A Day at School

A typical day at school means lining up to sing the national anthem and other songs to show pride in their country and to praise all the blessings they have. Daily sorghum porridge is served for the preschoolers as studies show nutrition is important for focusing and learning. For some this may be the only meal until dinner.

They learn hygiene by cleaning up before and after snacks. 

Listening skills are emphasized during storytime. 

Time for play is important to show education is fun.

The curriculum also includes creative arts, writing, math, history, science, French, English, Kinyarwanda and time in the library.

Opportunities for teaching in and outside the classroom abound!!!

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Celebrating our Teachers

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Our teachers are making a difference in so many lives. For each child as well as for their families. We LOVE our teachers and so do our children!!!
David is one of our amazing preschool teachers who is also taking university classes. He asked the children to greet recent visitors to their class. He shared, "It is important to teach them to be respectful and to grow to be good citizens of Rwanda."

Louise says, "One-on-one time is important to develop opportunities for children to be creative and use their imagination."Cesarie one of our Primary 1 teachers has been teaching for 11 years. She shared some of her thoughts on education. "School is essential to improving your knowledge and sharing it with others. At school children learn to be responsible and to take care of their materials. They learn to play, be creative and take time to think through things. Each child comes with different skills so it is important for teachers to improve those skills and sometimes reorient them to improve other skills. It is also about working with our parents so they understand the importance of their child's education. Parents are encouraged to help with homework, clean their uniform, reinforce good behavior at home and help the teachers to know their children to help them grow."

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Teacher Training

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Carol Falke on teacher trainings: 

Each time I come I bring teacher supplies, materials and books. It is important to weave these together to form a curriculum and themes for teaching. You can’t just give teachers what we “think” they might need, without sharing the possibilities for these teaching tools. 

Next we worked on leveled reading books that were donated by two publishers as well as BIG books. Teachers learned how to introduce a new book and the steps to use when reading it - prereading, reading, responding, exploring and analyzing. Again we used role playing to teach the basics of beginner reading.

So in August we held 3 days of trainings and just this past April another 3 half days. A great starting point in April was for each teacher to teach the other teachers about their “classroom to classroom” partnerships. They showed what materials went together and why, how they taught their class and what they and the children learned. Role playing is so important and was a lot of fun. 

*** Urukundo always has a need for preschool or primary teachers to come to Rwanda for a few weeks, a month or longer. Teachers interested in working with the teachers on curriculum development as well as working in the classrooms. Please email Arlene if you want to discuss this further.

Classroom to Classroom Partnerships

These partnerships have been a wonderful way for children and teachers to learn from each other. They learn about each others cultures, get to know students in each class and share what is the same and what is different between the US and Rwanda.
 
Friends Schoolhouse Preschool, PA

This new partnership focused on how babies are carried. The school's parents took photos of all the ways babies are carried in the US by mothers, fathers and grandparents and even kids carrying their stuffed animals. The teachers compiled a booklet to send with the book, "A Ride on Mother's Back" signed by the teachers. One parent sent a side sling baby carrier. In Rwanda we had the new sewing center make two smaller versions of the sling carrier for the children to use. The children in David's class had fun learning something new.

Mt. Nittany Elementary School, PA
 
Third graders at this school learn about Africa and through one child a partnership was formed. This child learned about the Urukundo Home for Children at her church where she and others collected shoes and money for goats. She shared this with her teacher who was excited to become connected. They agreed to collect buttons to be used as teaching tools for math in Rwanda. The Rwandan baskets overflowed with buttons, so they decided to make "Button People" as a gift for the preschoolers. In Rwanda the children created a button frame and a picture of hands with button jewelry as gifts for the 3rd graders. And of course they read "Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons". The third graders also wrote letters and drew pictures for the Primary 1 classes about their families, sports, food, pets, hobbies, snow and their homes. Learning together continues across the world!!!
Child Care Center at Hort Woods, Penn State, PA

This has been a 2 year partnership comparing classrooms, sharing children's photos and names and giving each other baskets from their country. Booklets of how each of the baskets were made were given to each school. This time the theme was, "A Circle of Friends". Photos of each pair of children, Picture Pals, were attached to a letter and artwork. Then the children in Rwanda sent back a letter with mosaic art to each of their Picture Pals.

