Katherine's school had a parent day this week where we could come and watch what their day is like. One of my favorite parts to watch was the morning exercises. This is also one of Katherine's favorite parts. Last year, Katherine cried the entire time and never danced at all. This year was a huge difference. She loves her school and looks forward to going every day. Here are a few video clips from the dancing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpiiES-0Dpk this one is a bit shorter...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDtNZk88YxA and then the attempt of 4 year olds at kung fu...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQQJDWddP2o 
This is her class room where I drop her off every morning. She puts her backpack in her cubby, puts her water bottle up, and goes straight to get a chair to sit with her class for the morning lesson. Most of the kids get there ealry, but we drop her off between 8:30 and 9:00. It does not disrupt anything before 9:00 because most of what they do before then is feed them breakfast and Katherine eats at home with us for breakfast.
Here are her classmates. They were very cute. Her teacher speaks very fast. She would ask the kids questions about the lesson and if they thought they knew the answer then they would raise their hand and should "I can try" in English. That was the only English I heard while I was there. Although, they do have an English lesson every day...Katherine does great at that one :)
We also did a parent kid craft and then they took our picture afterwards. Katherine had fun making her umbrella out of paper and a straw. You can barely see it in the picture.
They also had many centers to choose from for play time. Each child has a bookmark with their picture on it. When they decide which center they wan to play at, they take their bookmark and place it in one of the slots at the centers. If there are no slots left, you need to choose another center. Katherine was VERY quick to put her card in the slot for the blocks.
This was one of MY favorite pics...Mmmmmm...Dove Dark Chocolate! Notice the security tag! I've seen security tags on many things in the States, but never on chocolate!
Benjamin was working hard on his homework. He also got a haircut this week. It was actually very funny. We tried a new store that just opened up by our apartment. He wanted them to shave his hair so that he was bald. I told him no, so he was not happy. The guy cutting his hair asked what was wrong (because he could not speak English). He also thought it was funny. After the haircut he asked if it was ok. Benjaimin said that it was not ok (in the local language) and went back to the chair hoping that the guy would shave his head. I couldn't help but laugh at the protest, but then Benjamin decided that he liked it after all.
Lauren loves ot go on walks with Ayi. I happen to run into them on my way to study.
This is Lauren's favorite place to go. She loves to ride this thing. She was telling me that she didn't have any money :)
At Regan and Benjamin's school, they had a fall festival where they could dress up. Benjamin was excited to find a few pirate things to dress up with. I thought he was a very cute pirate.
Regan was a butterfly which is also what her name here means. They both had a great time playing outside and doing all the games that the school had planned for them.
Katherine's school had a parent day this week where we could come and watch what their day is like. One of my favorite parts to watch was the morning exercises. This is also one of Katherine's favorite parts. Last year, Katherine cried the entire time and never danced at all. This year was a huge difference. She loves her school and looks forward to going every day. Here are a few video clips from the dancing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpiiES-0Dpk this one is a bit shorter... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDtNZk88YxA and then the attempt of 4 year olds at kung fu... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQQJDWddP2o 
This is her class room where I drop her off every morning. She puts her backpack in her cubby, puts her water bottle up, and goes straight to get a chair to sit with her class for the morning lesson. Most of the kids get there ealry, but we drop her off between 8:30 and 9:00. It does not disrupt anything before 9:00 because most of what they do before then is feed them breakfast and Katherine eats at home with us for breakfast.
Here are her classmates. They were very cute. Her teacher speaks very fast. She would ask the kids questions about the lesson and if they thought they knew the answer then they would raise their hand and should "I can try" in English. That was the only English I heard while I was there. Although, they do have an English lesson every day...Katherine does great at that one :)
We also did a parent kid craft and then they took our picture afterwards. Katherine had fun making her umbrella out of paper and a straw. You can barely see it in the picture.
They also had many centers to choose from for play time. Each child has a bookmark with their picture on it. When they decide which center they wan to play at, they take their bookmark and place it in one of the slots at the centers. If there are no slots left, you need to choose another center. Katherine was VERY quick to put her card in the slot for the blocks.
This was one of MY favorite pics...Mmmmmm...Dove Dark Chocolate! Notice the security tag! I've seen security tags on many things in the States, but never on chocolate!
Benjamin was working hard on his homework. He also got a haircut this week. It was actually very funny. We tried a new store that just opened up by our apartment. He wanted them to shave his hair so that he was bald. I told him no, so he was not happy. The guy cutting his hair asked what was wrong (because he could not speak English). He also thought it was funny. After the haircut he asked if it was ok. Benjaimin said that it was not ok (in the local language) and went back to the chair hoping that the guy would shave his head. I couldn't help but laugh at the protest, but then Benjamin decided that he liked it after all.
Lauren loves ot go on walks with Ayi. I happen to run into them on my way to study. 
This is Lauren's favorite place to go. She loves to ride this thing. She was telling me that she didn't have any money :)
At Regan and Benjamin's school, they had a fall festival where they could dress up. Benjamin was excited to find a few pirate things to dress up with. I thought he was a very cute pirate.
Regan was a butterfly which is also what her name here means. They both had a great time playing outside and doing all the games that the school had planned for them.
