What happens when the music teacher isn't around. . .

Last Friday, I walked my wriggly line of preschool students to their weekly music class, only to find the door to the music room shut and locked. We quickly found out that the music teacher was sick and hadn't come into work, and the message hadn't been passed along. . .the thought of bringing the group back to the room for unplanned craziness didn't exactly appeal to me, so I thought I'd play music teacher. We entered the room and I had the kids pull their chairs to surround the piano (a lovely, slightly out-of-tune upright with real keys! The only one I've seen in Nicaragua that isn't digital!). And we did "request time":--kids could pick any favorite worship song they'd learned this year, and Mr. Ippel would try to figure it out without music (a good challenge). The students hadn't seen me play piano before, so that was a fun surprise for them. My kiddos have a HUGE song vocabulary from our daily worship time (always a capella), so our 30 minutes were quickly filled with favorites from the year. . .Bless the Lord (10,000 Reasons), God's Not Dead, Pharoah Pharoah, From East to West, Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet, Awesome God, Lord I Lift Your Name on High. . .a few of the songs my students chose. I wish the time had been recorded on video or audio, at least. . .these kids can sing. And they sing not "like" the mean it--they MEAN it. . .some shut their eyes tight or raise hands during the slow songs (not something I teach them) and they absolutely dance to the fast songs (I have to settle Mae down every once in a while!). My Spanish-speaking kiddos have learned these songs just as well as their English-speaking friends; it is so fun to hear them all singing together at the top of their lungs, praising God in a common language. We sing together daily in my classroom, but I think it was hearing their sweet voices worship while I worshiped through playing piano that made this particular time special to me. It was one of those moments that kept me smiling all day, thinking "I have the best job EVER." (Don't worry; there are plenty of moments during my teaching day that remind me otherwise!) So, yeah, Mr. Ippel LOVED being the music teacher last Friday. It might have been one of my top 3 moments of PreK2 for the whole year, and I'm thankful to have that memory with this unique group of 4-5 year-olds as we end our school year next week. God is good.

School "Underground"

When school was called off for a third consecutive week last weekend due to the "red alert" status of Managua following our April seismic activity, a new approach to "home school" was implemented at Nicaragua Christian Academy. For the first two weeks of school closure, students had completed thick work packets provided by their teachers at home or completed online assignments. Things were more creative this week as various parents in each grade level offered up their homes to host an off-site classroom. This allowed government protocol to be respected (NO students were to be on campus of schools for organized activities and parents organized the activity, not the teachers) while allowing optional opportunities for kids to have some much-needed face time with their teachers.

PreK2 was hosted at the Ippel household on Wednesday and Friday AM; we had about half the class show up for our time of singing, playing, exploring, reading, and learning together. We had a great time--all the better due to the fact that we are all set to reopen "real school" on Monday, May 12! We can't wait! We just need to get through these next hours without the earth shaking!

We will have to add about 8 hours of instructional time to our calendar before June, which isn't as bad as it could have been if we hadn't taken the home schooling approach this last month. We will either lengthen the school day or add a few Saturday sessions. .  .

Here are a few pictures of PreK2 this last week: