Hey folks..
Decided to blog more about the nursery.. but this could potentially be very boring.. just sort of describing how it's structured...
so basically the day is split up between 20 minute segments.. each segment having a direct purpose.. even "free toy play" promotes preference and autonomy... Also each week has a letter, number, color and shape of the week. I had attempted to ahve a theme of the week as well. but it was way too complicated for me to try and incorporate that heh...
So we start the day with organizing the classroom, putting the alphabet mat out, chairs/tables, etc... and then they have free toy play (which all the toys also have some sort of educational purpose)...
then we start the morning gathering.. with these three songs "si estas feliz" (if you're happy and you know it), buenos dias (good morning) and dias de la semana (days of the week).. then we review the behavioral board (this 3 light system, everyone is on green, there are 4 simple rules.. no fighting, listen while the teacher is talking, walk in a line together (when going outside), and ask to go to the bathroom one at a time)... if you break one of the rules you move to yellow and this involves a discussion, then if it happens again, you move to red and this involves timeout)... on the flip side, there is the "star" chart, where if they have good behavior for first half or second half of the morning, they have opportunities to get a star, and after 5 stars they get to choose something from the prize box (sticker/card/other)..... then we go into talking about "what day/date/climate/season is it", who my helper of the day is, and review again the #/letter/shape/color of the week... then we read a story and do a language activity (for example reviewing the letters and writing 'Dd' like 8 times), then it's sport (there are two outdoor sections of the day) this is a directed sport/game that i teach them.. then we come back wash hands for snacktime and they brush their teeth after eating, then it's storytime.. relaxation/quiet time (to start learning to calm self, stress/emotional management, etc).. then we do a maths activity (using numbers, shapes, or other concept), then english (songs, alphabet, face/body, emotions, etc.), then art and personal development (personal development is sort of just learning the role of things in the world; self awareness and awareness of others)... then 'recess' for free outdoor play.. then back inside for music before putting all the classroom stuff away again for the end of the day.
Quite a full day, activities seem to work out pretty nicely to fill out the 4 hours.
So.. originally we had called "time out" "the corner"... but unbeknownst to me, one of our boys has "the corner" in house being a dark scary corner where there are rats that he is terrified of... so in addition to already not be used to our discipline techniques, he was terrified that we were sending him to "the corner"... which was when we changed it to "time out"... alot of times our kids are used to just being spanked when they do something bad.. so that's been predictable for them.. since we dont do that at the nursery, it seems they have gotten a bit afraid of the unpreditability of that and a few of them have sort of regressed into crying when their mothers leave (when previously they were fine)... hopefully that will improve as they see it's just time outside of participating when they do something wrong..
It's been really fun to see what works and doesn't work for games and activities. Something as easy as follow the leader and having them copy me as various animals is one of their favorite games.. they also love the "london bridge" game (este puente va a caer, va a caer, va a caer.....)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The ups and downs of nursery life...
So, I'm having a heck of a time balancing the administrative aspects of coordination and then on top of that doing all the teaching and lesson planning. And then having to explain to the volunteers that are assisting me, what their role is in the classroom, as well as the mothers who we have each one volunteer one day a week (sort of as a parenting class sort of thing)...
It is not your role to watch me try and control 10 kids on my own. It is your role to assist me in maintaining order!! Grr.. I'm not a teacher, and even that seems common sense to me. When I'm having difficulty getting the kids to pay attention, you don't sit back and just watch me. But OK.. i understand that maybe these are all things I need to explain very explicitly... The folks helping me, have been a huge help in other areas... I'm not ungrateful... 'cuz I wouldn't have been able to keep my sanity this far if it wasn't for their help. Though, they could be of more use.. So yeah, apparently I'm also training volunteers as well. Oh, though I should mention that one of my mates, Jean Claire, has been super awesome in helping in the nursery.. taking on teaching some of the lessons, super great with discipline and helping with everything else without any sort of prompt... Elliot has been great too and the only difficulty has been his lack of spanish, but he's good with discipline and paraticipating in the nursery :)
In my state of frenzy of trying to start the morning and talk to 2 mothers at the same time (since the volunteers i had assisting me that morning didn't speak any spanish, I couldn't leave it up to them to lead the class), I allowed two more children into the program, just making things much more difficult, but my head was spinning at the time and it didn't come mind that:
1. It was going to make things more difficult for myself by adding two more kids.
2. It's better for the mothers to know and learn that if they want to participate in a program, they must follow the rules, which included going to several meetings, and having attended from the beginning of the program.
