School+Donations+Info

== THIS PAGE PROVIDES //SCHOOL DONATION INFORMATION.// (It is not editable) I HAVE POSTED A SEPARATE //SCHOOL SUPPLIES PAGE// WHERE PEOPLE CAN LIST WHAT THEY ARE BRINGING SO WE CAN MAKE SURE WE ARE NOT ALL GETTING THE SAME ITEMS. ==

THANK YOU!! Please remember.... it is also nice to bring items your children have created. Those who have traveled before, please be prepared to share these ideas Tuesday night.
2/1/13 UPDATE FROM JEN: When asked about donating money to the school that Maria talks about in her book, Jen explained the following:

Maria is most deeply associated with her church (and The Church) in general, and she and her husband raise money and donate bibles. This is something she cares very deeply about and is part of her journey. I will write a quick note and ask her about her connection to the school and if we can donate to the school through her.


 * 1/28/13 More info from Jen Watt **

 At any rate, I just remembered that another thing this community was SO grateful for was the extensive first aid kit the school brought and ended up sharing much of. Very simple things – i.e. band aids and 1st aid cream were incredibly useful. I flagged that in my mind at the time as supplies that would be greatly valued… I may even stop in my doctor office this week and see if I can grab a bunch of samples.
 * Information from Jen Watt of EF regarding the Amazon School visit **

The school visit should be exciting. We were just there with a group of 34 students from Cincinnati, and the teachers and students are so looking forward to your visit. The group from Ohio brought many things - I hope we will see signs of use – from soccer balls to picture books. They brought EF backpacks filled with brushes, stickers, hygiene products, and much more for each student (34 - 36 in the school). However about 10 students did not get backpacks. If each teacher were to bring an extra backpack to leave (Alex can help organize) then the students who didn't get one can have one, plus extras for teachers and community leaders etc.

// [ ~mad Note: I have received some extra back-packs so if someone wants/needs another pack, let me know and we will get them out on Tuesday at our last meeting. ] //

The community teachers were beside themselves over even basics – large index cards for instance. They will be thrilled with any and all pedagogical supplements… Any story books that include Spanish and English (Dora the Explorer I.e.) will go over very well, but truly the classrooms were vacant to begin with and anything and everything will be a contribution. This school has incomparably less than the school in Peru. I had suggested classroom posters which the school did not bring, and still think this might be nice, but they can be hard to fit in suitcases. As you know there can never be too may stickers!

A greatest hit that the last group brought were little photo flip books of home, school, pets, siblings, parents, etc. The kids and even the parents loved these little picture books. I am sure if teachers were to bring photos of their classrooms and students that would be a great hit. If their students wanted to write a little card for the Ecuadorian students/classes that would be lovely. A photo of each teacher to leave behind…maybe we could even make a photo bulletin board for the school to track their visitors!

While we were there the kids were in two classrooms because the third teacher was getting his license renewed. I don't know if they will be in two or three classes when we are there, but the one on one time or small group size was great. In this community, the students stayed for lunch, and then we got to work on about 5 different projects. I'm not sure what our project work will include at this time. I had thought bookshelves might be nice – even very simple ones. But we will see.