Valentine's Day

What we did to celebrate:  I love celebrating love.  Valentine's Day landed on a Sunday this year.  (Here's the link to how we celebrated at the Reyes Academy last year.)  I had some friends over for dinner.  We ate pasta, and we ordered the yummiest cinnamon rolls from my new favorite place: Mari's Cakes.  I also had the apartment decorated for the holiday.  (Thanks mom for sending such cute decorations!)  

The Reyes Academy celebrated Valentine's Day on Monday.  We first made Love Rocks.  Here's an article that explains where the idea came from.  A couple lost their daughters a few years ago.  To help cope with the tragedy they started making these love rocks to spread joy.  Visit their Facebook page here to learn more about what they do.

My mom made one for my roommate and I last year, and I loved the idea of randomly blessing others.  We could leave them at the supermarket, give them to people on the street, or set one on a step of the apartment.  I thought the concept of spreading love went perfectly with Valentine's Day.  The kids each made 2-3 using fabric scraps and modge podge.

Next we did black out poetry with using 1 Corinthians 13 or 1 John 4.  I loved seeing how different the 6 poems turned out.  Christin and I also participated.  It really helped us to think deeply about the text and its themes.  I would love to incorporate this same strategy into English class sometime.  

We ended the celebration by giving the kids their valentines.  Over Christmas break I found these poop pencils, and I knew they were perfect for the boys.  They absolutely LOVED them.  We had fun laughing about sticking poop in our noses, eating poop, and touching poop.

Christin and I made cookies and cake to give to the guys at the colmado and to bring to Bible study.  Through a friend on Facebook, I discovered a website called 40 Acts.  Each day of Lent they send an email with an act to do for the day.  I had already planned on making these things, but when I opened my email the act for the day was to make food to give to someone.  It was fun to randomly bless those around us.

How did you celebrate love year round?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - year 2

How we've been decorating:  It's no secret that Christmas is my favorite time of the year.  Here's my blog post from last year.  This year I wanted to get more creative in my decorating.  I was on Pinterest for awhile looking at different ideas.

I came across this adorable washi tape fireplace.  I combined it with this reindeer.  We added the red nose all on our own.  It is one of my favorite parts of the apartment.

Over half of the apartments in our complex have Christmas lights.  We like to think we inadvertently started the trend with our Halloween lights because at the end of October everyone else had their Christmas lights up.  We strung my long chord of lights on our porch and wrapped it around the curtain.

We used this cute example to create our own Christmas garland above the couch.  We didn't have super pretty ribbon, like their example, but we used gray and green yarn.  My mom and Christin's mom both thought the garland looked like sugar cookies.  I layered and combined it with a chalkboard banner that my mom sent.  

We found some fun window clings that we put in Christin's classroom/our kitchen.  

My bedroom is still a work in progress.  I loved my desk from last year because it looked so nice.  This year I have four cork board squares to work with.  I tried using the same "Joy to the World" signs I made from last year.  I'm not loving the result, though.  Any ideas or tips?

I'm trying to decorate my classroom for next to nothing.  It's one of the rooms I spent the most time in during the day.  I want it to be festive and fun.  I hung another garland, and I added some snowflakes to the chalkboard wall.

I didn't have any green and red construction paper, and I can't really afford to buy more, so I watercolored white paper to make a countdown chain.  Each morning the boys chop off a rung.  Only 18 school days left!

I love making snowflakes.  My friend Lyndi is a professional snowflake maker.  We made some at a Christmas party last week, and we placed those on the doors.  We had thought about wrapping our bedroom doors to look like presents, but I don't have the money to buy all that wrapping paper.  This week I taught the boys how to make them.  They make the chalkboard wall look much more festive.

Here are some other glimpses of Christmas around the apartment.  The weather has been cooler, so it really has felt like fall/winter here in Santiago.  Last night it was in the low 70s and there was a huge thunderstorm.  Not quite sure how I am going to survive the 30s when I am back in Oregon for two weeks.  Only one month left until I head to the US for the holiday.  Not that I'm counting the days... :)

Con mucho amor.      

When ART and SCIENCE collide

What we're creating: I found this blog on Pinterest showing how to create watercolor rocks.  I loved the idea and knew it would be the perfect way to end our rock and mineral unit.  We watched this short video on geodes, and we looked at various pictures for examples.  It was so fun to watch the boys create these pieces of art.  They especially loved using salt and watercolors together.  I would have loved to have real examples of geodes, or have a geode that we could bust open together.

Here are the examples I made.  I kind of want to get cheap frames for them in the US when I am back in December.  They would be cute to hang.  Maybe I will bring them back with me to Oregon and put them above my dresser in my bedroom there.

Here are the boy's paintings.

At the end of the year I want to do a mini Reyes Academy art show.  We learned about an artist statement, and they wrote one for the "Scream" painting they did on Halloween.  They will also write one for these watercolors.  It is a great way to combine art, science, and writing.

Con mucho amor.

It's Finally Fall

**forgot to post from October**

...well at least in our apartment and at the grocery store.  We have all our fall decorations up, and we even found pumpkins in the store last week!  Of course I documented it with a picture.  I was too excited to see a pumpkin.

We decided not to get any pumpkins because they would just rot and melt in the Dominican heat.

Several weeks ago Christin, Jessica, and I traveled downtown to a store called El Encanto.  We spent around an hour wandering and looking at their decorations.  We found fall leaves and cute fall colored fake flowers.  I decided I had to get some.  Last year I did not decorate for fall or do anything for Halloween.  This year I decided to splurge.

