Luke's kindergarten class does one day of show and tell per child. The kids are asked to speak about something for 10 minutes! Luke brought his pirate gear and told the class all about it. He was a bit shy (maybe because I was there), and it took him a while to get started. but he did great. Here's some video. Unfortunately, it's mostly of him NOT talking! You can see all his little pirate treasures lined up there on the floor, though. He told them about his swords, his trip to Disney where he got dressed up like a pirate, and his favorite pirate, Captain Hook.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sabi's Birthday
Fisher and his family arrived soon after we did, so Luke and fisher quickly got crazy playing together. Carmen joined right in!
(They bumped their police cars together for about 30 minutes before they decided to do something different.)
Sabina and her mommy.
This clown lady painted the kids' faces, made balloon animals, and helped with the pinata at the end of the party.
Luke and Fish both got their faces painted with balloons.
Laura had so much food prepared for the party. In Venezuela, all the kids' brothers and sisters and parents come to the parties, so there were quite a few people there, and Laura informed me that this was a "small" Venezuelan party! Wow!
We finally got to the pinata around 7 PM.
There's a chant that the kids say while they hit the pinata that basically means: hit it, hit it, knock it to the ground, we want candy!
It was a fun party, and it was great to see Luke interacting with all the other kids, even the ones who spoke only Spanish.
Meet Luke, Kindergartener
Luke began the school year in pre-kindergarten. Though he seemed contented enough, he never came home excited about anything except the park. He made some friends in his class, though, and we were very glad to hear about them. All parents in his class were asked to schedule a time to come observe the class. Jason and I went to observe in early October. Within five minutes of being in the classroom, it was clear that Luke was in the wrong class.
First of all, he is four, and he'll turn five in March. There are a few children in his pre-K class who were three at the beginning of the year and turned four in September. There is quite a gap between almost five and barely four, and that gap gapes when Luke is the four-and-a-half-year-old in question. In addition to the maturity difference, the language fluency difference made it difficult for the teacher to differentiate for Luke. Kids in our school's early childhood program don't come with much English, so the teacher has to translate a lot during the day. It meant that Luke was getting a decent amount of Spanish, but having to wait a lot for the teachers to instruct the kids in two languages. Ever patient, Luke never complained or said a word. Watching him with the kids, bored, broke our hearts. We met with the school counselor and his teachers that week.
The counselor did a pre-K/Kinder screening on Luke. There was a set of questions she asked him, and based on his responses he either fell into the pre-K or Kinder category. On every question he answered the Kinder way. Everyone agreed he was ready to move up.
His crash-course in Pre-K ended at the end of October. We had planned for his last day with his class to be on the 30th, so that he could be at the Halloween party with his pre-K friends. He got sick, however, and missed school that day and the following Monday! Very bad timing! So he began kindergarten the following Tuesday.
The first week he was hesitant, but excited. On Wednesday he came home excited about the science class he'd been to. On Friday he came home with pirate books from the library and told us all about his trip to the computer lab. When I asked him that first week if he'd made any friends, he said, "Hmm...not yet, I am still working on that."
Within another week or two he'd made a few little friends and seemed to fit in a bit better with his new class. His teachers compliment his good behavior and manners, and the kids seem to enjoy being around him. He is still shy with them, I think, because I think they speak a lot of Spanish on the playground and that intimidates him. He's learning, though, and his Spanish accent is native Venezuelan!
He has homework every night. Most nights it's a guided reading book, which he reads to me with a little help. He's a reading machine! His teachers have also made up these neat little homework cases that have different activities in them. We've had a few with math activities and one with fine motor practice.
Luke's class performed at the Red Shirt Assembly last week. They sang a song in Spanish and a Hanukkah song (in English).
Today was Luke's Show and Tell day. He was asked to speak for TEN MINUTES!! We brought a whole shipload of pirate gear for him to talk about. He rehearsed his presentation several times and even practiced with Fisher and his mama for an audience. He was still pretty shy when the moment came, though. I have some video I'll upload and post later.
One month into kindergarten, I am glad we made the move. I have had some reservations about it, mostly about the long-term impact of him being a year younger than his peers, but I think he will be just fine. He loves to learn, and now he loves school. That's the biggest difference I see. He gets what he needs academically and comes home wiped out at the end of the day!
