TCAZ 2015 End of the Year Activities

I've been religiously collecting pictures of the munchkins from their kindy's page so that I can document it all in my blog. I'm sure one day they would love to see their old photos and in case there's no hard copy photos around, they can always rely on my blog *Inshaallah*

Warning: Picture heavy post. 

Little Spy Day : The 5-6 year old was given the task as "spies" to locate the kidnapped 4 year olds. They had to follow the clues provided by the teachers in order to complete their mission :)

Ryan as a spy

Iman and Ranya as kidnapped victims

Trip to KL Bird Park : A trip to learn about birds and its habitats. The children was also encouraged to bring their own camera, and a team of professional photographers was at hand giving the children lessons on how to aim and take pretty pictures. 

My babies together-gather. Last year where they'll be in the same school togather *sobsob*

Festival Kesenian dan Kebudayaan Islam Antarabangsa , Putrajaya : Ryan's trip under his Pra Tahfiz to observe artifacts on  Islamic cultures. There's a video of Ryan being interviewed by a TV crew, will try and extract it from FB and post it here. 

Toys Day Out: The children are encouraged to bring their own toys from home and play together with their peers. I was around during this exercise and I find it very interesting. A good lesson on sharing. 

Sambutan Hari Jadi Perdana November and December Babies: The school had a mega celebration for Nov-Dec babies before year end so that these children will be able to celebrate with their friends. My children insisted on birthday cake a month before their actual birthday and I obliged :p ( I'm a sucker for birthdays hehe). The look on Iman and Ranya's face is worth the trouble, they were so happy and excited. 

I got them cakes from Wondermilk and made the printouts myself. Happy that the kids liked it.

 There's 7 other kids celebrating together with my munchkins

My Babies!!!

Alhamdullilah for a good learning year :) May Allah grant us with more learning opportunity and beneficial knowledge 

Photos credit :TCAZ FB Page. 

The one where my baby graduated (from kindy but still....)

With just a blink of an eye, it is already December 2015, so much good stuff have happened for the past few months and I shall proceed to blog about it all before the end of the year.

Date: 25 October 2015 (Sunday)

Venue: Crystal Crown Hotel, Klang

Occasion: Ryan's Graduation Day and Iman and Ranya's Talent Day

After 3 years in Tadika Ceria Az-Zahrah, my baby boy has graduated and will be starting standard one next year, Inshallah. He have grown and developed so much and I'm super proud of him Alhamdullilah...

1. Ryan is now able to speak in a more eloquent and less "pelat" manner.
2. He's more comfortable speaking in English and I've seen him use more complicated sentences of late (rather than his usual 2-3 words structure).
3. He's able to independently read his Iqra' textbook, memorize 12 short surah and the first 18 ayat of Surah Yassin.
4. He's able to remember all the actions for all 5 waktu for prayers, we still need to work on his recitations of course. 
5. He's able to read quite fluently in BM *yeay*
6. He's able to understand simple Math's concept (numbers, more-less, big-small etc). He's also quite good with additions (both on paper and mental calculation). 
7. He has awesome geography skills (at least for a 6 year old). He is starting to appreciate the differences between state and country :) He knows for example that New York is in US, Kyoto and Tokyo is in Japan and London is in England. 
8. Ryan love drawing. We got him a sketchbook which he call it his "game book". He will draw his Superheroes, battle plans and maps and pretend that it is a part of "video game".
9. He's able to float and swim for a few short strokes. He's a bit rusty, hopefully we'll be able to synchronized our timetable and get swimming lessons back in our roaster early next year
10. He have become quite a "Master Builder" and is super obsessed with Lego. A hobby that I encouraged. 

As much as we're happy that he's thriving academically, I'm more excited about his emotional, mental and physical development. It is no secret that I'm a huge supporter of "learning through play" and I credit Ryan's improvement in relation to his phonological issues based on the play activities that was conducted at home and his school. Alhamdullilah, we made the right choice in choosing TCAZ for Ryan and his sisters. I admit we don't see the development in 3Ms instantly unlike the more "academic" schools but what I do see is this...

Not only does he have the ability to READ, but there is the love of READING,

He not only know how to COUNT but what COUNT most...

We can't thank the teacher's enough for their dedication. Hopefully Iman and Ranya will also benefit from the school, Inshallah.

