News from Maria Abad – April 8

Flowers are blooming, people are starting to sneeze, kids are in short sleeves – it may be that spring has arrived and that means lots of things in a school setting. Teachers are full of energy and enthusiasm thinking of all the things that have to be accomplished before the year ends. Parents are also making plans, some may be about summer vacation or camps, and some may be more serious plans about their child’s placement for next year.

Especially in the early years, sometimes parents face big decisions: should I let my child repeat a year, or should I move him or her ahead one year. No matter what your thinking is, I just wanted to remind you that your child is already ahead of the game; it is important that we leave some room for the kids to be kids and to have that time to play and learn at the same time. 

Let me finish by sharing an interaction with one of the kids this month that reinforced to me how our kids are risk takers at a very young age. While washing our hands in the bathroom one day, a Chinese Track student asked me what I was doing this summer. Then she told me that she would be coming to ISP summer camp. She had asked her mom to send her to the Spanish camp – she wanted to learn the language so she could speak with me in Spanish. It is amazing to see how are kids are not afraid to take on another language!

Happy Spring everybody.

Maria Abad, Head of Early Childhood, MariaA@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x109