But oh well.. One of the new girls who came today is very ready for school and wasn't difficult to integrate into the class. The other family came, but just to let us know she couldn't attend because she had very bad tooth problems (her cheek was very swollen). Hopefully, she'll be easy to integrate into the class....
Whew..
On the flip side (yay, there's a flip side or I'd be having a nervous breakdown and ready to come back to the states right now)... the kids are absolutely adorable... They already have been copying things I say often... For those who have spent time with me long enough, you know i say "OOPS!" all the time. When I've done something, when someone else does something, an "OOPS!" comes out. Well one of my kids has decided to do the same hahah... It was adorable too because it was out of no where.. he came and tapped me on the shoulder and said "OOPS!"
The kids are real sponges and have been learning things really fast. The other day we sang a color song that included spanish and english (sing with me! to the tune of: Fere Jacques) Red is rojo, green is verde, blue- azul, negro-black, Yellow-amarillo, purple is morado, Brown-café, gray is gris.... So anyway, today I showed them some colors and they remembered the song from yesterday and were saying "blue azul!" and "rojo red!".... yay! that's exciting for me hehe... today we read a book that had sentences in english and spanish, and they were very eager to repeat the english words after me. Probably more so because they see the amusement in my face of them speaking english.... so adorable!!
But alas, they seem to be in the storming phase and in addition to all the stress I've mentioned above, they have begun to stop listening to me, and doing things to test my patience... which i generally have alot of, but will likely turn into an ulcer if i dont figure out how to manage it soon!! :P
Any tips welcome. As I've said, I've never worked with kids 3 & 4 before, so I need all the help i can get. Oh and if anyone's curious.. the budget for the nursery is $350. All the supplies it took to start it up was about $300.. ongoing budget is the rest...
Oh, and BTW, my knee is still F'd... continues to look like a fat, swollen knee.. can go upstairs properly now, but with extra support from railings when on that leg, but can't go downstairs without taking each step slowly and not bending my knee (cuz it doesn't support my weight going down). However, don't think it's anything a doctor can do anything about, so I'm just ace bandaging it and waiting for it to heal. Aleve helps.
It is not your role to watch me try and control 10 kids on my own. It is your role to assist me in maintaining order!! Grr.. I'm not a teacher, and even that seems common sense to me. When I'm having difficulty getting the kids to pay attention, you don't sit back and just watch me. But OK.. i understand that maybe these are all things I need to explain very explicitly... The folks helping me, have been a huge help in other areas... I'm not ungrateful... 'cuz I wouldn't have been able to keep my sanity this far if it wasn't for their help. Though, they could be of more use.. So yeah, apparently I'm also training volunteers as well. Oh, though I should mention that one of my mates, Jean Claire, has been super awesome in helping in the nursery.. taking on teaching some of the lessons, super great with discipline and helping with everything else without any sort of prompt... Elliot has been great too and the only difficulty has been his lack of spanish, but he's good with discipline and paraticipating in the nursery :)
In my state of frenzy of trying to start the morning and talk to 2 mothers at the same time (since the volunteers i had assisting me that morning didn't speak any spanish, I couldn't leave it up to them to lead the class), I allowed two more children into the program, just making things much more difficult, but my head was spinning at the time and it didn't come mind that:
1. It was going to make things more difficult for myself by adding two more kids.
2. It's better for the mothers to know and learn that if they want to participate in a program, they must follow the rules, which included going to several meetings, and having attended from the beginning of the program.
