Inclusion for Special Needs Children in Ecuador

For those of you who have not been able to personally visit NOVA, we want you to know that it is a very, very special place. Not only are they educating children, but they are profoundly impacting their lives in more ways than one. NOVA is not just an education center, it is a hub for progress and diversity. 

NOVA is always hard at work, putting their efforts into new projects that will bring positive change and fun to the lives of children! This month, NOVA had the high honor of celebrating their 23rd anniversary as an institution! To celebrate, NOVA organized a beautiful gathering with thoughtful details that showed the history of the organization and those who have supported it. NOVA was the first organization to promote an inclusionary education model in Cuenca, and continue to lead the movement with their innovative teaching styles. 

There have been many highlights over the last several months. Most recently, the children celebrated Cuenca's indpedence day with a traditional "pampa mesa" or potluck celebration. Children and invitees alike arrived in traditional dress and shared classic Ecuadorian dishes. This event brings together the families and community, while teaching the children about Ecuadorian traditions. 

The children are also still very active in extra therapuetic activities! They love their weekly visits to horse therapy and dance/artistic movement lessons. Every student also recently participated in their own soccer tournament! Talk about well-rounded activities. 

This year NOVA also started a new program that serves the oldren children with disabilities. One challenge that the organization was experiencing was what the children with more limiting disabilites would do if they could not integrate into a high school. More and more families struggled to find a suitable high school that promoted the same principles of inclusion. Thus, NOVA decided to expand their services for these teenagers. They now host 10 teenagers in their own class where they can continue basic education and learn life skills, such as cooking. It is a heartbreaking reality that these children have nowhere else to turn for support at this point in their life, but thankfully NOVA has opened their doors and given these children a place they can still call home. 

We would like to express our gratitude to our loving community who continues to support NOVA and their children! You guys rock!

Links:

• Stay tuned on NOVA's Facebook Page

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

-Benjamín Franklin.

At Nova, we base our teaching style on this philosophy. We believe that if a child is included in the educational process, he will learn.

In the month of April, we celebrated our annual Nova Green Camp, which serves to help children, teenagers, and teachers live side by side, and get to know a type of environment that fosters diversity and connection with others. This year all of the recreational activities and art projects were focused on the themes of nature and recycling.

Also in the month of April, the Parent’s Association organized a beautiful program to celebrate International Teacher’s Day.

In May, we organized a special activity for the mothers at Nova in celebration of Mother’s Day. The teachers prepared a special video of each child to send to their mom’s with a sweet message especially for them. This was a very special, moving activity and all of the mom’s really enjoyed it.

For the older students who are graduating from Nova this year, the classes prepared a special gift to their mom’s in honor of all of the time they have shared. This was especially emotional for everyone as it showed the bonds made at Nova.

June was a month full of activities. Not only did we finish the year with evaluations and exams, but we also participated in workshops in Horse Therapy, Horseback Riding, Swimming, and Martial Arts.

Every year Nova welcomes volunteers from Germany and Austria. Their year came to an end this month, and we prepared a send-off for them with all of the children.

We are always finding creative ways to raise funds, so this year we had our first Community Garage Sale.

To celebrate the end of the year we hosted and Open House so that the community, donors, and parents so that they could dynamically participate in our programs and educational activities.

Nova is a family that treats each student and our community as a family. Thank you for being part of our tribe, and making our work not only a reality, but a success.

Qué hicimos en Nova abril, mayo y junio?

Cuéntame y olvido. Enséñame y recuerdo. Involúcrame y aprendo. - Benjamín Franklin.

En Nova basamos nuestra enseñanza en esta filosofía, si el niño se involucra en la búsqueda del conocimiento lo aprende.

En el mes de ABRIL como todos los años realizamos el campamento este año lo llamamos CAMPAMENTO VERDE NOVA 2.018, esta actividad tiene como objetivo primero ofrecer la posibilidad a niños, jóvenes y docentes de convivir, conocer un entorno diferente al que viven y apreciar esa diversidad, redescubriendo el vínculo con los otros.

Este año todas las actividades recreativas, de arte y sociales estaban dirigidas al tema de la naturaleza y reciclaje.

Este mes además el Gobierno de Padres de Familia organizó un emotivo programa para el equipo de profesionales por celebrarse el día del maestro.

Para el mes de MAYO se organizó una actividad especial para todas la mamis de Nova, con anterioridad cada maestra preparó un video en el cual su hijo(a) expresaba un mensaje a su mamita.

Fue algo muy especial y disfrutaron todo el grupo de mamás.

Para el grupo de madres de Séptimo e Innova se realizó una actividad diferente en la noche del 31 como regalo especial por todo el tiempo compartido en Nova, fue muy emotivo para todos.

JUNIO fue un mes de muchas actividades, se iniciaron evaluaciones del bloque y finales, se realizó la clausura de los talleres opcionales de Hipoterapia, Equitación , Natación y Artes Marciales.

Cada año Nova recibe voluntarias de Alemania y Austria este mes realizamos con todos los niños un programa de despedida.

Como actividad de autogestión se realizó el sábado 23 la Venta de Garage nuestra primera edición.

Para terminar el año lectivo se planificó la Casa abierta con diferentes temas para cada nivel, participo toda la comunidad de manera dinámica .

Nova es una familia que piensa en la familia, y así compartiendo todos terminamos este año lectivo 2.017- 2.018.