Counting Caterpillars and Wind Catchers

So far this week we have been working on a few different projects. The students got to do a couple things so far and I had a big project I've been working on! It never fails that on days that I wear white or something that is dressier than what I normally wear, we paint! Today I had both white and dressy on and of course we painted! But it was fun and the kids enjoyed it. Last week I cut out a bunch of foam hearts and glued them on to bottle caps and voilà you have yourself a homemade stamp that everyone came have and use! We worked on the number 24 today with the K2 class and they had to stamp the number and the cupcakes with the heart stamp. A lot of them did a really good job! 

They K2 students also made a wind catcher. We went outside and talked about the wind and how it can move different objects and the students got to run around outside with streamers. Then we went inside and put our wind catchers together and talked about how we are going to "catch" the wind. They turned out really cool and the students had a great time spinning them around their heads, watching the streamers fly around. 

My project for the week took a little longer than the students', but it will last them a lot longer. In a lot of schools that I've been in MN, they have a counting caterpillar, normally representing the days that the students have been in school and they count it every day. Since they already had started the year a while ago we just put all the numbers up from 1 to 100. As I was putting it up, the kids were just ooing and awing over them. I had one student that just kept saying "Awesome!" Another student came up to me later that day and just said "Thank you so much for the caterpillar!" He is such a sweet boy and it melted my heart! Just another reason why I know I'm doing what I love and being with those kids every day.

So far the weekend is looking fairly clear to spend at the beach so let's hope that weather forecast stays until then! Sunday we are hoping to find some bar in town that is playing the game so that we can at least watch the football game and be surrounded by Americans and feel like a tourist again for a little while. Tonight at volleyball we met a few more people our age and have made plans to hang out in the future! It's so nice to meet some more people! :)

Afternoon Trip to the Beach .:. Best Attempt at Artsy Photos .:. Upcoming School Week

Basically this post is purely for the pictures, but they are too good not to share! It was another rainy gloomy day here in paradise, but Britta and I were determined to go out and get to the beach. We took the hike down to the Pedregal Beach, which is the beach on the Pacific side and the one that we can see from our bedroom balconies. It is too rough to swim in, but today we went down in sweatshirts and pants so there was not even a thought of swimming. So here are almost all the snaps from the beach.

I don't think I would ever get sick of the beach. I don't understand the people that stay in their houses all day and out of the sun and down by the beach! I would spend all my time outside if I could, but that's probably just my Minnesota side coming out since I don't get to be outside much in the winter without freezing my butt off. I know I shouldn't be complaining, but I wish the weekends were nicer. I want a nice tan before we come back! Hopefully these last 9 weeks will brighten up :)

This week in school we will have the K3 students in the morning and the K2 students in the afternoon. This week we have the first of our 6 observations from our University Supervisor. We met her last week and she is such a sweet person and I think she will be such a big help in our process of student teaching. 

We will be continuing our lessons of animals in K3 and clothing in K2. We will be doing a few science experiments in both classes. K3 will be talking about organic and inorganic garbage and will eventually connect it to animals and how the garbage that we dispose of effects our animal populations. We want to try to incorporate more of what the students want to learn about into the lessons, but it is tough because the days are so short when we only get half of the day with each class. One class comes in the morning when we start at 8 and the other class comes in after recess at 11:30-11:45 and we have them until 1:30-2:00 depending on if their parents come to the classroom or it they get picked up by their parents. Almost every day we have a meeting after school. Mondays are free and so we have tried to use those days for planning the next week. Tuesdays and Fridays are International Baccalaureate meetings with the IB coordinator. Wednesdays we have parent pick up duty so we have to wait while the students are getting picked up by their parents. All the teachers tend to leave right at 3 or shortly after 3 every day. Hopefully tomorrow we plan next weeks schedule and I can start to take over even more of the class than I am doing currently!

And in news from the home front, that little puppy of ours just keeps getting cuter every day! I screenshot every snapchat that Tyler sends my way! She's such a tiny stinker and I'm sad that I'm missing these very small puppy stages. Hopefully she won't be too big by the time I get home.

Hopefully this week is nice and flies by! Taking it day by day and excited to continue my student teaching journey. 