But oh well.. One of the new girls who came today is very ready for school and wasn't difficult to integrate into the class. The other family came, but just to let us know she couldn't attend because she had very bad tooth problems (her cheek was very swollen). Hopefully, she'll be easy to integrate into the class....
Whew..
On the flip side (yay, there's a flip side or I'd be having a nervous breakdown and ready to come back to the states right now)... the kids are absolutely adorable... They already have been copying things I say often... For those who have spent time with me long enough, you know i say "OOPS!" all the time. When I've done something, when someone else does something, an "OOPS!" comes out. Well one of my kids has decided to do the same hahah... It was adorable too because it was out of no where.. he came and tapped me on the shoulder and said "OOPS!"
The kids are real sponges and have been learning things really fast. The other day we sang a color song that included spanish and english (sing with me! to the tune of: Fere Jacques) Red is rojo, green is verde, blue- azul, negro-black, Yellow-amarillo, purple is morado, Brown-café, gray is gris.... So anyway, today I showed them some colors and they remembered the song from yesterday and were saying "blue azul!" and "rojo red!".... yay! that's exciting for me hehe... today we read a book that had sentences in english and spanish, and they were very eager to repeat the english words after me. Probably more so because they see the amusement in my face of them speaking english.... so adorable!!
But alas, they seem to be in the storming phase and in addition to all the stress I've mentioned above, they have begun to stop listening to me, and doing things to test my patience... which i generally have alot of, but will likely turn into an ulcer if i dont figure out how to manage it soon!! :P
Any tips welcome. As I've said, I've never worked with kids 3 & 4 before, so I need all the help i can get. Oh and if anyone's curious.. the budget for the nursery is $350. All the supplies it took to start it up was about $300.. ongoing budget is the rest...
Oh, and BTW, my knee is still F'd... continues to look like a fat, swollen knee.. can go upstairs properly now, but with extra support from railings when on that leg, but can't go downstairs without taking each step slowly and not bending my knee (cuz it doesn't support my weight going down). However, don't think it's anything a doctor can do anything about, so I'm just ace bandaging it and waiting for it to heal. Aleve helps.
Monday, April 13, 2009
is it karma?
Well, I dont believe in 'karma' per se... my beliefs are more taoist.. but just for kicks we can call it karma...
After my little bragging session, I've very much screwed up my knee (however, I remind myself that it could be worse, like the peace corp volunteer here who broke his back in several places and had it treated here and fortunately is still standing/walking!)..
it's very big, fat and has a nice little cut on it.
I think a few posts back, I posted about my bad knee... well... Basically just fell down some stairs and because i was holding my computer i didn't have my hands to balance nor stop my fall and i landed on a corner (like pointed) edge of concrete against the side of the knee cap of my bad knee... i have a nasty cut and the knee is very fat and swollen now.. i can barely bend my knee, though i can somewhat tolerate the pain if i just keep the leg straight and keep total weight off of it. it was one of those injuries that instantly you know you've done something very wrong to it.. not just a scrape or bruise, but something has been damaged. was very close to tears heh.. and i can tolerate quite a bit of pain... after it happened i had to sit there for a while cuz basically my mind went black and couldn't do anything else... i'm goign to see if the swelling goes down tomorrow and how things are in the next few days and hopefully it'll start to heal without having to see a doc... right now i've got quite a headache; feels like the pain has sort of dulled and my brain is tired of numbing it... took an aleve... hopefully that helps...
will keep you posted heh....
After my little bragging session, I've very much screwed up my knee (however, I remind myself that it could be worse, like the peace corp volunteer here who broke his back in several places and had it treated here and fortunately is still standing/walking!)..
it's very big, fat and has a nice little cut on it.
