most years, yay! What I really love about Islamic schools is seeing the kids pratice how to pray salaat and reciting surah's. It's so beautiful and they're so cute when they do it too! Oh my, I can go on and on ... I'm going to share some of my memorable moments from this past week:
Water leads to Potty
What I enjoy about being in this environment, is that I can say "potty" and not be looked at with a raised eyebrow haha For those who know me, know that I never use the term bathroom or washroom but "potty" instead :) But these children, my goodness, all they do is drink water and go potty! Especially one kid, he's rarely in the classroom because he's always rushing to go to the potty. Stop drinking so much water!! Anyways, so I had to set a rule for them stating that they can only drink water when they are very very thirsty because when one child goes to drink water, the whole crew follows ...
My Home
I thought I would show everyone my desk in my classroom (it feels so weird to say my classroom hehe)
It has only been my first week (and it wasn't even a full week either) and I'm so exhausted from being a Kindergarten Teacher! Children 5 and under can really keep a person busy. But alhamdulillah, I am also having such an amazing time. I cannot stress how cute and adorable these kids are! My class is a bit bigger than what I was expecting but I think I am handling it well. It is always great when the Principal compliments the good work that she has been seeing :D Aww ... I'm doing something right! She was impressed with the fact that I was able to keep all the children quiet and still during naptime (which isn't easy, by the way) and there were less children crying this week than most years, yay! What I really love about Islamic schools is seeing the kids pratice how to pray salaat and reciting surah's. It's so beautiful and they're so cute when they do it too! Oh my, I can go on and on ... I'm going to share some of my memorable moments from this past week:
Water leads to Potty
What I enjoy about being in this environment, is that I can say "potty" and not be looked at with a raised eyebrow haha For those who know me, know that I never use the term bathroom or washroom but "potty" instead :) But these children, my goodness, all they do is drink water and go potty! Especially one kid, he's rarely in the classroom because he's always rushing to go to the potty. Stop drinking so much water!! Anyways, so I had to set a rule for them stating that they can only drink water when they are very very thirsty because when one child goes to drink water, the whole crew follows ...
My Home
I thought I would show everyone my desk in my classroom (it feels so weird to say my classroom hehe)
It is filled with children books, some that I remember reading when I was in Kindergarten aww. Especially one called I Know and Old Lady, it was about a woman who swallowed a fly for some reason. "I don't know why she swallowed a fly ... perhaps she'll die!" That line has stuck with me since. But anyways, in the corner, is the little toy potty that I have to demonstrate for the class haha Eww. It is a part of their Taking Care of Your Body theme and I have to make sure that each child knows the proper way Muslims go to the bathroom (goodness gracious) I have been observing this past week and noticed that they need to know ASAP!! Some children just don't know tsk tsk
The Danger Zone
This is absolutely the most dangerous area in my classroom. Everytime I look at it, I want to scream because it attracts children like light attracts a moth *frustration* I really wish I could throw some sort of cloth over it to hide all the toys from the eager eyes of the children.
My first day there, the two phrases I heard the most were "Teacher, can I go to the bathroom?" and "is it time to play yet?" haha No! Their playtime is at the end of the day so I need to make sure they have done all their work and then reward them for being patient. There was no patience the first day. I think I spent my whole time running back and forth from the toy area to bring a kid back to his/her seat argh As the week progressed, they were becoming much better, alhamdulillah!!
Older Crew
I became friends with the older girls in the school. They are real nice and love to talk haha So they keep me very entertained during Lunch and Recess. During Lunch time, one of the girls ran upto me, giggling and said, "...we just wanted to tell you that we think you're verrrry pretty" (awww) I thought that was so sweet of them, but then later in the day the same girl says, "I bet your students weren't paying any attention to you because they couldn't stop admiring your beauty" haha That's when I gave her a look ... they're only 4/5 years old!
The Odd Ball
There is one student who was a bit troublesome for the first couple of days. I assume he was a bit afraid being in a classroom by himself, so he decided to stick around with his brother who is in grade 1. I didn't even realize that kid was a student of mine. Anyways, if he was in my room, he would not leave the toy area, so I had to let him be for a while. Eventually, his mother gave him a talk and Friday, he was very good. He sat with us the entire time aww But the strange thing about him, is that he speaks to me in Urdu. I figured he must not know English, which would be weird. During Snack time, I heard him speaking to one of the Principals, and he has him a question in English! In English! This boy speaks to *everyone* in English but me haha Something I just cannot understand ...
Bed Bugs
I found a cute method to get the children to be quiet during naptime. It worked, but I only used that idea once :S
These cute little things are called Bed Bugs. You have to explain to the kids that Bed Bugs are very quiet creatures and do not like to be disturbed and noises scare them so everyone has to be very quiet. It comes with little song/rhyme as well that you sing. The kids were very interested in the little creatures but since they're made up of cotton balls, some of them were tearing them up :( haha So I think I'll have to make them out of something else. Either way, it was cute and the kids liked it!