3 Weeks Down, 9 To Go

Well we are into single digits for the amount of weeks that we have left here! 1/4 of the way finished. It seems to be going fast, but still seems like we have a long time left here! I have some mixed emotions about that because I'm having a great time and loving all the weather, but I'm really excited to get home.

The end of the week went by fast, but they all seem to do that. With the Kinder 3 class we made ocean animals with water color paintings on Wednesday. On Thursday we painted the backdrop for our indoor aquarium and then on Friday we put everything together and it turned out so cool!

1. Water color paintings by K3 students 

2. Backdrop painted by all the K3 students

3. Finally got all the ocean animals up on the backdrop! How cute is that?!

Friday we went out to eat for supper after school and I had some of the best enchiladas every! Seriously they were so good. I'm so glad that we have such great guides to show us around to all the best places to eat and what they would recommend. So far they have been spot on with everything! 

Of course the weekend has to be the worst weather on the week, because who wants to go lay out on the beach on their days off? Apparently, not us. So today Jenn took Britta and I up to Todos Santos. We went to their favorite restaurant in all the area and they have no problem driving an hour to eat there so it must be good! The place was called Tequila Sunrise and it was such a cute place to have lunch and the owner was so funny and very passionate about his job. The staff was always making sure we had everything that we needed and were very good at explaining all their menu items and drinks. Once again, it did not disappoint. Not only are they known for their organic food, but they also have award winning margaritas so of course we though we better try them. We found out why they are award winning. So much better than anything else that you can get where we live. It sprinkled a little bit while we walked around the town and in the cute shops. 

1. (Large photo) Britta and I signed the wall! So we will forever be remembered! As you can see we had to get creative with where we could write since most the wall space was taken up!

2.  (Bottom left) Amazing dessert that we shared after our meal

3. (Bottom middle) Britta and I split the combo plate so that we would get a little bit of everything. We both agreed that the chimichangas we the best.

4. (Bottom right) Award winning margaritas. Mine was a blended mango one and Britta's was their original recipe. 

5. (Middle right) The bar at Tequila Sunrise had so many dollar bills and business cards all around it! Looks like everyone who goes there wants to leave their mark!

6. (Top right) The menu that had all their famous recipes all over it. They were also all over the wall that people would be able to try at home! But that would be a little difficult since a lot of their ingredients came from right around the area!

Rain is unusual around here, this time of year and wouldn't you know that it has rained and been cloudy the last two weekends. Tomorrow has a pretty high chance of rain again and it's supposed to be cloudy all week. The weather is still super nice compared to where we could be, but we came to Mexico to enjoy our weekends lounging around too! 

1. (Top left) Britta and I in front of Hotel California right across from Tequila Sunrise.

2. (Bottom left) Views from the drive home from Todos Santos of the ocean.

3. (Top right) Views from the drive home from Todos Santos of the mountains.

4. (Bottom right) Beautiful historical church is Todos Santos.

Despite the weather, we had a great day exploring another city! Hopefully tomorrow we can hit the beach even if we get rained on. We just need to get out and explore while we can! 

While I'm here I still get little parts of home sent to me and lately it has been our new puppy. I just have to share it with everyone because she's pretty cute and I can't wait to meet her. 

So tonight I will fall asleep to the sound of gently falling rain and waves crashing against the shore. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get home and not have the crashing waves to fall asleep to. I could do without the rain because I know that it is going to continue through tomorrow, ruining any plans of going to the beach. We will have to make the best of these last 9 weeks and just pray that they are sunny!

MLK : Tomato Plants : Ocean Animals

This weekend was another great weekend spent relaxing and exploring town a little bit more with Britta. Sunday we had a little time to relax by the pool to prepare for yet another busy week ahead of us! Hopefully next weekend it isn't too cloudy like it was this last Saturday. Then we can head to beach again!

The sunsets are always gorgeous and normally more so on partly cloudy nights because it reflects off them. Seriously, we both will be going back to Minnesota with 90% of our pictures being sunset pictures and possibly some sunrise pictures with these days getting up early for school! Can you blame us though?

