The Last Day of School

Since Costa Rica only has a "rainy" or "dry" season, their school year runs from February- early December- with the summer break being December & January. So last week, I said good-bye to my own very first class.

The last day of school was reminiscent of like one of those break-ups where neither of you want it, but it inevitably has to happen. I spent a whole year pouring my heart and love into those relationships. I knew details about these children that most others may never know. My head is stock piled with their likes, dislikes, & varied learning styles. My life has been equally dependent on them this year, as theirs on mine. I have watched them grow and change and pray that they never stop. 

The year ended in a whirl wind of exams, grades, and parent meetings. But one thing I made sure of was slowing down to reflect as a class on what we had been through together. Unbeknownst to me, it started with a surprise party that was planned 100% by my students! Ok, so maybe I knew that they were cooking something up but I was pretty impressed when my 2nd&3rd graders completely ambushed our first class period and surprised me with cake, tortilla chips, and some pretty weak lemonade. That's what you get when 8&9 year olds are in charge! 

Luckily, I had something for them as well. My tradition is to make bracelets for all of the students that I teach. Finally, on my third class (first REAL class) I actually worked ahead! Tying these bracelets on each child is a special time when I get to praise and encourage them and tell them how much I enjoyed having them in my class. Afterwards, we watched a slideshow of our year in pictures- which has made me nostalgic enough to cry just about every time I've watched it. 

Then, we ended the year with a school wide party that even the teachers enjoyed & a graduation later that night. 

Saying good bye to those little ones was like watching them walk away with a little piece of my heart. But fortunately, I think that when that happens, your heart grows a little bit bigger and makes room for even more kids to steal my heart the future.

My last day of school picture!

Ending October the right way!

As October quickly came to a close last week, here are a few of the fun things that I did to end the month with a bang!

Another fun activity that made my kids more excited for Language Arts than they ever have been before--

Touchy-Feely, Creepy-Crawly, Halloween Boxes:

You guessed it, I made boxes of some of the grossest, creepiest Halloween things around. 

After giving the secret things in boxes a good feel, the kids had to use as many adjectives that they could find to describe what they felt. 

It was a great way to get them enthusiastically writing!

I'll let you in on the secret ingredients:

1. Bat Bones: pretzels

2. Worms: spaghetti & oil

3. Lizard Lips: sugar coated gum drops

4. Witch Toes: mini (and very "warty") pickles

5. Brains: scrambled eggs 

6. Zombie Tongues: canned, sliced, mushrooms

(yes this is from the same child who wrote a math word problem
about boogers earlier in the year…)

Then we got to enjoy a few adorable, healthy Halloween snacks for our class celebration.

Banana Ghosts! (with chocolate chip faces)

Mandarin Orange Pumpkins

And not to be out done by my students, I made sure to dress up for the occasion as well. 

Ok, ok, let's be real. I LOVE to dress up. 

Halloween is just a good excuse to do it!

Scuba diving with my shark counterpart:

The whole suit.

I hope that you had the fabulous October that I had & Happy November!!!

Mostly Monsterly

This is is first of two (maybe three?) fun Halloween blog posts. 

It's just one of the first holidays this whole year that I've had the opportunity to celebrate with my students, so I may or may not have decided to take advantage of the theme...

Here are some of the fun things that we did last week!

The first project all started with this adorable little book about a little monster girl who doesn't fit in because she's just a little too nice. 

My kids LOVED this book. Especially because my version has the words in Spanish, too. 

So, I got a little creative and drew my own monster. Then, they had to draw a replica of my monster.

 The catch was this: to practice their listening to English skills, I described this monster down to the last detail, including how many teeth he had and what color his belly button was BUT I didn't show it to them. We had a blast!

The winners of the competition:

Not too bad, huh? 

Now I have some adorable little monsters decorating our classroom! 

Next up: some Corny Spelling Practice. 

I mixed up all of our spelling words for the week into different sections of the candy corn. The kids had to cut apart each candy corn and put it back together with the right letters to form words! 

Lets be real, I was almost as excited about this as the kids were. 

Last but not least, this epic spelling crossword. Be forewarned, it was harder than it first looked. 

This was a last minute time filler so I didn't have a chance to do it ahead of time. So, I struggled right along with the chicos to figure this out, but we had fun! 

Come back for more Halloween fun later this week!

Celebrating the "Indepencia de Costa Rica"!

Costa Rica's Independence Day is September 15, so many celebratory activities are held in the few days leading up to the day! Last Friday, the whole school came together for a night of fun and celebration of Costa Rica's culture.

Parents brought typical Costa Rican foods of all kinds to share!

We had a presentation put on by the students that included a skit (by my class) about how the Independence was won, typical dances, typical humor, and even a "cooking show" explaining how many of the typical Costa Rican dishes are prepared. I had a blast! Costa Rica has such fun and lively traditions. 

My class, taking a bow after their skit!

Videos of the cutest little dancers ever!

At the end, the school hosted a traditional "Desfile de Faroles" (or Parade of Lanterns). All of the students created their lanterns out of recycled materials and showed them off in the parade that night. Here are some of my favorites!

These are the winners of the lantern making competition

At the end of the celebration, we also found out who won the classroom decorating competition. My kiddos were very pleased to find out that we had won! We got to enjoy a special lunch and dessert this week as our reward.

My gracious students :)

My attempt at a group picture...

And last, but not least, here I am- in my typical Costa Rican dress!!

Costa Rican Independence Day Decor

I've been a little absent lately because we've been having a lot of fun happening around the school! A few weeks ago, we had the annual "La Feria de Mandarin" (The Mandarin Fair)-- but (even though it was AWESOME) I'll get to that later.

Next up on the agenda was Costa Rica's Independence Day- September 15th. It was each teacher's duty to decorate their classroom with recycled materials based on the Costa Rican theme (national flower, national bird, the flag, etc) that they were given. I was lucky enough to receive the "Himno Nacional"- or in other words, The National Anthem. I truly love this song so I was excited to get started! 

Today our classrooms were judged and we will find out who wins the competition tonight at the big celebration. In the mean time, while you're anxiously awaiting the results, I'm going to share with you what I came up with.

["Noble homeland your beautiful flag
It gives us expression of your life"]

["Under the clear blue of your sky"]

My attempt creating a blue sky! (egg cartons + paper towel roll + twine + spray paint)

["White and pure rests peace"]
White dove paper garland, donated by one of my students mom's = perfect! 

Loving this magazine paper flag banner! 

["When anyone tries to besmirch your glory
You'll see your nation brave and virile
The rustic tool transform into a weapon"]

["Hail Oh homeland your prodigal soilGives us sweet shelter and sustenance"]

(tin cans + newspaper + sharpie + magazine paper + sticks + hot glue)

Guess what-- their colors are red, white, and blue so I might reuse some of these ideas next July! 

The lyrics were all written on old magazines & newspapers.

*UPDATE: We won the classroom decorating contest! My students have never been more thankful for my hard work than when they found out that we would be getting a special lunch on Monday (cake included)! I guess that's one way to win 'em over...

Happy Independence Day!