Schulzeiten – School Times

A quick recap of the first week of school.

Isaac is quite a good commuter. We leave the apartment around 8:20. He takes his scooter for six minutes to the U2 U Bahn (subway). He then goes for two stops with mama to the Pankow station and then scoots about 7 minutes to his school, which used to be an embassy in the former east.

{Isaac’s school}

Ben goes to school with Daddy, leaving around 7:45 and taking the similar route, though his school is closer to the Pankow U2 station.

He hangs his bag and sweatshirt in his coat closet and puts on his Hausschuhe (slippers). He’s settling well into class 2B.

{Isaac’s school schedule and jobs}

Like in Pre-K, the students have a schedule and jobs. He also has quiet rest time. His Vorschule (before school) is much like Pre-K.

{Ben’s school playground}

{Isaac’s playground}

They both have three recesses each day, as well as two snacks and lunch.

I pick one boy up first, always bringing or buying snacks. Then we head to the other school. Isaac loves it when Ben comes to his school so they can play in the Garten (Play yard) together.

There is a playground between the two schools that we like. We ate at the adjacent Greek restaurant once. After dinner we let the boys play while we finished our drinks and talked.

{playground in Pankow}

Across the street from Ben’s classroom window is a former Jewish orphanage that was built between 1912-1913.

{view from Ben’s classroom}

Isaac’s school is on Benjamin Vogelsdorff Straße. Vogelsdorff was a dentist who was the chairman of the Jewish community in Berlin-Pankow from 1923-1938. He survived the holocaust in numerous hiding places throughout Berlin and emigrated to Palestine with his family in 1947.