School at Kusi Kawsay

      Kusi Kawsay (pronounced like Koosy Cow-sigh) is the school that Katie and I are going to during our stay in Peru. It's a good school, but their way of doing things is very different than in the States. Everyone have to arrive at 8:20. Then at 8:30 they ring the bell and all the kids line up at the door.  Before entering the classroom, one by one, everyone says good morning to the teacher. When you get to your seats, you sit down and the teacher says: "very good mornig dear students." and you answer back: "very good morning dear teacher."

      For classes, they have the same scheduale every week. One class for two hours (which changes every month), then a half an hour recess, then a one hour class, then a twenty minute recess and finally another one hour class. For example, on Mondays I have art and lecture, Tuesdays reading and painting, Wednesdays math and Quechua, Thursdays gym and art and Fridays communication and english. This month my two hour class is fractions.  Last month my two-hour class was local history. I learned about the celebrations of Pisac and the rural communities up in the mountains. I also learned about constalations.

     The classrooms are seprate buildings that you enter from an outside walkway. The playground is a small field with a couple of boulders in the middle. The main game that people play at recess is tag.  Here is a picture of the school from near the entrance gate.

    Before leaving at the end of the day, one by one the kids say to the teacher: "see you tomorrow" and then the teacher says it.

    So, that's basically what this school is like.


       Georgia