I think a few posts back, I posted about my bad knee... well... Basically just fell down some stairs and because i was holding my computer i didn't have my hands to balance nor stop my fall and i landed on a corner (like pointed) edge of concrete against the side of the knee cap of my bad knee... i have a nasty cut and the knee is very fat and swollen now.. i can barely bend my knee, though i can somewhat tolerate the pain if i just keep the leg straight and keep total weight off of it. it was one of those injuries that instantly you know you've done something very wrong to it.. not just a scrape or bruise, but something has been damaged. was very close to tears heh.. and i can tolerate quite a bit of pain... after it happened i had to sit there for a while cuz basically my mind went black and couldn't do anything else... i'm goign to see if the swelling goes down tomorrow and how things are in the next few days and hopefully it'll start to heal without having to see a doc... right now i've got quite a headache; feels like the pain has sort of dulled and my brain is tired of numbing it... took an aleve... hopefully that helps...
will keep you posted heh....
Nursery update... a bit of bragging... cuz i can :)
So, my name's on the Nursery Page of the SKIP website :)
http://skipperu.org/index.php/general-skip-news/nurserybegins.html
Decided I wanted to blog/brag a bit, and I feel slightly justified because of the sweat and tears from the past couple months and insecurities from having never done this sort of work nor worked with this age group.
So basically, it's been running quite smoothly :) activities were quite on target, daily schedule working out to fill the day. All activities corresponding with developmental milestones. etc etc... today I was quite elated because the kids are learning the songs I'm teaching them and a bit amused because they're saying some of the phrases I often say... (hopefully they won't learn my horrible pronunciation of 'r')...
So my bragging story is that in addition to various compliments by my fellow volunteers, one of them is an actual teacher and was asking me about my schooling I've had with child development and education (which again, is almost none, I remember a child development class in my psychology b.s. and maybe 1 in my m.s.w. and no classes on teaching).. and saying that she sees me using quite a few methodologies that are really good. She was describing some to me that I'm apparently using and how its been diverse to meet different styles of learning that the children exhibit. :) yeeeeeeeeee!!! Estoy feliz sobre esto porque pensaba que yo no sabía que estoy haciendo!
Apparently I'm doing something right! Never taught before... apparently it's something I can do :)
More pictures later, cuz i defo want to show off how i've decorated the room :) and show sports activities we've done :)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Housemate robbed in front of house
I've mentioned that things have been relatively safe since I've been here, with common sense precautions...
However, there have been two incidents in front of the house since I've been here. (though none at the SKIP office which is generally "more dangerous"... )
The first incident occurred during the evening. I wasn't there, but apparently my housemates were in a taxi getting ready to go out, and some guy tapped on the window saying something. Lourdes who is Peruvian, was telling them to not open the door or roll down the window, but apparently no one heard, because they then rolled down the window. The guy then pointed into the car and stated that he left his wallet in the car. They were looking around and he then said something along the lines of having seen it right there and pointed on the ground. I'm not sure at that point who opened the door, but he reached right in and grabbed the purse of one of my housemates. She apparently had keys to our house, ID and money (not sure what else)... After that, we had to change the keys to the house, which was quite expensive.
Second incident was a housemate who was coming back to the house after going to the camera repair store to get her camera fixed. She had only keys, her camera (in a case) and 200 soles (in the case). The cord of the case was wrapped around her hand. As she was unlocking the door, a man ran out, pushed her, and then grabbed the camera case. She has a nasty cut on her hand from it and was quite spooked by the incident. The guy ran into a cab and they drove off (the cab had a passenger in it). Liz and I rode around with her to the tourist police station to have her give a statement so she can claim it on her insurance.
So nothing quite violent... but very close to home...
However, there have been two incidents in front of the house since I've been here. (though none at the SKIP office which is generally "more dangerous"... )
The first incident occurred during the evening. I wasn't there, but apparently my housemates were in a taxi getting ready to go out, and some guy tapped on the window saying something. Lourdes who is Peruvian, was telling them to not open the door or roll down the window, but apparently no one heard, because they then rolled down the window. The guy then pointed into the car and stated that he left his wallet in the car. They were looking around and he then said something along the lines of having seen it right there and pointed on the ground. I'm not sure at that point who opened the door, but he reached right in and grabbed the purse of one of my housemates. She apparently had keys to our house, ID and money (not sure what else)... After that, we had to change the keys to the house, which was quite expensive.
