Class II: We are Khalifah of Allah 1

(excerpt from Understanding the Concept of Khalifah; Prof. Muhammad al Mahdi)

It is Little Caliph's kindies motto to recite their oath as:

1. Make myself good
2. Help others become good
3. Make the physical world good

Actually the motto above is derive from the concluded underlying responsibilities of Khalifah of Allah define by Islamic Scholars:

1. To perfect ourselves, according to the will of Allah
2. To perfect all human society, according to the will of Allah
3. To perfect the physical world, of space and times according to the will of Allah

Only to accommodate the children the above motto is simplified for better understanding. But we need to understand the underlying knowledge to properly bring the correct knowledge to them.

In order to fulfill our responsibility as Khalifah of Allah, we shall first understand where we come from and what qualities we are equip with to be a khalifah.

1. Before Allah created Nabi Adam (peace be upon him), Allah had created all things in the world. From the smallest particles to the largest. All these material things are available for us to sustain, beautify, and refine our life. Together with special attributes, powers, faculties and opportunities which are fully equip to bring all life to a higher plane and human being for their destined greatness.
2. We are born with 'Fitrah', which means a natural disposition toward goodness. Mankind is created with the inborn intuitive ability to discern between right and wrong, true and false, good and evil and thus to sense Allah's existence and oneness. Fitrah also means man's instinctive recognition of Allah as his Creator, and the need to surrender to Him, and is an integral part of our human nature.
3. In order to be His khalifah, Allah has granted human beings some small degree of God consciousness. When Allah breathed into Adam of His Spirit, He imparted to him some small number of His infinite divine attributes in some small portion, but sufficient to successfully fulfill his role as khalifah of Allah. The devine attributes of life, consciousness, free will, knowledge, love, mercy, power etc.
4. Man also is given with knowledge. Man is endowed with knowledge and ability to understand the meaning of things. This enables man to think in his mind, to conceptualize, to communicate with himself and others, and have inner dialogue and self-reflective consciousness. Its called 'inner speech'
5. It is the inner speech that Allah has given us that allow us to exercise free-will. Free-will is the ability we has to choose whether or not to act in accordance with the Will of Allah.

Class III: Slides Presentation

Just completed the slides.  Now off to seksyen 2 Shah Alam.  Print and Photocopy

Class II: It Takes HEART

There was a post in FB that says:

'Beauty catches Attention, Character catches Heart.' 
I extended the phrase: 'Developing Excellence Character Takes HEART'

I always start my class by reminding our teachers to renew their intention of being a kindie teacher.  Because it is where everything start, in their heart.  The teacher shall feel proud to be a teacher, even better to teach the little one.  The little one, who is 'like a piece of white cloth'.  Yes, the parents are finally responsible for the little one, but during this year or a couple of years, for the most part of the little one time, they are with us, the kindie teachers.  Allah swt had given us the opportunity to make good in our effort to shape the life of our little one.  Last week Puan Sabariah Faridah mention in the Parent's Reading Course, 'Who the children listen to now, the teacher or the parents?'  The parents answered. 'The teachers'

So it a paramountly important for the teachers, the get started correctly.   It does not matter who you are or where you come from.  You are teaching full time or part time.  Temporary job or permanent one.  You have to do it right.  Bring your kind and open heart, to sincerely devote your time and effort, to be the teacher for the little one.

One of the main criteria when Waffa interview the teachers is: 'Do you love kids?'  If the answer is no, it will be no hire.  Of course some would probably lied to be hired, but like i said, it does not matter how you got to be a kindie teacher,  but you got to renew your intention, your 'niat'. Regardless  Because we need your heart to be here.  Because it takes HEART to be here and sincerely put an effort to shape the little one.

Teachers need to have a link with the children.  Heart to heart link.  The children need to feel love, when they are at the kindies.  Teachers need to love the children, show them the love, tell them, do things for them, behave correctly for them, never stop smiling, hugging and touching them.  All these things require a kind and open heart to be presented to the children.

It is important that the bond with the children is not broken.  Recently, a parent had call Puan Waffa, telling her his child does not want to go to school, because 'Cikgu garang'.  This should not has happened.  Am sure the intention is good, no complain there.  But it could not be done at the expense of a broken bond with a child.  Its ok to be 'Garang' only when the bond with the children is stronger than the 'garang' behaviour.  And for that, it TAKES HEART, a strong heart.

