First Semester of School (2014-2015)

Cameron finished up his first semester of school a few weeks ago and had a great couple of months. He started going all day and is now one of the oldest children in his class this year. He has loved these changes and has really enjoyed seeing his good buddies on a daily basis again! He has also made some new friends as well. His class is quite diverse again this year which has given us lots to talk about. He is still the only child in his class from the U.S.

 

They started out the year by studying houses and homes. They talked about what homes looked like in different cultures, brought in pictures of their homes, went on a scavenger hunt around Gent to look for different kinds of structures, learned how houses and buildings are built, and they even came to our loft to watch some construction outside of our home.

Showing the class pictures of his house

Scavenger hunt

Using the Three Little Pigs story to learn about different kinds of houses

Cameron was soooooo excited to have all the children come to his house for the afternoon. They ended up playing most of the time, but did take a moment or two to look at the construction workers outside of our loft. There were 20 kids and 4 teachers!!

The children made chocolate balls and a special heart to thank us for opening our home!

Before fall break, the kids had fun celebrating Halloween.

After fall break, Cameron's class began a new unit about shopping. They went shopping at several stores and markets around Gent, talked about money and saving money to buy things, and created their own shop in the classroom. They also went to a grocery store to buy ingredients to make pizzas in their classroom. To end the unit, they baked some muffins and other goodies and made some jewelry to sell in their shop. They raised €90.00 in their shop and used the money to help support a project in a village in Africa. 

Sold out!

During the first semester, the children also studied cooperation and resilience. I have enjoyed seeing how Cameron has incorporated these concepts at home.



The children ended the semester with a Christmas program, but I will write about that later. Cameron had a great first semester and created lots of wonderful memories. Below are some of the other things he enjoyed during the semester like music class, yoga, swimming, and fun with friends.

music class

Yoga

Practicing some yoga at home.

Harrison spent a couple hours in Cameron's class one day while I was busy with Teacher's Appreciation Day. Harrison loved it and Cameron was a great big brother!