This week in school has already been great and I'm teaching more, getting used to the students, and the daily routines. On Monday it was MLK day and since we are a bilingual school we celebrated with a short presentation. The Kinder 2 students presented to the rest of the kinder classes on Monday morning after their flag ceremony. We had practiced a little bit on Friday, but the final result turned out great and I'm proud to show it off for the rest of the school and the parents that come to pick their kids up.

Today the Kinder 3 students were able to paint some pictures using water colors and the final products looked great! I think that they will look great hanging up on the wall in a big "sea aquarium" in the classroom. I was surprised at how well they handled painting with the water colors. Today we were also given the opportunity to plant some seeds in the community garden outside of the kinder classrooms. Our class planted tomatoes! They went out in groups of 5 to toss a few seeds in the ground and the groundskeeper helped everyone and then later covered and watered the ground that we planted. I think that this is a cool opportunity for the students to watch the plants grow and eventually produce food for us to eat! Since this is a much warmer climate than back at home, they have the opportunity, whereas in Minnesota, we don't have that chance unless it is in the classroom.

So on Monday I talked to the sports coordinator at the school about volleyball because I knew that they had a team and my classroom teacher told me that I should go and help out. I was able to go to practice on Monday and the again tonight. After practice tonight there was an open gym for any adults that want to come and play. It was so great finally getting to coach and play again! I was having withdrawals from it all! It gives us something to do at night and even Britta has been joining in with me! The kids are great and it feels so good to get to share my love for volleyball with so many other people, even when I'm not at home. 

Britta and I were able to drive ourselves down to the school from the house in the big Razar. It is super fun and would love to have one if I ever had any place to go off roading. The 4 wheeler that my parents have will be good enough for me though :)

And FINALLY in other news from home. Tyler and I got ourselves a puppy! She's a cutie, but I'm sure the training process will not be easy for Tyler and I wish I was able to be there and help him out. But how could anyone be mad at a face like that? Her name has already been changed once, but I think we are sticking with this last one. We started at Stella and ended up with Kallie. So Kallie it is! 

This week has been going by fast and we are past hump day so it's all down hill from here! We have met our classroom supervisor finally and she is great. I know that we will learn a lot from her and will be a huge help to us in this whole process. 

Stay tuned for another post at the end of the week and one maybe after the weekend to see what kind of adventures we find ourselves getting into!

2 Weeks Down, 10 To Go

This week was our first full week in the school so we were able to get the full effect of the week! In my classroom we switch Kinder 2 and Kinder 3 classes every other week. One week K2 will be in the morning and then have K3 in the afternoon. The next week K3 will be in the morning and K2 will be in the afternoon. The students are a lot more focused in the mornings and that's the reason behind switching every other week so that each class will get a more focused group in the morning. This week we started with the K3 class, which is the older group. So next week we will have the younger group.

So far I'm still just busy helping my teacher with different jobs and teaching a few activities and lessons here and there. I hope to start planning with her next week so that I can start to take over more of the lessons. Eventually I will take over both classes for about 2 weeks, but we are here for 2 and a half more months so I will have plenty of time to teach. For now I'm enjoying getting to know the routines, teachers, and students. The students are starting to warm up to me more and I think that will help for when I finally do teach them on more of a daily basis. They are feeling more comfortable talking to me in English and I know that will help too for when I'm teaching. I know that my teacher will still have to help with some things, mainly translating for those that still don't understand or speak very much English. It helps to use a lot of gestures and teach by doing an example or doing it with them on the board first.

So far I've noticed that it takes longest to write the name and the date on the top of the paper than actually doing the worksheet. I'm exaggerating a little bit with that statement, but this time observing is also giving me a good indication on how long it takes them to do things like that and it will help a lot with planning when I get there. Kindergarten and preschool is not something I'm really used to teaching, but they just don't always seem to have a sense for time or understand that when they finish they will get to have lunch or go outside and play. The attitude here is just so much different here. They are alright being late or not being on a super strict schedule, like we are. I think it just makes me realize how much we are dominated by time in everything we do. This is when we have lunch, this is when we do this activity, this is when we do this, etc. Here it's just so much more relaxed. I like it in some aspects, but I think time has just been drilled into my head so much that it's something hard to get used it. I think the structure helps the students too. They always know what to expect and always have a schedule, which helps them stay focused. I'm not bashing their culture attitude because I think we rely on it a little bit too much, it's just so interesting to see how different cultures do different things. However, I think I will be happy when I'm back (for many reasons) so that I can have that very rigid schedule I have to stick to. And it might be just the age of the students, I'm sure kindergarteners and preschoolers at home have the same sense of time or lack there of :)