First of all, he is four, and he'll turn five in March. There are a few children in his pre-K class who were three at the beginning of the year and turned four in September. There is quite a gap between almost five and barely four, and that gap gapes when Luke is the four-and-a-half-year-old in question. In addition to the maturity difference, the language fluency difference made it difficult for the teacher to differentiate for Luke. Kids in our school's early childhood program don't come with much English, so the teacher has to translate a lot during the day. It meant that Luke was getting a decent amount of Spanish, but having to wait a lot for the teachers to instruct the kids in two languages. Ever patient, Luke never complained or said a word. Watching him with the kids, bored, broke our hearts. We met with the school counselor and his teachers that week.
The counselor did a pre-K/Kinder screening on Luke. There was a set of questions she asked him, and based on his responses he either fell into the pre-K or Kinder category. On every question he answered the Kinder way. Everyone agreed he was ready to move up.
His crash-course in Pre-K ended at the end of October. We had planned for his last day with his class to be on the 30th, so that he could be at the Halloween party with his pre-K friends. He got sick, however, and missed school that day and the following Monday! Very bad timing! So he began kindergarten the following Tuesday.
The first week he was hesitant, but excited. On Wednesday he came home excited about the science class he'd been to. On Friday he came home with pirate books from the library and told us all about his trip to the computer lab. When I asked him that first week if he'd made any friends, he said, "Hmm...not yet, I am still working on that."
Within another week or two he'd made a few little friends and seemed to fit in a bit better with his new class. His teachers compliment his good behavior and manners, and the kids seem to enjoy being around him. He is still shy with them, I think, because I think they speak a lot of Spanish on the playground and that intimidates him. He's learning, though, and his Spanish accent is native Venezuelan!
He has homework every night. Most nights it's a guided reading book, which he reads to me with a little help. He's a reading machine! His teachers have also made up these neat little homework cases that have different activities in them. We've had a few with math activities and one with fine motor practice.
Luke's class performed at the Red Shirt Assembly last week. They sang a song in Spanish and a Hanukkah song (in English).
Today was Luke's Show and Tell day. He was asked to speak for TEN MINUTES!! We brought a whole shipload of pirate gear for him to talk about. He rehearsed his presentation several times and even practiced with Fisher and his mama for an audience. He was still pretty shy when the moment came, though. I have some video I'll upload and post later.
One month into kindergarten, I am glad we made the move. I have had some reservations about it, mostly about the long-term impact of him being a year younger than his peers, but I think he will be just fine. He loves to learn, and now he loves school. That's the biggest difference I see. He gets what he needs academically and comes home wiped out at the end of the day!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving Notes
- While preparing Thanksgiving food, I taught Luke "God Bless My Underwear." I told him he is not allowed to sing it at school.
- I signed up to bring mashed potatoes to the school's Thanksgiving feast tomorrow, but refuse to bring mashed potatoes without also bringing RICE, the PROPER starchy accompaniment to turkey. (Can I get an amen from the Echols family, please?)
- I am, of course, missing my family this Thanksgiving. Reading others' plans to gather in Gainesville tomorrow makes me nostalgic and sad. It makes me miss my Grandmom and Gran'dad. It makes me miss being little--sitting with Sally at the bar at Grandmom's house, eating her cranberry sauce for her--marveling at Richie's "Richie-sized helpings" of food--laughing with all my cousins and thinking how cool they were--and then drifting in to the dining room where my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles sat around the mirror-top dining room table to hug my parents and peek at the desserts. I can still hear the after-turkey snoring accompanying the Cowboy game... I appreciated how special our family was even as a child, but I still wish I could rewind sometimes to soak it all up a little more.
- I don't like when my food touches, but I don't mind when rice gets on my cranberry sauce. Canned, please.
- We spent the last two Thanksgivings with the Simons. Tonight I am really sad that we won't be getting up in the morning to have breakfast at their house, followed by Thanksgiving dinner at ours. (Followed by Christmas movies and naps.) Our little short-lived tradition was very special to me, and I miss our friends dearly.
- Today Luke's little class had a Thanksgiving feast. Each child brought a food from their country. I baked cornbread, Luke's favorite. He was excited to share it with his friends. I got to pop into his class for part of the festivities. He's fitting in just fine in Kindergarten. His teachers love him, and they are wonderful with the kiddos. I met a few other moms, as well as his favorite little friends.
- Fifth grade is bringing food to share tomorrow at lunch time. After school, we're having a faculty and staff feast at 4:30. Then on Saturday, we have two MORE Thanksgivings to go to. I'm going to be all turkeyed out!
