¡pancakes!

Last week, I read the book Pancakes, Pancakes! to my two youngest Social Studies classes because we are beginning to learn about natural resources.  The book describes where pancake ingredients come from (flour from wheat, eggs from chickens, etc.).  Naturally when we finished, we had no choice but to make pancakes for ourselves!  (We were supposed to make them on Wednesday, but we had a trip to the children’s museum—which was AWESOME!—see Facebook for pictures.)  Saúl knew this plan, and had therefore been asking me about pancakes all week.  I showed him the Friday square in my plan book, where it said make pancakes, a few times throughout the week.  So when Friday finally came, he was ready!

The timing was great.  God knows what He is doing.  Friday morning, a few of our students received some bad news.  After an emotional homeroom time, everyone needed a distraction.  Pancakes are a wonderful distraction. 

Here is a photographic journey through our morning…

 

Saúl wrote out the recipe.  He cut so carefully around the words (Gaby was sure he was going to cut some off).  Then he decided it looked like a gun, so he cut some more.  Then he thought it looked like a foot.  He was satisfied with that.

 Kioney set the table. 

 I forgot to take pictures the first time, so the kids reenacted it for me.

 We tried to make a BIG pancake like they do in the book, but it didn't really work.  

It was fun to try, and tasty to eat!

 We invited everyone to share our feast.  

The kids explained where all the pancake ingredients came from.

If Gaby ate it, you know it must have been yummy!

las cuatro estaciones

For those who follow my 5K endeavors:

I decided not to do another race this weekend.  I haven’t been feeling well this week, so I’m giving my body a break.  It seems that my record will stop at three in a row.

For those who follow my classroom endeavors:

I finally took my camera out again, so you can have a look at what I’ve been doing recently.  It seems that Social Studies class with Saúl and Gaby is the most picture-worthy. 

We’re learning about weather and the four seasons.  First, we compared the weather in Puerto Rico and New Jersey for a week to learn about climate in different places.  We were able to webcam with my dad a couple times so that the boys could see New Jersey weather for themselves.  They really enjoyed meeting my dad and seeing the house that I grew up in as well.  (Thanks D!)

Then we learned about the four seasons.  At first, I wondered if I should even teach this topic because we really only experience two seasons here: hurricane season and a coolish-dryish-but-then-rainy season.  I quickly recalled the countless times that I’ve come across the terms winter, spring, summer, and fall in various texts I’ve used with my students.  I concluded that this is essential background knowledge that the kids will need—even though it is out of their range of experiences. 

There are few better ways to expand kids’ experiences than through books.  So we read some picture stories as well as our textbook, and discussed and acted out the weather during each of the four seasons.  We concluded this unit (with a little help from Pinterest) by making a mobile.  

carreras

Today I finished my third 5k in as many weeks, and I got my best time!  I might try for four in a row next Sunday—depending on how motivated I feel by mid-week.  I’m trying to take advantage of all the cheap race opportunities here before I go.  The races here are great because they are plentiful, everyone gets a medal, and not everyone is a serious runner, so I usually don’t have to worry about coming in last place. 

I really hate running while I’m actually doing it, but I love the excitement before a race and the feeling of accomplishment after I cross the finish line.  Where will I find this kind of healthy and cheap high in New Jersey?