Last week of school

The kids last day of school was last week.  School not only ended with the Olympics, but also with spirit week.

Dress like a teacher day

Crazy Hair Day

Team Jersey Day

The last week of school also included the end of the year program.  This included the kids singing some special songs,  each teacher passing out awards for their class and recognizing teachers. 

Olivia and Miriam

Olivia receiving her class award.

Olivia, Josiah and Joseph receiving their Olympics certificates.

Josiah receiving his class award.

Olympics

Every year, to end the school year, NSMS hosts the Olympics for the kids.  It started the week before with the ever-popular egg drop.   Then, the day of the Olympics they split the kids into 2 teams and give them time to come up with a team flag and cheer.  I wish I had a video of Josiah and Olivia's team cheer because it was hilarious! The kids both broke school records - Josiah in the 40 meter dash (we don't have enough room to run 50!) and Olivia in the long jump and the 40 meter dash.   A fun time was had by all!

Can you tell our kid's eggs didn't break?!

Team cheer,  it was something to do with Ninjas in case you can't tell.

Football accuracy

Long Jump

40 meter dash

Jump Rope

#1 fan

Character Day & The Pinewood Derby

The kids have been busy.  A while back they had "character day" at school.  They decided that they were going as a pair.  Can you guess who they were?

Yep, they love Calvin and Hobbes as much as their parents!  Josiah is Calvin (he wanted me to dye his hair!) and Olivia is Suzy Durkins.

The next activity was the semi-annual pinewood derby.  The kids (and dad) did a great job on their cars.  They are both super creative.

Calvin & Hobbes are ready for the race!

Pure joy!

Not sure what we're going to do without our "race guy" Ron!

First day of school

Last Thursday was the first day of school at Nate Saint Memorial School.  I think summers are getting shorter and shorter!

The school was blessed to have enough teachers, as the newest "recruit" arrived last Monday!   We were so excited to have Mrs. Johnson agree to come out of retirement, all the way from Canada, to teach Josiah's class.   Please pray for next semester, as the Johnson's have only agreed to be here until January.  If you are a teacher and are feeling like God is wanting to S T R E T C H you, would you consider teaching at NSMS?  Whether it's this year or next - we would love to have you!

NSMS 2011 School Photos

We had the privilege to take the annual school photos for NSMS (Nate Saint Memorial School) once again.   Josiah took one look at his photos and said "wow, I look like a teenager"!!  Yikes!   Is any parent ready for their kids to grow up?

Josiah - age 10, 4th grade

Olivia - age 7, 1st grade

Carnival

Yesterday marked the end of Carnival.   Carnival is the celebration immediately before lent.   It's an excuse to party before you have to give everything up for lent!  Here in Ecuador it's all about water fights, which sometimes can turn into people throwing oil, eggs, flour, etc.  Anyone on the street is fair game!  At Nate Saint Memorial school we have a water day the Friday before Carnival.   The kids love it!  They split into two teams and have organized games until the very end, and then it's a free for all!

 

 

Josiah loves his teacher!

 

The feeling is mutual!

 

Teachers Needed

TEACHERS NEEDED!
Nate Saint Memorial School, a small K-8 school for missionaries’ children in Shell, Ecuador, needs teachers for the 2011-2012 school year.  We usually have a staff of five teachers and average 25-35 students.  Each teacher is responsible for all course work for two grades. We require that our teachers are credentialed, and raise their own support.  If you  feel called to serve missionary children please contact Margie Grant at rgrant@maf.org for more information.

Christmas Program

The kids had their Christmas program last night and it was great.  They did the "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and had a lot of fun.   It's always hard to get into the Christmas "mood" when you live where it's hot.

On another note, could you please pray for one of our teachers.   He is experiencing serious health issues, with a lot of "unknowns".   He and his family are currently in Quito for furthur medical assistance.  Please pray for healing and for wisdom for the doctors.

Also, pray for the school to find someone to fill in for this teacher.  If you know of anyone please let us know! 

A New School Year

l-r:  Lydia Whitehead (7th), Rebecca D. (6th), Olivia (1st), Robbie D. (5th), and Josiah (4th)

School started last week.  These are the kids that I can now find in front of my house a half hour before school starts every day!   They are not allowed on school property until 8:00 - so that means that they hang out, talking about who knows what until that time.   The sad thing is that these are the only MAF kids we have here now.  When we arrived here in Ecuador there were at least 17 families here with MAF.  We are now down to 7 - with 2 of those being teachers.  It's kind of sad to see families leave and know that we aren't able to replace them due to new aviation laws.

Pinewood Derby

Last night Nate Saint School had their semi-anual Pinewood Derby.  The kids LOVE it and thankfully so does Chad!  Here's some of the excitement from last night....

NSMS Teacher Need

With the possiblity of a higher than expected enrollment for next year (high is a relative term!), Nate Saint Memorial School is looking for an additional teacher.  Here is the "ad" that our principal has written....

TEACHER NEEDED!  Nate Saint Memorial School, a small K-8 school for missionaries’ children in Shell, Ecuador, needs a teacher for the upcoming school year.  If you are a certified teacher, have at least one year of teaching experience, and feel called to serve missionary children, please contact Tracy Martin at tmartin@hcjb.org.ec for more information.
 

 

NSMS

So, since I told you a couple of days ago about how I work in the library at school, I thought I had better give you a little background on the school.

Nate Saint Memorial School was started in 1964 as a dream of Nate Saint who believed it was important for kids to live at home during their formative years, instead of going to boarding school in another town/city.  This year we have 23 students and 3 North-American teachers, plus an Ecuadorian Spanish teacher.  The school is open to children of English speaking missionary families, who are in K-8th grades.  It is operated by HCJB Global, which is a mission that has a hospital here in Shell.

Right now we have 6 different mission organizations represented in our school.  HCJB and MAF are the main teacher "suppliers".   So, if you are a teacher....we would love to talk to you!  We do charge tuition, but it barely meets our running costs (in order to stay at a reasonable amount for the missionaries).  So, anything extra is usually by donation.  (which, by the way, as the librarian....it would be great to have some "new" books to put in the library, instead of castoffs that have a 1940 published date!!)  If you are interested in donating to NSMS please contact me and I would LOVE to tell you what we could use.

 This is Randy Umble's class of 4th -6th grade.  He has 6 students.

This picture and the one below are of Josiah's class.  

His teacher is Shari Mueser and she teaches the 2nd and 3rd grade combination.  

There are 9 kids in the class.

Last, but not least, is the Kindergarten class, which is taught by Beth Patton Montero.  

There are 8 children in this class.  I didn't have a picture with Valerie in it, as she just started recently. (She's the sweet little girl with glasses in my previous library post.)