Above the couch we have two nails where we string a pretty ribbon or yarn for different banners.  At the beginning of the year we had the word "HOPE" held up with clothes pins.  Next we had these circle yarn weavings of the kids hanging for awhile.  Then I had a readathon banner.  I did not have anything prepared for fall.  I was kind of bummed about having to make something or spend money to create that decoration.

That weekend after we bought fall decorations, I received a package from my mom.  I was so excited to look and discover what treasures she sent me.  I opened it up, and I saw the cutest candy corn banner that fits perfectly between the two nails.  God knew what I needed and so did my mom.

The following week Christin and I were talking about fall scented candles.  Ever since senior year of college I have loved yummy scented candles.  I have Christmas scented candles, I have lavender candles, I have fruity candles, but no fall candles.  The next day my friend Lyndi came over and gave me a house warming present.  She gave me the cutest towel for the kitchen and a mulled cider scented candle!! I was so excited.

Yesterday Christin and I ventured to the mall.  I needed a new cell phone charger because mine broke, and she needed a new phone case.  We walked past a store that seemed like a pharmacy/decoration store.  I saw the cutest pumpkin lights in the window.  They were less than $10 and I fell in love.  We hung them over our sliding glass doors in the living room.  I was so excited for darkness to fall last night.  We lit the cider candle and

Now that I got these cute Halloween lights, I will have to keep the fall decorations up until at least November 5th or 10th.  But after that, bring on the Christmas decorations... :)  My favorite time of the year.

Why every classroom needs a chalkboard wall

What we've been doing: Last spring I covered a whole wall in my classroom with blackboard paint.  Well, in the DR it is really just plain black paint that you cover in chalk.  It took me forever to cover the whole wall with chalk, but it has been my favorite part of the classroom this year.  Here was me celebrating finishing covering the wall last May.

Inspirational messages above the door: This sign has been up there since the spring, but this week I want to change it to "You are loved."  I could change it weekly or monthly.  I want it to be the last thing they see and remember when the leave the classroom; something positive and encouraging.

Venn diagrams: The boys are working on writing a compare/contrast paper right now.  It is a combination between US History and English.  We just finished reading a book about Sacajawea.  The boys were comparing European and Native American women.

Conjugating verbs in Spanish: I have been teaching two 11-year-old twins Spanish after school twice a week.  It has been so fun to watch them grow and learn Spanish.  We used the chalk wall the other week for

Timelines: We have been studying US History this year.  I had the boys race to see who could put the beginning events in order the fastest.  They loved the action and game-like way of learning.

Photo booth wall: The first day of school we used the wall to draw angel wings, and speech bubbles.  We also used the wall for Dot Day photos.

Brainstorming: Before the first day of school, Christin and I had a giant brainstorming day.  We threw everything up on the wall that we thought we might do the first day/week.  It made it easy to circle things and cross out the ideas we wanted to save for another day.

Labeling science diagrams: When we were learning about the layers of dirt in science, we did a food activity where each layer of dirt was represented by cookies, pudding, or Hershey's kisses.  The next day as a warm up, I had the boys make a huge representation and label the layers.

Other ideas I want to try...

• Giant KWL chart
• Fill in the blanks for verbs, vocabulary
• Matching images to quotes
• Art gallery style wall 
• Holiday decorations (pumpkin patch along the bottom for Halloween, Christmas trees along the sides during December)
• Speech bubbles for famous people - could be presidents, MLK Jr., famous scientists.  The students could either dress up and pose as the person, or draw the famous person. 

What are your ideas for using a chalk wall?  How do you use it in your home or classroom? 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

What I've been making: Well it's not exactly looking like Christmas, since it's still 80 degrees out.  But the weather has been cooling off, which is so nice.  Last night I didn't need to sleep with my fan on.  I spent way more money on Christmas decorations than I should have, but they make me so happy.  I made some of them and I purchased some of them.  Here's a snapshot of Christmas in the DR.

My friend Lyndi came over and we watched Once Upon a Time while cutting snowflakes.  Here are some of her professional looking ones. 

I was unsure of what to use at the background for the bullitin board.  I ended up using the paper my vase came from in the store.  Around here I have to be more resourceful since they don't sell plain wrapping paper.  

Another friend Hosanna came over and we made little canvases.  I used newspaper that mom put in the package she sent me and nail polish to paint the heart.

Mom also included my advent calendar countdown till Christmas.  Completely filled with chocolates for each day.  :) 

These snowflakes I made out of popsicle sticks.  One I colored with nail polish and the other I used markers.  The string invention to hang them was all courtesy of my roommate.  I wasn't sure how to put them up to begin with.  

I found this basket for not too much money and filled it with ornaments and pine cones.  I can use it to decorate after Christmas is over, too.  I also bought a big glass vase for my bedroom that I filled with pine cones and ornaments. 

Con mucho amor. 

Classroom Tour

What my classroom looks like: Here are a few pictures of my home away from home in the DR.  Besides my apartment, this is the place I spend the most time.  The boys love orange and blue.  I threw in a little purple since that's one of my favorite colors.  The big black desk is mine, and the boys each have their own learning space.  Spinny chairs sometimes become a bit of a distraction, but it helps them get out their energy.  I really miss having a projector and document camera.  I make it work though since there's only three of them.  We crowd around my little lap top.  :)

What do you think of my learning space?  Missing home a lot lately.

Con mucho amor.