Merry Christmas...

Support Letter

November 2010

To friends and family of Marissa,

We at El Camino Academy in Bogota, Colombia have the privilege of having Marissa Lavigne serving as our third grade teacher for the second year in a row. Though she is fairly new to teaching, she is creating a reputation as an outstanding teacher who uses creativity to keep her students interested. Responsible and a good team player, Marissa has built positive relationships with students, parents and our other staff. She has learned much about our Colombian culture here and grown in her multi-cultural skills.

El Camino Academy (ECA) is a non-profit, interdenominational Christian school founded in 1980 in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, to serve foreign missionary families and other Christian families. ECA extended this educational opportunity to other families, and we currently serve around 23 missions, 172 families and 285 students from the United States, Canada, various South American countries, Korea, and various European countries. ECA provides a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade program with a United States curriculum, taught completely in English. About 88% of our students speak English as a second or third language. Accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) since 1998, ECA has been also accredited by the Colombian Secretary of Education since 2003. All graduating students receive an American high school diploma and may also complete requirements for a Colombian diploma.

Due to the high percentage of our families (over 50%) that have one or both parents dedicated to full-time ministry (working with street kids, drug addicts, displaced Indians, single teen moms, pastoring churches, counseling, Bible teaching, or serving in other outreaches), our school income is limited and teachers do not receive full salaries, but a small stipend to help with some expenses. Each of our foreign teachers is asked to raise some of his/her own financial support so that we can continue to serve the Christian community here in Bogota, Colombia and invest in the discipleship and training of our bi-cultural and bi-lingual students who are so well-suited to use their skills to impact the world with Christ’s love.

As we as a foreign staff raise part of our support, each person who invests in us as teachers or administrators, is also investing in the next generation of leaders that will serve here in Colombia and all over the world. Our goal is to train our students to be servant-leaders and it is a privilege to invest in this special group of students. Your gifts allow us to continue to give partial scholarships to worthy students whose parents are heavily involved in ministry, both foreign missionary kids and Colombian students whose parents have dedicated themselves to sharing God’s message of reconciliation.

We would love to have Marissa be supported fully so she can focus on her ministry here with our students. I would like to ask you to pray about the possibility of being part of the team that prays for and invests financially in Marissa’s ministry with our elementary students. Please email Marissa (marissalavigne@eca.edu.co) to let her know how you might want to be a part of her team. Then you can send checks either to her personally at 20148 Gary Lane, Livonia, MI, 48152, or for a tax exemption slip, please send a notification to Marissa, and your check made out to RCE with the account #11180 (without her name) to RCE International, PO Box 4528, Wheaton, IL 60189.

Thank you for being a part of this great effort of making a difference in the lives of our 285 students, and in Marissa’s case, our elementary students. We appreciate your prayers and any gift you might be able to give to help Marissa serve with us this school year.

In God’s name,

Beth Afanador

Director

El Camino Academy

www.eca.edu.co (feel free to check out our website to learn more about our school)

PS If you have any questions I could help you with, feel free to contact me at bethafanador@eca.edu.co .

~Under the Sea~

Remember last year's theme "In the Rainforest?" Well this year, it was all about being "Under the Sea!" We had a special guest visitor who is a scuba diving instructor and he brought in his equipment and let us try it on and showed us some real pictures of the reefs around Colombia. My students have been completely absorbed by this experience...pun intended =)



Juan Pablo and Samuel were playing and were saying, "Oh No!! We ran out of air! AHHH!"






Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming...



Here it is! We are ready for our presentations!



Liana Moguel helps out a lot in the classroom and she came to do a presentation on pollution. Each bag contains something that can pollute the earth and sea. She also showed us what oil does to water and how it gets on birds feathers. Colombia is currently in the middle of a big push on Reduce Reuse Recycle, and ECA has already received recognition in our area for recycling!