Camping: Sedili II

Yesterday ummi(Waffa), ibrahim, fatimah and ruqayyah went to the camp site again.  They could not go through the beach as water level is too high.  AlhamduliLlah they arrived at camp site safely last night (10 pm) thru alternative route.  This morning I called Waffa but was told Papa, Mama and Waffa had gone out to town.  So I called Papa's phone, immediately he told me, Ibrahim is ok, and they are on the way to clinic..  Wait a minute, nobody told about no trip to a clinic or what not.


From Waffa, I was informed that Ibrahim had jump in the water very early in the morning.  After a while, one of his cousin had ran to the beach, and he follows.  A few second later, Ibrahim had ran back to the camp site, crying loudly while holding his hand up.  Clearly he was in a cruxciating pain.  I do not think he is smiling then.. His palm had swollen from wrist up.  Apparently he hold a blue jelly fish like creature in his hand, before the pain had registered in.

Unfortunately, today is Sunday.  All clinic is closed.  Immediately I called, Mat Deris, who is our tekong in kuala sedili.  He was sleeping, and luckily he did not gone out to the sea today.  Very quickly he went to the gov clinic and call upon the staff nurse to  open the clinic to treat my son.  Thankfully, in a small town like Sedili Besar, you can that.  Ibrahim was well treated and off they go to camp site again.  But I must say a BIG THANKS to Mat Deris,  I owe him one..

I don't know what else they do at camp site this time around.  But last time we had our hand full with clearing a clog river.  We started with breakfast early in the morning, after which they will jump into the water immediately.


  Sometimes last year, there was a very high tide situation which had caused lots or rubbish and logs from the sea flow into the river.  When the tide subsided and the water flow back into the sea, together with the logs and rubbishes.  But the hollow path of the river had caused the logs to get stuck and form a barrier with lots of rubbish clogged at the barrier.

So the water flow had been filtered by all rubbish before it reach the children playing area.  The water seems to be clean but sight of the rubbish is not tolerable at all.

We decided to clear up the blockage and allow the rubbish thru.  It is hard work actually, we are doing logging activity.  Fortunately we had a small chain saw to help us out, with lots of bare hand and bare bones strenght.

 After the logging activity, I can not move my back.  It was my turn to sleep like a log ha ha ha..

External: Bad Spot (Time-OUT) Admin

Prof. Dr. Rozieta Shaary

When administering Time-Out as a way to discipline a kid,

1- The energy we want to exude is LOVING AND KIND, so do it with firmness but loving,say thing like, you are so precious to me, that it why Mama needs to show you how to behave better so that you will be happier.

2-Give the brightness of the future - say things like, once you have learn from your mistake, we hugs and we play or do whatever activity together.(by doing this, the child will focus on the good she will get out of this reflecting session and want to achieve it)

3-Give her a time limit like 5 mins, so that they know when they must reach their goal and also they feel secure that this is not forever.

4- Give her a goal to achieve - like by 5 mins Mama will come back here and Mama want to hear from you how you can behave better next time.

5-Then I will hug you and spend sometime to tell her how much she is loved. Tell her she is a wonderful child, that naughty behavior is not her and she can remove it from herself by being better next time. Now that she has learn from that mistake, she is stronger and better. Assure her tht she is a good person. (do not promise present, like buying toys etc we do not want them to have the idea that we have to bribe them to behave themselves)

In general, children misbehave because at that time of misbehaving, they feel lack of love from whoever they want to be loved. So, to resolve this, understand how to show love to them. There are 5 love languages.Next time I will share.
May Allah help us to be better parent and give us wisdom and patience to raise the amanah from HIM.

Love always.

