I have a phone number! :)

Yay hurray, I purchased a phone number! If you don't have a Skype number and you are living overseas, I'll be your salesperson right now. $17 for 3 months of unlimited minutes calling to the United States. Incredible, that's all I have to say.

So far, I've surprised several family members and friends with calling :). What great fun. You might be next!!!

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This is my week to teach Bible during Chapel time in the mornings, and my students have been helping me. The lessons center around the story of the Tower of Babel, when all the different languages of the world came to be. My students drew plants and bricks and then acted out the parts of brickmakers, carriers, and a boss... They did wonderfully today. I'm so proud of them (of course!)! On Friday will be the final culmination when God confuses the languages and everyone begins speaking different languages and can no longer communicate. My students will start babbling in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean. It will definitely be another proud moment for me, and they're super excited to speak their native languages!

Another proud moment today was when we went to the kindergarten class with Miss Wegman (my roomie Trish) and partnered up a 4th grader and a kindergartner to read for 20 minutes. I had coached my students about how to ask questions to keep the 5 year olds engaged in the book, and my students did wonderfully at leading conversations about the books. During our debriefing session afterwards, several students said "My kindergartner wouldn't stop talking!" and others said "Mine wouldn't talk at all!" Ha, it's quite the age gap, but our purpose is to excite the kindergartners about reading. I think we accomplished that goal for today!

what would you do if...?

do you think you could handle 15 students, calling your name "Miss Siscoe! Miss Siscoe!" and asking you a million questions a second and the action never stops and then a bee flies in the room... and out the window so everything calms down... and then the bee flies back in... constant chaos surrounds you (girls screaming, boys chasing bees)... and then to top it all off someone farts? what would you do in this situation?

true story. in fact, it happened yesterday.

Guess What Made My Day??

A couple things, actually.

I always begin my parent/teacher conferences by asking how the student is doing in my class. I like to get a parent's perspective to see if we're on the same page... :). One dad today told me, "Well, I don't know what you did to my son, but all of a sudden, he loves to read." Yay!!! I love to hear that!!!

Today was also the first day that I had another person helping me in the classroom. And I didn't have just one, I had two! Wow, they did so much grading for me and so many "administrative" duties that I am just amazed. Thanks Miss Roark and Mrs. Bredbenner!!! Your help was so appreciated!

That's all for now.

molas, flores, y conches

I bought tiny molas at the market yesterday. Here they are, in all their beauty. Molas are an art form from Panama and Costa Rica that originates with the Kuna Indian tribe. The Kuna women would sew these designs and layered colors on their clothing. Molas are still made and sold all over the world. I did an art project with molas while teaching in a practicum in Elgin, and my class just made molas as place mats for our desks. I know what I am going to do with these molas, but I can't tell you because it's top secret :).

See the tiny stitches all over the back?? They're handmade!

I bought myself flowers yesterday. :) Flowers are inexpensive here and make a great treat to myself!

And here's my small collection of shells from Puntarenes and Manuel Antonio. I even found some coral!

yes, it's definitely the rainy season

This is how much it rains every day here in Costa Rica. My neighbors Steve and Diane are producer and director of this video that captures the intensity of precipitation right outside our apartment. Enjoy!

Emotional Moments

Hearing all my students sing in Chapel brings tears to my eyes. It's such a unique experience for me to be a part of a Christian school after doing all my studies in public schools. My heart truly is with public schools, and I honestly never expected to be teaching at a school like this. Nonetheless, I love it.

I also nearly got tears in my eyes today while reading the book that I wrote ("If You Give Miss Siscoe An Apple"). My students were so excited and awed by it that they were asking so many questions about how I made it ... They loved it.

I also had the opportunity to lead the music in Chapel on Wednesday. I had been telling Miss Noemy (the music director) that I wanted to, so she called me up in front of the student body and had me "audition". Ha, I passed, I think, because the kids were cheering. Another teary moment.

bienvenido a mi clase!!

I thought I would update you with more recent photos of my classroom, now that school is well underway and the students have given the room life :).

Here's the seating arrangment this morning :). The sun is so bright! I love our painted windows.
The "Exploration Station". We are currently growing zucchini... and I told the students that if we actually get a zucchini out of this experiment, then I will bake them zucchini bread. Yum!
The arrangement after school! :) We'll see the student's reactions tomorrow...
Our "Class Contract." The rule "Don't be dramatic" is my favorite.
Shout out to my Uncle Tim and Aunt Christen for their donation to me and my classroom. I decided our classroom needed a softer place to sit instead of the cement floors... and I found this rug for a bargain, of course. The students love it! :)

I was thinking about the lack of technology in my classroom the other day, and I really don't mind. I mean, last year during student teaching, we had 2 computers, a TV, VCR, overhead, and an Elmo right there in the room for daily use in lessons. Now, I teach "from scratch" with hands-on activities and lots of dynamic conversation. I think when I go back to the States to teach, I won't know what to do with the technology!

That's all for today. I'm not feeling well this evening, so I've already taken lots of drugs and a nap. Now we're on to planning for the next couple hours.

Much love!