Gennaio 2010
Gennaio un mese di neve (January a month of snow). As I, always, say seasons provide our daily lessons. What happens when "Fa freddo?" (when it is cold?) - and why is Gennaio a cold month in Massachusetts? Is January a cold month in all other parts of the world? And how about in Italy? Do we know that in Australia is now summer? And what happens in Summer? and so forth..... Children learn when engaged in conversations, to allow let their little minds to explore to think for themselves is our gift to them!
This group loves music and art, they have already learned 2 new songs and they are eager to share with everyone, I love these big smiles of accomplishment and I hope the enthusiasm will always be part of their lives because it will that enthusiasm that will keep them want to learn more...
Well, I am pondering on all this at 2 AM on January 22, 2010. The month is almost passed!
BUON NATALE E FELICE ANNO NUOVO
CIAO, CIAO 2009 - BENVENUTO 2010
NOVEMBRE - 2009
It is unreal that in a couple of days is "La Festa del Ringraziamento". We got to say "Grazie" for everything we have. I am always telling the ragazzini how thankful we all are to have a home, warm clothes and food to eat. I never force them to eat all of their food, but I do remind them of the children in the world that go to sleep hungry and how thankful we must be for Mamma e Papa' that spend time cooking and that work hard to buy that food. It is amazing how much conversation we can start with just these thoughts :)
November was a sad month for me, my beloved Scottie cagnolina (dog) Gracie (the character in my book) was put to sleep following a long illness. It was, and still is, hard to come to terms that she is not with us anymore. I was blessed to have had the children to keep me busy and focused as I felt like crying most of the times. When I was young and lived in Italy I never got to have a pet and I did not realize until I had one what a great love pets give us, it is all unconditional love, their companionship is equal to none!
Our days have been going so fast, I am so extremely impressed on how well the children are doing in school. We have been busy preparing and practicing the songs they will be singing alla festa di Natale (X-mas party), by now they now well their main expressions as well as colors, counting and shapes. They hardly ever forget to ask me "Nella, per favore voglio acqua..........." and when I give them the water they reply "Prego". They have replaced their "I am sorry" with "Mi dispiace" and they feel so proud, as they should be, of their accomplishments. It was a great night with the Italian class for parents, we had some good laughs..., I amvery proud of all of you! Grazie e Ciao!
SETTEMBRE-OTTOBRE 2009
What a wonderful start of the school year!! The students are doing "magnificamente bene" together. They know each other's name and they can say facilmente (with easiness) sono Maria, sono Corey.............
We started to tack on everything, from colors, shapes, numbers (to 10), family, animals, seasons and birthday.
The four hours go by a bit too fast between project times, singing, dancing, story time, free play and cooking.
It is an incredible group of happy "ragazzini"!!