External: Tak Payah Pukul Anak

Status Update

By Prof. Dr. Rozieta Shaary

Menjawab soalan Lily dan Roslina. Bagaimana cara lain untuk mendisiplinkan anak selain dpd memukul.
Seperti yg saya jawab sebelum ini, guna kaedah time-out dan menerangkan. Dimana suruh dia duduk atau berdiri di satu sudut. Suruh dia berfikir akan apa yang telah dia lakukan. Namun, sebelum itu, anda hendaklah bila melarang anak berilah reason yg baik. Jangan panjat nanti jatuh, bukanlah satu yg masuk akal bagi mereka. Apa yg anda boleh lakukan ialah mengajar dia bagaimana utk memanjat dgn selamat. Kedua, anda perlu ambil masa menerangkan kepadanya supaya dia akan hanya memanjat bila anda atau suami anda menunggu di bawah dan setakat mana dia boleh memanjat. Dan terangkan dengan reasoning mengapa tidak boleh memanjat tinggi-tinggi sgt. Tidak cukup sekadar nanti jatuh. Itu menakutkan dia dan mengurangkan keyakinan dirinya.
Anda boleh mengajarnya menggunakan kaedah bertanya - Apa akan jadi kalau abang panjat tinggi2 sangat? Dgr jwpn nya. kemudian, bawa perbincangan supaya dia boleh menyedari dia perlu berhati-hati.

Camping: Sedili 1

Last Chinese New Year holiday, my family and in laws went camping in north of Kuala Sedili.  We moved from Pasir Gudang on Saturday, early afternoon.  Taking JB Senai Highway to Desaru.  We were in 4 vehicles.  My mom in law was with me and my family in Chery Eastar, 1st bro in law (Wallid ) and family in Pajero, 2nd Bro in law Waffiz, Achop and family in new Saga, and my father in law with several of his side kicks in Ford Ranger.  The camp side is entered through a palm tree estet that have full access to a stretch of a very beautiful beaches.

We arrived at the beaches at around 3 pm.  It is fun to drive on beaches, like some kind of car advertisement, untill we find our Chery got stuck in the sand.  Luckily we had a couple 4 x 4 to help us out.  Actually only Wallid Pajero was fully functioning 4 x 4 vehicle.  My dad in law Ford Ranger also got stuck in the sand several times.  But finally we arrived at the camp site at around 4:00 pm, the journey is about 2 hours.

The camp site has an old barn but long grasses had grown quite high and a lot of clearing need to be done before we can camp there.  With a couple of lawn mower and a chain saw we manage to clear the area and erected 4 tents.  We started a bit late so we are rushing against time to clear the camping area, set up some camp fire, and the tents before dark.  AlhamduliLah we manage to do just that, and my father in-law also brought a generator, so there was also electricity for our camp..:)

The kids did not waste no time but play in the water the minute we arrived.  I don't know, they will have like 3 - 4 water playing sessions a day or may be just non-stop staying in the water.  But they have fun, a lot of fun.  Playing in the water, with sand, with the beaches, the seashells.  Ibrahim got sun burn so bad, he change color  ha ha ha...
He collected lots of seashells and try to build some kind of castle, but we never took nothing home.

Sri Khalifah BSP: Renovation

As I mention earlier, there was renovation worked done at Sri Khalifah BSP last year.  This was due to the fact that the contract on the intermediate house had expired and the owner want to sell the house.  We had the first right of refusal to buy, but at RM420,000 and later reduce to RM380,000, we were simply not be able acquire the house.

So we had to make do with do the corner lot for 2012 and beyond. That is when we renovated the back end of the corner lot to accommodate the eating area for kids.  After a couple of years of ample spaces, we are back to one corner lot to accommodate the kids.  AlhamduliLlah, we had to make some adjustment, and like before teacher had to share spaces with the kids, and all children had their classes ready.

Last Chinese New Year holiday, the new neighbor had came to the house next door to door some cleaning.  InsyaAllah very soon we going to have new company next door..

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Seperti yang telah saya sebutkan sebelum ini, kerja ubahsuai di Tadika Sri Khalifah telah di laksanakan tahun lepas.  Ianya dilakukan kerana kontrak penyewaan rumah sebelah (intermediate) telah tamat dan tuan rumah berhajat untuk menual rumah tersebut.  Kami di beri peluang untuk membeli rumah tersebut, namun dengan harga RM420,000 yang kemudiannya di kurangkan kepada RM 380,000, kami tak mampu nak membeli rumah tersebut.

