Walk-In Kindergarten

So every few months each grade level has a walk-in at the beginning of the day. Parents are able to walk with their child to their classroom and spend 20-30 minutes listening to all they have to share!

Alden had his a few weeks ago. He was so very excited to show us what all he had been doing. I think he told us 50 times to not forget in the days leading up to it.

Here Alden is showing us his portfolio. He had examples of writing, drawing, and science in his folder. 

He is showing us some of his writing and creations. Being a Native English speaker, he is one that can write in English. In his Portuguese class, it is a different story!

The teacher had set up a camera hooked to the TV/projector. The students went to this station and studied their facial features. What did their eyes, mouth, eyebrows look like when they make different faces. They recreated their faces using different materials and then they were encouraged to describe what they made. 

Here, Alden is showing us the dino exhibit. They learned all about dinosaurs and where able to create their own. 

Close up of the Aldenosaurus!

The dinosaur town they created for their dinos. It had a forest and a volcano. 

Showing off his daily writing journal. It is really fun to see those sounds coming together and his phonetic writing!

Here his is reading. You can tell he is frustrated when he makes a mistake, but it is OK, we just fix it!

I love all that Alden has to share everyday. He really loves his time at school and his teachers and has learned so much in both languages! I look forward to all that he will teach us in the next few years!

I am THAT parent

For years I have had the pleasure of working at an ELL school. A school in which students came from all over the world (though a large portion from Mexico), with little to no English, and attended our school. Students such as these are known as English Language Learners. 

As a teacher, I had tons of strategies to assist students. I worked with an extremely supportive and educated staff that would provide language services to these students in a variety of ways. I even went back to school to obtain my ESOL (English as a Second Language) certification. I loved the clientele of my school!

But every year, without fail, I would be faced with disappointed. I would see a student struggling with the language, falling farther behind, becoming isolated, struggling with grades, among other things, and we, as a school team, would meet with the parents and come up with a plan. We would discuss what was needed and what would be helpful to guide this student on the most successful path. And do you know what the parent would do? Take the student out of school for a lengthy amount of time to travel back 'home'. 

As a teacher, this was devastating. All the hard work that we had put in, all the effort, the time, the patience, the training. All of it would be hindered by this parent's decision. This student would be going back to their native country, speaking their native language and not practicing all that we needed them to practice. 

Do you see where I am going with this?

Yep. I am THAT parent. 

I realized this as we booked our flight back home for the holidays. I am THAT parent. 

The word "THAT" has a negative connotation.

I will be taking my kiddos back HOME as often as I can and for as long as I can! Am I doing it to hinder their progress?  Of course not. 

We know that children learn best from their families. We tell you this all the time. Read to your child every night. Make all experiences learning experiences. Take the time to ask your children questions. We know this as parents. 

And through all my education, I know all about the stages of language acquisition. 

1. The Silent Period
2. The Early Production Period
3. The Speech Emergence Period
4. The Intermediate Production Period
5. The Advanced Production Period

Yes, I know that the Silent Period is often the most ignored or forgotten by teachers. Yes, I understand that my children are still in that stage. Yes, I understand that venturing home for a month or two each year will not help them in their progression of language. 

But I am going to do it anyway. Because, the memories created with family make it all worth it. My children are smart, inquisitive, and happy. 

They will be OK. 

They will be OK because we will show them it is OK. We will talk to them about how hard it will be (just like we did when we planned to move). We will practice with them while we are gone. We will give them chances to 'show what they have learned' to others. We will do our best while surrounded by those we love and miss. 

Being on the other side of that line is completely different. Seeing how much your babies miss their family makes school just not that important. (Yes, I did just say that!) Knowing the memories they are going to be making with their cousins, the moments that they will have with their great-grandparents, the hugs and kisses from grandparents and aunts and uncles. In those moments, who is thinking about school!?

So, I apologize to all the parents whose motives I have questioned in my teacher mind. I am sorry that I judged you and felt that you were not putting your child first. In fact, you always were. I see that now. Please forgive my silent judgement. Please forgive my complaints to coworkers. Please forgive me. 

As I follow in your footsteps, know that you were a great inspiration, even if I did not realize it at the time. 

I will continue to be "THAT" parent and super proud of it!

Cataratas Do Iguaço

Our first trip in South America took us to the point where the countries of Brasil, Argentina and Paraguay all meet. Located in this area you will find one of the Natural Wonders of the World: The Iguazu Falls (also known as Iguazú Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls, Cataratas del Iguazú, Chororo Yguasu, Cataratas do Iguaçu). 

