Mostra Cultural 2012

Andy and Sam had their Mostra Cultural at school today.  A day of presentations, plays, demonstrations, and artwork displays. 

This year the 3rd grade classes put on a play based on a book they read after winter break. 

 

Sam played the King of the Vitamins!

 

 

 

Just over a year ago my kids knew no Portuguese!

Andy's class had a presentation based on alternative methods of alternative health therapies, such as massage, color/chromo therapy, and tai chi. 

Andy talked about positive and negative energy and the effects they can have on your well-being, health, attitude, etc.... And later in the presentation he and a few classmates gave hand massages to some lucky parent volunteers in the audience. They also brought in a gentlemen who gave everyone a live Tai Chi demonstration. (This wasn't his spiel in its entirety, but all that Blogger would let me upload.)

All the kids did a really great job.  Especially MINE!  ;o)

Old Architecture

I love the feel of the school that the boys attend. It's old. It has history. It's peaceful. The architecture reminds me of New Orleans - home.

A few weeks ago, Sam wanted me to be at school with him again. At first I was in the classroom for about a week. Even though his teacher was very welcoming and reassuring, I felt like I was distracting the students. So the next week I sat outside on a bench in the recess area. Then, the last couple days in the office. The secretary gestured for me to sit in a side room. Thank you, Elisabet! Those rock-solid benches in the foyer were a little hard on the rear after just 10 minutes.

This room was such a nice place to spend time. I was out of people's way, and I could knit, read the paper, look out the window... And after sitting there on Thursday, I knew I needed to bring my camera back on Friday.


The crossbars on the windows (not sure what their proper name is) are a bit big to keep mosquitoes out (luckily I didn't notice any anyway), and pretty flimsy for thieves. I think they're meant to keep birds from flying inside.

Reading the paper. On the left is Pele, one of the best futebol players in the history of the sport - he played for Santos. On the right is an up-and-coming futebol player that also plays for Santos. His name is Neymar. I don't know the sport well enough to know if he is as good as Pele was, but they seem to be compared in the paper quite a bit.


After a while I decided to venture over to the room across the hall.


This is the room where we met and filled out some paperwork on the boys' first day of school.

Sam running, having lots of fun and not needing me in the least.



After Elisabet told me the floor was over 100 years old, I felt it deserved a close-up.


Later, the sun came out!


Bathroom window.


There were a few cracks in the plaster on the ceiling. Did I mention I was there for almost FIVE hours?

These little burlap dudes were in the corner.


Stained-glass window on the chapel, though from this side it's hard to tell it's stained-glass.


Reflection in the window.


At some point I noticed some doors leading outside. I tried to open them, but I was making too much noise.


Although there were more productive things I could have been doing had I NOT needed to be at school, I had fun playing with my camera this day. And was happy that Sam was happy just knowing I was there.

Mostra Cultural 2011, Part 2

The 4 Ano performance revolved around the environment; conserve water, don't pollute the Earth (A Terra), and was somehow tied into the story of Noah's Ark. I didn't know what anyone said, but they all did a great job. Especially A Terra, she had a LOT to memorize.

And guess who played Noah - Andy!

Here was Noé standing next to A Terra.


Then he heard God's voice. He looked up to his left, listening intently.


Then he had to look to his right, quizzical look across his face, trying hard to understand what God was telling him. It was brilliant acting, in my humble opinion. :o)

He even had a line: Peguei uma gripe danana! Achoo! Achoo!.
Which according to Google Translate, means: I picked up a damn flu! Achoo! Achoo!
(Wow, really?! A DAMN flu? Okay. It was the only line in the play that garnered some chuckles. )

He said his line beautifully. And then led the animals onto the ark, two-by-two.

They closed with a catchy song. They put the lyrics up on a screen so I could sing along. Thank you!

Mostra Cultural 2011, Part 1

The boys had their Mostra Cultural, which translates to Cultural Show, at school this past weekend. Here, Sam and a few of his classmates patiently waited before their performance.


Andy with a couple buddies on the schoolyard.


One of the displays hanging outside of Sam's class's artwork.


A close-up of Sam's grasshopper.


The Primer Ano performance featured several songs about fruits and nature. The theme of the day was in fact Natureaza Mãe, Mother Nature.


The bee zooming around to the fruits, as they all sang a cute song where the refrain was, "Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom." Heck, even I could sing along!!




A nice picture with Papi afterwards.


And a little reception with juice a a few snacks was held in one of the classrooms, displaying more pretty classwork.

Sam's teacher explaining to find the strawberry soap that he made to take home. At this point Andy was off with his class getting prepared for their performance.


Sam and his Tia Bea. Tia (pronounced CHEE-ya), means aunt in Portuguese, but this is what all the children call their teachers, too. It's very sweet.


More to come....

Mini-Olympics

Last week the school they held a mini-Olympics of sorts. It lasted for two days, and led up to Dia das crianças, Children's Day. This year Children's Day coincidentally landed on the same day as a religious holiday, so they had the day off school in addition to receiving gifts, a Children's Day tradition.

These are shots from the opening ceremonies of the mini-Olympics. (There were no closing ceremonies that I know of.) This was also the first school assembly that has taken place since we've been here.

Here was the procession of all the flags of the Brazilian states. You can read more about the 26 estados do Brasil here.

Here they sang the Brazilian National Anthem. You can hear what it sounds like and see some beautiful Brazilian sights on this clip. (The kiddos don't know the words yet, but Sam was just humming along with the melody as we watched this!)

And here was the school flag as the students sang the alma mater.


There was even a torch that a few students ran in with,


and then on to light the cauldron! Which in this case was filled with sparklers. :o)