Week Two!

Last week I spent the entire weekend preparing for classes.  This weekend I did much better.  I got a lot of work done yesterday while the power was out.  I have a couple of my classes to look at today, but I don't feel as overwhelmed as I did.  So as I had hoped, it is getting better!  I am learning how to stay better organized for each class and new ideas how to keep the students engaged and excited about learning.  Last week, rather than bringing home all the books for each class to prepare every night, I stayed at school until I was done.  So even though I might be at school until 5:00, I could come home without the burden of work to do, but rather come home with peace and be able to relax.

So here are some highlights from week two:

Most of the classes are beginning with teaching about how to conduct an experiment, asking questions, forming a hypothesis, planning and conducting your experiment, collecting and organizing your data, and making a conclusion.

What better way to learn those steps than to do some fun experiments!

6th GRADE

The 6th graders are growing micro organisms on slices of bread.

The partners made a plan where they would swipe their slice of bread.

These girls are cleaning the ping pong table with their bread.

Here are all their experiments....they swiped the floors, the soccer field, parking log, classrooms, even the bathroom...and now we get to watch them over the next two weeks to see how many different organisms will grow on their bread.

After two days, the kids were excited to check out their bread

Some of the kids picked up so much dirt, it may take a while before they can see anything growing.

Some of them were finding things and were so excited!  They had fun documenting every little speck they saw.  Monday we will see how much has grown over the weekend.

4th GRADE

We planned our experiment with different things from the kitchen we would add to vinegar and watch the reaction.

We used salt, flour, baking powder and baking soda.  The kids had hypothesized that the baking soda would make an explosion, so they were excited for that one!

We tried the salt first and they documented in their notebooks about what they saw.

After a few other items, we were ready for the baking soda.  Nahomy added a little to the cup and they watched with excitement.

Miss, can we add more?!  So they did....and were so excited!

Miss, it's going to explode! It's making humo (smoke)!  They had so much fun!

7th GRADE

My students researching some questions on the computers.  They have been excited about learning things about space and space travel.  

These kids are a lot of fun.  I have added some S.T.E.M. projects we will do next week...one of them is coming up with a way to save the earth if there was an asteroid heading toward earth.  Let's see what they come up with!

5th GRADE

Friday they did a virtual experiment on the computer.   Monday we will be doing a similar exercise ourselves.

I survived my first week of classes!

I was extremely nervous about school starting!  I have been in Honduras and serving at Ruach for close to 8 years now, but I have always used Paces.  I have never actually had to teach a class.  Never had to plan my classes and be a teacher.  This year is so different for me!  Different materials, different students, different ages...it is a ton of work!  More than I ever imagined, but I love it!

I am teaching science for 3rd through 7th grades using the curriculum from Science Fusion.  It has been a bit overwhelming.  There is so much information, and so much available I have to keep telling myself I can't do everything....so deciding what works best for me and for my students is still a challenge but I am working through it.  I am learning with them....learning the curriculum and how to teach and manage my classes.

Did I mention that I love it?  I do!

With this curriculum you have available digital lessons and digital labs (the kids love these!)  And written lessons, as well hands-on experiments that line up with the lessons and virtual labs.  There are so many ideas and options and resources available to you, you could never do everything!

We have done several activities away from our desks and I have a few planned this week that I am looking forward to!

Last week 4th grade did an experiment with helicopters.

They "flew" their helicopters, then wrote their observations. We added a paperclip and they hypothesized what they thought would happen and then they "flew" them again.

We learned they "fly" better with the paperclip and when we had some wind they really "flew"!

Third Grade Mystery Boxes

Third grade had to observe by using their sense of smell, hearing and touch to try to determine what was in each of the Mystery Boxes.  We got a little wild and a little loud, but they made it to all 5 stations and we learned some new English words....bell, seashell and cinnamon.

Today the 4th graders got to meet a real scientist, Mr. Celestino!

Celestino showed us around the lab where he works, and showed us where they store the human cells (the kids got really excited about that!), and he showed us his equipment and talked to us about some of the experiments they do.

We met another doctor that works in the lab and we saw her doing some scientific work.