4th Graders...Last year they got to do the rainforest, and this year they were on the other side of it! They loved the Sea. To get into the classroom, they had to hold their breath until they got inside the "bubble." We watched a clip from Finding Nemo that shows the coral reef and all it's color, then they got to see how many sea animals they knew in the power point presentation. After that, 3rd graders read a few reports on the animals they studied, and I sprayed all the visitors with water! Everyone got a little cup of sea water (powerade) with a candy fish to swim inside. While they explored the sea to find all the animals, I played the "Under the Sea" song from the Little Mermaid...it was great!



And, after all their hard work, the 3rd graders finally got to enjoy their own little candy fishies!



And then we were sharks eating them... ;)




And our bulletin board ->

Videos to come...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101206/wl_nm/us_colombia_landslide

At least 50 missing in Colombian landslide

BOGOTA (Reuters) – At least 50 people were missing in Colombia on Sunday after heavy rains caused a landslide in the northwest of the Andean nation, relief organizations said.

Colombia is experiencing torrential downpours due to the La Nina weather phenomenon. The rains and floods have killed around 170 people so far this year, mostly in recent months, and affected 1.5 million more.

"It's believed that there could be between 50 and 60 people trapped, maybe more," said disaster official John Freddy Rendon in the city of Medellin near where the landslide occurred.

Rendon said more than 50 homes were covered in Bello municipality in Antioquia province.

The Colombian Red Cross said in a statement that at least 150 people were "affected" with an unknown number missing.

It said one body had been recovered.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said on Sunday the number of homeless from the rains could reach 2 million.

"The tragedy the country is going through has no precedents in our history," Santos said, after flying over the coastal region of Atlantico to see the situation first hand.

The rains have hindered coffee and coal sectors too.

In neighboring Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez blamed "criminal" capitalism for global climate phenomena including the region's rains that have also killed more than 30 and left tens of thousands homeless in his country.

= Happy Thanksgiving =

Math... The example for the coin toss activity couldn't have worked more perfectly!! =)



It's really kind of exciting to explain to a group of Colombian children why Thanksgiving is so important to the USA (and to me!). They were so interested in the story =) During Library class, they were making books about being Thankful.








Prayer Request: For the people negatively affected by the abundance of rain we've had this season

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/11/19/colombia.rain.calamity/index.html

Rain is good, but there is such thing as too much of a good thing..

A Smattering of the Big Events as of Late...

This is self explanatory ;)



Let's see your Bibles!



Science- Squeechy the duckling spent the week with us while studying Life Cycles



Laura, Laura, and Laura!



Lunchhh



Social Studies- Sinbad and the Valley of Snakes



Math- Making a Standard Measurement of one "class foot" length



Umm, hello..



*Buddies*



Social Studies- Chinese Print Block Patterns



Science- Two plants growing in the direction of the sun



Science- Food Chains and Food Webs



Social Studies- Ancient Australian Maori Warriors and Boomerangs



Making a Goodbye sign for Emma...



Goodbye Emma! We'll Miss You!



Hanging out with our friends from Hogar de Paz! (Home of Peace)



Christian Character Day



Guess Who?



Yep, ECA is celebrating 30 years!



The actual family that our Christmas play was about last year! A family from a Colombian tribe outside of the city who became Christians and are now evangelizing.

8 Hours a Day with 8 Year Olds...

Colombian Pride
That's the flag ;)



Things I'll never figure out...

-How by the end of the day, the desks are only 2 feet away from the front of the classroom
-How I can get asked the exact same questions every day (What do I do with my homework? Umm, turning it in might be a good idea..)
-How their hands can be completely covered in glue or sparkles or something else that is sticky when we weren't using any of those things in class...(and then they are afraid of getting messy when we DO use those things!)
-How they can tell the greatest, most creative stories at all the wrong times, and can't think of anything when we need it in class
-Why do rulers always have to become swords?

Interesting observations...

-If I don't lock the doors to my classroom in the morning, I get mobbed by elementary children of all ages
-Pencils learn too. They learn how to get up and walk away, or just plain disappear right before a test
-The students beg me to eat lunch with them, but I find that on those days, it is very difficult to actually eat lunch
-They come in from PE and recess like a mess with sweaty, red faces, and then ask me if I brushed my hair that day
-I have to laugh at jokes I've heard a 100 times before and pretend I don't know the answer

The Joys...

