Pen Pals

When I was younger, I remember how exciting it was to write my first letter to a new pen pal. It was an opportunity to make a friend in a different country and that alone was mind-blowing. The children here at Beacon House are just as fascinated with the concept as I was when my teacher first introduced the idea.

During these last few weeks, Erika has begun to help the children start writing letters to their pen pals. The pen pals will be from a variety of classrooms in the United States and Norway. Our goal after continuing to write the letters back and forth for a while is to hopefully be able to skype with one of the classrooms. Erika and I thought it would be fun for the children to be able to interact with their pen pals face-to-face.

To help the children understand where their pen pals live, Erika brought in a large map of the world and we help teach the children the different countries and states their pen pals are from. The children have been fascinated with the map and they have made up a game where Erika and I name a country and then they attempt to find it on the map. Who knew learning could be so fun and exciting?   

Currently, the children are writing to a class from Fall City, Washington. The classroom is Diane Tatum’s Kindergarten class from Fall City Elementary School.

Another one of the Pen pals is my eight year-old brother, who is currently in the 4^th grade. For me this really hits home, because I get to help one of the children write to my brother and watch the experience unfold before my eyes. It has been an amazing experience helping Erika with the children.

I will continue to keep you posted as this new experience unfolds, so stay tuned!

Coming Up: The start of Beacon House’s new preschool…

Swimming Lessons

Last Wednesday marked the first day of swimming lessons here at Beacon House. That afternoon as Erika and I walked to catch a chro-chro to start our usual journey to Beacon House we were filled with excitement, because our idea to start a swimming program once a week had come to fruition. When we got to Beacon House the children were dressed in their swimming attire. They had their bathing suits, flip-flops, towels, a beach ball and water balloons ready to go. All four of the children were itching to get to the pool and start swimming. Thanks to the Dufie Court Hotel’s generosity we are now able to go to their pool each Wednesday to practice swimming. As we arrived at the pool, the children’s first instinct was to jump right in. They had all told Ms. Mary, Erika and I that they already knew how to swim, but that didn’t seem to be the case once they jumped in. Luckily, Erika and I were there to scoop them up. Therefore, we started with basic lessons, such as floating on their backs and holding the side of the pool, while kicking their feet. Near the end of the lesson, the kicking and floating turned into contests like, “Who can hold their breath under the water the longest?” Every time one of the children got closer to floating on their back or swam a little farther than the time before they would jump for joy and a round of high-fives was always in order. Every child by the end of the lesson was beaming with happiness and would have stayed longer if it had not been late and starting to get cold. Honestly, I think if it had been up to them they would have stayed long into the night even though they were shivering uncontrollably. When they got out of the pool to dry off and change it was adorable to see all the children concerned that their eyes had turned red from the pool. Erika and I then went on to explain that their eyes were red from the chlorine in the pool and that they would eventually turn back to their normal color.

     It was so rewarding to be apart of that day. To be honest, I think Erika and I had just as much fun as the children. I believe that sometimes it is easy for people to forget that what they might view as a common part of growing up, like swim lessons, can often be rare in other people’s lives. Again, I would like to thank Dufie Court Hotel for their kindness. All the children can’t stop talking about the pool and the other children who have yet to go can’t stop asking when it’s going to be there turn. This Wednesday will bring more swim lessons! So, stay tuned!

Coming up this week at Beacon House: The start of pen pals with children in the United States…