Children are usually fascinated by the people living differently than they are, the houses they live in, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the animals they commonly see and the toys children play.
One of the most popular work in class is the puzzle maps, where they learn about the different continents and the countries within them. Recently, the children in our primary class have taken interest in the picture folders, where they see in full color many wonderful scenes from all over the world. It is through these pictures, and the stories behind them, that inspire the children to imagine what it is like to visit these places and to explore.
This month, we are focusing on the continent of South America. We were privileged enough to get a visit from a parent from the Elementary class. He fondly spoke about his beautiful home country, Ecuador. He talked about the guayacanes, a flower unique to the city of Mangahurco that blooms only 8 to 10 days a year at the beginning of the rainy season. Tourists flock to this city just to see a 100 thousand-acre area blanketed by yellow blossoms. He covered more of the scenic landscape of the country, but he also pointed out that Ecuador is the ‘Middle of the World’ because the equator crosses through it. Even if the country is located on the equator, it is not necessarily hot. The capital city, Quito, is warm but just outside of it are mountains high enough that it snows and there are rain-forests that are cool. His visit ended with a trivia about the games Ecuadorian children play and the songs they sing.