Grace's Dragonfly Research Project

So proud of our Kindergartener!  The parents got to move around the room and see presentations by other kids.  I was so impressed.  This is KINDERGARTEN!

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes....in French!

And her accent is amazing!  I can't pronounce ears...les oreilles.  I have trouble with all words starting with vowels.

She is taking 30 minutes a day of French, and comes home every day saying or singing something new or different in French.  LOVE IT!  Wish it had started 3 years ago.....but oh well!

Drums

Grace had a "guest" Drum teacher for a week at school, and the parents were invited to their last performance.

It was fun to watch!

First Day of School!

 The first day of school!  Which is actually just a couple hours of meet the teacher.....  but still!

Grace is starting Kindergarten.  Her teachers are Laura and Wynne.  Laura is from Australia, and Wynne is a University of Missouri grad, but from North Carolina. 

Grace wants to be an Engineer when she grows up.  She didn't come up with that entirely on her own.  She spends quite a lot of time building things, including rigging up our two single doll strollers into double strollers, etc.  I commented to her one day that she should be an engineer.... and so I believe that's where that came from.

Audrey is starting Pre-School at ISB. She is actually in the same class Grace started at ISB in.  Her teachers are Ms. Senior and Ms. Suzanna.  Ms. Senior is from England, and is a substitute.  The real teacher in the class, Ms. De Kloe, is out on maternity leave until January. We spent a little bit of time in the spring getting to know Ms. Senior so we would hopefully have a smooth transition into the class.

Audrey wants to be a teacher and a cowboy when she grows up!  Giddy up!

Grace's Last Day of School

Grace finished up Pre-K this year at the International School of Brussels.

 Grace and Ms. Megan.

Ms. Megan was an intern this year.  She moved back to Texas over the summer, and will be a Kindergarten teacher in Frisco.

Grace and Ms. Michele

Ms. Michele was new to ISB this year, but has been teaching at International Schools for a long time.  Ms. Michele is very enthusiastic about outside learning, so the class spent every Wednesday, rain or shine, out in the forest.  I was usually doing laundry every Wednesday night as a result.

Grace loved her class and her teachers, and is well prepared for Kindergarten!

Audrey's Last Day of School

Today was Audrey's last day at La Coline aux Coralines.  This was a french preschool she attended two mornings a week for the last 6 months.  The beginning was rough.  She didn't want me to leave, and most mornings, I didn't.  But after awhile she warmed up, and enjoyed going.  It was conducted completely in French.  The teachers spoke some English and tried to speak to me in English to let me know how Audrey was doing. But for the most part, all French.  And it appeared that Audrey understood.  Although, at this age there is a lot of 'herd mentality', i.e. follow the group in whatever they were doing.  Audrey doesn't speak any French, however, but maybe she'll have a foundation for when she does start learning.

 With Valerie

 With Lieve

 With Lieve and Valerie

With Laurents

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

Audrey is THREE!  Hard to believe!

Birthday breakfast, and you can see our friend, Max the Elf was back to celebrate with us....

Celebrating at school...

Reading books with a friend.

Passing out cupcakes with her teacher, Valerie.

Listening to Happy Birthday sung in French

 Enjoying cupcakes

Being silly after cupcakes!

Grace's 2013 School Picture

I forgot to post this awhile ago.

Here is Grace's school picture from Pre-K.

So serious and grown up looking!!!

And here is her class.....

Her teacher is Ms. Michele on the right, and she is assisted by Miss Megan on the left.  Megan just graduated from Texas Tech and is an intern.  Ms. Michele has been teaching in International Schools for years, and is new this year at ISB.

There are only 4 Americans in Grace's class.  The rest come from all over the world....Sweden, Norway, Finland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, France, Belgium, Colombia, and several other places ....  Grace is really enjoying her class this year and we've been amazed at all the new things she is doing.

UN Day 2013

Grace and her best friend, Sophia, representing the USA and Germany!

First Day of School!

First day of Pre-K!  More like....15 minutes of Pre-K.  The first day consists of a 15 min. appointment to meet your teacher.

Grace has Ms Michele and Miss Megan for teachers this year.  Both are new.  Ms. Michele just spent the last three years teaching Kindergarten in Zurich.  She was previously in London, I believe.  Originally from Boston.  Miss Megan just graduated from Texas Tech, and is doing an internship this year.  Grace seems to like them both, so far.

Grace is lucky to have her two best friends in the same class with her : Zoe and Sophia!  There are two Pre-K's, so some friends from last year are in the other class.  There are a lot of new kids in her class as well.  Several that speak no English, either.  Should be interesting!

Grace wants to be a librarian and a bus driver.  Future Book Mobile Driver!! :)  I don't know why she didn't say Fashion Designer....  she is constantly showing up in stunning creations like these:

Grace's music class

We were invited to join Grace one day for her music class.  The teacher encouraged the little siblings to participate, too.

Pre-School Sing Along

Wednesday was Grace's Pre-School Sing Along at school.  It was held in the big theater, and the parents had to sit all the way up near the top so the Kindergarten, First and Second graders could sit in the good seats!

So my videos are shot from quite a distance....

It was really cute.  Grace was so enthusiastic, and didn't suffer from stage fright like I thought she might.  She can be really shy at times.

Of course, when it was Grace's class to take center stage, Audrey had to start climbing all over me.

The FREEZE dance

And I had to include this one video.  Grace is in the background, but this is the younger class.  The kid with the green sleeves was really into the song, as you will see!  (This might be America's Funniest Home Videos worthy!)

Meet Grace's Pre-School Class

Top Row, left to right: Ms. Walia (assistant teacher), Max, Pthaylos, Sophia, Grace, Carl, Lauri, Ms. de Kloe (teacher).
Front Row, left to right: Ameet, Sophia Rose, Zoe, Georges, Ina, Gabriel, Addilyn, Jean-Edward

At the moment, Grace's best friend seems to be Zoe.
 

And Grace's sweet school picture.  She's growing up!

1st Day of Pre-School

Finally.  The long awaited for day has arrived.  And I think Grace was underwhelmed by it.  I know I was.

We literally had a 15 appointment with the teacher for the first day.  That's it.  At 1pm.  Very inconvenient!!  And I think it just ended up confusing Grace.  We went to the school on Sunday for "New Family" day, and there were no kids and no teacher in her classroom.  We go today, and we have a teacher, but no kids.  She goes tomorrow and Friday, and there will only be half the kids there.  Next week, she only goes mornings.  Her real schedule of full days Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and half days on Wednesday and Friday will go into effect on September 10th.

I'm all for easing them in, but this seems a little overkill to me.

But here is the obligatory First Day of School picture.

Yep, a bus driver and a mom!  My heart melted.  :)

And a few other pictures from this morning while we were killing time waiting for our appointment.....