Second incident was a housemate who was coming back to the house after going to the camera repair store to get her camera fixed. She had only keys, her camera (in a case) and 200 soles (in the case). The cord of the case was wrapped around her hand. As she was unlocking the door, a man ran out, pushed her, and then grabbed the camera case. She has a nasty cut on her hand from it and was quite spooked by the incident. The guy ran into a cab and they drove off (the cab had a passenger in it). Liz and I rode around with her to the tourist police station to have her give a statement so she can claim it on her insurance.
So nothing quite violent... but very close to home...
Cajamarca for Semana Santa
May make this short, so i can continue working on lesson plans for the nursery.
Had thursday and friday off last week and a few housemates wanted to take a trip to Cajamarca, which was on my list of places I wanted to visit in Peru. I listened to spanish nursery rhymes and slept for most of the 9 hour bus ride there, so apparently I missed quite a bit of beautiful countryside, however, there was plenty to be seen beyond the bus ride!. Oh... and I can't forget to mention.. there was NO bathroom on the bus for the 9 hour bus ride. Which was ok because they did make one pee stop.. but was not ok, because apparently I ate something poor beforehand because I had a severe intestinal emergency and had to make them stop. Thought I was going to have a very embarrassing moment there, but after some pain and sweating, and some really nice bus drivers, my crisis was averted. (HUGE TANGENT: my housemate had just told us a story where she needed to go to the bathroom and the bus drivers refused to stop and stated that the bus was not going to restart if they stopped it. After some time, she ended up threatening to pee on the bus if they didn't stop and they went ahead and stopped the bus. Like clockwork, the bus did not start again.. and like clockwork, it started raining... everyone was very pissed off at her and they ended up being rescued by some truck that had railings above the cows they were transporting. They spent the next 3 hours riding the top of a truck with cows underneath them. Fortunately, this was not the fate of my situation!!).
So in Cajamarca... did lots of stuff like go to some hot springs:
walk around town
visit ruins (ventanillas de otuzco)
the town is quite rural
saw awesome rock formations, petroglyphs and aquaducts in Cumbe mayo.. including rock formations that look like other things (one part looks like a face facing our left):
Also went to an old hospital that was run by nuns, went shopping, bought some cheese, presents for friends/family, and saw a Jesus play with vignettes.
The altitude of Cajamarca is 2,700 m (8,900 ft)... which is a bit short of what Cusco is at 3,300 (10,800 ft).. and I had no altitude problems at all. In Cumbe Mayo which is slightly higher than Cusco (though we only stayed for a couple hours), I did get a bit dizzy, but nothing unmanageable.. we were hiking around quite a bit too.
It was quite cold (i had long johns, jeans and long sleeves and jacket).. and I was told cusco is colder than that.. about 60 F during the day at best is what i was told; nighttime of course much colder.
Actually, in a couple weeks i'm spending a weekend in Julcan, which is just about the altitude of Cusco.. So we'll see how the altitude feels there for a few days (I've been a little worried about the altitude adjustment in Cusco, cuz i've had problems in colorado when visiting my sis). Seems like it's not really gonna be a problem.
SUPER!
More photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frunkus/sets/72157616582699603/
Many of these fotos are better viewed by clicking the option "all sizes" at the top of each picture. Or slideshow option. Don't forget to click on info for description.
:) Disfruten!!!
Had thursday and friday off last week and a few housemates wanted to take a trip to Cajamarca, which was on my list of places I wanted to visit in Peru. I listened to spanish nursery rhymes and slept for most of the 9 hour bus ride there, so apparently I missed quite a bit of beautiful countryside, however, there was plenty to be seen beyond the bus ride!. Oh... and I can't forget to mention.. there was NO bathroom on the bus for the 9 hour bus ride. Which was ok because they did make one pee stop.. but was not ok, because apparently I ate something poor beforehand because I had a severe intestinal emergency and had to make them stop. Thought I was going to have a very embarrassing moment there, but after some pain and sweating, and some really nice bus drivers, my crisis was averted. (HUGE TANGENT: my housemate had just told us a story where she needed to go to the bathroom and the bus drivers refused to stop and stated that the bus was not going to restart if they stopped it. After some time, she ended up threatening to pee on the bus if they didn't stop and they went ahead and stopped the bus. Like clockwork, the bus did not start again.. and like clockwork, it started raining... everyone was very pissed off at her and they ended up being rescued by some truck that had railings above the cows they were transporting. They spent the next 3 hours riding the top of a truck with cows underneath them. Fortunately, this was not the fate of my situation!!).
