Everything but the Kitchen Sink...Wait They've Got that Too!

Friday afternoon usually finds us dropping by Four Corners to visit the local vegetable stands.  One of the corners features a barely formal outdoor shop where the vendor lays out all manner of treasures from the western world on the ground.  Magazines, books, three ring binders, decades old apple computers - these  items are all displayed and perused by passing customers.  Imagine our delight last week when we discovered that he even had a kitchen sink for sale!

But that's not all.  This week I was shocked to see a man examining a pair of these:

Hmm, what are those doing in Niger?  Of course, I had to get out and ask the vendor how much they were.  He wanted $20 dollars for them.  I'm not even sure that he knew what they were for.  I declined, of course, and opted for the free picture instead!

Cause for Celebration

It's clicking! And that is cause for celebration!

When you start the year with 6 and 7 year olds you sometimes wonder how long it will be before they

...can sit still
...follow directions
...read
...write a complete sentence
...recognize that they've written a complete sentence
...use capitals and punctuation in that sentence
...add
...subtract
...count by 2s, 5s, 10s, and 25s
...count money

and the list could go on and on.

This week as I've been doing some end of quarter evaluation, it's been good to look back and reflect on the growth that has taken place (a good reminder for me especially when my patience has been tested the last couple of weeks!).

It was just about two weeks ago when we pulled out the coins to work on counting money.  I asked one of the second graders a question and with a deer-in-the-headlights look, she asked if she could talk to me privately.  "I don't know how to count money," she whispered.  "Don't worry, honey, that's what we're working on."  After working diligently in small groups with the kids, they took their math test today.  What a joy to celebrate with that student who went from being afraid to being a confident counter of coins!

And that's not all.
They are...
following directions,
reading,
writing paragraphs,
recognizing complete sentences,
mostly using capitals and punctuation,
adding,
subtracting,
counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, and 25s,
and a whole host of other things.

Now I'm just waiting for them to sit still! :)