"Is it Like a Parchute?" -life in our Preschool

I love preschool...love it.

TFABB (Teachers For A Better Belize) came back in town for a week to work just with our Preschools and principals. I got to go over to Santa Teresa's Preschool and see Amy's house while I was there. It was sinfully hot that day and watching Anne (the preschool specialist) excitedly do circle time and model lessons for outside playtime was awe inspiring. Amy's host sister Hilaria (who fittingly is hilarious) has been wanting to meet me and we hung out with her in the hammock for some time. She told Amy she found her a man, that she 'dashed away' her old boyfriend, and then we watched her play with my shades and kushtal. Amy has a ketchi dress (kaylyssa and I will be having ours made Wednesday) and her host mom said, "I like see when Amy wear her dress." Amy's preschool teacher just turned 18 and is super cute. She told us all about the upcoming 'Deer Dance' that the villagers have been practicing for all night, until the sun comes up, several times a week. It is a ceremonial dance to ensure a good planting and harvest. The men and one young boy (who also practices until the wee hours) do 4 days of dancing 3 times over about a year. They must do all three ceremonies or bad things will happen to them.

Amy's sweet thatch...she lives without electricity...hard core.

The next day Amy and Anne came out to my village. We were like a whirlwind coming through. In one day we:
Set up a library (with each book organized by color dots)
Rearranged the room completely
Made a circle/ calendar time area
Modeled a Circle time
Modeled small group instruction
Taught her 3 new songs/chants to use while teaching

When we went outside for playtime I heard the cutest song ever. All the kids stood in a circle holding hands. One kid steps inside, the teacher asks "boy or girl?" The kids respond accordingly and then they sing:
"There's a brown boy in the ring...Fa la la la la,
There's a brown boy in the ring...(higher) Fa la la la la la la
There's a brown boy in the ring,
He looks like sugar in the plum (higher) plum, plum

Practicing gross motor skills hitting down glue bottles....notice the back right corner, that is now the calendar time (below)

Calendar time and the new library in the preschool

There's also a song about the chariots of heaven where 'If the devil's in the road, we will roll right over him' complete with arms rolling and leaning forward to 'roll over the devil.'

Both preschool teachers were super responsive and willing to try any and all of our crazy ideas. March is Preschool Stimulation Month which kicked off with a parade of all the preschools in Toledo dressed in shirts of one color with banners and balloons and all the parents.

Our color was orange...many of the moms wore orange ketchi dresses to match

All month preschool has special activites and 'field trips' including family day where we went to 10 of the preschoolers houses and had a snack and drink at each one. My favorites were the houses that served the oat drink...kind of like oatmeal but tastier and thinner made with condensened milk. The kids were stopping every few yards to drop trough and 'piss' they don't say go to the bathroom or pee it's, 'Miss I need go piss' When they are given permission they just go outside the front door and 'use' right there. when we went over our bridge there were 4 boys in a row peeing. I liked talking to all the moms and seeing the houses (I stealthily sketched their locations onto my homemade map of the village I keep with me).

20 preschoolers going on a village field trip

Sheldon with his mom Saturnina and Grandma Ms Cecilia

Drinking oats

One afternoon while helping my preschool teacher plan some lessons on transportation she says, "what is this?" ash she turns a workbook and says the words hot air balloon very questionably. "is it like a parachute?" I proceed to launch into an explanation of a large 'parachute like' balloon that is filled with hot air by a torch and gas tank. How when the air is warmed it begins to rise, then cools with the surrounding air resulting in the balloon landing if it is not heated again. Ms. Consuela was staring at me, mouth open...silent for a few seconds. She then asked why we have those, and if people still use them. I mumbled some things about fairs and hobbies and drifted off into my own thoughs of these pointless, expensive air carriers.

Several of the preschoolers, including sheldon now call me keveen. I really like this and even Saturnina has started to call me x keveen (ish keveen...miss keveen).

Now time to get Kaylyssa from the airport!!!!!!!!!!