So in Cajamarca... did lots of stuff like go to some hot springs:
walk around town
visit ruins (ventanillas de otuzco)
the town is quite rural
saw awesome rock formations, petroglyphs and aquaducts in Cumbe mayo.. including rock formations that look like other things (one part looks like a face facing our left):
Also went to an old hospital that was run by nuns, went shopping, bought some cheese, presents for friends/family, and saw a Jesus play with vignettes.
The altitude of Cajamarca is 2,700 m (8,900 ft)... which is a bit short of what Cusco is at 3,300 (10,800 ft).. and I had no altitude problems at all. In Cumbe Mayo which is slightly higher than Cusco (though we only stayed for a couple hours), I did get a bit dizzy, but nothing unmanageable.. we were hiking around quite a bit too.
It was quite cold (i had long johns, jeans and long sleeves and jacket).. and I was told cusco is colder than that.. about 60 F during the day at best is what i was told; nighttime of course much colder.
Actually, in a couple weeks i'm spending a weekend in Julcan, which is just about the altitude of Cusco.. So we'll see how the altitude feels there for a few days (I've been a little worried about the altitude adjustment in Cusco, cuz i've had problems in colorado when visiting my sis). Seems like it's not really gonna be a problem.
SUPER!
More photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frunkus/sets/72157616582699603/
Many of these fotos are better viewed by clicking the option "all sizes" at the top of each picture. Or slideshow option. Don't forget to click on info for description.
:) Disfruten!!!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Former Peru President Fujimori convicted of mass murder, kidnapping
Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years. Activists say the verdict shows that even former heads of state cannot expect to get away with serious crimes.
By Adriana Leon and Chris Kraul
April 8 2009
Reporting from Lima, Peru, and San Agustin, Colombia -- Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was found guilty of mass murder and kidnapping Tuesday and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, a rare instance of a former head of state being found guilty in his own country on human rights charges.
More here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fujimori8-2009apr08,0,1670805.story
By Adriana Leon and Chris Kraul
April 8 2009
Reporting from Lima, Peru, and San Agustin, Colombia -- Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was found guilty of mass murder and kidnapping Tuesday and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, a rare instance of a former head of state being found guilty in his own country on human rights charges.
More here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fujimori8-2009apr08,0,1670805.story
Nursery
So, I was meaning to take a nap right now, but thought I might upload a couple fotos for you guys to see with the nursery :)
There were 3 days this week, Monday being the first day of the nursery, and my weekend starts today because it's Semanta Santa (Easter)... Thank goodness, because after yesterday, I was so exhausted, I was a bit concerned about how I'd be able to keep all this up until I leave for the States in July. There's an awesome psychologist who just arrived who has been helping me out quite a bit with advice. At one point yesterday I was so mentally exhausted, I just couldn't talk/hear more about the nursery (not even stuff that would help ease the day).. but after a good night's sleep and an easier day today, I was ready to work on some improvements with the psychologist.
The way I have it set up, the 4 hours are all split up into 20 minute segments, these include: morning gathering, toy election (when they have choice to choose a toy, promotes independent thinking), storytime/language, mathematics, personal development, music, art, quiet time, sports, and snack time... each having an important role in child development. I've got 8 kids in total. Also have integrated a parenting skill objective (since one mother is to stay for 1 morning a week). Handwashing and teeth brushing every day (which the kids love, it's so cute!), folders for each kid with weekly reports, a piaget assessment, and will have all their finished work that they're parents can pick up at the end of the week... We've changed up the schedule to have two sports (1st directed by us and 2nd free choice/child-directed) activities, since the kids get ansty and it's tough to be in the same room for 4 hours... We've included a component where they help us set up and put the equipment away (not just the toys)... which helps me quite a bit because it's part of the time they're there (saves me 15 minutes before the 4 hours of nursery) and the kids learn and feel a sense of responsibility...