On Thursday a boy in the K3 class had a birthday and his parents came in for lunch and brought the whole class 3 large pizzas from Costco, a pot of spaghetti, veggies, jello, cupcakes, a huge cake, and a lot of candy in gift bags. I couldn't believe how much there was! I know that a lot more ended up in the garbage than in their stomachs, but it was nice of the parents to throw their son a party in school. It took a long time for lunch that day and the students ate a lot of sugar! All day this boy had been telling people that it was his 6th birthday and when the mom came in with the cake with the number 5 on it, I didn't think too much of it. After we sang happy birthday a boy was yelling across the room to the birthday boy asking if it was his 5th or 6th birthday. The boy told him it was his 6th birthday and the mom looked at the cake and then covered her mouth like she had made a huge mistake! It was his 6th birthday and she had bought the wrong number. She seemed embarrassed, but I thought that it was quite funny and totally something that a stressed out mom trying to plan a party would do. That was just the funny story of the week and some of the things the kids say are just plain silly.

1. Our every day after school snack. Chips and salsa and guac will NEVER get old.

2. The amount of food that was brought in for a 6 year-old's birthday party at school

3. I was able to watch a little Lakeview girls basketball on The Cube all the way from Mexico! Miss working with those girls. 

This week seemed to fly by and I've got mixed emotions about that because I'm sad because this place is so awesome, but at the same time I will be very excited to get home and be back with everyone I love! :) It's the weekend and it's started off with this very gloomy Saturday. It's supposed to rain around noon and then be pretty sunny. Britta and I might head down into town and go shopping and walk around the marina for a while if it's sunny. We will probably end up going to our favorite taco place that we found two years ago! We still can't believe that when Ana, the regular waitress that was there two years ago, came into work last weekend the first thing she said was, "You're back!" She has to see hundreds of people a day, but we must have made quite an impression two years ago! She helps us with our Spanish and we help her with her English! It's fun to have a regular place and we still get our regular orders!

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so we might head to Pedregal Beach, which is still a public beach, but with a more private feel because there are not vendors or people walking around selling things. This is the beach on the Pacific side and the beach that we can see from our bedroom doors. Not a swimming beach because the currents are so strong. I think that I have gotten too used to falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves every night. I think I might struggle when I go back home to hear nothing but a couple cars on the street below.

1. View from my bedroom door

2. View from the pool. The sunsets will NEVER get old

3. Our usual spot we walk to and watch all the activity in the marina. First time at night and the picture does not do it any justice! So cool at night. 

The boys (Tyler and Tony) have been fishing their little hearts out at home and have a tournament planned for almost every weekend from now until I get home it seems! I'm glad that they enjoy the cold weather so that they can fish. Today they are headed up to Lake of the Woods! And yesterday they caught their limit on Red lake. Good thing I got Tyler that chest freezer for Christmas! :)

These are from the last couple days of fishing. Not too bad!

I can't believe that after next week I will be in the single digits for weeks left here! Again, I'm happy, but sad. It has been a great experience and am forever grateful for everyone that made this possible!

Classroom Photos, Set Up, and Wind

I told you that I would post some pictures of my classroom when I was able to. And here it is! There are different number of students in each of the classes so there needs to be enough seats for everyone in each class depending on if and how many students are missing. The Kinder kids get their own playground to play on away from the older kids and everything is more their size.

Everything is so small and cute and just their size! I love seeing different classrooms and how they set everything up. I know my teacher has talked about moving some things around so that there is more of a sitting area for the students to sit and read. Carpet areas or areas with pillows are always an inviting place to read and learn! 

Today I sat in on a planning meeting with all the Kinder teachers and IB coordinator. I didn't understand anything that they were saying since the whole meeting was conducted in Spanish, but it helped that he was writing things on the board. There are a lot of things that I understand much better when written down instead of spoken in Spanish. I also used that time to look up some activities that we can try the rest of the week. Wind is the topic for the next few days and thank goodness for Pinterest! Here is the worksheet that we will be working on tomorrow. 

