Sunday, March 20, 2011

Spring is here!

Great week, and weekend here in DC! Spring is so beautiful, trees and flowers burgeoning all over town, amazing... Especially for those of us who don't suffer from allergies!

A few pictures from the last few days:

Afraid of getting lost in the DC Crowd? Stand out by wearing your country's colors:


Morning at the Zoo today:


In terms of real animals, we saw the lion cubs play:


And the orangutans swing on the 'O' Line from their cages to the Think Tank - One even pooped on the way, but fortunately, no one what underneath! That was the highlight of Amélie's visit to the Zoo though:


Latest news, Amélie informed us that she wants to move to Rio to be with her Vovó, but just for 2 or 3 weeks - Here she is, on her way to Rio:

Thursday, March 10, 2011

What's the point of education?

During dinner:

a: So when am I going to go to kindergarten?
M: Well in a few months you will be starting kindergarten, and then you'll go to elementary school...
D: Then to middle school and after that to high school, you are going to learn so much and you'll want to learn even more, so you'll go to university, and then you'll earn your PhD!
a: And then can I marry?

No doubt that we'll need to work on academic vs personal priorities...

After School Activities

Amélie is now participating in her first set of 'After School Programs' - Basically that's code for the creative activities she used to do any time she chose at Hoosier Courts, and are now done in specific structured times in the Montessori School she now is attending.

The curriculum at her school is actually pretty cool and she is getting really into it: Every other day, she brings a new little booklet with new information and things she colored, and learned about at school. Yesterday, she brought back a nice little booklet that had the 5 continents, she recited all 5 continents in French, which was pretty cool to hear!

She also learned this week about a new technique to draw kitties, she absolutely loved it and was very proud of the end result:



Anyway anyway, back to our point - After School Activities! We signed her up for 3 this time around:
1) Papier Mâché - They glue paper strips to different objects (ballons, round shapes), creating bowls and other recipients that they will then paint - She likes the activity although getting her hands messy is not a favorite thing for her...
2) FUNMovement - Music class with singing and dancing - She enjoys this one a lot, and we are seriously considering signing her up for a modern dance course soon, this kid's got rhythm!
3) Newsletter club - Our budding reporter is 'Writing' and illustrating stories with a group of kids from different classes in the school. She asked to be in this class and last week focused the whole class on producing a single picture, her teacher was impressed by the result, and so were we:



OK OK just remember the kid is 5 :)...