Sarah the British school girl...

I have to tell you a couple stories about Sarah going to the British school. She is the youngest of her class by a few months. She turned 4 just over a week before school started. Not to mention that she is the only American. There are 27 children in her class. With such a big class they really do great things teaching each one of them creatively. Her teacher told me a few weeks ago that Sarah was not really participating in the small groups they were doing with the teacher but she would see in her play time that she would do it later so they decided to take her aside and do this activity one-on-one. They have since told me that she is doing well with that. Well, last week the teacher pulled me aside very excited because Sarah had done something really out of her character (at least at school). When the teacher needs to speak with all of them she has them sit on the carpet. To get them there she has a child yell at the top of their lungs a count down from 10. She asked for a volunteer that afternoon and Sarah volunteered. The teacher was very shocked to see that but very excited that she was coming out of her shell. She told Sarah to stand up and do it. When she stood up and saw all the other children staring at her she became very shy but then the teacher called on Sarah's best friend to stand up with her and the two of them did the count down very loud. Well from what I see of Sarah she is very capable of being a leader but if I were in her shoes I would also be a little intimidated and confused by all the words but she is slowly beginning to understand and come out of her shell. I am so proud of her.

Just a little bit about her best friend Emma-Jane. Emma is from South Africa and really does not know the other children either. Sarah and Emma really stick close. I think even with their very different cultures they stick close because they are both learning how things work, how to understand the words used, and that just being different from the others brings them together. Sarah and Emma have been getting into a bit of trouble at school so they must be feeling a little more comfortable.

Also, a little background on how they run the Reception classroom. They have different activities planned such as cooking or a specific art project that they take turns allowing the children to "have a go" at. The classroom is not 27 desks lined up in rows. I don't think that other than on the floor there are enough chairs in the room for them all to sit. They have a reading corner with some books and bean bags to sit at. They have an art area with boxes and "haberdashery" that the children can glue and tape or paint. There is a creative area where they can dress up. They have different costumes for the different seasons or holidays coming up. There is a computer where they can play games. They have smart board that they allow the children to draw on it and color with it and then they print it off and send them home. There is a lot more in that little room such as cars, dolls, or even a little question and answer table that will ask them such things as to which jar has lavender in it or they had the nativity scene there closer to Christmas. The other morning when I left the teacher was taking shaving cream and painting it onto the table and then sprinkled glitter onto it for the children to "have a go" at writing something or drawing in the shaving cream. They have a special fenced off area where the children can go outside and play in a playhouse or they have little trikes or water or sand. I was very leery at first about the children just playing. I figured that I could just do that myself with Sarah at home but somehow in the middle of all of that they are teaching Sarah how to count, how to write (small letters), to recognize them, and slowly she is trying to put those letters together to make a word. Soon she will be reading! She is only 4!!!

I will tell you all about the Christmas play later but I wanted to give you a little background. xx