Teacher training + Resource room = School starts!

...alliteration and addition - all in one.

Even though the title pretty much sums it up, (ay! - can’t stop, won’t stop), here’s a little more detail of recent happenings.

1. August Montessori Teacher Training.

Despite a few unexpected interruptions - two last minute notice conferences from the Ministry of Education and then the arrival of Hurricane Irene - we got the August Montessori Training accomplished! Following the same format from our June Training, we presented the Montessori materials that were purchased Stateside. Thanks to those who donated back in the spring - this training is a direct result of you! Here are a few pictures of the materials and presentation held primarily in the Pre-Basica classroom. (Pre-Basica was one of the spaces remodeled with USAID funds - check out the new shelves and rugs in the photos).

rug stand

Dressing Stand (how to use buttons, zippers, snaps, lacing, etc.)

Teeth Model

Knobbless Cylinders 

Pink Tower

Pressure Cylinders

Moveable Spanish Alphabet

Twist & Sort (for the younger students!)

Metal Insets with Stands

2. Llego!

The embarque sent while in the States arrived last weekend with everything in tact! It was a little late because of the storm - still, it is here all the same, nothing is broken or missing, and we had fun unpacking and getting everything set up with the rest of the supplies. 

3. Building more things.

Due to budgeting and striking unanticipated good deals in late spring/early summer, we had a little extra USAID grant money! Woohoo. After some planning and design drawing, I went back to the carpenter and negotiated the construction of a staircase for the kids. Yes, sounds weird, right - why build a freestanding set of stairs? Many students have trouble climbing, but especially descending stairs - (an issue I’ve seen firsthand because I sometimes bola to and from school on the bus and some kids have difficulty climbing on and off). So that’s why we decided to build a mini staircase, so that kids can practice during recess, or a physical therapy session and hopefully improve and gain confidence in doing something challenging that most of us easily accomplish daily without even thinking about. Also, this year the school hired a teacher to work on physical therapy issues with some of the kids, so si Dios quiere the stairs will get a lot of use! 

Minnie tests out the stairs.

 only the cutest little face in town

4. Resource Room Construction.

This is among my favorite things lately. Simply adding a partition in one of the offices at school created a whole new hallway/room just for the teachers! The idea here is to have a space to openly store all the training materials (handmade ones from the June Training and the purchased ones for the August Training), and that the resource room is available to the teachers to use whenever they want. Teachers can continue making their own Montessori materials based on the designs on file, and borrow from the collection in the room and return the supplies later. Eventually more of the purchased materials will be transferred to the appropriate classrooms as they are presented over the next few weeks and teachers gain experience in using their new resources. 

The shelves shown in the following pictures are the ones we replaced by adding the new units (from the first construction project). With these leftover units I put together a space for all the training materials. Yay, organizing!     

building the partition

Shelves 1 & 2 - the handmade materials from the June Training are in the folders

Shelf 3

Alberto posing with some of the materials

Victoria in the new resource room

Alberto with the Montessori materials from the embarque

5.  Classroom Prep - School Starts!

Unlike many DR schools, our school’s teachers return a month early (at the start of August) to prep classrooms, visit students at home and meet their families, and plan for the upcoming school year. In between the conferences, teacher training and class cancellations from the hurricane, we got the classrooms decorated, too. All of the fun wall decor we added to the classroom walls was handmade. ...Many clown drawings, flower borders, and permanent markers later - here are some of the results!

Welcome sign for 1st & 2nd

Marina and Isabel planning the school schedule

Orieta hard at work in the secretary office

Welcome for 3rd & 4th

practicing with the rugs in 3rd & 4th

Working on materials in the Maternal/Kinder classroom

Welcome sign for classroom with students with hearing difficulties - (learning a little Sign Language here!)

Welcome sign for Pre-Premaria

Charts for Attendance, Month, Calendar, Weather and Birthdays!

"Where are you going?" poster

Welcome for Practical Life classroom 

Murals in Practical Life classroom

Good luck to all my teacher friends back home starting the new school year, as well as students, too! Especially my “little” cousins beginning high school and 7th grade. Miss you. Have fun, all! 

Coming up: two VERY exciting new projects that I haven't mentioned on here yet! Check back soon. :D

XO