Jadi kami perlu merancang untuk mengunakan rumah hujung yang ada untuk tadika tahun 2012 dan seterusnya.  Bahagian belakang tadika kami ubahsuai untuk menjadi ruang makan anak-anak tadika.  Maka selepas 2 tahun dengan ruang yang luas, kami perlu kembali mengunakan ruang yang ada seperti sebelumnya untuk anak-anak tadika.  AlhamduliLlah, selepas ubahsuai yang di lakukan, seperti sebelumnya, guru tadika akan berkongsi ruang dengan anak tadika, dan semua kelas-kelas mereka dapat di sediakan dengan sempurna.

Cuti Tahun Baru Cina yang lalu, tuan rumah (jiran) yang baru ada datang untuk mencuci rumah.  InsyaAllah tak lama lagi tadika akan dapat jiran sebelah yang baru..

External: Family Guru

Salam..
My daugther share with me about this Professor.  Do not know much about her, but perhaps we can learn a lot from her about developing our children..

http://www.facebook.com/familyguru?sk=app_208195102528120

Class II: Ada Aku Kesah

Saturday is our second class at LC Sri Serdang. AlhamduliLlah we manage to get more teachers to attend but we have yet to get full attendance. InsyaAllah, we will try for our next class which is on the 11^th of February, due to some long weekend holidays.

Our kindies also provide transit services for school going children, in between their normal class and religious class. Some even stay for day care and will leave at 5:30pm.

In one particular instance, a transit student in one of the kindie had not been behaving very well. He uses foul languages and had not been respectful of the teachers. When the teacher tell him to mind his language and he shall speak nicely to his friend and the teachers. His answer is...

“Ada aku kesah...!!”

So, what should or can I do? The teacher asked. She afraid the behavior may influence other (younger) kids and they may start uses foul language themselves.

Teacher Aen share her experience handling a similar problem a couple of years ago;

She set up an area called 'BAD SPOT'. This is the area where she will place a child when they had done some 'bad' things. Like quarrel with other kids, use foul language, fail to listen and follow instructions. The duration they will be placed there will depend on their age. 6 years = 6 minutes, 4 years = 4 minutes. Only frequent 'bad' behavior kid will be place there, so it is not like the bad spot going to be fill everyday or all the time.

But everybody know the spot is a BAD spot. You will only be there when you had done BAD. So, nobody want to be on that spot.

Teacher Aen will also speak to him at eye level, telling him why he is place there, what has he done wrong, and what he should do or not do to improve. She also say that she love him. AlhamduliLlah after several times placed on the BAD spot, the boy had improved, and behave nicely.

I would like to add that we shall also inform the parents as well of what we are doing with their kid. Not to complain but for an understanding. This can be tough as at times the child behave nicely in front of their parents. But I think we shall share the responsibility, together with the parents.

Hari sabtu lepas adalah kelas kami yang kedua di Tadika Nur Iman Sri Serdang. Alhamdulillah lebih ramai guruguru yang dapat hadir namun masih belum dapat kehadiran penuh. InsyaAllah kita cuba kelas yang akan datang pada 11hb Februari, lama lagi disebabkan oleh cuti panjang pada dua hujung minggu yang akan datang.

Tadika kami turut menyediakan kemudahan 'transit' untuk kanak-kanak sekolah rendah, kelas biasa dan kelas ugama. Ada juga diantara mereka yang menunggu sampai pukul 5:30 petang sebelum pulang ke rumah.

Ada seorang kanak-kanak 'transit' yang kurang kelakuannya. Dia mengunakan bahasa yang tak elok bila bercakap dan tidak menghormati guru di tadika. Bila ditegur tentang bahasa kurang sopan yang dia gunakan dan sepatutnya dia bercakap dengan baik kepada guru dan rakannya. Dia hanya menjawab..

'Ada aku kesah...!!'

'Apa yang patut saya buat?' tanya guru tersebut. Dia risau kelakuan yang kurang elok tersebut akan mempengaruhi kanak-kanak lain, dan mungkin kanak-kanak kecil yang lain itu akan mula mengunakan bahasa yang tak elok pula.

Cikgu Aen berkongsi pengalaman beliau menangani masalah yang serupa 2 tahun yang lalu.

