On Friday March 4th, our students finished their last final exams and headed off for the long vacation! During our second semester, we continued to study online. Even so, we were still able to implement our Environmental Education Program and Project Based Learning.
In December for environmental education, we successfully set up our annual flea market, highlighting the importance of reusing and buying second hand. Most of our students participated collecting donations, in artisitic presentations, and even buying some second-hand articles to support the school.
In Project Based Learning, we were proud to finish the school year with one, all encompassing project called "The Montubio Fair." In preparation for this event, each class researched and prepared a typical food related to our local indigenous culture. Then, on February 25, they put their product for sale in a fair on the beach. Each class also prepared an artistic presentation reflecting the Montubio culture (dance, poetry, etc.)
Overall, the 2021-2022 school year was a success, despite being the second year of online studies due to the pandemic. In Ecuador in general, as in many other countries I imagine, there have been high rates of drop-out due to this situation. Here in Canoa, there is only one other school, the public school, where students were not required to log on to video calls, and only interacted with their teacher once a week to hand in homeworks. At Los Algarrobos, we are proud that for these two years we provided three hours of online class daily with homework breaks between. We successfully implemented our English, Environmental Education and Project Based Learning Programming.
The economic strain of the pandemic had forced many families to inform us that they needed to withdraw from the Los Algarrobos School. But thanks to your generous support we were able to provide over 40 scholarships this year! This ensured that the school stayed open one more year and that as many children as possible had access to a quality of education rare for children of unstable income. Please consider continuing your sponsorship or even opening your heart to a new one for this upcoming school year!
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Our first semester was filled with many challenges and achievements! The new school year started out with difficulty, as many of our families analyzed their economic situation and many decided they were not able to afford continuing at Los Algarrobos. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to provide over 40 sponsorships, maintain the majority of our students, and keep our doors open.
We continued our studies online which was another challenge for many of our students who learn better in-person. Luckily we were blessed with many amazing volunteers from Quito this semester! Thanks to psychologist Susana Cruz, we were able to evaluate and identify which students needed extra in-person help in reading and math. Then, with the help of our volunteers Natalia, Viviana, Aymé, and Carlos, we were able to give small group tutoring throughout the semester, giving our students the special attention they need to keep up with their studies.
Our volunteers also did amazing environmental education projects including dozens of beach clean ups, the implementation of the sewing club, a compost competition, handmade seed paper, among other wonderful projects. Even though our clases were online, we were able to contnue to provide hands-on actitivies safely thanks to these amazing volunteers!
Finally, we also coordinated teacher workshops with professional teachers and psychologists from Quito to help us improve our teaching methodologies online and in the classroom.
In addition to our volunteers we are so grateful to have YOU on our team! Every year it is a struggle just to keep our doors open and your generosity makes it possible to continue our important work and programming. This November 30th will be GIVING TUESDAY, a wonderful opportunity to donate to our projects where you will be matched and every dollar can go farther than ever! We hope to see you then!
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The 2021-2022 school year started in May with all kinds of obstacles and challenges due to the continuing pandemic. Many of our families had difficulty deciding whether to come back to school or not this year since for many families the economic situation has not improved. Many came back and other didn't, so one challenge this year has been low enrollment rates, a huge risk for the future of the school.
However, we never waver! Thanks to the continue support of our donors, we are still open and are not only surviving but thriving! We were able to provide over forty scholarships to our neediest families this year! We brought two amazing volunteers to aid our teachers and administrators, and we have expanded our environmental education program impressively!
Our volunteers, Natalia and Viviana, are both recent university graduates from Quito. They started the year taking students for beach clean-ups every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They also launched a sewing workshop to teach local families new skills and sew cloth shopping bags to help reduce the use of plastic bags in our area. Most recently, they evaluated each of our students third through seventh grade in reading fluency to help identify students who need extra help in reading. We are amazed and incredibly grateful for their hard work!
In addition to beach clean up and sewing cloth bags, the volunteers also helped to launch a compost competition! Where students have three weeks to create a compost in their yard. The class with the most participation will win a pizza party for the class!
Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this school year possible with your continued support!
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Last week our students handed in their final portfolios and began to enjoy their summer vacation. It was a long, hard school year, 100% online. For students, teachers and parents alike, adapting to school over a phone (for most of our students) has been incredibly challenging. We have all learned so much, from how to change our methodologies to how to navigate the Google Classroom platform. Our entire environmental education program went from group activities to home activities and all of our fundraising efforts have gone online.
When the school year started, we were deeply worried that so many students would withdraw that we would be forced to close the school. Thanks to you, and several local sponsors from Canoa and Quito, we were able to provide 38 students with full or half scholarships! These families continue to struggle as economic recovery is slow, and a great majority of our families depend on tourism for income. Your support this year allowed them to keep their kids at Los Algarrobos, where they feel part of our community, intead of having to change schools on top of all the other changes we made this year. On behalf of these parents, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. We are so blessed to have you in our community.
Throughout the year our sponsored students have sent you updates and videos about their studies. They are in the process of sending you one more thank you note, which upon arrival we hope you consider continuing to sponsor your godchild until they graduate. This year, the government has already declared that the school year will start online. And even though vaccination efforts are underway, we don't expect the economy to recover for some time now. Please consider continuing to sponsor your godchild!
Thank you so very much, and we will see you next school year!
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Thanks to your generous support, we have been able to sponsor 38 students so far to continue studying at Los Alagrrobos. As you know, the majority of our families' livlihoods depend on tourism, which took a heavy hit in March when the government imposed lockdown restrictions. Even though many business have opened since, the economic situation for some of our families continues to be desperate. Thanks to you, they are able to keep their students at Los Algarrobos and continue to benefit from our English classes, environmental education, and access to our library.
In October, the Ecuadorian government asked all schools to do a social study of their families and decide whether to return to the classroom or not through a democratic process. We met with representatives of the local municipality and health center to determine if the school grounds were ready for students to return to the classroom. The decision to return or not was ultimatley determined when the survey of our families revealed that over 70% do not feel comfortable returning to the classroom. Respecting their wishes, we have resolved to continue virtual until further notice.
That said, we are very proud at the progress our teachers have made through their virtual studies. We started the second semester with an extended class schedule to move faster in areas like math and reading. We are also transitioning to a new online platform, Google Classroom. English studies hours have also increased and we continue our monthly environmental education activites online. Our teachers are constantly preparing and researching new ways to use online tools in the virtual classroom.
Again, thank you so much for your support this year! As we approach year-end giving, please consider continuing your support! On December 1st, GlobalGiving is giving a million dollars in matching funds! The more you donate, the greater our match! And from December 14-18, switch to a monthly donation and it will recieve a 200% match on the first month! Join our team! Help us keep our doors open next year by giving during one of these special match opportunities!
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