A New Approach

It's the middle of week two in the classroom!  I've already decided to have a different approach in the classroom.  I've decided to pick my battles, and spend more of my energy loving on my students and enjoying being in the classroom.  I felt a big difference in my attitude throughout the day today with that mindset.  Even in my frustration of students not listening to me (because they don't know what I'm saying), I enjoyed the day today.  My kids are still adorable, and the beautiful school view never gets old.  God is good!  Today, a number of my kids even said "Amen" after I prayed for our school day.  It's pretty much the cutest thing hearing them say it!

The other day the president of congress (like our vice president) visited our school.  He didn't have a big entrance or anything, just landing in our school soccer field in a helicopter!  Makes it pretty impossible to continue teaching while that is happening, especially having no actual windows in the classroom, just window bars!  He came around and looked inside most of our classrooms and observed for awhile.  The kids were all very excited. 

My class has been working on colors and shapes right now, and also the five senses.  We've made kaleidoscopes for a "sight" activity, traced shapes in finger paint, and many more fun activities to learn these things.  Here is an idea of how things are going:

One of my students knows ALL the colors we have learned (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and brown)...let me remind you, THIS IS IN ENGLISH!!! WOW :) :) :) :)

Another student knows all but two colors!! So awesome.  A good handful of students know three colors, still incredible!!  There are still a number that don't know any yet though, but that is why we will continue to work on them throughout this year constantly!  It was super cute asking them each color I was holding up though.  They are learning words at least, because a number of them just kept saying "blue" or "yellow" for EVERY color I held up.  Their accent made it impossible not to smile even though they may not have known any of the colors.  English words are progress too, right? RIGHT! :)  This is what I mean by baby steps! And if baby steps is what we have to do all year together, then by baby steps we will learn everyday! 

Friday is "Kids Day" and school is over at 11am.  Yay!  My day will be filled with a program put on by the older students, and then a party in each of our own classrooms.  My party seems like it's going to include pizza, dirt pudding, cake, fun games, and of course a pinata!! I decided to let my assistants be in charge for Friday.  This way, the kids will actually have a lot of fun, and play games that the assistants explain to them in their native language.  That way the students know exactly what to do, and enjoy doing it..and I don't try and explain a fun game that doesn't end up being fun because no one knows what is going on but me!  Makes sense to me!  I'm sure the day will be a blast though.  Until then, enjoy the pictures!

learning how to make tortillas!

first art project: rainbow streamers

group at the hot springs!

tracing squares with playdough

working on the colors orange and purple

we made kaleidoscopes for our "sight" activity!

truck stuck in the mud on our way to school: thank you truck for the no school day!

our buses lined up waiting to see if we had school still

bus filled with cheering kids after finding out school was canceled!

four gringos with umbrellas and rain boots: sight to stop and look at on the streets of Gracias apparently!

working on our colors red and yellow

fingerprint rainbows! just as messy as fun :)

washing my clothes!

my classroom guitar and class pet

shape train art project!

my new way to take attendance :) the kids do it themselves too!

my kids really do :)