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The First Day of School

I arrived at the school bright and early only to find that I wasn’t supposed to start yet because the DC Public School offices hadn’t called me to come in and receive my letter and all that blah, blah, blah. Question: how the hell was I supposed to know that I was supposed to, and why didn’t someone tell me? Then it occurred to me that I still work for the DC Public School system and it’s normal to find out information in this manner. I decided to stay for the day just to observe the class, and oh, what a day it was. I entered the classroom only to find that it needs a COMPLETE makeover, which I am prepared to do. Nothing about the room says four year olds learn there except the size of the furniture. The centers are pretty much non-existent, although there are materials to have them….and the children……the children are OFF THE HOOK which is completely understandable since they, from what I hear, have had no structure all year. At the same time, they are the most loving bunch of four year olds I’ve ever encountered. That’s why my emotions were so mixed up all day. They went from loving and hugs to me wanting to scream my head off (which I didn’t) because of all the disorder in the classroom. The interesting thing about that is only eleven of them came to school yesterday. I kept telling myself that there are seven more…..wow. With some order,a better environment, and MANY activities, I’m sure everything will be fine. I guess the great thing about it is once they go to lunch, have recess, and then come in and take their nap, it’s then time for the little crumb snatchers to go home. And, their lunch begins at 11:30 a.m., so this should be interesting.

Funny moments of the day:

There was a small doll in a wheel chair and I asked the children what happened to her and a little girl jumped up and yelled “Ms. Aneesah, she got SHOT!” It wasn’t what she said, but the way she said it…I had to hold in my laughter which was very hard to do.

One of the little girls kept complaining that her feet hurt. I noticed that her shoes were too small for her, so when her mother came to pick her up, I told her about the problem to which she said “Oh, Ms. Aneesah, I tried to tell her, but she wanted to stick her size 10 feet in some size 7 shoes because they matched her tights, so she needed to learn her lesson.” Then she turned to her daughter and said, “I bet you won’t wear them tomorrow will you?” The things girls will do to look good…lol.

One little girl’s mom came to pick her up and asked her daughter, “Oh, who is this?” (meaning me). The little girl looked at me and said “She’s my new teacher and my new god-mommy.” I’m like, HUH??? LOL…

There was a moment during movement time where the teacher’s aide put on some slow music for the “partner slow dance”, which is TOO CUTE! One of the little girls dancing with me tried to spin me and hit me with a dip….I’m like, ummmmmm….LOL. It was way easier to spin and dip her, but she never wanted to stop spinning.

There were more moments, but these are the only ones I can remember. I am going to put a notebook in my pocket and jot them down from now on.

So, I’m going back today only because my aide asked me to, and I don’t mind because I definitely enjoyed my day yesterday, and this will give me the opportunity to meet the children who weren’t there. Oh, and my aide is absolutely wonderful. She is a true sweetheart, I tell you. She’s great with the children and I can tell she’s a hard worker and we really mesh well together, so I’m definitely thankful to Allah (swt) for that.

It was definitely an interesting day, and I’m sure today will be just as fun :).

posted by Madeehah @ 6:15 AM