November Updates from Ecuador!

In Flor our biggest accomplishment over the past few months has definitely been family involvement.  Involved families has had a direct result on the increased attendance, punctuality and grades of our students.  While there is always much more work to be done, I am really proud of our employees who have made great efforts to improve relations with our students' families.  As grades come in from first semester I am proud to say grades are improving across the board in Flor!  Parents have become involved in more ways - providing daily snack, and lunch twice a week for our international volunteers who travel 2 hours on bus twice a week from our Guasmo neighborhood where they live.  Parent meeting attendance is well over 90% as well - a great example for our Scholars!

During the November meeting our Flor educadores prepared a meeting for the parents about getting to know their children in a new way.  First we did a fun dinámica where the parents were blindfolded and had to find their child(ren) by touching their faces to see if they could recognize them. Then the child & parent teams had to present facts about each other - what they like to do, what they've learned from each other to the whole group.  Lastly, parents were asked to fill out a survey about how much they know about their child's school, grades, likes/dislikes, etc. in preparation for our next set of visits to the schools.

 

After the parents left, the kids got to finish up with a fun activitity with our volunteers, 2 of whom just finished their voluntariado.

 

In Guasmo, thanks to a continued partnership with Mi Cometa and the scholarship program that runs there - CASF, we have been blessed with the help of 3 educational psychology students in their last year of their studies.  As the prepare to graduate, they are completing their internships with Starfish & Mi Cometa families.  Twice per week they attend to special cases with our students and their parents, in hopes of establishing more communication, a better home life, and as a result the ability to succeed in their studies.  Once a week a licensed psychologist also comes to treat some of the more delicate cases, as delegated by the intern psychologists during the week.  This trial period will continue throughout December and we hope to continue this program next year as well as expand its service to our Flor de Bsatión neighborhood!

All in all, November was an exciting month at Starfish - and December is sure to have even more excitement with the holidays just around the corner!

January Meeting - Recycling!

For our January monthly meeting we did a recycling projects with the Scholars.  First we talked about the importance of recycling and then we made recycled paper!  A few days before the students brought in a bunch of old papers that there were going to throw away.  We ripped them up into little pieces and let them soak in water for a few days.  When it was time for our meeting, this is what took place:

First we had to blend the paper and then spread it out on a piece of cloth.
 Here, Milena, Ana & Eddy are helping with that process.

Pamela & Cristhian working together to get rid of all the excess water.

A group of Guasmo students working together!

Once we got rid of the water, some of our students like Ana got creative with some designs .

Here is one of the finished pieces of paper!

After the student meeting, we had a parent meeting with a guest speaker who helped facilitate a conversation about spending time in family, in hopes that our scholars continue to have support both at Starfish and at home.  Pictured below are two Starfish moms participating in the icebreaker!

Barbara, mom of Starfish Scholar Elian.

Paola, mom of Starfish Scholars Maria, Steve & Briggette.

Our Scholars receive a lesson in First Aid

For our November monthly meeting, Starfish mom, Narcisa (mother of Scholarship recipient Marlon) shared with us some great knowledge on first aid.  We learned all about vital signs, how to act in an emergency situation, how to read a thermometer, how to check our pulses, various ways to give shots, etc.

Narcisa giving her presentation on first aid!

Our Scholars were eager to learn about ways they can help out when someone in their family is sick.  This is just one more way our scholars learn to lead and learn to give back.  Speaking of giving back - don't forget that as you shop this holiday season, don't forget to shop via amazon using the following link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/45-3805106 - 0.5% of your purchase total will be donated to Starfish with no additional cost to you!!

Check out the pictures below to see the first aid lesson in action!

Steve checking his pulse!

Narcisa showing Maria and Jerson how to read a thermometer.

Marcos helping Narcisa demonstrate what to do if we find someone unconscious or otherwise in trouble.

Learning to Lead at our October Meeting

This month at our October monthly meeting we focused on leadership.  We learned about teamwork, communication, setting goals and working towards those goals in a group setting by completing various activities and reflecting on our experiences.  It was a blast!  See all of these fun activities and more, below!

Setting up for our first icebreaker in Guasmo!

"Dinámica" or IceBreaker where we we had to work together creatively to get everyone's feet
 on a sheet of paper when the music stopped...each time with less sheets of paper!

It was easy when there were a lot of papers on the ground still,
here our students try to figure out what to do now with less paper.

Group work solving some riddles.  Our students had quite the creative responses!

Lili presenting to the parents what we did during our meeting.

After the becado (scholarship student) meeting, we also had a parent meeting and the parents did some icebreakers as well.  It was great to see the parents uniting and forming new friendships as well.  This year has been a great year of growth for Starfish and we're excited for the possibilities when students and parents alike unite for the success of their families and Starfish!  While the parents met, our students prepared a delicious, healthy snack and then served it to their parents for an great end to a fantastic day.

Starfish moms Maria and Adelaida participating in our parent activity.

Preparing snack with new Starfish Employee, Karina (pink shirt).

Geovanny helping out with snack in Guasmo.

Flor de Bastión students united after preparing a wonderful snack for the Starfish group!

The perfect end to a perfect day - lots of smiles!