Muhammad Ryan Daniel was awarded the Anugerah Mutiara Putera 2015 for his developments and achievement this year. Alhamdullilah he won the special award two years in a row :)

My handsome boy confidently leading the ikrar, My heart burst with pride as a mother who watched him struggle to speak properly 3 years ago. 40% of his development can be attributed to the teachers and family support but I will say the rest he did himself. One of the most determine person I know (adults included :) )

Reciting Surah Yassin as a part of his Pra Tahfiz performance

Play acting the life of a "Turkey Boy"

Princess Ranya who had a meltdown earlier but quickly bounce back and gave the performance of her life :p

My Bollywood Princess Iman, who can't get over the fact everyone was clapping after she and her friend did the cute Indian dance head bopping thingy. "Mummy, kenapa semua orang gelak bila kakak nyanyi???" Hehehe

 My sweet babies, during their first kindy performance. 

 With my little superstars...

Iman and Ranya Q1 Developments

It feels just like yesterday that we celebrated the arrival of 2015, in just a blink of an eye it is already April. Time move so fast, sometimes it feels like all I ever do is try to catch up. Anyway, Lan and I attended the munchkins "Report Card Day for 1st Quarter of 2015" two weeks ago.This post is dedicated solely for Iman and Ranya :)

Teacher Nisya took us through the twins activities in Tadika, highlighting their current skills and things that needed improvement. I'm happy to hear that the girls have started to socialized and does not follow Ryan around as they used to. They're also learning to share and listen to instructions and doing a lot of activities to developed their fine and gross motor skills.

Iman Khadeeja

In terms of speech, I would say that Iman is the more advanced of the two. Her speech is clear and very precise. Iman enjoy singing and dancing and is very quick in terms of memorizing lyrics and steps. Currently her favorite activity is playing with play dough and cutting and pasting paper strips. In summary she like making loads and loads of mess.

She's able to recite Al Fatihah,Surah Ikhlas, doa makan, tidur and naik kenderaan with assistance. Other development includes knowing her numbers and ability to understand instructions in both English and Malay. However, she will usually converse in Malay. Iman has very little patience for coloring, but that is slowly improving, at least nowadays she tries to keep her colors within the lines :)

This little princess has an opinion about EVERYTHING. From clothes, shoes down to the color of her headband. She love to imitate everything I do and is currently obsessed with make up and wanting me to put on innai on her feet -__-  I'm ok with the innai but is very much against the idea of makeup. We keep on telling her she's beautiful and don't need the extra enhancement unlike me who's old. Her reply to me was priceless 'Kakak tau kakak comel, tapi kakak nak jugak pakai makeup sebab kakak nak cantik macam mummy". It was difficult to say no to that :p so we compromised a tiny bit by allowing her to put vaseline on but only on weekends (and only if she asked for it).

Ranya Fatimah

My little drama queen :) Ranya loves her books. Sometimes I will catch her quietly sitting in a corner turning pages to her storybook. She is also the first to pick up a book and will make me repeatedly read to her everyday. She is quite eloquent but since she has a very manja way of speaking, it sounds a bit pelat and babyish. However, Ranya is able to pick up new English words at a faster pace in comparison to her siblings.

When it comes to arts and craft, she choose to do things her way. For example when we were doing cut-off  body parts for her school project last week, she insisted on turning the mouth upside down because "her doll is angwyy". Since it is her project I relented. Like Iman she's mastering her surah, doa's, numbers and alphabets.

Ranya is also the most sensitive of all my children. Every little thing will set her off and her favorite line after getting a scolding from Lan and I is " Mummy/daddy tak sayang dedek, dedek nak balik rumah atuk, mummy/daddy gemuk". 

I'm also happy to report that both twins are currently potty training and is 80% out of diapers. Thanks to the encouragements of their caretakers in Taska. Accidents are now so much farther in between. It is a bit more challenge when we go out but Lan and I just need to be patient. Potty training twins should be an Olympic event of its own :)

Now that the twins are in preschool, I need to make sure that my time is evenly divided to ensure that I can sit with each child and check on their progress and identify their talents and weaknesses. By doing so I'll be able to determine the most appropriate learning method for them. Since each child is different, the way they process information may be different too. Some kids learn through visual, while some may thrive more when their audio sensory is stimulated. It is not enough to just want and raise a child as individuals, you have to be ready to treat them as one too.

Alhamdullilah, for everything that Iman and Ranya have achieved so far and I pray for the ease of future developments. Our main priority at the moment is to instill as much manners and discipline in them, something we're currently struggling as there's is now 3 of them to keep up with, but we try. Inshallah with time and patience, we will get there :)

Note: All photos are credited to the Teachers of Tadika Ceria Az-Zahrah

My tiny bit of validation...

