Thanksgiving virtual day

Every year our school designates 2-3 days as “virtual day”. This means that a full day of school activities are done at home. Some of the activities are computer-based while others are not.

For pre-kinder I try to keep the activities fun and family-friendly. I usually post 3-4 different choices for the families to choose from for their activities. I also include one of our math resources which gives ideas of using math concepts at home. For example counting steps as your walk up a stair way or organizing plastic containers from smallest to biggest. This hopefully gives the parents ideas of how to have a math rich environment in the home.

This year for Thanksgiving I gave students a few options of Thanksgiving activities. One of them was to create a “turkey sandwich” using materials in the kitchen. They then send me a picture. Here are some that I have received.

 

Bogota vs. Bamako

I started this post last year and forgot about it. Did some updating of pictures so here you go!

Over the past few months people have asked the question “how is Bogota different than Bamako?”. This is a great question- and one that leads to a lot of thoughts and comparisons. I decided that rather than use words, it would be good to make picture comparisons. As you will see some things are very different, while others are quite similar. The pictures to the left are in Bogotá (or surrounding area) and the right in Bamako. Hope you enjoy!.

Landscapes

     

Down my street

Cityscape

Iced treats

 

Theme parks

 

  

Soccer

 

Service trip 2013

One of the joys of a theme of service is not just using our words, but leading our students in action. As a pre-kinder class we visit a nursing home 2 times a year to share a time of singing, coloring and sharing a snack.

I was so excited to see my students embrace this time whole-heartedly. One student’s mother told me she woke up at 4am so excited to visit the grandparents. Another student who has difficulty focusing worked hard to color a picture for his “abuelito”. Plus all the students spent 45 minutes cutting fruit for fruit salad without being crazy or wanting to stop. Their prayers for the grandparents (in English!) were genuine and sweet- asking God to care for them and for them to show God’s love! What a blessing to share this special day with my students.

Cutting fruit for the fruit salad (they all wore masks to catch the sneezes)

Greeting the ‘grandparents’

Singing songs to the ‘grandparents’

Coloring pictures with the grandparents

Christian Character Day

Every year October is a month dedicated to learning about people. The library hosts a contest to see who can read the most biographies. Classes learn about historical figures and many write biographies. And to end the celebration, elementary hosts “Christian Character Day”.

This is a chance for elementary students to dress up as a famous Christian Character. Pre-Kinder and kinder are Bible characters and 1-4th grades are post-Bible characters (missionaries, pastors, people of faith, etc.). Each class has a time to share with parents, then all the students across grade levels join together and share. It is a great time for my students to practice English- plus the love dressing up! Check out the cute pictures:

Many of my girls were Queen Esther

Classroom activity with parents (and grandparents, aunts and uncles)

As close to an all class picture as we could get!

Elementary small groups sharing about their character

That’s about right kiddos  

22 four year olds looking in the same direction=impossible!

Creation unit #2

Well first quarter finished and grades are done! It was such fun exploring all of the things God created. In this post I highlighted some of the activities we did for days 1-4. Here are some things we did later in the unit.

Day 5 is when God created birds and fish. Check out our cute birds!

 

Day 6 God created animals and people. This is the week we went to the farm to get to know all the animals. This post has a lot of our pictures.

Day 7 God rested so we decided to follow his example and have a PJ day. We also invited the parents to come to school in their PJs and watch a movie with us. My co-teacher taught the kids a song and had them act it out for the parents. Then the parents had to do the same (see bottom 2 pictures). So much fun and a great way to end our quarter!

Vacation in South America

Every October Colombia mandates that schools take a week off for vacation. For this extra free time we joined another family for a trip to Peru and Ecuador. It was 9 days packed with flights, busses, trains, taxis and even a boat. The only mode of transportation we didn’t take was helicopter… and since none of us intended to be med-evac’ed we have to live with the disappointment. Since a vacation like this is lived through experiences, it’s hard to really describe the many things we did… so I’ll just share the top 5 moments of this trip!

#5- Basilica in Quito- Ed always calls me a cathedral snob.. but after touring Europe and seeing some of the largest cathedrals in the world it’s hard to be impressed by every one. The Basilica in Quito surprised me! It was huge, decorative and full of amazing stained glass. I also enjoyed how the architects used animals from Ecuador in the designs- such as the gargoyles were alligators, turtles and lizards.

#4- Islas Ballestas- About 4 hours south of Lima is a national reserve home to a large number of wild-life. In order to see the islands through we had to take a boat. While on our way towards the islands we had a group of wild dolphins give us a show. The islands themselves are home to sea lions and all sorts of birds- including penguins. This was my second time here (also hit this place up when I was in Peru in 2009) but both times were amazing. Nothing beats seeing God’s creation in it’s natural environment!

#3- Cuy- Commonly known as guinea pig- it is a traditional Incan food, now served to tourists and found all over the Andean mountains. What did I really think? Well it was a little greasy and doesn’t have much meat. But it was a fun experience none-the-less.

#2- Ecuador- Literally translated as Equator- we were able to visit a point where the northern and southern hemispheres meet. What’s interesting is the monument is actually about 500 meters off from the real equator. When first built the line was miscalculated and it was too late to adjust the monument. Oh, well! It makes for great photos!

#1- Machu Picchu- the ruins of the Inca capital. I have always heard it was breath-taking and it did not disappoint. To arrive to the hidden city we had a combination of a plane, mini van, train, and bus. It was worth the hassle of transportation and exploring was absolutely amazing. As with any amazing site pictures cannot do it justice.