Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

First Grade is winding up the year and we have been really busy with lots of exciting activities.  The week before last our 4th grade reading buddies put on a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory production.  The first graders were asked to be the oompa loompas!   We had loads of fun and the production was a big hit.
Here are a few of the kiddos practicing



Here are a few pics of my darling little Oompa Loompas.
 





Last Friday our class hosted a rainforest party.  The kids have been learning about many of the animals that live in the forest and made many of their own animals.    The kids are always so excited to have their parents come and see their work.   Here is a little video of one of the songs they sang for their parents.   Who is the King of the Jungle.

An Unbelievable Tale that's really a True Story

Let me just start this post by saying thanks to all of you who pray for safety while I serve here in Nicaragua.   I'd imagine that when you pray you pray for safety on the roads with the people but that safety extends to household accidents too. 

Tonight Aimee was making dinner.   Yummy spaghetti.  I had pulled a stool over to get some glasses out of the cubbord.   Aimee had just opened the oven to check on the garlic bread.  I lost my balance on the stool fell back and stepped on the open oven door.  As I spun around not wanting the stove to completely fall forward the pot of spaghetti sauce flew off the burner along with the pot of boiling spaghetti noodles. The boiling pasta water manages to only slightly burn my forearm.  Meanwhile I'm still spinning around with two glass glasses in my hands.  Eventually I fall to the ground shattering the two glasses in my hands.   Miracleously I didn not burn my legs from the open oven door, nor did any of the hot sauces and water cover me and the open flame on the stove did not touch my skin.  Truly it was a miracle that nothing worse happened.

Unfortunately I managed to spill ALL of our dinner on the floor and sprinkle it with glass shards.   Thankfully Aimee and Kate were not too upset.  Here are a few snapshots of the disaster.

This was only moments after the spill.   I hadn't yet realized that I cut my hands or burned myself but we were happy that no one was seriously hurt.

The pan with the sauce was bent from the fall!

I Do Not Like Them Sam I Am!

Dr. Seuss is well loved by all children.  His nack for silliness and rhyme are sure to make anyone smile.  We recently spent a whole week reading Dr. Seuss books in first grade.   The kids had a blast.   We read Green Eggs and Ham in Spanish and English.  No me gusta huevos verdes con jamon, no me gusta Juan Ramon!  We wrote our own version of the story complete with illustrations.

What kid doesn't love a little green Ooblek here and there!

Here's Fedra enjoying some sticky, icky ooblek

César was quite enthralled with his sticky blob!

We ended the week reading Dr. Seuss books with our 4th grade reading buddies. The kids had a blast and everyone left talking in nonsense rhyme. :-)

I give thanks to God for the gift of these wonderful students and the joy I have in teaching them how to read. They are soaring into reading and the majority of them LOVE reading their Bibles most of all. What a gift!

To Market, To Market

To catch a fat pig.   I think that is how the saying goes.    While I didn't go to the market to get a pig I did get quite a lot of things accomplished in the 30 minutes I was there.   Aimee, my roommate, and I went to Huembes market to get some hammocks for our new outdoor classroom at school.   We had a very successful trip!   We bought 6 hammocks, 2 baskets, some yummy corn snacks, my car got washed and I got new windshield wipers installed all in about 30 minutes.   Amazing!  Now for those of you who have had any experience in Nicaragua you know that things generally take longer than you think or plan for.  Yet today was a good reminder that things can be quick and efficient in this wonderful place.

Treasures

The new unit we have started in first grade is all about treasures. So far we've learned that a treasure can be something you do for someone else or a special gift, toy or even a memory. Our reading story this week showed us how art can be a treasure as well. I gave my class a bag full of random art supplies and after an hour of team work, lots of hot glue and creativity this is what they came up with. The name for each creation was their own as well.

This is the DXILL70000


This boat has lots of cool features.  It even has  tv so the crew can watch while they sail the seas.


The Lucky Eagle complete with talons.   The pink cup is helping hold him up.


The Number One Ocean and Camera
There are two whales and some starfish in this one. 



The Very Silly Submarine...complete with periscope.

The following are hard to see but I I'll tell you what they say.   I asked my class to write about down something they treasure.   Their responses are in the blue and pink papers. Then I had them draw and color their own special artwork.  You can see their interests popping through on these.

Some of these include the Bible, family, sisters

Soccer balls are treasures too!

Transformers and Mario can be treasures too!

They have learned so many things and it is precious to hear about all of the things that my kiddos treasure.   God has blessed us with so many things how can we really take it all in and truly treasure and be grateful for it all.

 

Now this is something that  I treasure!   God's creation is magnificent and I am so thankful to be able to get out and see so much of it here in Nicaragua.  This is a view from Mombacho Volcano looking out towards a beautiful crater lake called Laguna de Apoyo.

We all have things we come to treasure more and more with age and life experiences.   Whether it is a special photo, a family heirloom or a cherished conversation with friends or family.   My conversations with family this year have become more important and treasured to me after loosing my brother last March.   Phone calls home mean a lot more to me knowing that I don't hold the future in my hands and I don't know how much longer we all have on this earth.   Thankfully I do know the One who does know our futures and I trust Him.

Celebrating 100!

The joys of first grade are so simple and yet so fun! February 1st was the 100th day of school. Counting to 100 is an important first grade skill. We had a day filled with 100 EVERYTHING! Here are some excerpts from their journal writing on the 100th day.


I wish I had 100 pretty dresses - Alice
I wish I had 100 cupcakes - Lola
I wish I had 100 fishes - Jonathan


I wouldn't want 100 snakes- Rebekah
I wouldn't want 100 teeth- Oscar
I wouldn't want 100 skunks- Natan


Having 100 ____________ could really be a problem.

elephants- Susana
snakes- Alyssa
hippos- Alice
birds- Diana

In 100 years I hope that I can stop whining- Gabriel
In 100 years I hope that I can read. -Alia
In 100 years I hope that I can read a lot - Rafi
In 100 years I hope that I can go to heaven - Carlos
In 100 years I hope that I can have all my teeth- Felicity
In 100 years I hope that I can be 92. - Andre



If I had 100 dollars, I would buy dolls. -Lola
If I had 100 dollars, I would buy 100 shoes. -Felicity
If I had 100 dollars, I would buy Cars Toys. - Jonathan
If I had 100 dollars, I would buy a bike. - Andre
If I had 100 dollars, I would buy a Hotel. -Ariana
If I had 100 dollars, I would buy more money. - Alyssa

Some of these were just too cute to not pass along. These quotes are just a taste of some of the funny things they say everyday. Life can be simple and fun!

Shake, Rattle and Read!

Friday we had one of the biggest tremors that I have  felt in my time here in Nicaragua.    My class and I were in the middle of a math lesson when it started.   At first I thought it was a gust of wind from a big truck passing on the highway that runs parallel to the school.  However when the rumble continued I immediately sent my kids under their desks.   Thankfully we have had lots of earthquake drills so they all knew what to do.  We evacuated the buildings when the shaking stopped.   It turns out it was a 5.1 on the Richter scale.  Here is a link to the official USGS site that tracks all the tremors and quakes worldwide.  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc00017cj.php

My first graders were so cute.  They didn't really know what to think because many of them haven't really felt and recognized a tremor before.   When we returned to our classroom they were all asking if that was a real earthquake.    I smiled as I told them it was a medium sized one. 

From Blogger Pictures

Before all of the excitement of the earthquake our class met up with our 4th grade reading buddies.   Here are some great pics of some of the terrific reading that was taking place.   My students had read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle last week and then they made their own version of the story.   My students were so excited to read their own stories to their 4th grade buddies.