She has:
A teacher she adores, someone dedicated enough to leave country and family to move halfway around the world and teach her.
Friends from literally all over the world, a multitude of cultures, backgrounds, and religions.
So many opportunities to practice loving and leading.
Lots of wiggly teeth.
First grade assembly, Term 1, doing their Ultra Super Cool Creation Rap.
(name that movie)
When I taught in California, there would be this big moving-van type truck that would arrive in the parking lot once a year with a mobile aquarium in it. The kids would be shuffled through and allowed about five minutes each to “touch and feel” the ocean animals.
First grade visited the tide pools last week to finish up their seashore unit. The kids at HOPAC don’t know how good they got it, with their own non-mobile aquarium five minutes away from their school, and they got a good two hours to “touch and feel” the real thing.
The octopus provided the most entertainment of the morning, when it proceeded to spray black ink all over the screeching children standing over it.
Mikayla, Nurdin, and their jellyfish friend.
Sometimes I laugh when people think our kids are deprived, growing up way over here in Africa.
Caleb was her very first friend. They are the same age and were adopted within months of each other.
Grace and Caleb, about 1 year old
Josiah and Imani are also the same age, and adopted within months of each other. So their family are very special friends with ours, and getting together is always filled with great anticipation. I can’t wait for Saturday, Grace said all week. Caleb and Imani live out in a village and we don’t get to see them very often.
Just way too cute…… (and don’t worry, we don’t bring up the marriage thing any more!)
Grace had her first day of first grade last week. Her second top tooth fell out just in time. After all, everyone knows that first graders should not have their two front teeth.
We also just passed the fourth anniversary of Josiah coming home to us, and the day after that, the first anniversary of Lily coming home to us. And as I sit here watching them, I think about how far we’ve come since that day last August.
The war between Josiah and Lily has come to a peaceable end. Of course, there are still battles–there always will be, but Josiah has not slammed the door in Lily’s face or done any kind of bodily harm to her for at least 8 months now. Now….Grace did tell me the other day that Josiah peed on the trampoline and then tried to get Lily to step in it….but we’ll just chalk that up to being a four-year-old boy instead of evil hatred. (But yes, he did get consequences all the same.)
It is now 9:00 am, and Josiah and Lily have been playing together for the past two hours and there has been no screaming. That would have never happened a year ago. They are both dressed in Spiderman costumes and playing with legos. Yesterday, they were both Jedi knights. It’s kind of funny, actually, since Lily is quite the girly-girl who loves her dolls and dishes. But since Josiah is her playmate most of the time, she has become quite adept with a light saber. And I just heard her mutter something about The Dark Side.
When he is not trying to make her step in pee, Josiah now takes his role as big brother quite seriously. It has been a long, long road of discipline and discussions to get him to this point, and just as much work to get Lily to stop screaming. It took months of telling them, “You are best friends!” before they finally starting acting like it.
I think the worst is over. Sigh of relief.
So this is really a grandparent post. For those of you who are not Grace’s grandparents, forgive me. But since I also make this blog into a memory book each year, I want this stuff recorded.
So if you really are not interested in the details of Grace’s kindergarten year, then please go back to your previous activities. 🙂
One more week of school left….and my sweetie will be a first grader. She has had such a great year!
Grace had the teacher on the far right until Christmas, and then HOPAC’s regular kindergarten teacher (who had been on maternity leave) took over for the rest of the year. Both were fantastic, dedicated, talented teachers.
Outside the kindergarten classroom
One of the things I love about HOPAC’s elementary school is that each class puts on three assemblies each year….full of singing and dancing and presenting. I remember when I was teaching at HOPAC, I thought, You’ve got to be kidding…you want me to do what each term? But I got the hang of it and loved doing asemblies with my class. So it was so much fun to see Grace do assemblies this year. One of the major advantages is that the kids get so used to performing that they have no stage fright by the time they get to the upper grades.
Grace was a break-dancer in this assembly….oh yes, she was!
Assembly #2
Grace and three of her best friends, wearing their “outside” hats. All elementary students are required to wear hats outdoors. I think this idea came from Australia. Who knows? We are an international school!
The day our puppies visited kindergarten……
The day the fire truck visited kindergarten…..
Grace with her kindergarten teacher for the second half of the year, on Sports Day. This teacher is British, which means Grace comes home with all kinds of expressions like, How sensible! and Well done! and I put a full stop on the end of my sentence!
I love it (full stop).
When I was little, Sports Day was my worst day of the year. I would cry every time. I would be last in everything.
Not this sweetie. She was running against the first graders, and was the only kindergarten girl to place in any of their races.
Second Place in the 400 meter!
She’s reading and writing like crazy. This story made me particularly happy because she did it at home, in her notebook, totally on her own. I discovered it one day and am not even exactly sure when she did it.
Here is the translation, with fixed spelling, but everything else hers:
The Turtle and the Monkey
Once upon a time there was a mean monkey. The monkey lived in the tree. And a little turtle that lived in the
water. The monkey be so mean to the
little turtle. The turtle had an
idea he wanted challenge the monkey to a
race. They raced. The monkey was going so fast one of the
branches broke and the monkey fell in the water with an AAH and with a
splash. Turtle was still swimming until
he saw the poor monkey. He felt sorry
for the [monkey]. The monkey was
sad. The monkey said he was sorry that
he had be mean to the turtle. He
promised to never to be mean again.
The
End.
aaaand….the illustration.
But this is what made my whole year.
Yesterday was the Kindergarten Awards Ceremony, when each child in the class was presented with an award. Grace received hers for “kindness and thoughtfulness towards others.”
Not much else I would rather her to receive an award for!
Onwards to First Grade!
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