We started the school year with 36 children enrolled. By now the community has begun to understand the role of education. We still have a long way to go, but we see more and more parents wanting to bring their kids to kindergarten and engaging with the teacher for their kids’ better future.
Here are a few stories about a few of our kids:
Benjamin – Beni, as we call him, is one of my children with a lot of personality! Very stubborn! But I am stubborn/determined to make my students realize they have great potential! He has a habit of starting his work and not finishing it. He gives up easily when something is hard, and things don’t go his way! In the beginning I didn’t pressured him to finish his work. Until one day I decided he needs to learn to finish his work, to finish what he started! He started a puzzle. He saw that it wasn’t really easy, although it was one that he could finish if he would put more effort into it. He got up from the table to leave. I bring him back to the table to finish what he started. For half an hour he was staring at the walls with no interest. After he realized that he really needs to finish his puzzle before moving on he made an effort and It took him about 10 minutes to finish it! At the end I hear: “Teacher, I succeeded! You see, I can do it!” He was very proud of himself! Now, when we have an obstacle, we always come back to that puzzle story. And he tells me: “I was successful then, I’m sure I can be successful again” And yes, Beni now is one of the smartest kid in the group and his “stubbornness” is no longer a weakness is his biggest strength because he understand he can use that towards accomplishing great things.
Daniel – the first time he went to kindergarten this year, he didn’t know what to expect. He had never seen a colorful kindergarten class full of toys. Thus, every morning his mother had to stay with him until he would get familiar with the room, the children, the toys. But every time his mother was leaving he would start to cry. He didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, except that he would have to stay with the rest of the children which were not his friends. He had heard about kindergarten from his older brothers but did not know exactly what kindergarten is. Every day in the morning I had to calm him down from his crying. It went on for about a month. The day came when his mother didn’t have to stay with him anymore and Daniel was telling his mother to go home, he didn’t need her anymore. Daniel stopped crying. He understood now that he is in kindergarten and that he has friends and many toys here. Although he is very shy and sensitive by nature, one day I observed Daniel holding “a meeting” with two of his friends. I was very surprised knowing his shy nature! They didn’t understand each other too much since his other two friends are speaking in Gypsy language but he could have fooled anyone with that! Daniel attends kindergarten daily now and he is very excited to go to kindergarten every day!!! He is not as shy anymore and by the way he is organizing “meetings” in his classroom he is on his way to becoming a great leader in his community 😊
David – David has just turned 6 years old and is in his first year of kindergarten. Due to a health problem, his parents decided not to have him in kindergarten until he turned 5 years and a half. In the first weeks I always heard how all the children blamed him for everything “David hit me…, David threw something…, David spit…, David yelled …”
David is passionate about kindergarten. Despite the fact that all children blamed him, even when he wasn’t his fault, David remained friends with his colleagues. Of all the children he is the most diligent, he is the first one to start to clean up the toys and he always finishes his assignments. The most precious moment was when as each child was receiving their snack from the teacher, I could hear David’s voice encouraging his colleagues to say “thank you!” He was the first child to learn to say “thank you” and he was using it all the time. He never forgot to say Thank you! And as each time something is shared in our classroom you can always hear David reminding his colleagues to say “thank you!” This is great because these children are only now learning Romanian, and the fact that he already understood the importance of this word is invaluable. David attends kindergarten daily, has friends, loves loud games and likes the word “thank you”
We highly appreciate you partnering with us in making a long-lasting impact in the lives of these precious children!