children of el triunfo

 here are some pictures of the amazing children in el triunfo, they love having their pictures taken!

he won't be able to ride for a few more years, but he's never without it



just waiting



at school



if you're strong enough to carry, you do

on the way to school

stan sharing the love of football



hanging out






part of the team



women & children carry everything on their head



doing homework



saying goodbye

paul's guatemala menu

banana & blackberry smoothie

salsa verde, butter & papaya spread

spaghetti with hotdog

grilled chicken, rice, macaroni & watermelon

mystery meat with salsa, beets & macaroni

chicken on the bone with carrots potato & rice

homemade chicken noodle soup with squash & potatoes

fish, rice & fries

special treat-frozen choco banana with sprinkles

fried eggs with salsa, black beans, plantain & smoked sausages

last dinner before coming home-steak, baked potato & veggies

famous drink- mickey mouse: club soda, cherry, pinapple & orange juice

update from champerico



Paul is having a great time connecting with the children




The team after the first day of digging



Here's a catch-up from Mr. Lopez on what they have been doing in Guatemala. The village they are building the well in is called "El Triunfo" which means "The Triumph" & they have definitely been triumphant during their visit. Due to the mudslide all their phone lines are still knocked down so most of the communication have been thru text messages & a few phone calls so when Paul gets back we'll have a more detailed account of his trip with tons of pictures.  On Tuesday they hit water & were able to go through two layers of gravel which rarely happens so this is a HUGE deal!!! At first the water was extremely brown but as they flushed it out it started to run clear very soon due to the filtration of the all the gravel, the team leader was so proud of them & the village could not contain their excitement on what a strong team they were given! Living Water International visited their team leader's village 7yrs ago to build them a well, he was so thankful he joined the Living Water team & now travels all through Guatemala as a team leader helping build wells. On Wednesday they constructed the pad, installed the pump base & spent time in the community & schools going over proper hygiene. Today they installed the pump & had the dedication ceremony...whoo hoo mission accomplished!!!

All Aboard to the Fall Festival!

We are getting ready for the fall festival, but we are hooked on trains and planes!  The children have been busy everyday using the legos to create different trains and planes, drawing them, counting how many pieces they are using, and talking about where and what they are doing.........

Here are some samples of their work......

by Alexandre

by Carter

by Kyle

by Luke

We talk about the different shapes that make up the train, we write the numbers of how many pieces and windows we made, we write words about our train, and practice spelling and writing our names.

We wanted to make a "really big" train, and thanks to Kyle, we have lots of boxes to get us started!

First we needed "black circles" to make the tires.  The children counted how many tires we needed for each cart, and got to work...........

The next thing you know, Trevor and Carter said, "Hey! We can tape the boxes together too!"  And all of a sudden it started looking like a real train......

We needed to number the carts, so the children worked together to write the numbers for them.  If anyone wrote them backwards or didn't know how to write a number, their friends were right there to help them!

Then the question came up......."What is our train going to bring to the Fall Festival?"

"APPLES!!!!!"  "Because apples come in the fall!"

We brought in some apples, and we looked at them and talked about what they looked like, and felt like.  We saw lines and spots on the apples, they were smooth, and they were red, yellow and green.

We are very proud of the detail that the children put into their apple drawings.  This is amazing work for children their age!

We all cut out our apples and we picked Cart #2 to carry our load of apples.  We glued them onto the cart, and .................

Here is a "pile of apples" ready to be delivered to the Fall Festival!

Ashley wanted to make an apple sign that said "apple sign" ;0)  Of course it had to be pretty with glitter!

And since our apple sign had glitter on it, now we had to make our numbers with glitter too!

It looks like Cart #3 is on it's way to being the "Pumpkin Cart", and we will see what other things this train will deliver.  Alexandre is also going to teach our class how to make pumpkin bread! Mmmmmmm

operation guatemala...update

A village near the drill site

 Some of you may know we have focused some of our past projects on the on-going water crisis in the world, the children were so inspired by everything they learned they raised  $850 to send Paul Lopez (Ella & Livia's daddy) to Guatemala to help build a well with Living Water International. Here are the links to some of the previous posts to refresh your memory...

http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/04/water-in-africa.html
http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-african-village.html
http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/06/making-difference.html
http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/07/operation-guatemala-bracelets.html

 Mr. Lopez flew out bright & early this last Saturday morning & had a smooth flight to Guatemala City. On Sunday they set out for Champerico which is about a 4 hour drive to the coast, due to the extensive rain it took them over 6 hours to get there. Yesterday was their first day in the village they're actually building the well in, it's about 45 mins away from Champerico, so it's kinda of like driving from Sugar Land to Galveston everyday. When they got to the village they were greeted by the mayor, water committee, teachers & all the people of the village who told them how grateful they are that they are building a well for their people. Yesterday was the first day that it hadn't rained in a long time & the team took advantage of it & drilled down 145 feet...that is AWESOME for the first day!!! So if it rains today, they'll be ahead of schedule & there wont be to much pressure. For lunch yesterday they ate scrambled eggs with black beans & corn tortillas, everyone was in awe watching the women of the village making these corn tortillas right in front of them. One thing Mr. Lopez can't get over is watching these families bathe & wash their clothes in their filthy river, you watch these things on tv, but to see them in person is really difficult to see. Whole families (up to 5 people) riding on scooters with the baby riding on the gas tank, it is an eye opener of how fortunate we are. So far he has taken about 500 pictures but with all the rain & flooding the internet is down, so we have only gotten a few pictures, we'll be sharing more as soon as we can. We're so happy to be able to help with the water crisis & we want to say thank you to all who helped make this possible!!



Paul & 3 school boys

Paul, Ella & Livia