Sputnik

As I'm sure I've mentioned, Fiona's kindergarten is fantastic. Apparently, all kindergartens in the DDR were, because everyone worked all the time. The teachers had really strict training guidelines (three year college degree, must play an instrument, must have training in coaching sports, one year practicum, etc) and Fiona's teachers were all trained in the old system. And of course, she's doing all this in another language, and it costs just about the same as my first-ever car payment on my 1999 Toyota Corolla. Seriously. Including the lunch she doesn't eat.

One of the things they do is this science discovery curriculum. They do experiments, and the bigger kids (kindergarten goes until 6 or 6 1/2, so the big kids are, in my mind, first graders, very much older than Fiona, but she's learned so much from them so I can't complain, except when it is bad words, but I think I've beaten that out of her) write the lab reports together with the smaller kids. This year, Fiona's topics have included air, water, and motion. In February, in Paris, Fiona saw something in the air and commented, "Look, Mummy, der Heißluftballon" (hot air ballon, and weirdly, a word she learned first in German and always defaults to the German, even though she knows the English. Another example of this is der Kleber meaning glue, and since she glues a lot at school, she uses the word in German all the time).

Fiona's kindergarten is the only kindergarten in the state doing this science lab curriculum. I'm so impressed by it that I confirmed with her teachers that they would indeed be doing the same thing next year, and they are. Not that it would change anything, because I LOVE her kindergarten, but it's nice to know that it's a school I would have picked even if it weren't one block away from my own. Which makes it all the better, really, and the great teaching and science curriculum and price are just added bonuses. Anyway. Their current theme appears to be space, or air travel (related, apparently, to their earlier theme of luft). Here's a sample conversation from last week.

Fiona: "Mummy, can we look on the computer at a picture of Sputnik?" (pronounced in perfect Russian/East German, thanks to the DDR trained teachers)

M- "Sputnik?" (pronounced like an American, and in disbelief that she's not calling it a satellite, or wanting to see the Shuttle Discovery or something, and also that my three year old is wanting to see Sputnik, and knows that the place to see it is the computer, and also that we're even having this conversation, I mean, wasn't she just learning to walk?)

F- "Yes, you know, Sputnik, that goes up in space?"

M- "Ok, I know Sputnik, but how do you know Sputnik?"

F- "I learned it in school. And I made one. It has fire coming from the back which makes it go up to space. And then it goes around der Mond."

M- "The moon?"

F-"Yes, der Mond means moon, and Sputnik goes around and around."

And so, dear readers, we looked at endless pictures of Sputnik (and I DID show her the shuttle of course). Here's a picture of her Sputnik - and the fire that comes out of the back to make it go up into space.