-Finding notes on the back of spelling tests like this -->


-They tell their moms your favorite color
-After a substitute teacher for 4 days, they celebrate and cheer the day you come back
-They have no idea how easily you can see them at their desks making faces to themselves, picking their noses, or reading in their laps
-You become the subject of every class story or made up song

And I thought tornadoes didn't exist in Colombia...

This weekend, we had a little tornado touch down right around our school! Construction pieces on the new part of the building were moved around, a couple windows were broken next door, and the guard even saw a calf in the air! Parts of our metal roofing on the old building were also blown off and found sticking out of the ground. All of our internet and telephone connections were down, but praise God no one from our community was hurt, and the wiring was able to be fixed so we could have school today...

http://www.colombianews.tv/news/92610-bogota-strong-winds
(copy and paste this into the browser)

Right next to my classroom!


Lunch area





And I thought tornadoes didn't exist here...

Say hi to...

~Emma~



Emma is 8 years old and has 7 brothers and sisters and a little dog. Her dad works in the American Embassy. She was born in Peru, has lived in the US, and also has lived in Kenya. She loves the Nintendo characters Daisy and Luigi, and likes to play soccer. Her favorite memory was when she went to Disney World. She got her picture taken with Snow White!

Prayer Requests for Emma:
-She is working with both Spanish and English on top of her dyslexia which can get frustrating. Please pray for good focus, concentration, and improvement this year.
-That she may be a good, encouraging influence on her classmates

-Guy of the Week-

Santiago!

Santi is 9 years old and has 1 older brother named Nico. He also has a dog named Tommy. He loves to play soccer and he likes the church that he attends called Su Presencia (His Presence). His favorite memory is very recent...his 9th birthday party! He and all his friends got to ride in a Limo. A high school teacher from El Camino lives with his family, and here is an acrostic she wrote about him:

Super
Amazing friend
Nice
Talented
Intelligent

Prayer Requests for Santi:
-That he will continue to be a great example and leader for his peers
-That being 9 years old will be a wonderful year for him

Special Guy

-Daniel-

Meet Daniel: He speaks Spanish, English, and French, and has traveled to several countries around the world with his family (he has one older sister). He loves to read and is very knowledgeable because of it. He likes horse back riding, and started doing this when he was 2 years old. He also loves sports.

Prayer Requests for Daniel:
-He was out of school for a week because he was sick, so we pray that he stays healthy and has no trouble keeping up/getting back on track
-That he will continue to learn and discover new things

Special Person =)

*Ana Maria*

Ana Maria is 7 years old. She loves to learn about animals and people, and when she grows up, she wants to be a pediatrician. She has an older brother named Nick and her favorite memory is when she went to Disney World. Her favorite book is called Pinkalicious. She is very creative and decorated her poster beautifully!

Prayer Requests for Ana Maria:
-She fell and broke her nose last week, so we ask that you pray for quick healing, and that she can catch up easily from her 4 missed days of school!

Our Special Person of the Week!

-Juan Pablo-

Juan Pablo is 8 years old. He has 1 older brother and a pet fish named Santi. He loves his family, and his best memory is his family vacation to Girardot. He likes to play with transformers and he loves to play basketball.

Prayer Requests for Juan Pablo
-That he can make good decisions every day
-For the health of his family
-That he will work hard in school to learn a lot of new things

3rd Grade

Here we are! We just signed and fingerprinted our Social Contract (or class promise). I didn't realize that the ink wasn't super washable and we would be the blue-thumb class for a day...lol

Year #2

We prayed for our first day, for the new students, and for this new school year~




And here they are!! 21 beautiful faces just waiting to change my life some more


My roommate Melody (1st grade teacher) and I for the traditional "1st day of school" pic


So here we go =) Ready to join us?