"Semana Santa" (Spring Break)

Since after Christmas, I had been counting down the days until spring break.  Here, spring break falls during "holy week", or "semana santa" - the week before Easter.  Basically, the whole country has off work or school this week and it is a great excuse for Dominicans (or everyone) to travel, go to resorts, and have a good time.



Cabarete Beach. The insanity during Semana Santa



So that's what we did! Three of my friends from college, Emma, Jana, and Amy, came down from Michigan to visit me and stay with me at an all-inclusive resort for the week. My good friend Melissa had five of her friends come down from Colorado, where we were a large group of 10 obnoxious Americans at the same resort. It was definitely a good time :)

Shrimp Kabob with tostones, rice, beans,
garlic bread, and salad. Yessss

Me, Emma, Amy, Jana

Melissa's Friends: Amy, Me, Brandon, Steph, Brett, Tyler, and
Melissa in the middle



Everyone!


Now, new thing to look forward to: SUMMER!!!



lucky 23.

Well, I have been putting off writing a blog about this (mainly because I kept forgetting to take pictures, and lets just put this out there - blogs aren't as fun to read when theres no pictures haha)

So, a lot has changed at school this quarter.  I don't remember if I mentioned this, but towards the beginning of the school year there happened to be six pregnant women on staff at JCS. Basically, I'm constantly surrounded by pregnant women at work.  So, as these women have begun to give birth (which is basically one every month now), JCS has found itself with a lack of substitute teachers.  Our fifth grade teacher, Laura (whom i took the pregnant pictures of earlier this year) had a substitute for her class, but two weeks before her due date her sub backed out. We were therefore in a dilema. Basically, in a nutshell, the outcome of this problem was to for Natalie Brewer (the other 3rd grade teacher) to teach 5th grade and combine 3rd grades, where I would teach all 23 of them.

So that's what happened. I went from having 12 students, to 11 students, then to 23 students.



After



Before

You're probably thinking, "oh, 23 students isn't that bad - it's just like teaching in the states" Well, yes. HOWEVER, going from a teaching style of 11 students to 23 students is definitely a challenge. So, we've been nice and cozy in our classroom upstairs learning up a storm all together. I will admit, I actually kind of like it better! Management seems easier, and forces me to be more organized.  Although I can't give all my students the attention they need like I could before, I feel like for the majority of our time together it's still a fun learning environment. AND, this will prepare myself for having 20 students next year!

Here's some improvements to my classroom that I've made recently...

Reading Sticker Chart

New Job Chart




Measurement Bulletin Board



Hawaiian Word of the Week

Skeleton (that I drew for a posture lesson), Behavior pins, Calendar,
Spring Break count down (paper chain), Class Rules

The last two weeks I have been teaching health, more specifically about posture. I had all my students practice good sitting, standing, and walking posture by sitting, standing, and walking with balacing books on their heads. It was fun!



Add caption

Never a dull moment in 3rd grade!

 

aye que bonita la cascada!

Today was another great day for being in the Dominican Republic. I'm going to tell you this right now....I'm SO antsy for spring break in two weeks and to go home in June. SERIOUSLY. However, today was a great reminder of how beautiful this country is and gave me peace of mind that this is where I'm supposed to be right now in my life.

Me, Jessica Stanley, and Melisa Gomez (two other friends/teachers at JCS) went hiking this morning to a waterfall near Pico Escondido (across from Younglife camp).  I had been hiking in this area earlier this year but we decided we would hike to the larger waterfall, basically following the river up the stream until we got to the waterfall.  We at first were complaining about how hot it has been getting lately (like, 90s now! Welcome to spring/summer in the DR), so we decided to lighten the mood and speak in British accents while we hiked. This then continued the whole time we were hiking. What a jolly good time it was!


Melisa, Jess, and me

Jess and I both had Nike shorts, Vibram shoes, and Camelbaks. We're so cool.

See the butterfly?



We made it!

We probably laughed the whole way up and down the river to get to this waterfall. These girls make life quite entertaining, and I am so thankful for that!