The kids were very excited about today and loved hearing about his work.  Some of them had some questions to ask him about being a scientist.  One of my kids wanted to know where the hamsters and mice were.

It has been a fun week and I have some fun things to look forward to this week....6th grade will begin growing microorganisms on Wednesday.....4th grade will be doing some "pantry science" and 5th grade has an activity to test the balls bouncing on various types of surfaces.

I will have pictures of all of them!

Tomorrow is the Day...

The first day of school!  We have planned our classes, decorated our classrooms, organized our books and lesson plans, prayed in our classrooms and prayed for God's blessings on the new school year, and we are ready!

The classrooms are beautiful!  Our teachers are magnificent!   Tomorrow is so exciting, I may not sleep tonight!

As promised, here are some photos I took today.

Miss Grecia's classroom for 1st and 2nd grade.  Miss Grecia is always smiling - I love to see her and the joy and energy she has!  I have been admiring her classroom this week as she has worked so hard for her students.  Today I told her she has a happy classroom to go with her personality!  The children will love her room!

She made the Alphabet train, and each letter has a different design colored on it.   Her room has been buzzing with happiness all week!  I was working in the room next door and loved hearing all the help she was getting to put her room together.

Preparatoria classroom.   

We have a new teacher this year for Prepa, Miss Esly.  She has done a great job getting her classroom ready for her students!

Miss Candy was so happy to be in Kinder again this year!  

She taught this grade for several years, before moving into 1st and 2nd grade.  This year she is back in Kinder and told me it was like a reward to her!  She loves her students!  She is also teaching 4th grade, so she had 2 classrooms to prepare.  Amazing!  I LOVE how she decorated her room!

Pre-K

Miss Marjorie, (my friend/Honduran daughter) is going to be teaching Pre-K.  She was hired this week and only had a few days to transform her empty room with gray walls into a fun place for her students.  She did an amazing job preparing her classroom!

That is it for the Preschool row....now on to Elementary and Spanish classrooms....

Mrs. Merlyn teaches 1st and 2nd grade Spanish.  Mrs. Merlyn has been a teacher at Ruach since the first day.  She is a great teacher!  Imagine how many children's lives she has touched!  

What a treasure she is!

Mrs. Marycruz cut out these planets from stirofoam and painted them.  She is so creative and can make something out of nothing!  She teaches various elementary Spanish classes.

Miss Elena is the teacher for 3rd grade!  I love her creativity!

Miss Candy's 4th grade classroom!  

Miss Valerie preparing for class in 5th grade

6th Grade and Mrs. Magali's butterfly!  

The teachers for 3rd - 6th grade created a small reading area for their students.  As you can see, we can always use donations of books!  They are excited to encourage their students to read.

Here is the High School Learning Center

I love how they decorated and put up so many encouraging and motivating posters!

I love this idea!  They are going to have the kids put their goals for this year! 

Last year at the beginning of the year Mr. Josue had each of the students write down their goals for the year and he kept them and gave them back to them at the end of the year so they could see what goals they had accomplished.  What a great idea!

Miss Suleyda's High School Spanish room

Okay, now here is my classroom, which is actually the computer lab, Mr. Cristian's computer lab.  It has never been decorated, so it has been fun seeing people's reactions when they see the classroom.

So here is the before.....

Here you need to envision laptops down both tables....we need more laptops to handle all that we are now doing with technology...if you have an old laptop that you would like to donate to the school, please contact me! Or if you want to buy a new laptop to donate to the school, we would be happy to accept :)

Observe...Think...Discover

Reach for the Stars

Create...Explore

This is my Dr. Seuss wall.  

This middle is empty because that is where we will project the data show for science class .  I am still working on making a sort of "screen" for the wall.

So that's it....we are all ready!  Tomorrow we will meet students and collect supplies and have a school assembly.  Saturday we will meet all the parents.  And Monday we will start with classes.  I am excited and nervous bout my new classes.  I think it can be a lot of fun, it is also a lot of work, and I want to make it a good experience for the kids and praying that they learn a lot about science and learn a lot of English!