content top

Kindergarten Graduation in Mexico

Posted by on Oct 20, 2011 in Featured, Living in Mexico, School in Mexico | Comments 0 comments
Kindergarten Graduation in Mexico

Well, I’ve said it before…and I’ll say it again:

Mexicans know how to P-A-R-T-Y!!

Mexico’s school system is set up to include 3 levels of Kindergarten. Kids can start Kinder 1 at age 3, and by age 5 they are in Kinder 3 and preparing for graduation.  I was pretty surprised when I received a cap and gown from the school, on loan for the Kinder graduation ceremony.  For real?

We showed up to a full-on ceremony for Ella’s class.

She received a diploma and a pencil bag gift with custom pencils that had our last name spelled with a different vowel than necessary. No wonder they didn’t announce it correctly!

Ella’s Kinder 3 class

One of Ella’s beaus. She has told me that she has soooo many boyfriends that she is worried she doesn’t know which one she will marry some day. Oh, to be a 6 year old again!  

Ethan isn’t ready for school, yet.

Maiya’s all about the graduation cap…

After the ceremony they set up tables and had a catered lunch for all of the families. Tacos…YUM!

During lunch, our friend managed to get a decent photo of us. No food in the teeth or boogers hanging out!

After a couple hours of eating and visiting, they started a children’s round of musical chairs. I’ve never seen anyone set up the chairs quite like this. They set them up side-by-side, alternating which direction they faced (instead of setting them up back-to-back, like we do in the US). It makes more sense this way, because it creates a bigger distance between each chair!

All of the kids who participated were graduates, with the exception of Maiya, who they allowed to play. However, on the very first round Ella beat her to the last seat. Maiya immediately had a look of disbelief, and began to have one of her sad, quiet crying moments. Ella jumped up out of her seat immediately, and told Maiya she could have the chair and that she would go out. All of the parents “ooh’d” and “ahh’d” over Ella’s sweet gesture…but Maiya was inconsolable, and so Ella continued the game. I was proud, nonetheless!

She did quite well, and was very serious about watching the next available chair as she walked. She made it to one of the very last players, but in the end, the boy with the bushy hair in blue won, and the boys in his class ran up to congratulate him!

Next, they said it was the parent’s turn. WHAT?! ADULTS playing MUSICAL CHAIRS?

Somehow, they coaxed us into it, and switched out the kiddie chairs for adult-sized ones. The competition consisted of mostly moms, with a few dads squeezed in (literally).

The competition was tough, but I managed to scoot my bum under the bums of many others who thought their seat was a sure seat.  I was sat on at least three times.  Hehehee….

After getting many of the men out (single bum-edly), the competition was left to some Moms…

After all, we do have the smaller bums…

Alas, I was not the winner…but we all had a great (and embarrassing) time!

When is the last time YOU played a truly-competitive game of Musical Chairs?!!

After games, parents were kicked out, and the kids stayed OVER NIGHT for a sleepover AT the school. Can you even imagine that happening in the U.S.? NO CHANCE!

It’s true!  All of these 5 year olds stayed overnight with their teachers and ate snacks, watched movies, and maybe slept a little…or maybe not. I love that I live in a place where a liability waiver doesn’t have to be signed for any physical activity, and I know I can know Ella’s sweet teachers well enough (also my friends) to trust them watch my daughter for an overnight party at the school. How cool is that?!

Ella was a wreck the next day, sleeping most of it, and also throwing up (which meant that she had a lot of junk and perhaps didn’t sleep at all, as she claimed)!  Haha!

At times it can drive me batty that the school here can’t seem to do anything SIMPLY. Everything is over the top and grand!  But I must admit that it certainly adds to the entertainment value!

Bring it on!

Read More

Star Day

Posted by on Jun 13, 2011 in Featured, School in Mexico | Comments 3 comments
Star Day
The last quarter of school, every child is highlighted on their very own “Star Day.” On this special day, the parents of the Star child are invited to come to class and do an activity with the children. Some parents may choose to play a movie, make some crafts, play some sports, etc.
Since my girls love to make beaded jewelry, I dyed some pasta noodles (super easy and cheap–food coloring and rubbing alcohol!), purchased some stretchy necklace cord, and we made noodle jewelry in both girls’ classes.
All of the kids in both classes really seemed to enjoy it (even the boys, which I was a bit worried about)!

Here is Ella and her best bud, Alex (the only other classmate who has 2 Gringo parents). Alex has been living in Mexico for nearly 3 years, and is now fluent in English and Spanish.

The view of Ella’s classroom. The kids all wear uniforms–a school polo shirt and navy bottoms of choice (skirt, shorts, pants, or even a dress).

It was kind of funny to see how the different children managed their noodles/beads. This beautiful little girl (with a Barbie doll Mom, I might add…) separated hers by color and type. She was the only one!

In Maiya’s class the children tried very hard to bead the noodles. “No puedo,” they exclaimed (“I can’t”), as the teachers and I assured them they could! With a bit of help, all of the kids managed to walk away with at least una bulsera o collar (a bracelet or necklace).

One of Maiya’s best buds, Jimena:

Maiya’s teacher helping some of the children glue noodles to a sun clip-art I printed out, just in case some of the kids wanted to do it, too!

A view of Maiya’s classroom. This is the youngest group at the school, and some of these children are still in diapers!

Maiya’s entire day is in Spanish. She is picking up a lot of the language, and her teachers tell us she seems to understand almost everything.
She has also mastered the Spanish roll of the tongue. It is ridiculous how she applies it, though. She rolls EVERYTHING, even when seemingly impossible.
These are some words she manages to roll (don’t ask me how): could, would, hurt
You try it, see if you can pull it off!

When Maiya is playing pretend and talking to herself, she almost always talks in “Spanish.” I must put it in quotes, because it is not true Spanish. Sure, I hear plenty of Spanish words, but she also sticks in Spanish-sounding gibberish, too. It is cute to hear her make up words, but have them sound Spanish instead of English.
Also, about 50 times a day Maiya gives us a Spanish translation for a word. If we are talking about a computer keyboard, for example, Maiya would say something like this:
“My teachers say ______” (insert a true Spanish, or made up Spanish-gibberish word).
I applaud her when she is correct, and when I know it is just Spanish-sounding gibberish, I just say, “Oh, Really?“, to which she confidently says “Uh-huh!”
Overall, I am hearing both of the girls use much more Spanish, lately (even Ella)! They often respond with simple answers in Spanish…and I am discovering already that they are teaching me! I am so excited for them to be fully bilingual. What a huge blessing and benefit this will be to them in their lives!
Now if only I could manage to become bilingual this quickly, too! How jealous I am! Fortunately, I am understanding more and more, but I really lack the skills and knowledge to put the sentences together (I need to study more). The exciting part is that I now find myself thinking in Spanish…or at least challenging myself to figure out how to say a particular phrase in Spanish…which is a good first step!
Read More
content top