Ever-so-cute Moment
It was Friday and almost time for the children to go home. So I had them clean-up after Play Time (the most hardest thing to do). I gathered them together and said, "You guys aren't going to see me for two whole days, are you going to miss me?" And from each child I see blank faces haha "Why aren't we going to see you for two days?!" Awww They don't know. So I explained to them that it will be Saturday and Sunday, and school is not open on those days. One of the girls asked me "will we see you again?" haha I said yes, in two days. They're so precious, masha'Allah.
These are some of the things that stuck in my mind from the first week. I know I will have so many more stories and before I know it, the year will be over :( I already miss the kids! I look back on this and just realize how blessed and lucky I am, subhana'Allah. I used to whine a lot about how I would be getting so bored this September with nothing to do and I even planned to visit York numerously to meet up with some friends. Now, meeting up with anyone seems difficult :( But I'm happy, and enjoying every moment of this ... :D
posted by Squeeky @ 1:00 PM
19 Comments:
you're lucky you're at an islamic school. i did a placement in kindergarten last year. some kids were 3 1/2. pretty crazy. i had like 3 muslim kids in my class. one of the muslim girls goes, 'my mommy said not to sit next to boys'.
man, i was laughing so hard. mashallah, from young, the parents are instilling haya.
Hey Raf (Raf is the shorter version of Rafia.. I think it should be okay if i call you this) I just finished cleaning yonge street and i thought i would check your blog out. Nice to see you have updated again. I really feel as if I have gotten a better sense of who you are as a person. I hope you have gotten to know me also haha. You are going to have tonnes of more positive experiences. I am actually workign with slightly older children so its quite different. At the school I am working at actually one of the kindergarten kids got lost for about a half hour or so. they found him in a near by park.. gota be careful these days though with all the pepole lurking the streets. i think that our society needs more muslim leaders who can present a positive approach to life for the younger muslim generation. I really hope that you stay with this path insha Allah. I also hope that you figure out who i am cause its starting to get boring that you have not figured me out haha.
-marky (and yes that is my alias)
Assalaamu Alaikum :)
Maaz:
Wow masha'Allah, good for those parents! That's so cute though. It really is difficult trying to catch the attention of 3-5 year olds. Ahh.
Marky:
Nooo I still don't know and frankly, I give up. I don't know anyone who would be willing to write so much in one comment haha So better tell me now :)
yea, you should sing to them. hey, are you allowed to sing at an islamic school?
one of teachers had like kindergarten songs on a tape. thats good, esp if you dont want to sing.
but i've seen an article how good singings is for kindergarten aged kids.
If I act like a kindergarten kid will you come visit me at school?
*puppy dog eyes*
Weebz:
Awww! I was actually thinking about that. I get 3 days off for Eid so maybe I can visit one of those days, insha'Allah :D I miss York. And you of course *blush*
Weebee you have nice eyes, Masha Allah
ya shes hydro
ok I'm just a little creeped out *imaginemycoolemoticon*
Faiza
Yes, I am.
*yawn*!!!!
why are you crepped out
Hey hey...I'm Rafia's stalker...back off Marky *grumble grumble*
so now she can have two stalkers
Okay, just for the record ... I *detest* anything that has to do with the term stalker so Marky my friend, it's time for your revelation now, thank you.
(Weebz, I really liked that "grumble grumble" haha)
Oops, I forgot about Maaz's comment:
Yes, we're allowed to sing to the children. Kids learn a lot through rhyme, poems and songs. We have a lot of Islamic books so it's real nice, masha'Allah.
yes i will on the first fast of ramadhan.. lets do a countdown! 8 days left!!!
yey. she remembered me!! :p
yayyy
I have an idea of who it could be ... but I'll wait. Now excuse me while I anticipate another new Simpsons epi
oh its about time lol.. today i had some serious conversations with my friends about a few things..
1) was Iblees an angel or a jinn originally.. i think he couldnt have been an angel cause angels must follow whatever God says and they dont gotz the power to disobey..
2) They say the day of Judgement is on a Friday.. sooo Friday in the Middle East? Canada?
3) In the first few verses of Surah Fatiha God says "Lord of the Worlds".. is this an implicitation in the existance of aliens.. does that mean that the planet pluto can have extra terestrials? would islam support the existence of such creatures..
hmm these are the main highlights of about a two hour conversation that took place today.. i had one last night where some people debated against me where how i said islam teaches moderation and a person should lead a balanced lifestyle.. while most of my companions agreed one of them was like how you can do something as much as you want.. i said how islam teaches us to pray but not 24/7 cause we gota lead a life outside of that too and my friend was like how if someone awnts to go pray in a masjid 24/7 then thats fine he should not have to lead a life outside of that then but he said that the prophet pretty much also led such a life.. but i told him to watch the movie Muhammad which i saw at Muslim Day at Ontario Place where such a thing did not happen.. these deep conversations i think deepy build my iman haha
but ya what am i to know anyway.. ima forty year old garbage man.. neway seven more days.. glad u finally figured out the (wo)man behind the mask
gnite rafia have fun with the kiddies tomorrw
salamz
marky
5 Days left!!!
Ramadan Mubarak! Don't be so exhausted, have fun with it :)
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