First Day of School

Dear Diary,

Continued from Orientation Dec 31, 2010

Jan 3, 2011 was the first day of schooling for calendar year 2011. Imran woke up very early on that day. Boy, he was so eager to go to sekolah besar. That’s what he called his new school. We were among the earliest of Standard 1 family to arrive at the school. It was very excited to see these children so looking forward to their first day at school. They played, made new friends, tried and learned new things. Luckily, no one cried. They looked so brave to tackle new challenges ahead of them.

S.K. Pandan Indah has two sessions – morning and afternoon. Standard 1, 5 and 6 are in morning session while Standard 2, 3 and 4 are in afternoon session. There were more students that first day compared to on orientation day. More frenzied too!

As usual, there was an assembly. Everybody sang Negaraku, state song and school song at the same time as flags being raised. After speeches by teachers and Guru Besar, the assembly ended. Standard 5 and 6 students went into their classes leaving only Standard 1 students behind.

Next on the agenda was class assigning. There are 8 classes for Standard 1 – Amanah, Bestari, Cekal, Dedikasi, Gigih, Ikhlas, Jaya and Murni. Imran was assigned to 1 Ikhlas. From my observation, my son’s main problem is staying focus. His attention span is short. For instance this morning, the teacher had to call out his name three times before he raised his hand. When he realized his name being called, he didn’t know what to do and looked at me for clue. Dear oh dear! Dok khayal apa tah.

After every student was assigned to a class, all of them lined up and walked to their respective classes. If possible, I wanted Imran to sit in front row but due to his height, he was seated at the back of the class. Oh my, he’d be having good time over there with three other boys.

After Imran settled comfortably in his new classroom, Hubby and I left him. Without him knowing, we were observing from afar. We didn’t want him to see us and know that we were watching him. Both of us were so irritated to find him goofing around talking and playing not paying attention to what the teacher was saying in front of the class. Geram je tengok!

Hubby and I waited for Imran at the canteen. Recess time, I saw him walking towards canteen together with his teacher and classmates. His face broke into one huge grin as soon as he spotted us. After surveying all the prices during orientation day, we decided to give him RM2 per day as pocket money. It is more than enough for food and saving. We also want to teach him value of money and saving. The rule is everyday he must save some money. If he does not, he’ll only get RM1 the next day.

For the first few days, I packed bekal for Imran to eat during recess but now not anymore. More often than not, the bekal was untouched or eaten by his friends. Imran never pegang duit sendiri before this; so, now that he receives pocket money everyday, he’s determined to be makcik kantin’s regular customer. When recess ended, Imran went back to his classroom and we left for lunch.

Hubby and I went back to Imran’s school when it was nearing time for school ends. We followed Imran from behind to ensure he uses the right way to his school bus’ waiting area and identifies his bus correctly. Alhamdulillah, everything went smoothly on Imran’s first day.

On second day of schooling, Imran took the school bus for the first time. We waited with him for the bus (he had to walk to the guardhouse every morning) and watched him boarded it. We trailed the bus until it reached the school and saw the driver escorted the children to cross the road. During recess, we went to the school again just to check on Imran. He’s doing superb. In the afternoon, we just waited for Imran at the apartment’s compound. Alhamdulillah, Imran was comfortable with all the arrangements.

Imran is on his own from third day onwards. One thing about my boy is he’s bold, confident and extrovert. Now, I only accompany him to the guardhouse every morning since it is very early. Itupun dia cakap, “Mama tak yah teman Adam la pagi-pagi gi sekolah.” Imran, Imran!

ps: Adam is Imran’s nickname