From Monday, February 17th to Friday, February 21st, Olga, Karla and I held classes for both the preschool and the first grade outdoors from 8am to noon as our classrooms where not completely constructed yet nor did we have chairs and desks. Using flexibility and imagination, we had a great week, and the children loved our shared experience.
On Monday, Olga started a knitting project with the 1st grade to made bags for their flutes, and I began with Karla in the preschool. Karla will be the lead teacher in preschool, and Olga and I will rotate in and out as the Waldorf teacher and the English teacher. On Monday, I took the entire preschool class with many parents on a long walk from the Rancho to the school construction sight. We learned to hold on to a rope together as we walked and sang songs. It was too much for all the small children, however, and parents had to carry the smallest children part of the way.
On Tuesday, Olga and Karla worked with a distraught older boy in kindergarten who wanted to be in first grade, while I worked with first grade. The first graders and I learned about virtues that we needed for working together in our circle in the morning like respect, helpfulness, cooperation, kindness, effort, firmness, and detachment, and then we went singing and walking hunting materials to build a tree house. We also spent some time down at the river in the middle of our morning, and we had a very joyful time. When a girl feel in the first grade and slightly hurt herself, I put my Deep Blue essential oil on her and she felt better immediately. When a little boy was worried about ants getting on him, I put a little bit of our On Guard essential oil insect repellent on him. He was happy too.
Tuesday night, I spoke with the father of the eldest boy in Kindergarten about why he could not enter first grade at age 4 and a half in Costa Rica. It really is far too young for my experience as a teacher in any educational system anywhere in the world, for Waldorf schools or public schools I've taught in before in Costa Rica. Speaking with Ulli about this later, Ulli informed me that he believes the Costa Rican law makes students wait until they are 6 years old and 2 months. That may be only for public schools, but we can cross that bridge later. For now, we agreed that we would try to create a successful combined preschool and kindergarten experience.
On Wednesday, I worked with the preschool and kindergarten and helped our oldest boy build a model banana leaf fort for the children who were learning about building toy homes for their stuffed animals. All the children were very happen, and nearly all of them helped a little with expanding the banana left fort after the eldest child and I completed the initial structure. It was a very happy morning. Olga continued knitting flute bags with the first grade on Wednesday.
On Thursday, I worked with the 1st grade again on building our tree fort. And we also spent more time at the river. Some of the songs we learned and invented or improvised where the following:
To the tune of "I've been working on the railroad," we sang:
- We've been working on our tree house,
- all the live long day,
- And we've been looking for some branches,
- all the live long day,
- Then we've been sanding down those branches,
- all the live long day,
- so we can build our platform,
- all the live long day.
To the military tune of "left, left, left, right, left," we sang walking to the river and back:
1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4,
A, A, A, B, C, D,
Ape, Ape, Ape, Bee, Cat, Dog,
1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4...
The children were also entertained with and asked to hear many times the "Crazy!" loop drama:
What time is it you ask?
Time? Time is a magazine.
It costs a dollar.
I haven't got a dime.
Rat! Rats? Rats make me crazy.
I was crazy once.
They locked me in a little white room,
where I couldn't tell the time.
Time? Time is a magazine.
It costa a dollar...
(and round and round we go again, and again, and again)
Then to the tune of Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat Song (Day-O),
we sang, and I sang out especially forcefully:
Ay-Oh! - Let's go!
[So-and-so]! - Likes surfing!
Ay-Oh! - Let's go!
[So-and-so]! - Likes reading!
Ay-Oh! - Let's go!
[So-and-so]! - Likes playing cars!
Ay-Oh! - Let's go!
(and so on and so forth with the other students)
Then, by special request, the students got me to sing the crying and sighing song occasionally:
(Improvised from Godspell)
When you are crying, sighing,
and your oil tree is dying,
temples are graying,
teeth are decaying,
and creditors weighing your purse!
Your mood and your role!
chick-a-chick, chick, chick, chick, chick!
Are both a deep blue!
chick-a-chick, chick, chick, chick, chick!
You bet that Job!
chick-a-chick, chick, chick, chick, chick!
Had nothing on you!
Who? Ooh!
But just remember that when you get to heaven you'll be blessed,
YES!
It's all for the best....
done, done, done, done, done, done, done!
Some boys (girls) are born to live at ease,
richer than the bees are in honey!
They get the center of the meat,
cushions on the seats,
houses on the beach,
where it's SUNNY!
Yes who is the land for?
the sun and the sand for?
You guessed! It's all for the best!
The last part is song at such high speed that the words can barely be understood, so the irony need not be talked about with 1st grade. The point is that the change in tempo from slow and sad in the beginning to super fast and hilarious at the end thrills the children and changes moods when needed.
And that was a wrap on Thursday!
On Friday, Olga worked with 1st grade again on knitting, while Melina assisted Karla with preschool and kindergarten since I had to go to Tree of Life Learning and the Migracion office to proceed with my work visa processing. I will have to leave again next week to continue with this process, probably on Wednesday.
On Saturday, a few families and I worked on setting up the classroom with the furniture that arrived this same day. I also consulted with parents about the location of the tree house for which the 1st grade has been preparing materials. We decided we will move the tree house to a safer tree and bolder since the mango tree branches where the tree house was begun break too often.
Please feel free to leave comments in the comment boxes below, but please conceal names of students and families as I did above.
Love and light to all of you,
Sky Thoth
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