The good news is...we're opening on Monday! The books are moving in today, the catalogue program is ready, the class schedule is fixed, and we are ready to go! Everyone is so excited to see kids in the library and the kids are excited as well. We've been at the school a lot this week getting ready and almost every kid who sticks their head in the door says things like, “That's where the books are going to go!”
These are most of the kindergartners at our partner school.
They, of course, are not the bad news; they are fantastic. The bad news is that we have yet to see a teacher in their classroom, which is one of the darkest in the school and has a giant pile of construction equipment in one corner. I am unclear as to what the purpose of kindergarten is in Malian school, given that all of the creativity and color that I associate with kindergarten seems to have no bearing on the remainder of school. Regardless of this question, I am pretty sure that they should have a teacher in their classroom. I think there is one teacher for the kindergarten and 1st grade, and that she spends most of her time with the 1st graders. We hope to work out a system so the Kindergarteners can spend extra time in the library during these periods where they just sit on their miniature benches. Especially at that age, we believe that our brightly colored story mat, some picture books, coloring pictures, talking in French and Bambara, and exploring letters in the library can make a big difference.
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