VBS is Vacation Bible School. It is where young kids come
to learn about Jesus. I was a teacher for a preschool class. The first part of
VBS is setting up. My co teacher and I made name tags for all of the
preschoolers. We had to meet up a couple times to get to know each other and to
see how we wanted to teach. We decorated the room to look like Ancient Athens. It
is in a mountain range by the water. The week we were studying was Paul’s dangerous
journey. It’s about how Paul saw so many scary things and his faith was tested
so much yet he still depended on God. My co teacher and I looked over the
lesson to make sure we could understand it.
On the first day of class, Monday, the preschoolers
arrived almost all at the same time, just before class started. They came to
class like this every day. It was a little hard to memorize all the names of
the kids. Each day there was a coloring sheet for the kids to do as they
arrived. Since most of them couldn’t write their name, I had to go around and
write names on their papers. I got through the day just fine and the kids were
very sweet.
On the second day, the kids weren’t quite as nice as the
day before everyone wanted to be the line leader. They would whine until I gave
each of them an answer, and if I told them that I already chose someone, they
would pout and then ask to be the next line leader. When I asked who hadn’t
been the line leader they all would deny ever doing it even though I remembered
seeing some of them leading that day. It’s silly to think how worked up some of
the kids got over nothing. Since I taught
preschool, some of the age requirements were fuzzy. I was supposed to have 3-4
year olds who were potty-trained, but there was a kid, let’s call Kid 1, that
didn’t exactly know how to use a big toilet without help. I found a teacher’s
aid walking through the hall who knew what to do and was able to help me. Kid 1
clogged the toilet by using too much toilet paper. The woman told me I should
take Kid 1 back to class and that she would take care of the mess. I was
grateful for all that she did.
On day three, kid 1 fought with Kid 2. Kid 2 was four.
They fought over everything, who got to hold my hand, who would sit in my lap,
who was the line leader. They were really competitive. While they fought, I had
trouble with Kid 3, who was running around, disobeying me, and wouldn’t listen
to me. When Kid 3’s mom arrived I explained that we had a little trouble and
she said tomorrow would be better.
On day four, Kid 3 was a little better but still didn’t
listen to me. She still ran around and disobeyed me. Kid 2 refused to sing the
song we picked because she thought it was a “baby song” she wanted to be with
“the big kids” like me, most of the teachers were adults. I finally convinced
her to stand with her class, but I had to stand next to her instead of in front
of them with the other teachers.
On day five, the week was over. I gave up on making Kid 3
listen to me, I tried not to get mad at the kids who ignored me or lied about
being line leader, and I tried my hardest to leave the week on a high note.
On Sunday, most of the kids came back to sing their song.
We sang in the church service, so I had to try to keep about ten preschool kids
quiet for one hour in church. After church everyone got ice cream, and I
decided that next summer I would teach older kids.
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