We will be working in partners and be going outside. There will also be some other wind and weather activities throughout the rest of the week, but those will hopefully be posted in the end of the week blog. :) 

Week 1 Down, 11 To Go

We survived week 1! It was nice to have to be a short week to ease into things. We start next week full swing Monday-Friday. The daily schedule for me is a little different than Britta's. I am in Kinder classes and I have both Kinder 2 and Kinder 3 as they call it here, which is equal to preschool and Kindergarten at home. They start school as early as 2, sometimes even younger here. So the younger Kinder classes are just little babies walking around that can't even talk yet! I think that's crazy. In the morning I start with Kinder 2 at 8 am and we have class until 10:20. At 10:20 we eat lunch and have recess. After recess I get the Kinder 3 class. In Kinder 2 the theme they are on is clothing and in Kinder 3 they are learning about animals. The hardest part about the whole thing I would say is the language barrier. Preschool and kindergarteners have a hard enough time speaking in their native language let alone in another language they don't know. I think that they just need some time to warm up to me. Even in these last three days they got more confident trying to talk to me.

Yesterday we headed to the beach! The beach that we remember from last time was Mudano Beach on the other side of the Marina. Last weekend we went to the beach on the Pacific side near our neighborhood with no vendors or people walking around the beach selling things. This weekend we wanted to go back to  what was familiar so we went over to the Sea of Cortez side and even though we had to deal with many many people it was still fun to people watch and feel like a tourist for the day. Today we might head down to the Pedregal beach or just stay at the house and lay by the pool again.

We have been so lucky to wake up to beautiful sunrises and have supper with beautiful sunsets! This is a great place to be and still so lucky to have had this opportunity teaching in this country. I look forward to get to know my teacher and students better.

Hopefully this week I will get a few pictures of my school and the classroom that I'm in so you have a better idea of what kind of school I'm in.

 

The blue and orange buildings and soccer field is the school that we are teaching in

Beachfront

We finally made it to the beach! And boy was that a hike! My Fitbit now reads 6,445 steps, 2.98 miles, and 54 flights of stairs climbed! And it's only 10:30! I don't think I will have a problem with my stairs goal if we keep going to the beach, but boy is it worth the hike. I could sit down there forever watching the people, looking at all the beautiful houses, and listening to the waves. 

Today was a cloudy one, but that made the walk easier without the beating sun and made for some pretty pictures of the deep blue of the ocean. 

Last night there was a thunderstorm off in the ocean and I stayed up late watching the lightning off in the distance out my bedroom door. It was so cool to see and a nice change of pace from the snow and cold back home. 

Tomorrow school starts and we are brought back to reality of why we are really here. It was a nice vacation to come and do some relaxing and touristy things before the real work starts. We have had the greatest hosts for showing us the way around the house and neighborhood and what places are good to eat at and places to stay away from. 

Stay tuned for the adventures at the school and teaching in these next coming weeks.  

Hello From Paradise

Hello 2015 and hello new experiences! Starting off the year right in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a 3 month adventure student teaching and finishing my degree. I can see graduation right around the corner. The corner can be seen much closer when I'm sitting on my balcony of my room in 80 degree weather looking out on a beautiful ocean. I am so thankful for this opportunity to teach down here in this country with some awesome people.

We arrived on Saturday night and were brought to our new home for the next three months. Yesterday we spent the day exploring the house and the neighborhood around it a bit. We went to the local Walmart to get a few things that we didn't bring down in our luggage. Walked to the nearest tallest point and took some awesome photos. Pretty much have been soaking in as much sun as possible before the work starts on Wednesday. We have one more day to relax before we get to start teaching. Hopefully tomorrow, Britta and I will find our way down to the beach. It seems so close, yet so far away!

I'm not missing home too much. Especially today when the high was in the negatives AND there was a blizzard. I'm sure I will soon be missing my family and friends, but hopefully school will keep me busy enough from being too home sick.

Be sure to check back soon when we get started on school and have some fun weekend adventures in and around Cabo!