We flew out of Viracopas in Campinas, an airport that we had not used before. When we arrived and made it through security, the first thing we saw was a McDonald's that served BREAKFAST! This is not a thing here in Brasil and while the breakfast was not the typical, grease filled sausage and biscuits found in the U.S., it was breakfast and we found ourselves in line and ordering some sandwiches. 

We flew on the Azul airline. Azul is partnered with United.We followed signs to our gate in this large airport (but small compared to São Paulo) to the bottom floor where the gate doors led directly outside to some shuttles. The boys sat in amazement as we were looking up at giant planes loading on floors above us and watching these shuttles take passengers out to their planes in a different location. 

When it was our turn to board the shuttle, the boys were more than excited. 

The shuttle took us on a five-minute ride past all the boarding planes, underneath different parts of the airport and around to a parking lot of smaller planes. There were multiple planes loading at the same time. Again, because this was so different, we had two very excited and enthralled boys, eager to walk up the stairs to find their seats on this plane. 

The flight was around an hour and a half and very smooth. While the plane was small, the inside was very nice. I was thoroughly impressed by the legroom and seat size! As we were beginning our decent, Greg and I were overjoyed to see the landscape in this area of Brasil. It was much more like HOME. No big cities, no thousands of cars, no giant highways. All we could see was land and most of it looked like farms!

The decent also took us over the Paraná River, which separates Brasil and Paraguay, and we were able to see the famous Itaipú Dam. While we were unable to visit/tour the dam during our stay, it has had a major impact on the area we were visiting and provides a huge energy source for both countries, carrying electricity all the way to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro!

Our flight took us into Foz Do Iguazu, a town in Brasil. There, we took a taxi to the Brazilian side of the falls. Upon entering the park, we, along with our luggage, trekked up to the entrance. 

Josh and Lisa had two medium sized duffel bags and two backpacks and we had two small carry-on, rolling pieces of luggage one backpack and one large professional camera bag. The Brazilian side of the falls accommodates travelers like us by providing lockers. All of the luggage fit into ONE locker! This was something we had read about and hoped to be true. 

The word Iguazu, when translated into the Guarani or Tupi languages, indegenous people of South America, means 'Big Water'. The number of active waterfalls fluctuates with the level of the water. When we were visiting, there were 280 different waterfalls of all different sizes and shapes for us to admire. 

We boarded a double-decker bus (another first for the boys!) for the 15-minute ride up to the falls. 

The first thing you see when exiting the bus is the sign for the Quati (pronounced QWA-CHEE), Monkeys and Cheetah. Yes, you read that correctly - Cheetah! The sign for the Quatis is very graphic and terrified the boys. The purpose of the signs are to educate visitors and remind them not to feed the wildlife. We did not see any monkeys or cheetahs during our visit.

We took about 15 steps and came upon these guys. Zane and Alden were ready to leave, they didn't want to be anywhere near these animals. We reminded them that we did not have any food and we would stay away. The boys were still very scared. 

To make matters worse, there was a large group of tourists that paid no head to the sign and were walking around carrying snacks in plastic bags hanging from their hands. As we took our first glance at the waterfalls, the moment was ruined by the screams of a young woman. We cautiously turn, and what was a few quatis has become many quatis on a mission, to take down the woman and claim what is in her bag. 

They accomplished their mission and paid no more attention to the woman. The woman, however, did not learn her lesson and continued to hold another bag from her hands and was quite surprised when she was attacked again. Many people tried to explain for her to put it away!

The Brazilian side of the falls offers you a beautiful view of most of the falls, from a distance. We disembarked the bus near the hotel and started walking along the path that would end by the biggest fall on the Brazilian side. The pictures do not do them justice. 20% of the falls lie on the Brazilian side while 80% lie on the Argentinean side. 

No matter where you were standing, you could feel a light spray from the falls as well as hear the deafening roar. Of course, the closer you were, the heavier the spray and the louder the roar. 

No matter which path we were on, which part of the Iguacú River we saw or which fall we were looking at, the view was breathtaking. The boys never complained about the walking or being bored. Zane, in fact, said, "This is one of the most beautiful things I have seen. Thank you for bringing us here."

Getting a little wet at this point!

From the lookout - Zane and I were not able to walk out on this point. Our fear got the better of us, but we were only about 10 steps behind on a solid platform. 

As we exited the trail and headed up to the restaurant to find something to eat (the only complaint the boys made was for food and drink), we ran into this 'little' guy resting in a water drain. He wasn't moving, only blinking, but the boys could have sat there for hours staring at him. 

