nochebuena

My dad and I spent Christmas Eve baking!  It was exhausting, but totally worth it!

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¡Navidad!

School is out...my classroom is in order...my plan book is full for the first week in January...my apartment is clean...and my bags are packed.  New Jersey here I come! Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope you are able to enjoy time with family and friends as you remember the true meaning of Christmas. *   *   * In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And all went to be registered, each to his own town.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.  And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:1-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

 

día de nieve

On Wednesday, we had a snow day.  Yes, you read that right...a snow day in Puerto Rico.  But instead of missing school, we brought the snow to school. 

Our wonderful volunteers, the Yoders, received some fake snow (just add water) in the mail from a friend, and they wanted to share it with us.  Since none of our students have ever seen snow, we knew they would love it.

And they did!

The day before the snow day, Betsy warned the students that the news was predicting terrible weather in Puerto Rico for the following day.  She told them it may even snow…and they believed her.  The two oldest boys ran to me and told me they might have to stay home from school on Wednesday because of the weather!

So Wednesday morning came, and there was no snow.  We had lost the older kids; they no longer believed.  But the little ones were still excited at the possibility.  At play time, we pointed at the gray clouds in the sky and assured the kids that they looked just like snow clouds.

Then we gathered in the chapel for story time—The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

Next, we went to the library where Casey showed the kids how to make beautiful paper snowflakes.

After that, Stefanie took them outside for a game—a race to see which child could be the first to put on a frozen tee-shirt. 

Finally, the long-awaited moment arrived.  We sent the kids to the chapel where the Yoders stood ready to peg each kid with a snow ball as they opened the door.  It was so much fun!  The kids were sliding around having snowball fights, making snow angels, and even trying to make a snowman.  Even though I wound up with a lot of snow in my eyes, mouth, ears, and pants, I had a blast as well!

After it was all over, we asked the older kids if they finally believed us.  All Kevin had to say was, “Well…”  The big grin across his face told me he meant yes. 

gráficos, mapas, cascanueces, y más

With only two and a half weeks of school until Christmas break, it can be difficult to keep the students' attention in class.  With that in mind, I worked extra hard to come up with engaging activities for the home stretch of the year.  It turned out that I needed this excitement as well, since I wasn't feeling well this week.  Thankfully, once I got in the classroom with the kids, it was easier to forget about my aches and pains (with a little medicinal help!).

So, here's the week in review...

We used our map of Sunny Peace Town to learn about map grids.  Here is Kioney using our large map and grid to make a small map of the town.
 

Saúl, Gaby, and I are working on measurement in math class.  Here we are making a life-sized bar graph of the heights of all the students.

 

After we made the bars, we measured and labeled each one.

In Social Studies, we're learning about transportation.  Here, we're sorting our word wall cards into three groups: air, land, and sea.  They had a lot more fun with this than I thought they would!

 

Later in the week, we had a Christmas measuring scavenger hunt.  The boys ran around the school measuring the Christmas decorations.

 

 

Thankfully Rebekah came to lend her hands!

I ended the week on a Christmas note as well.  Last night, Betsy, Judy, and I went to see The Nutcracker at the arts center in San Juan.  One of our friends is playing the harp in the orchestra.  The show was well done and very entertaining.  It was nice to get dressed up and feel cultured.  Now I'm even more in the Christmas spirit, and I can't wait to go home and bake lots of cookies!

 

el espíritu navideño

My Christmas Tree

This was the first normal school week we’ve had in the month of November, and consequently, it felt really long.  No complaints though.  I had lots of time to teach, and I enjoyed almost every minute of it.  My favorite part was Social Studies class with Kevin and Kristian.  Since we've missed so many classes due to absences and days off, we're still wrapping up our election unit.  We had an interesting discussion on Wednesday about political platforms and Biblical values.

Okay, I do have one complaint about the week.  Part of the reason it felt so long was because my arch enemies (a.k.a. coquí frogs) kept me awake—and when I finally fell asleep woke me up—each night.  I spent some nights coquí hunting on my porch, and others just staring at the ceiling when I should have been asleep.  Anyway, it made for a tired week.

And then the weekend finally came.  Happy December!  It was rainy and cool…perfect for getting into the Christmas spirit.  I think I kicked off the month in good style—I slept in way too late, went Christmas shopping, and wrapped presents while listening to lots of Christmas music!