Cik gu Aen menyediakan satu ruang di tadika yang dia panggil 'BAD SPOT'. Dia akan letakan kanak-kanak yang berkelakuan tak elok di ruang tersebut. Seperti bergaduh, bercakap dengan bahasa yang tak elok, gagal menurut arahan guru dan sebagainya. Masa kanak-kanak tersebut berada di dalam 'BAD SPOT' bergantung kepada umur mereka. 6 tahun = 6 minit, 4 tahun = 4 minit dan 5 tahun = 5 minit. Cuma kanak-kanak yang sering berkelakuan tak elok sahaja yang akan di tempatkan di 'BAD SPOT', jadi tidaklah ruang tersebut akan penuh setiap hari.

Tapi semua kanak-kanak tahu ruang itu ialah 'BAD SPOT'. Mereka hanya akan diletak disitu sebab mereka melakukan sesuatu yang tidak baik. Jadi tidak ada siapa yang mahu diletakan disitu.

Cik gu Aen akan bercakap dengan kanak-kanak di 'BAD SPOT' diparas matanya. Sebab kanak-kanak itu rendah, cikgu Aen akan duduk dengannya. Dia akan beritahu kanak-kanak tersebut, kenapa dia di letakan di situ, apa kesalahan yang dia telah buat, dan minta dia perbaiki kelakuannya dengan menjelaskan apa yang sepatutnya dia lakukan atau cakapkan. Cikgu Aen juga tidak lupa mengatakan dia sayangkan kanak-kanak tersebut. AlhamduliLlah selepas beberapa kali di tempatkan di 'BAD SPOT' kanak-kanak tersebut telah berubah dan berkelakuan baik serta bercakap dengan sopan.

Saya ingin menambah agar kita memberitahu ibubapa kanak-kanak tersebut dan apa yang kita lakukan terhadap anak mereka. Bukan kita nak komplen tapi ingin mendapatkan persefahaman dengan mereka. Ia mungkin agak sukar sebab kadang-kadang kanak-kanak ni akan berkelakuan baik di hahapan ibu dan bapa mereka. Walau bagaimana pun saya rasa kita perlu untuk berkongsi tanggung jawab mendidik anak-anak mereka bersama.

Class I: Tak Kenal Maka Tak Cinta

Tak Kenal Maka Tak Cinta

When I talk about roles of khalifah, (make yourself good), I stressed the word GOOD means 'to be a Muslim who obeys Allah injunctions'. The very first question I got from the teacher is..

How do we tell our young students about obeying Allah when many of them don't even know who is Allah?

Perfect question! And a great way to start..

With young children we should tell them Allah created all the things around us. Pick on big huge things and tell them Allah is the one Who created them. The sun, the moon, the sea, water that they drink, food that they eat. We need to relate Allah with them with things that they can see, things they can touch, and relate them to Allah. Then it will easier for them to know, understand and feel the existence of Allah swt.

Then we need to emotionally connect them to Allah. Allah loves them, the way their mother loves them, fathers loves them, and they way we (teachers) loves them. That is why it is important, we show our love to our students. By hugging them when the arrive at our kindie and when they are leaving. Make sure you touch them, every single one of them in your class. Always smile at them and best says some good assuring words to them. More on the words later..

Prof. Mahdi suggest 19 things we can tell our young one about Allah. For them TO KNOW HIM, and to obey Allah swt. To be HIS khalifah in this world. It all start with we telling them about Allah, all the time, with all the things we do, at our kindie and hopefully parents will continue telling them the same thing at home..:)

Bila saya bercakap berkenaan dengan peranan kita sebagai khalifah (Jadikan diri baik), saya tekankan perkataan BAIK bermaksud 'menjadi seorang Islam yang taat kepada perintah Allah' soalan pertama yang saya dapat dari guru tadika ialah..

Bagaimana kita nak beritahu budak kecil tentang taat kepada Allah sedangkan ramai diantara mereka yang tak tahu atau kenal Allah swt??

Soalan yang hebat!, dan satu permulaan yang sangat baik..

Dengan anak kecil kita kena beritahu mereka bahawa Allah telah menciptakan semua benda disekeliling kita. Pillih benda yang besar dan hebat, dan beritahu mereka Allah yang mencipta benda-benda tersebut. Matahari, bulan, lautan, air yang kita minum, makanan yang kita makan. Kita kena hubungkan anak kecil dengan benda-benda yang mereka boleh boleh lihat, benda yang mereka boleh pegang dan sentuh, dan hubungkan benda-benda tersebut dengan Allah, makan meraka akan lebih untuk memahami dan merasai tentang keujudan Allah swt.

