Back to (a New) School!

Today was our first day of school at Cowman International School in Voudreil, Haiti!  Danielle went to her 3rd grade class and Elli to her Kindergarten class.  The plan was for Naomy to hang out with the Preschool class with an aide who would keep a close eye on her while I taught my morning reading classes. Naomy, however, was not agreeable with that plan... She was quite overwhelmed by all the students, teachers she had never met, and NOT being near mom.  After about 20 minutes of crying in the preschool room, a teacher brought her to me and she spent the remainder of the day in my classroom.  When my room was empty, I walked her back to the preschool room and hung out with her there to try to help her feel more comfortable.  We'll try again tomorrow...

Here, you can see the cafeteria in front and behind are all the doors to the classrooms. The last classroom is a library. 

This little building is adjacent to the main school building above.  It's the Pre-K and Kindergarten building.  There are lots of ways Cowman is different from the school Danielle attended in Illinois, but one you would notice right away is all the chickens and roosters that meander about the grounds all day.

This is my classroom!  Here, I will meet with each grade for Reading classes.  I will also supervise the three high school students in this classroom.  They will do their classes online, each from his or her own laptop.  Mr. Gross, who is seated here, will be teaching them remotely, but he's here for the first two weeks of school to get the high school students started.

This is Danielle's 3rd/4th grade class.  She's seated at the very back by the window.  Her teacher is Miss Erica.

This is the Common Room for the Pre-K/Kindergarten building.  That's Elli on the rug doing a puzzle with her classmate, Hannah. Notice that the room is a bit dark?  That's because we had no power from about 9 am until noon today.  No one seems to notice when the power goes out... We just carry on!  

 All classes at Cowman are taught in English and each teacher has two grades.  1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, 5th/6th and then there are three high school  students--one 8th grader and two Sophomores.  There are 58 students total.  All students start the day with Bible class at 8 am.  And, all students have Spanish/French class each day.  (Which means that most Cowman students know FOUR languages--Creole, English, Spanish and French--by the time they graduate.)  Finding teachers in Haiti who speak English isn't easy, though, and we're currently dealing with not having a Kindergarten teacher.  This is especially problematic since Kindergarten is the LARGEST class!  For now, the school principal, Angie Bundy, is filling that role on top of all of her administrative duties.

Here, Elli and Naomy are working on a pattern grid together.  As the morning went on, Naomy slowly got engaged with some learning activities.

What time is it?  It's time for lunch! Each student brings his or her own packed lunch and a water bottle each day.

Here is Elli's lunch table. She was happy with PB&J.