New Mats!

So, it looks like I'm telling a kid to scoot over... because that's exactly what I am doing.  Check out what they are sitting on: brand new reed mats!  The teachers and I are introducing them this week to the classrooms.  Before the mats, even the littlest students sat at desks to recieve all of their instruction.  Now we are introducing "teaching stations."  The students can now sit close to the teacher and listen to a story or participate in guided practice and then return to their seats for individual practice.  We are so excited!

There are quire a few lessons involved in introducing something like this into the classrom environment here.  We've already covered how to move in the classroom (walking feet, no voices, only with the teacher's permission), and how to act while listening to the story (ndolesha na kumfwa), now our lesson is how we need to take care of the mats (hands in lap!!, don't break them, PLEASE!) :)