End of 2014

How we finished 2014: In week 16 two of the boys finished book #15 this week!  I am so proud of the reading they have accomplished.  The only struggle is getting books.  I only brought what would fit into my carry on suitcase.  Hopefully I can place an Amazon order and have more shipped here.

The boys finished two other videos before the end of the year.  One of them is about the prophet Elijah.  The other video is the story of the birth of Jesus as told through legos.

Miracle of a Prophet

LEGO Nativity

One Thursday I planned all of our Social Studies and Spanish lessons in the afternoon involving the internet.  I keep forgetting that Thursday's there is not internet or electricity at school.  I found the neatest online computer game about Vikings, and we were watching several videos about Christopher Columbus.  We ended up taking a field trip to my apartment to finish school for the day.  Thank goodness my internet wasn't down that day.

We started Beduin's Gazelle about a Muslim girl of the past.  I connected the lesson to Eman's TED Talk about being a Muslim photojournalist.  The only female Muslim photojournalist, which is pretty crazy.  We made connections to Islam that we studied in history.

In Spanish we finished the year by studying Christopher Columbus.  We looked at famous people that could be considered heroes or villains.  I created a slideshow with pictures of superman, the joker, Miley Cyrus, Bill Cosby, Trujillo, and more.  We talked about how most people have good and bad qualities.  We finished the semester with a field trip to Santo Domingo.  We went to Alcanzar de Colon, Museo de las Casas Reales, and Tres Ojos.  The boys and I had a great time learning and exploring.

One of the CCSS talks about showing character change over the course of a novel.  We read Murder for Her Majesty and the boys made characters in cans.  They looked at Master Kenton and how he changed throughout the story.  They filled the cans with 5 objects to represent 5 changes in the character.

The last week before break we did a service project.  We helped Joy write a letter asking people to donate food.  We filled over 40 boxes with a Christmas meal for the families in La Vega.  They got pasta, oatmeal, beans, rice, sugar, fruit, and more.  The boys and I folded all 40 boxes and stuffed them.  It was neat to leave for break knowing we impacted and helped others.

Time to start planning for 2 0 1 5.

Con mucho amor.

1st Week Back

What we did:  I wanted to have a New Year's party the first day back from school.  The idea came from @steph_frosch in a Twitter chat over winter break.  I create a cute sign, got donuts and sparkling cider.  The boys each wrote blog posts reflecting about 2014.  Here are the links if you want to read what they wrote:

Isaac's reflections
Joseph's reflections
Andrew's reflections

We also did a math game where they had to come up with the most ways to create a math equation that equaled 2015.  The person who got the most got to pick their Christmas present first.  My mom found these Minecraft figures that I gave them.

For Social Studies they "traveled" with their passports all over the world to read and learn about different New Year's Eve traditions.  They went to 12 different countries.  I made a little paragraph with a "stamp" that correlated with the tradition.  They glued in each stamp to their passport.  We talked about similarities and differences between the countries.  They picked which country they would like to actually travel to for New Years.

We did several art projects the first week back. I found this STEAM idea for pendulum art paintings.  The boys had so much fun putting it together and creating.

The boys also did artist research projects and created a piece in the same style of their person.  Isaac imitated Georgia O'Keef, Joseph researched Henri Matisse, and Andrew used the style of Jackson Pollack.

Good things are in store for 2015.  We are preparing for our first Mystery Skype, we are going on a whale watching field trip to Samana, we are collaborating with another homeschool class for a project about the Mirabal sisters, we are reading tons more books.  We are creating, exploring, writing, and discovering.

Christmas on the Island

What I did with my family: Mom, dad, and sis came to the DR from December 20-January 1st.  It was one of my favorite vacations with my family.  I loved showing them around and exploring new parts of the island.  Here is a collection of some pictures about our amazing trip.

Day 1: Santiago: We got our rental car, ate lunch at El Tablon, explored the Monument, and ate dinner overlooking the city at Camp David.

Day 4: Excursion to Playa Rincon: We went to a market in Samana, ate pan de coco, hiked to a beautiful viewpoint, at lunch at Playa Rincon, saw iguanas, sampled cacao, and ended our day in an infinity pool watching the sunset.

