Field Trip

Today was a field trip day, every student's dream come true. We journeyed over to La Prensa, the main newspaper agency in Nicaragua.

We have been studying the printing press, the pony express, newspapers, and the spread of ideas in Social Studies class. A couple of weeks ago we went out to the soccer field and raced messages across the field in a mock pony express (minus the ponies). We decided current modes of transporting and communicating news is a lot more efficient.

Next we wreaked havoc at McDonald's, where we stopped for lunch.

Tomorrow is our last full day of school.
Monday we have a half day where my class will celebrate our accomplishment of reading over 1,000 books as a class. There will pizza, a movie, and of course, books!
Tuesday and Wednesday are also half days... and then we are done!

I am slightly overwhelmed with thoughts this week. My first year in Nicaragua is almost complete and God has done so much. I survived my first year as a teacher. The hardest year is behind me! I am excited for my two friends to come visit me in a week and a half... and then I'll be flying home for a summer visit! Thankful, blessed, excited, a little tired... I see God's goodness all around me.


xooxoxo
Laura

Daniel and Esther

In 4th grade Bible class we spend the year digging deeper into the Old Testament. We review a lot of the stories that children grow up learning, but we go deeper into them and examine the time in history that they take place, the location, and how the stories and characters affect everyone around them. We spent a long time looking at the kings of Israel and Judah and just finished learning about the exile. Last week we learned about Daniel, a young man affected by the exile. My students spent three days in groups reading different stories from Daniel, researching about Babylon, and drawing pictures of the key items in the stories. One group had the story from Daniel 5 where King Belshazzar gives a banquet for a thousand of his nobles. During the meal a human hand appears and writes on the wall. Daniel is the only one that can interpret what it means. My students had never heard this particular story and were amazed that it was in the Bible. "Did that really happen? It sounds like a ghost story. How can a hand just appear out of nowhere?"

On Friday we started talking about Esther. My students had all heard this story as well, but they didn't know much of the background on it. They learned about the size of King Xerxes kingdom and the hatred that Haman had for Mordecai and the Jews. We learned about signet rings and scepters and the different roles people had in the palace. I read them the first part of the story from a Bible story book, and for the first time that day, they all sat perfectly quiet. They groaned when I put the book down to start math. I love that God's stories can captivate us, just like any good book can.

We are now down to two and a half weeks of school. Most schools in the States are out or are getting out this week. My students are ready to be done - but the fun isn't over yet!

Mother's Day

I love Nicaragua, but at times it is a little rough being away from my mom. Who else makes the world's best tuna fish sandwiches on a Sunday afternoon? That's right, no one.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Sending love your way. xoxoxooo

Book Day

In case you missed the news, last Friday was Book Day!

I have a not so secret passion for reading and books in general, so I freaked out a little when my principal told me the news. I passed on the excitement to my students, but I think my excitement might have surpassed theirs. A whole day devoted to books! You know I love seeing what my students are reading and celebrating with them when they finish a book. They love to check up on my reading progress and try to guess how many pages I read the night before. Book Day had an extra portion of celebrating books including:
Book show and tell

Dress like your favorite book character
Reading buddies with the younger graders
All of elementary having D.E.A.R. (drop everything and read) time together

Our favorite books and character costumes (that's my Jane Austen bonnet)!

Normal classroom chaos

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series is big in my class this year. These students are rocking their "Camp Half-Blood" t-shirts.

I love when they are reading!