- This year I am thankful for Jesus, my sweet husband, my precious son, my family, my friends all around the world, my school, my sweet students, my fellow teachers, the beauty of the country in which I live, fresh air, hymns, and chocolate chip cookies.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Whew! Where was I?
Yep, still here.
Here's the thing. When you live in another country and have a full-time classroom teaching job, life is just not that different from home. There aren't as many day-to-day things to tell that are interesting, and the to-do list is never accomplished, so the blog takes last priority. Sorry, dear readers!
Here's what a "normal" week looks like for the Deutsches in Caracas right now.
We leave every morning around 7 for school. Though it's very close, it takes 20 minutes to get there sometimes because of traffic. Luke comes to my room most mornings before school and then I take him down to his classroom sometime between 8-8:15. More on Luke's school stuff later.
My students show up @ 8:15 and class officially starts at 8:30. I have 13 wonderful students. Small class sizes are one of the bonuses of overseas teaching. (Usually.) My kids are from many different countries in South America. They are very sweet, caring, and enthusiastic.
On Mondays Jason usually plays soccer after school and Luke and I come home earlier than he does. We hang out, read, do homework, and have dinner usually before Jason gets home. Tuesdays Jason has soccer and Spanish lessons. Wednesday school gets out early for staff development. Luke goes to Fisher's house to play, and then we all come home together. Thursdays after school Luke and I go to community choir. (He mostly plays during the rehearsal while I sing.) On Fridays we all come home and relax! All three of us look forward to the weekends after our busy weeks.
We still do not have a car, so we are dependent on others for transportation. :( We have been blessed with great friends who live in our building and teach at our school, and they have graciously toted us to and from school all year. We also hitch rides to the grocery store with them or with other friends. Hopefully we will be car owners before Christmas, though. We looked at one today, actually!
We have attended church twice - that sounds so horrible - but it is too far to walk with a 4-year old, so we plan to start attending when we have our own transportation. We visited a church that is very small and more liturgical than what we've been used to, but we liked it. I think we all miss going to church regularly and look forward to getting back into the swing of things. My heart definitely craves that fellowship.
On weekends we stay home a lot. Sometimes we go to a park with friends, grab a ride to the grocery store, or have friends over for football or dinner. I hope we get out more once we have a car. I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic and am ready to be able to get places on our own. We love the parks and can't wait to get up in the mountains a bit or take a trip to the beach.
My friend Bill asked about grocery stores - he asked for pictures, but I'm not really up for taking my camera to the grocery store at this point. The grocery store we usually go to is called Plaza. It's in sort of a small mall, where it is the main store. Think strip-mall, but stacked into 3-4 floors instead of in a long strip. The store is so much more like an American grocery store than any in Egypt. Similar products or the same as what we'd have at home, comparable prices on a lot of it. Good produce. Some shortages. When we first got here there was no sugar. Now we can find it more regularly, but sometimes there's no coffee. Fresh milk is hit or miss. When it is available, it's cheaper than the long-life milk. (Other places we've lived, the long-life milk has been cheaper.)
Let's see... Since the last time I wrote, we've been back to the US for our Disney trip (late October) where we met Mom and Dad for a few days and Luke has moved from Pre-K up to Kindergarten. Those two events each require a post of their own, and maybe, since I've gotten this "put-off blog" out of my system, I can find the time to get those two done. We've got some great pictures to share.
Here are a few random tidbits of information:
-We get good TV here. We have a DirecTV DVR. We tape Criminal Minds, SVU, Big Bang Theory, and Backyardigans. :) Jason gets 2 channels of NFL Sunday Ticket and the Red Zone Channel for football.
-Luke is taking swimming lessons on Thursday mornings before school with Fisher.
-We love watching Glee, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office every week, and can't wait for Lost Feb 2! :)
-Also - my friends the Darnells have recently launched sidsamerica.org . Little Billy's SIDS Support is growing up! Please check out their new website, and if you know families who have been affected by SIDS, send them to sidsamerica.org. It's a wonderful resource and ministry. God is using Bill and Cheryl mightily. Please pray for them, and donate, if you can.
Here's the thing. When you live in another country and have a full-time classroom teaching job, life is just not that different from home. There aren't as many day-to-day things to tell that are interesting, and the to-do list is never accomplished, so the blog takes last priority. Sorry, dear readers!
Here's what a "normal" week looks like for the Deutsches in Caracas right now.
We leave every morning around 7 for school. Though it's very close, it takes 20 minutes to get there sometimes because of traffic. Luke comes to my room most mornings before school and then I take him down to his classroom sometime between 8-8:15. More on Luke's school stuff later.
