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.

Exploring Outer Space

We're studying the universe this week at La Puerta Abierta.

Candelaria has shared many stories about the planets.

We've painted planets.

And made our own solar system.

A Celebration amongst Generations

Today is Mother's Day in Guatemala. We'll have a great party this morning for the mother's of our students with loads of festivity so, we dedicated yesterday to celebrating the "grandmothers" in our town. We visited the Sharing The Dream Elders' Center in Santiago Atitlan which provides hot lunches and health services to 65 elders in our community. Hugs, flowers, songs and stories were exchanged between the elders and our preschool students.

Friday Paseo

Fridays are fun days at La Escuelita Puerta Abierta. Last week, we visited Pueblo a Pueblo's community school garden in Panabaj.


Diego gave us a tour of the organic garden.

We saw radishes, cilantro and cabbage.

And learned that there are a variety of plants that we can eat!