Last 2 weeks on the 21 June 201 was Ryan's Report Card day. I was nervous as hell despite him being only 5 years old :p I was imagining the worst case scenario but was of course praying for the best. Alhamdullilah my fears was unfounded because Ryan is doing very well in school.

According to his teachers he's thriving academically, emotionally, mentally and physically. Ryan is a very well mannered boy and listens to instruction well ( I'm mentally wondering why is this not applicable at home? haha) He's also very helpful and loves helping his teacher to clean up the classroom after playtime (How come kat rumah mummy kena jerit2 dulu baru nak kemas ye, abang?)

Academically he's on par with his peers despite of his phonological issues.He's been scoring perfect marks for the past 8 weeks for his Fun English assignments and is able to present in sentences rather than words as was expected for his class. Teacher Ana also said that he has improved on his speech and is not as pelat as last year *alhamdullilah* The best part is despite his limitations, it does not affect his self confidence as he will readily offer input during classes :) I'm so proud of this little boy.

This awesome little boy have also been fasting from 7.30am to 5.30pm for the past 2 days. It was such a huge surprise for me because we didn't ask him to do it, though I did explain to him the basics of Ramadan.  When I asked Ryan WHY he's doing it, his reply to me was "sebab semua orang puasa and Ryan nak masuk syurga dengan semua orang" MasyaAllah good enough of a reason for me, love. May Allah continue to bless his little soul :)

 Ryan acting as Imam during school solat time :)

 Picture a bit grainy because I copied it from his report card hehehe

My parenting journey has its ups and down, with Ryan being the first, he's a bit of a guinea pig to us and sometimes suffers from incompetencies and poor choices made on my part and Lan's. Maybe I over think sometimes but I'm constantly afraid that I'm not doing and giving enough attention, opportunities and care to my children so when I do get positive input from a third party it really meant a lot. At least I'm doing SOMETHING right :) 

We still have a longggggg journey ahead. Here's to hoping that we'll be making more positive choices in relation to parenting my 3 little angels *inshaAllah*

Salam Ramadan, everyone. May this Ramadan help us to become even better Muslims than yesterday :)

Ryan : Kindy Activities Updates @Tadika Ceria Az-Zahrah

How time flies and we're already in the 2nd Quarter of 2014 :) Time for a quick update on the activities that Ryan has been involved in school so far. My little boy have been quite busy, we've enrolled him in a "Bijak Baca" and "Pra Tahfiz" classes which takes place after his morning session kindy (Monday- Friday). He is also still attending his speech classes every Saturday. 

Quite a hectic timetable for a 4.5 year old, huh? But he's enjoying it and Lan and I think this would be a good training for him when he enters Standard 1 in 2016 (InShaAllah) His Tahfiz classes have also tremendously helped improved his speech and he is also able to memorize Surah Al-Fatihah, 3 Qul and the first 5 ayat of Surah Yassin. MasyaAllah I've never been more proud of this little boy. 

The feedback I've been getting from his teachers/therapist have also been very positive.As much as I'm delighted  to hear about his development in the academic department, what really made me really happy is the input on his attitude on learning. He is very determined to learn new skills, love asking question and very hardworking.The only problem with this little boy is he's a bit kiasu and competitive (god knows where he get that trait from :p) 

His "pelatness" is a blessing in disguise. He knows that he needs to work harder than his peers when it comes to his speech so he does not take things for granted. Alhamdullilah it helped shape him to be the cheeky, intelligent and hardworking boy that he is today. Anyway after hours of going through the pics from his school FB photo archive, I managed to collate some pictures of my little boy in action :)

Classroom Activities

Sand Castle Building Activity

Personal Hygiene Week : Learning how to wash their own clothes

Trip to Tesco 

To learn about personal safety (not to speak to strangers etc) and halal food

Kembara Alam @ Kuala Selangor

2 days 1 night, Sleepover/Camping activities with his teachers and classmates. They visited Pantai Remis and Bukit Melawati to learn about nature and independence 

Activity of the day: Making their own photo frame using shells they collected from the beach. A picture of Ryan and his "jerung" group with his class teacher/chaperon - Teacher Ana

Camping/picnic session in Pantai Remis

Solat Jemaah in one of the Masjid in Kuala Selangor

:) 

Collection of artwork during his weekend away : A Counting Nature Book, Windmill and photo frame

FINALLY after 1 month, I managed to complete the promised "update list". Looking forward to May 2014. I have so much plans arranged and we all know it is my favorite month being my BIRTHDAY month and all (hahaha how's that for giving out subtle hints???)  Anyway have a good week and do enjoy the upcoming Labor Day...