My students show up @ 8:15 and class officially starts at 8:30. I have 13 wonderful students. Small class sizes are one of the bonuses of overseas teaching. (Usually.) My kids are from many different countries in South America. They are very sweet, caring, and enthusiastic.
On Mondays Jason usually plays soccer after school and Luke and I come home earlier than he does. We hang out, read, do homework, and have dinner usually before Jason gets home. Tuesdays Jason has soccer and Spanish lessons. Wednesday school gets out early for staff development. Luke goes to Fisher's house to play, and then we all come home together. Thursdays after school Luke and I go to community choir. (He mostly plays during the rehearsal while I sing.) On Fridays we all come home and relax! All three of us look forward to the weekends after our busy weeks.
We still do not have a car, so we are dependent on others for transportation. :( We have been blessed with great friends who live in our building and teach at our school, and they have graciously toted us to and from school all year. We also hitch rides to the grocery store with them or with other friends. Hopefully we will be car owners before Christmas, though. We looked at one today, actually!
We have attended church twice - that sounds so horrible - but it is too far to walk with a 4-year old, so we plan to start attending when we have our own transportation. We visited a church that is very small and more liturgical than what we've been used to, but we liked it. I think we all miss going to church regularly and look forward to getting back into the swing of things. My heart definitely craves that fellowship.
On weekends we stay home a lot. Sometimes we go to a park with friends, grab a ride to the grocery store, or have friends over for football or dinner. I hope we get out more once we have a car. I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic and am ready to be able to get places on our own. We love the parks and can't wait to get up in the mountains a bit or take a trip to the beach.
My friend Bill asked about grocery stores - he asked for pictures, but I'm not really up for taking my camera to the grocery store at this point. The grocery store we usually go to is called Plaza. It's in sort of a small mall, where it is the main store. Think strip-mall, but stacked into 3-4 floors instead of in a long strip. The store is so much more like an American grocery store than any in Egypt. Similar products or the same as what we'd have at home, comparable prices on a lot of it. Good produce. Some shortages. When we first got here there was no sugar. Now we can find it more regularly, but sometimes there's no coffee. Fresh milk is hit or miss. When it is available, it's cheaper than the long-life milk. (Other places we've lived, the long-life milk has been cheaper.)
Let's see... Since the last time I wrote, we've been back to the US for our Disney trip (late October) where we met Mom and Dad for a few days and Luke has moved from Pre-K up to Kindergarten. Those two events each require a post of their own, and maybe, since I've gotten this "put-off blog" out of my system, I can find the time to get those two done. We've got some great pictures to share.
Here are a few random tidbits of information:
-We get good TV here. We have a DirecTV DVR. We tape Criminal Minds, SVU, Big Bang Theory, and Backyardigans. :) Jason gets 2 channels of NFL Sunday Ticket and the Red Zone Channel for football.
-Luke is taking swimming lessons on Thursday mornings before school with Fisher.
-We love watching Glee, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office every week, and can't wait for Lost Feb 2! :)
-Also - my friends the Darnells have recently launched sidsamerica.org . Little Billy's SIDS Support is growing up! Please check out their new website, and if you know families who have been affected by SIDS, send them to sidsamerica.org. It's a wonderful resource and ministry. God is using Bill and Cheryl mightily. Please pray for them, and donate, if you can.
Monday, September 21, 2009
What Luke Said
He was coloring a beautiful butterfly on the chalkboard in my classroom, and he asked me to help with it. I was working at rearranging desks, so I told him I couldn't help him this morning, and he should just do his best.
His reply: "I did the all best I can do. I ran out of best."
His reply: "I did the all best I can do. I ran out of best."
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Tacarigua Trip
Last Saturday morning we left with other new teachers from the school and our "buddies" to go on an overnight getaway. We rode in a 22 person small bus for about two hours to get there. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to the lagoon, where we took a 30-minute boat ride to reach our resort.
The little boats took us through mangrove trees like this:
To arrive here:
After finding our room, we changed for the beach and went out to play.
The boys played all afternoon and I slept on the beach. (I was recovering from a cold/sinus infection.) We went on a bird-watching trip at 5:30 to watch for scarlet ibis.
It was such a long day in the sun, and Luke was exhausted even before we got on the boat. About halfway to the dock, he realized he had left his swords behind. (The swords Mimi made for him this summer are in his hands from the moment he wakes up until we make him leave them at home before we go to school. He looks for them as soon as we get home and plays with them until bedtime.)