Kemudian kita perlu hubungkan merekan dengan Allah swt. Allah sayangkan mereka seperti mana ibu sayang mereka, seperti ayah sayangkan mereka dan sepertimana kita (cikgu) sayangkan mereka. Sebab itu sangat penting kita tunjukan yang kita sangat sayangkan mereka. Peluk mereka bila mereka sampai dan sebelum mereka pulang. Pastikan kita beri sentuhan kasih pada mereka, kepada setiap anak didik kita dalam kelas masing-masing. Sentiasa senyum pada mereka, dan adalah sangat baik sekiranya kita sering menyatakan kata-kata yang baik kepada mereka.

Prof. Muhammad alMahdi mencadangkan 19 perkara yang boleh kita beritahu kepada anak-anak kecil tentang Allah swt. Untuk mereka mengenali Allah dan untuk mereka taat kepada Allah swt. Untuk menjada KHALIFAH ALLAH di atas mukabumi ini. Ianya bermula dengan kita memberitahu mereka tentang Allah, setiap masa, dalam semua perkara yang kita lakukan, di tadika kita dan semoga ibubapa mereka juga akan menyatakan perkara yang sama di rumah..:)

Class I: Khalifah Method

In our briefing slides to new parents, one of them says..
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Applies the effective and advanced learning methodologies of Whole Brain Learning, Multiple Intelligence Teaching, Multi-sensory Learning Styles and Accelerated Teaching and learning.

Usage of the Khalifah Method in daily interaction and class approach. The children are taught that it is their RESPONSIBILITY as Khalifah of Allah:
 - To make themselves good!
 - To help others (society) become good!
 - To make the physical world good (clean and beautiful)!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'The best of both worlds' is what we promote for our kindies..  READING has been our forte with our students.  With our one to one reading approach, children as young as 4 is able to read, and it is almost a sin to us if any of our student leave our kindie without knowing how to read.

But my focus will be mostly on the second world,  'Usage of the Khalifah Method..' for children character building.  Today is our first training with new teachers.

Khalifah Method define the Khalifah roles as:

 - Make yourself good
 - Help others becomes good
 - Make physical world good

Depending where you are (age wise) the word 'good' can be define as far as wide you want it to be.  To me the definition helps simplify our understanding of the roles of khalifah.  Especially when you deals with little children.

Allahyarham Prof. Muhammad alMahdi had hypothesize that: (he was a scientist)
"if only two things, two bodies of knowledge, are given to any individual or social group of any size, there will result a natural and inevitable movement of that individual or social group toward all things good and right"

These two bodies of knowledge are:
a. a positive, accurate and motivational worldview(fikrah Islam)
b. a good and broad understanding of the LAWS OF LEARNING by which all human development takes place (tarbiah)

Khalifah Method further define 3 principles that the method shall hold on to:

1. Focus on our role as khalifah of Allah swt
2. Strengthen good character with rewards
3. Be firm, but always kind

Wow.. there a lot of explanation required for all the hypothesis, knowledge, and principles here..:).  We will take one at a time ok..

First Week

AlhamduliLlah, a week had passed without any major unwanted incident. Rightfully we shall thank Allah for that and continue to make du'a to HIM insyaAllah. First week of the year is always the most hectic time as there are many new students, new teachers and this year we also have one new kindie (a branch) at Puncak Utama. Little Caliphs Nur Iman Sri Serdang had under gone some serious renovation to accomodate new additional number students as well as improving the learning environment and space for our students.

Sri Khalifah Bandar Seri Putra had gone thru renovation last year, so it is more ready to receive students, old and new for 2012.

First week is also to most important first step for many of the new students and teachers that will shape how the rest of the year will turn out o be. This is week where we start to form some controls and understandings, what are we doing here?, together at the kindies, where are we going and what direction shall we take etc etc. But all, are also not lost in a week, it is also a start, with hope and desire, to do and hope for the best. InsyaAllah, lets put our heart and hands together together, make du'a to Allah swt, sincerely work hard and focus, we shall rock the world.