We made it to the restaurant and the boys wanted to sit outside! Who could pass this up. The restaurant has a clear roof with water running down and falling off of all edges along the outside of the patio. The patio is over the river and the falls are just off to the side. The view, the sound of the falls, the restaurant, everything was amazing. 

The restaurant was a Brazilian Buffet and had lots of things to choose from. The best part, the boys ate FREE! 

We walked about five miles overall this day and were exhausted. We headed back to get our luggage and to jump in the taxi to head to our hotel. The hotel that we chose is located in Argentina and is more in the 'jungle'. To get to the hotel, we had to go through customs at both borders. The two customs offices are separated by the river. As we approached the bridges, we were greeted by this sign. 

The bridge is painted yellow and green on the Brazilian side of the river and blue and yellow on the Argentinean side. 

 We arrived at La Cantera Jungle Lodge Iguazu in the city of Puerto Iguazu. The lodging is hidden well by the 'jungle' and all you see is the office, restaurant and pool when you pull up. After checking in, we walked along the wooden path to the rooms. 

We had requested a family room and were not disappointed. While this put us in a different area than Josh and Lisa, we were rather impressed by the room. 

The rooms were larger than the traditional room and they had placed two beds, on rails, on either side of the bed. This allowed for plenty of walking room. The boys were eager to choose their bed and excited to have their own. 

The bathroom was decent sized and the patio so peaceful. 

Walking around the lodge left you further enamored. The trees, flowers, insects, birds, all added to the charm of this area. 

The boys were ready to jump in after walking around all day. While I was intrigued, it is still winter and that water was COLD! The have a much bigger tolerance than I do. 

We enjoyed some drinks (Cachaça and mojitos) while the boys played. Though Josh, Lisa, and a very unwilling Greg joined them in the pool later. 

Enjoying the hammock while drying off. 

When all the shows are in Spanish on TV, the tablet comes in handy while waiting for mom to get ready. 

Dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Enjoying some Argentinean Malbec

Our second day greeted us with a beautiful sunrise. We woke, enjoyed some breakfast and headed off to experience the Argentinean side of the falls. 

The Argentinean side had the same warnings for the same animals and the exact same graphic photo. The boys were not as worried now that they had experienced the animals. 

We decided to walk some of the paths instead of taking the train up to the top. The trails lead through the wilderness and by, above and around all the different waterfalls.  

The boys enjoyed swinging on some vines.

 You can see ,in this photo of Alden, the walkways in certain areas were made of grated metal. This posed some issues for those of us with height issues. But, it was easy to forget your fear when you were entranced by the view. 

Josh and Lisa were able to go out on the boat (the boys were to small) to be taken into the waterfalls. 

After walking about five miles, we decided to take the train up to the top of the falls to experience the "Devil's Throat" fall. 

The train dropped us off and we began to walk to the fall. What we didn't realize is that it was about a mile away all on bridges over the water. 

In this part of the river we saw GIANT catfish. The kind you see in the tanks at Bass Pro and Cabela's. So large...and just taunting those walking by. 

We are getting close!

We made it. I have to admit, this was intimidating. From a distance, the fall was so tall. Up close, looking down, there was so much spray kicked up that you could not see more than a fourth of the way down. This really affected your perception and made it even more intense of an experience. 

After walking almost eight miles, we headed back to the hotel to clean up and head into Puerto Iguazu for dinner. 

The music in all of our Taxi's was some very interesting almost techno-ish versions of American songs, and typically sung by women. While the adults questioned and tilted our heads at each new version of a song, the boys seemed to enjoy the new music. 

The Aqva Restaurant did not disappoint. It was located on a main street full of restaurants and music. The food was delicious and the wine even better. 

And yes, this is Greg eating a STEAK. Just putting that out there for everyone to see! Meat here in South America is a lot different than in the U.S. and he feels more comfortable eating red meat every once in a while. 

The boys, after being such good sports with all the walking, were treated to dessert. As you can see by their plates, they enjoyed it!

 Getting ready for bed! They know we head home tomorrow. 

The flight home was very similar. A very small airport with four gates all seeming to leave at the same time. If you want a place to sit, definitely get there early. 

The pictures, as stated before, do not do this place justice. The shear size of the area is worth visiting only enhanced by the natural beauty of the two countries coming together to care for such a wonder of nature. We have created a South American bucket list and this is one we can cross off! Definitely a place I would return to, just to admire at the beauty of our planet. 

To see more photos taken by my 'good' camera, click here. One things Josh and I were discussing is what we were going to do with all the photos we took. Luckily, I get to share mine with all of you, but if you click the link, you will probably find a few that I plan on printing and displaying, though that will probably happen once we move back!