(My apologies for the un-rotated video.)
We reassured Luke that his swords would be waiting for him when we got back in an hour. He was not consoled.
He pouted for about 5 minutes and then started trying to put his head in my lap. I was hoping to keep him awake to see the birds, but after 15 minutes of valiant effort on my part, he fell asleep in my lap.
We rode in the boats for 20 minutes or so to find the birds. I was amazed when we finally got to where they were all roosting. There were THOUSANDS of them. THOUSANDS. Such a brilliant red color that they were almost fluorescent red. They lit in the trees and then they'd take off, circle around, and come back to roost again. There were scarlet ones and white ibis, too, in the same huge flock. When they landed in the trees, they segregated themselves by color. Interesting. The photos and videos will not do the scene justice, but here they are.
Oh wait, that's our friend Sergio. Here are some other teachers in their boat.
And here are the birds:
I carried Luke back from the boat and laid him in his bed. He did not wake up until we woke him for dinner at 8:00. We ate and then went right back to bed!
The next morning we were up early, so we went for a walk on the beach before breakfast. We saw a female crab that was pretty big and some fish jumping in the water. We picked up a few shells, but the best thing we got was this group of photos:
We ran into the Pihowich family on our way back for breakfast and they joined us to walk and let the kids play for a bit. Luke and Sabina are good playmates.
Here he was chasing her with swords while she ran from him. :)
After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning on the beach and left around 1:00 for Caracas. We all slept on the bus ride home and arrived back refreshed and rested! It was a great little getaway.
The little boats took us through mangrove trees like this:
To arrive here:
After finding our room, we changed for the beach and went out to play.
The boys played all afternoon and I slept on the beach. (I was recovering from a cold/sinus infection.) We went on a bird-watching trip at 5:30 to watch for scarlet ibis.
It was such a long day in the sun, and Luke was exhausted even before we got on the boat. About halfway to the dock, he realized he had left his swords behind. (The swords Mimi made for him this summer are in his hands from the moment he wakes up until we make him leave them at home before we go to school. He looks for them as soon as we get home and plays with them until bedtime.)
(My apologies for the un-rotated video.)
We reassured Luke that his swords would be waiting for him when we got back in an hour. He was not consoled.
He pouted for about 5 minutes and then started trying to put his head in my lap. I was hoping to keep him awake to see the birds, but after 15 minutes of valiant effort on my part, he fell asleep in my lap.We rode in the boats for 20 minutes or so to find the birds. I was amazed when we finally got to where they were all roosting. There were THOUSANDS of them. THOUSANDS. Such a brilliant red color that they were almost fluorescent red. They lit in the trees and then they'd take off, circle around, and come back to roost again. There were scarlet ones and white ibis, too, in the same huge flock. When they landed in the trees, they segregated themselves by color. Interesting. The photos and videos will not do the scene justice, but here they are.
Oh wait, that's our friend Sergio. Here are some other teachers in their boat.
And here are the birds:
As the sun set, we turned back and headed for the lodge.
I carried Luke back from the boat and laid him in his bed. He did not wake up until we woke him for dinner at 8:00. We ate and then went right back to bed!
The next morning we were up early, so we went for a walk on the beach before breakfast. We saw a female crab that was pretty big and some fish jumping in the water. We picked up a few shells, but the best thing we got was this group of photos:
We ran into the Pihowich family on our way back for breakfast and they joined us to walk and let the kids play for a bit. Luke and Sabina are good playmates.
Here he was chasing her with swords while she ran from him. :)
After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning on the beach and left around 1:00 for Caracas. We all slept on the bus ride home and arrived back refreshed and rested! It was a great little getaway.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Luke's First Day
We had our first day of school on the 14th, but Luke didn't start until the 15th. That morning, I walked him down to his classroom and dropped him off with his teachers, Miss Lisseth and Miss Carolina. He was ready to play right away! (He found a plastic toy knife in the home center right off the bat and was ready to play pirates with it... until he was told that the toy knife was for cutting pretend food, not for sword fighting!) He put his bag away and I left him without tears from either one of us. :)
Here's his beautiful teacher:
And these are our buddies with their little girl:
And here's a shot of my classroom (and a few of my adorables) on day 2:
Trip to the Park
Five ECA families went to a park our 2nd weekend here. We stayed and played for a couple of hours or so and then our buddies took us out to eat.
And here's some nighttime video from our apt.
And here's some nighttime video from our apt.
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