The start of classes for the kids here in Pullyucana has brought on new challenges. Along with these challenges have come new faces, new activities, and so much fun. Classes started last week and on the first day only 10 kids came to eat. I was so worried we were going to lose all of our kids and progress. I told Feliciana it had to be because I smelled bad. But really, they were all just out buying their school supplies. By the end of the week we had about 20 kids coming for lunch, and now we get 40 plus everyday. At approximately 1:00 in the afternoon, all the kids come streaming in and I can barely keep track of them all! Many of them eat within 10 minutes and rush back out the door. We are trying everything we can to get them to stay so we can help them with their homework and teach them. So far, I think we have been pretty successful!
Concentration with math equations: We came up with a list of 15 equations and 15 answers to the equations. The kids had to figure out which answers matched the equation and then had to match them, until all the pairs were found!
Math Bingo: We called out an operation, they had to figure out the answer, and if they had that number on their card, they could mark it off.
Math Tic Tac Toe: We split the kids into two teams, team X and team O. We took turn asking the teams math questions and if they got the answer right, they placed an X or O on the board in one of the slots for the tic tac toe chart. Whoever got three in a row won! Just like normal tic tac toe, but using a little more arithmetic!
Roll The Dice and Hit the Target: I wanted to get the kids outside this day so I drew a huge target out of chalk with quantities of 200, 100, and 50 inside the 3 rings of the target. I brought these giant dice from home and gave the kids the chance to try and roll the dice onto the target. If they landed on 100, they multiplied the number they rolled by 100. So if they rolled a 6, they got 600 points. The only rule was that they had to tell me the right multiplication, or they couldn’t get the points. The kids loved trying to hit the bull’s eye!
A Version of Farkle: We all sat in a big circle and took turns rolling the dice. The game is played as follows; you roll the dice and add the two amounts together to get your points. BUT if you roll a 1, you don’t get any and you lose all your points from that turn. If you roll two 1’s you lose all of your accumulated points. This was a great way to get the younger kids learning how to add! The same rule applied that they could only get their points if they could tell me the correct addition. They loved the suspense of the game and couldn’t stop laughing anytime someone rolled a 1 and lost their points.
Antonyms vs. Synonyms: After talking to some local Peruvians about what the kids will need to know for standardized tests, I discovered that understanding synonyms and antonyms is very important. We created a list of 20 words and posted them on the board. We then gave one team the pile of associated antonyms and the other team the synonyms. Whichever team could successfully match their piles of words with the words on the board, won! The kids definitely struggled with this, but they learned a lot. Now we know we need to keep working on this with them!
Since so many of the kids have an interest in being civil engineers, next week we are holding “Science Week” at El Bichito. We have a whole schedule set up of simple science experiments to show the kids. Hopefully they become even more enthusiastic about the wonders of science. We also have lined up a “Parents Night.” On Thursday we went to most of the kid’s houses with them after lunch and personally invited their parents to come to our parent’s night. We are going to talk about all the resources we have to help them learn, our large library of books, and we want to ask their permission to let the kids stay after lunch. Wish us luck!
One of our visits was to the house of this beautiful little girl Flor. Her father abandoned her family, and her mom works cleaning houses to try and take care of her 5 kids. We went to visit her mom to see if there was anything we could do to help and she was so grateful. She is renting a house from a little closer to Pullyucana from her uncle, so the kids can be closer to school. She really loves her kids and wants them to get the best education they can. Flor, Miriam, and Edwin are so smart. They love to read with me and they are usually the first kids to answer all of my math questions. I really hope we can continue to help this beautiful family out."
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