This year is just flying by! I can hardly believe the students have only a few more weeks of school. As construction continues on the school buildings, the kids have been moved to temporary classrooms. The first, second, third, and fourth graders are in the cafeteria. Meet them below, and find out what they’ve been up to in class.
First Grade
The first graders are learning the new ropes of primary school after three years in a kindergarten environment. Their favorite subject is reading, and they are especially interested in the new experience of taking exams!
As mentioned in a previous post, we had to shuffle some teachers around in the middle of the year when two of our teachers had to return to Port-au-Prince for personal reasons. The first grade teacher, Rachelle, had to leave after the Christmas break. To take her place, the school began in December to prepare Erna (left below) and Rosemitha (right below). They have been receiving training and working together under supervision by the school to teach the first grade class. It is part of an initiative we are taking to prepare and train more local teachers. They are doing a great job!
Below, the first graders are working on numbers and addition.
Second Grade
The second grade is loaded with more personality than you would think possible in one class! They are also the largest class in the primary school.
In these pictures, they are working on division.
Teacher Magdaline is taking full advantage of the plywood partitions as extra blackboard space!
This is Magdaline’s first year teaching for us. She started out in Kindergarten 1, but moved to second grade when the original teacher had to leave for health reasons.
School Director Almaïs about Magdaline: “Magdaline adapted so quickly to our team. When you see her together with the other teachers, you wouldn’t know this is her first year with us!”
Third Grade
The third graders’ favorite subject is math. They like their teacher, Simon, because he makes them laugh! Below, they are learning to tell time by the clock.
(Obviously, there is no lack of personality in this class either!)
Simon has been teaching with us for four years. Says Almaïs: “I appreciate the respect and love that Simon has for others. He is very much a team player, always willing to offer his support.”
(And psst! He’s getting married this summer to first grade teacher Erna!)
Fourth Grade
The fourth graders’ favorite day of the week is Friday, because they like to water the trees and go to chapel.
Fourth grade teacher Ronyl has also been with us for four years. He loves to help his students understand new concepts. “I appreciate Ronyl’s love for education and his willingness to accept critique,” says Director Almaïs.
Below the fourth graders are working on (eek!) French Grammar!
Kenol is the French teacher for all the grades. Although Haitian Creole is the primary heart language, French is a very important language for education and the professional world. This can be a challenge, because–although it is much more common in the cities–out here on the Plateau, French is rarely used or heard, except in school. For this reason, the school devotes a little more attention to it, and Kenol takes an hour with each class every day to focus specifically on French communication.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh graders are in a different building. We will visit them next week!