Grr.. the pictures aren't loading on blogger... you'll just have to wait for me to upload them to flickr, but that may be a while...
anyway, the nursery went as well as I think it possibly could... and then on top of that, having been created by someone who has never run a nursery, much less worked a nursery (other than the 3 recent days I 'observed'), and then it being done by someone who's spanish is barely intermediate... not so bad if i say so myself
My brain is absolutely pushed to it's limit... not only did I do the planning, I'm doing the coordination, lesson plans, and I'm the primary teacher... and as I've mentioned, on top of all this, I'm doing this all in spanish (which is still a struggle).. I think I've never pushed my brain so hard...
(hope i dont sound too much like i've been complaining in my last posts about the nursery)... just more expressing/sharing how difficult it has been and how, yes, outside of all the surfing and having fun on weekends, I'm working my ass off during the week...
the kids are absolutely adorable though... not trying to have favorites (at least being aware that I do is the first step to not showing favoritism right?) but there is the cutest little boy that just tries to do every I'm teaching and is just so happy when he's got something down.. raises his hand for everything.. is very independent, and kind to the other kids.... so adorable! :) all the kids are super cute. makes the stress worth every minute of it.
There were 3 days this week, Monday being the first day of the nursery, and my weekend starts today because it's Semanta Santa (Easter)... Thank goodness, because after yesterday, I was so exhausted, I was a bit concerned about how I'd be able to keep all this up until I leave for the States in July. There's an awesome psychologist who just arrived who has been helping me out quite a bit with advice. At one point yesterday I was so mentally exhausted, I just couldn't talk/hear more about the nursery (not even stuff that would help ease the day).. but after a good night's sleep and an easier day today, I was ready to work on some improvements with the psychologist.
The way I have it set up, the 4 hours are all split up into 20 minute segments, these include: morning gathering, toy election (when they have choice to choose a toy, promotes independent thinking), storytime/language, mathematics, personal development, music, art, quiet time, sports, and snack time... each having an important role in child development. I've got 8 kids in total. Also have integrated a parenting skill objective (since one mother is to stay for 1 morning a week). Handwashing and teeth brushing every day (which the kids love, it's so cute!), folders for each kid with weekly reports, a piaget assessment, and will have all their finished work that they're parents can pick up at the end of the week... We've changed up the schedule to have two sports (1st directed by us and 2nd free choice/child-directed) activities, since the kids get ansty and it's tough to be in the same room for 4 hours... We've included a component where they help us set up and put the equipment away (not just the toys)... which helps me quite a bit because it's part of the time they're there (saves me 15 minutes before the 4 hours of nursery) and the kids learn and feel a sense of responsibility...
Grr.. the pictures aren't loading on blogger... you'll just have to wait for me to upload them to flickr, but that may be a while...
anyway, the nursery went as well as I think it possibly could... and then on top of that, having been created by someone who has never run a nursery, much less worked a nursery (other than the 3 recent days I 'observed'), and then it being done by someone who's spanish is barely intermediate... not so bad if i say so myself
My brain is absolutely pushed to it's limit... not only did I do the planning, I'm doing the coordination, lesson plans, and I'm the primary teacher... and as I've mentioned, on top of all this, I'm doing this all in spanish (which is still a struggle).. I think I've never pushed my brain so hard...
(hope i dont sound too much like i've been complaining in my last posts about the nursery)... just more expressing/sharing how difficult it has been and how, yes, outside of all the surfing and having fun on weekends, I'm working my ass off during the week...
the kids are absolutely adorable though... not trying to have favorites (at least being aware that I do is the first step to not showing favoritism right?) but there is the cutest little boy that just tries to do every I'm teaching and is just so happy when he's got something down.. raises his hand for everything.. is very independent, and kind to the other kids.... so adorable! :) all the kids are super cute. makes the stress worth every minute of it.
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