An Aha Moment!

Walking from the library at the end of a day, I peaked in David’s preschool class. One group of preschoolers were using the building set, Straws and Connectors, that I left in August. When I saw how they were using it, I understood I should have taken the time to go one step further by opening the box and showing them the potential for building.

You see they didn’t know the connectors were supposed to be pulled apart to allow them to build “BIG” things. They used the connectors as a platform.

Notice the fun they had when they realized all the possibilities they had.  Even David, the teacher,  was having fun!!

This week! Mama Arlene is speaking in PA

I will be speaking at
St Johns Newberry, Williamsport PA

DATE AND TIME: May 5, 2013, both the 8am and 10 am services.

I look forward to seeing friends and family there.
I will also be present and speaking at

 

Pittsburgh Children's Museum
at the Hearts for Rwanda Art Show and Sale
DATE AND TIME:  May 9, 2013,  6:00 - 8:00 PM

 

Look out for the April Newsletter in the next day or so! 

 

 

 

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April Greetings from Rwanda and the US

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Hello from both sides of the world.

The April and May newsletters will be unique. I bring you greetings from Sarah our media person in Seattle, Mama in Pennsylvania, the kids at Urukundo Village and Carol Falke in both Urukindo & the US.
I departed Rwanda and Urukundo on April 1. There were mixed feelings as I hugged and kissed and waved bye to all the kids.
The teens had just come home on holiday from secondary school and I had little time to spend with them. We really look forward to holidays.  This one was only for 3 weeks. Knowing Carol Falke from State College would be there for 12 days after I left  made it a little easier for me. 
David, our 4 year old, told me before I left he would watch my bed and not let anyone sleep in it. He was so sincere. At the last minute Johnny picked me a flower from our garden and gave it to me to take with me. Johnny brings me a flower from the yard every day when I am home. 
I left Urukundo Village on a threefold journey. Some of you know I had a vein problem a year and a half ago and it was time to have it checked. The report is excellent. The problem is no more.
The second reason was a joy. My very first grandson Christian was being married to Sara, a wonderful young woman, and I wanted so much to be there.  The weather was perfect and the bride and groom were beautiful. Yep, as Gram of the groom I can say he was beautiful. The photographer even made me look special. Georgia is a beautiful state.
Mama and brother of the groom as escort.
Sara and Christian.
Mother Patricia and Dad Dale.  I am a very happy Grandmother.
The third part of my journey is to find funding to build more classrooms for the Urukundo Learning Center.
I am hoping many of you will take part in this project to provide Education for children who want and deserve an opportunity to learn and succeed in life. Providing that opportunity is the goal of  Urukundo Foundation and its friends and families.

Palm Sunday - a guest post by Carol Falke

We are so fortunate to be in Rwanda to observe Palm Sunday. This morning the children gathered so they could walk into the church singing hosanna and waving palms. The teens and even the littlest one, Kevine holding Carol Baney's hand and carrying a palm leaf made this so special.

Arlene shared what this day means to her. "People were expecting a king but when Jesus came as a simple servant and was humble to the people he was not acceptable." For Arlene it comes down to 1 song sung at church today, "Jesus is Alive in Africa" or in Kinyarwanda "Jesu ni Muzima".

The 1 hr 45 min service included the children from the Urukundo Home as well as others from the community. The evening before Linda practiced songs with the teens and even taught them "He is Lord". After we all sang it once during the service Arlene asked Linda if she would sing it. You always say yes to Mama. So, for the first time ever, Linda sang not only solo but acapella. It was beautiful! Thank you Linda!!