Lets Be Ready

Hello everyone, it is a pleasure to write to you again and inform you everything we do for and for our children.

Well, I am writing to you that in the month of November, TEACHERS 2 TEACHERS International, the Families of Hope Foundation and the Ministry of Education invited us to a Mathematics conference in La Antigua Guatemala; The topic was "Practical Learning in the Early Years"

We learned how practical and fun math can be in our classroom. It was led by a diverse team of international and national educators, the presenter was Sara Delano Moore, PHD; Who is an educator focused on helping teachers and students understand mathematics as a coherent and connected discipline; His work emphasizes the power of deep understanding and multiple representations for learning. She worked as a math and science teacher in elementary and high school grades.

From the group of Let's be ready we attend 8 teachers, one representing the sector where they belong. We were very excited about the invitation, because the area of mathematics is usually a bit complicated for us; But it was very helpful.

We learned how we can use literature to teach math, in an easy and fun way. They taught us activities and games designed to support knowledge and fluency with numbers, addition and subtraction. We saw that it is important to stimulate students' learning with activities that they can deepen, when the problems they solve have meaningful connections to real-world problems. They showed us how we can use materials made by ourselves to improve our understanding of operations with whole numbers.

In the workshop on the second day, they presented how we can work with areas of the pre-primary level - basic concepts, quantities and operations, measures, geometry and location in space, logical mathematical thinking - using strategies from the developmental perspective of mathematical logical thinking, Using resources present in the environment of children. They shared research-based teaching strategies that help students become fluent with basic addition and subtraction. Suggestions for practicing the facts and assessing student fluency, as well as games that students can play.

Undoubtedly, they were two days of much information. We really loved it, because here in Guatemala we are accustomed to a very traditional, difficult and boring mathematics; But this conference made us see how useful, easy and fun math can be if it is taught that way - Easy and fun. Also show the child that will be useful for his whole life.

 We are very happy to be able to tell you again what progress we have made, and to thank you especially for the support provided in this year.

  We want to tell you that in the last month we completed the 2016 school year, and the teachers are very happy that most of their children have completed the year successfully. The most satisfactory thing for a teacher is to see that the effort, the commitment, the love, and the teaching that she gives to her students, has had a positive effect on them.

 It is very satisfying and surprising to see how we have progressed and already reached this stage of the year, and to see the development that our students have had over the course of the year. Many of them came out reading and writing words, others recognizing the form and the sound of the vowels and some consonants which greatly facilitated the writing of their name. Some learned the numbers 1-20 and others up to 30. We taught them to follow patterns, sequence and discrimination in mathematics.

 Finally our biggest goal this year was to involve more parents in reading at home. It was a challenge but we can say with certainty that we put it into practice We still need to improve, but we can say that we are progressing more and more. For example, our teacher Paola in San Juan del Obispo worked with this new system and she says: "We did not expect so much dedication, effort and support from the parents. Applying this method made it possible for both children and parents to become more and more interested in reading "

 We know that it is just the beginning of a goal, but that we want to fulfill it every year, better each day, as people and professionals. That's why Lets Be Ready we are very grateful for so much support and encouragement from our sponsors.

 For the closing of 2016, the children were awarded a diploma in recognition for having been with us this year, we did fun activities with the children and the parents, and in addition the mothers made a rich and delicious lunch for their children.the activities were attended by their closest relatives to share and celebrate this achievement of children. Everyone was very comfortable, and in the end everyone appreciated the patience, the effort, the creativity, the dedication, the support and above all the LOVE that we showed our children during the year.

 Now we just have to say Thank you, Thank you very much for all your support! We successfully completed this year ...

 * Attached are photos of closings in some schools.