Celebrating the Number Ten

We've now learned the fist ten numbers at La Escuelita Puerta Abierta, which is good reason to celebrate. Last week, we hosted a party in honor of the number 10!

We made necklaces with 10 beads (and then some).

We made the number 10 at the play dough table.

And we shared collections of 10 objects. Juan brought in 10 dinosaurs.

How's the Weather Today?

We've been exploring weather in our English class at La Escuelita Puerta Abierta.

We've learned vocabulary for SUNNY and painted a bright yellow sun.

We've learned RAINY and made a rainy day.

We've learned CLOUDY and painted puffy white clouds.

And we learned WINDY and created our very own wind "machines."

We have Mail!

Because so many of our students were enchanted with the profession of mailman during our career theme, we decideed to transform La Escuelita into the Santiago Post Office.


First we wrote letters to our four animal friends.

We stuffed our envelopes and addressed them.

Then, we imagined we were the postman and delivered the letters.

We identified which letter went with each animal.

Betty the Bank Manager and Juan the Postman

We journeyed to town last week as we continued with our exploration of community professions. We were greeted by Juan, the Postman who gave us a tour of the correo and then visited with Betty who works as the manager of our local bank. We have been so fortunate to meet with so many talented community members throughout the past two weeks. Diego and Angel have decided that they'd like to be postmen some day and Reyli and Ammy would like to be secretaries in a bank.

Jose Antonio, the Dentist

We've been showered with visits this week from local community professionals. Dr. Jose Antonio and his assistant Lola talked with us about their work cleaning teeth. They also reminded us how to brush our teeth and how to prevent cavities.

Henry, the Electrician

This week, we're continuing with our professions thematic unit. We received a wonderful visit this morning from Henry, our community electrician and Ammy's father. Our students were so excited to learn about Henry's work and to peak into his tool bag. Henry reminded us that while electricity is important for our daily living, it can also be very dangerous.

Feliz Dia Del Padre

We've been busy this week preparing a special celebration for our fathers and grandfathers. We were so excited to share our school with them and create a party in their honor.

We colored pictures with the help of our dads.

We made picture frames of our favorite school memories for our fathers.

And we shared a meaningful morning with our padres.

Friday Paseo to La Posada

As we continue with our exploration of professions at La Puerta Abierta, we visited La Posada Restaurant today to meet Gregorio, a professional chef and baker, and Salvador, a waiter who has been working at the restaurant for many years. Gregorio taught us how to bake cakes and Salvador modeled his job waiting tables.

We really enjoyed learning about their jobs and eating La Posada's famous brownies!

Dr. Walter

Walter has two very important jobs. He is a well respected doctor in our community and he is also Emiliano's father. We were so lucky to receive a special visit from Dr. Walter at our school today. As we are studying professions this week, he gave us a glimpse into his days of helping people in Santiago Atitlan.

Muchas Gracias Dr. Walter!

When I grow up I want to be a...

This week, we're exploring professions at La Escuelita. Some professions seem to be timeless classics, the same desired fields of work that my classmates were excited about when I was a child (police, firefighters, and doctors). Other children have expressed interest in being race car drivers, actors, chefs, and architects.

While our students are still preschool age, I am inspired to see them dreaming about the future and thinking about careers. I can already imagine Reyli as a Latino TV personality, Emiliano as a young doctor, Ammy baking fancy pastries, and Genesis caring for patients at our local hospital.

Painting without Boundries

Perhaps Cary was feeling limited by his one sheet of white paper this morning. I loved watching his art dance across 4 pieces of paper.

Celebrating Seasons

While Guatemala only has two seasons, rainy and dry, we thought it would be fun to share the four seasons whith our students at La Puerta Abierta.


We explored colors associated with seasons.


We read stories about the weather with Miss Juanita.

We made art that reflected the seasons...

in Guatemala and other countries.

Painting at La Puerta Abierta

We recently set up our new paint station at La Puerta Abierta. Here are a few photos of our young artists at work!

Satisfaction

It's never easy to come to the end of a great vacation and return to work and life in general. Fortunately, the transition can be much smoother if you have the opertunity to leave your work in the hands of a reliable and enthusiastic staff. I recently returned to Santiago after 3 wonderful weeks abroad visiting my husband's family.

When I left La Escuelita Puerta Abierta in the hands of our staff of 5, I accepted that my departure was a natural turning point for the growth of our program. While I adore teaching and love working with our 20 talented students, I am aware that the the school is not Amanda's school, but rather an entity of our community and that all our teachers are quite capable or "running the show" in my absence.

Truly, I was delighted when I learned about all that was accomplished during my vacation. Candelaria lead the students in a two week thematic unit focusing on health and nutrition, Juanita began a unit on seasons, Bonnie taught weather in her English Class, students created a "health" food store and "bought" nutritious snacks, and Chonita, our library coordinator, ensured that the day to day activities ran smoothly.

In the realm of development, I couldn't be happier. I am delighted to know that our programs can function just as well, if not better in my absence....and truly, this is satisfying. I guess I should take more vacations!

Here are a few photos of what the children were busy learning (and eating) throughout the past three weeks.