Day 5: Excursion to Los Haitises: We started the day with a rainy boat ride to an island where we got to play in the waves for an hour. We rode through mangroves, got to see lots of birds, and intricately twined branches on the many trees in the swamp-like area.  After lunch we stopped at two caves that had petroglyphs and cave drawings from the Taino natives, hundreds of years ago.

 Day 6: Christmas Eve: We relaxed by the pool and went shopping in the town.  For dinner we made reservations at a little restaurant that offered a Christmas dinner.  We walked in that night to find the table decorated.  My name was even on a rock.  We listened to Christmas music as we ate ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies, and a sweet pie for dessert.  We went home and spread our our plastic bag-wrapped presents under the little tree.  We opened stockings.  It was the perfect nontraditional Christmas.

Day 7: Christmas Day: We moved from las Terenas to Cabarete and stopped at Playa Bonita on our way.  Playa Bonita lived up to its name.  It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to.

Day 9: Puerto Plata: This little coastal town is only 25 minutes away from Cabarete.  We went up the cable car and got to see the most beautiful view of the country.  We also went to an old fort that had the neatest architecture.

Day 11: Monkey Jungle: I have done some pretty exciting things in my lifetime, but nothing as cool as Monkey Jungle.  The ziplining was fun, and I even went upside-down flying through the trees!  After the ziplining finished, we went into an enclosed area where we got to feed monkeys.  I had them all on my arms and head.  One of them tried to steal dad's glasses.  The other family I work for had us over to their beach house for a huge typical Dominican dinner.  I loved that my DR world and my OR world collided and interacted for a little bit, and I am so thankful I work for such wonderful families.

                                           

Day 13: New Years Eve: On the 31st we made it back to Santiago.  The restuarant we were going to go to for dinner was closed, so we ate at La Campanga and got ice cream at the grocery store for dessert.  We filled bags with presents for the New Hope girls (which I will hopefully write about in a blog post to come).  Mom and dad brought some home movies that we watched.  At midnight we ran to the porch to see all the fireworks going off around us.

It was one of my favorite vacations ever.  I loved having my mom and dad see a piece of my life here in the DR.  I loved showing them around and I am so thankful they got to meet the people I spend so much time with here in this country.  Come back and visit soon please.

Con mucho amor. 

#Fergusonsyllabus

*forgot to post from a month ago*

What we've been doing:  When discovering that the boys literally had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned the word "Ferguson," I knew I had to use a week to talk about the issues surrounding the trial.

Last spring I taught To Kill a Mockingbird.  We talked about race as a class and dissected the Trayvon Martin vs George Zimmerman trial.  We had amazing fishbowl discussions, and it was so interesting to hear the student's opinions.  We watched clips from the news showing both sides.  We read articles and did close readings.  Some of the students chose to write their final paper about this aspect of the TKAM unit.  I also connected Travyon Martin with the Scottsboro boys from so many years ago.  It is crazy that the same issues are still happening.  If you would have asked me in high school if racism was still an issue, I would have said no.  I don't want my students to be as ignorant and naive as I was.

Here are some of the resources I used when diving into teaching about the race issue:

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kwZl23Q9tgZ23dxSJWS-WpjZhOZ_mzVPtWL8-pWuLt8/preview?sle=true 
• https://historytech.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/materials-and-resources-for-addressing-ferguson-in-your-classroom/
• http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-to-teach-beyond-ferguson-jose-vilson
• http://teach2know.com/2014/08/31/resources-for-teaching-about-ferguson-listen/

The first day this year when we began talking about Eric Garner and Michael Brown, we looked at lots of different videos explaining the event and what happened.  I made sure to find videos showing different perspectives.  We also looked at this article that I turned into a PowerPoint full of last words that black men/boys have said before being shot.  

The boys listened to the song Be Free by J. Cole and compared it to Langhston Hughes' poem I, too.

The last day they each read a different article and shared with the class what their article talked about, how they would be portrayed by the police in the US, and what we can do to take action.  Here are the articles I used.

Bracing for a New Civil Rights Movement
Why is the NYPD after me?
Missouri school district told to "change the subject" on Ferguson
A Call for Change at Brown's Funeral
Reviving Hope in Troubling Times

At the end of the semester, the boys noted that this current event was one of the most interesting things they learned about in History in 2014.  I hope to continue to be given opportunities to open their little eyes to the world we live in. 

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.