Thank you Spruce Pine, NC Rotary!

Thank you Sprice Pine, NC Rotary for your donations that went towards buying dictionaries for our classroom! The 2nd graders are working on alphabetizing and learning about all the uses for a dictionary. (They love the pictures :) ) And a few of our kids have read the book FRINDLE... and are getting crazy ideas... calling Aleasha Mrs. Granger (the teacher in the book who is renown for her love of the dictionary and making her kids study vocabulary)

The Spruce Pine Rotary also donated maps, dictionaries and other classroom resources to the small school in Cerros! Below a group of Cerros students, some of our students, and the teacher in Cerros.

Reading Pairs

Every day we have a little down time after recess to sit and read. This is usually when the teacher reads aloud to the class. However, once in a while, the kids get together and read in pairs. They love it! It is one of those times when I am SO thankful to have a multi-age classroom! It is such a blessing to see the kids engaging in literature with their peers and with a joy for reading! They come in from recess now and ask "Can we read en parejas hoy?" (In pairs today!?!) THANK YOU again to the Spruce Pine Rotary Club for donating new books to our school library!

THANK you Marge!

Marge came to Costa Rica for the first time with a work team in January, and came back this March to help out in the classroom! And we put her to work! Along with teaching the kids a little bit about French culture, she was a HUGE help in organizing all of our curriculum and paperwork that has been accumulating over the past few months! She spent hours setting up folders and filing papers! Not a fun job, but was a big blessing to me and our teachers!

Marge is also known for carrying around her camera and getting great shots of nature and the kids! Check out some of her photos below- isn't this flower a rare find?! And she got some beautiful shots of the kids!

Thanks again Marge for sharing your time and your heart with us at the school! We are so thankful for all that you have done!

Friday Culture Class

Every Friday, we take a few minutes out of the morning to talk about a different country. We locate it on the map, discuss the elements of culture (food, language, typical dress, etc), and pray for the people who live there.

We have been excited to have "experts" from each of the countries, come in and share a little bit about the specific cultures.

Misoko, Kai's mom, is from Japan, and was able to teach us a little about the cultural differences between rural and urban cities in Japan.

Kai (which means sea in Japanese)
is already bilingual in Japanese and Spanish,
and English will be his third language!

Jody, from Belgium, shared her knowledge of four languages, and the fact the french fries actually originated in Belgium.



(above, Nathan with his colored Belgium flag)

Marge, a former French professor, share details about French cuisine and important architecture structures found in French.





Our kids have loved learning about the places around the world (and practicing words in other languages)! An important asset for those who live in Quepos- a city that attracts people from all over the world!


Alisson asked me the other day when we were going to start learning Japanese. We love that they want to learn languages!


This is just one of the small things we try to incorporate into our education, to help foster a love for different cultures, equipping our students to show Christ's love not only to people who live, look, and speak like them, but with people from all different ethnic backgrounds and geographic locations!

"So that the WORLD may know" Jesus!

A crab habitat

Kai (4 years old) loves animals and on a weekly basis brings whatever he caught into school to show the other students. Some days it is a small spider, other days a baby chick. Today, it was a baby crab that he caught over the weekend.

Kai and Bradley

In science, Bradley is learning about habitats. He has learned that a habitat includes all the elements an organizism needs to survive. So Bradley and Kai decided to build a habitat for the crab. They added water, plans, and even gave the crab some pieces of bread.

Can you find the crab?! This is the same species that was found running around our playground early last week!

Oceans Unlimited Mangrove Visit

Lesson about Mangroves!

We were honored to have some Dive Masters in Training from Oceans Unlimited come and teach us a little bit about Mangroves and why they are important. Mangroves are trees that grow in the intercoastline and can survive in the salt water. They have two types of roots- one that stabalizes them and another that reaches up above ground for air.

Studies say that 1/3 of the worlds mangroves have been destroyed...

Our students learned that mangroves are important because:

--They help sustain the land from errosion into the ocean

--They are a habitat for many birds, fish, and reptiles

(they grow where the tide comes in, and become a safe place for fish to lay eggs)

So our students spent some time making posters, encouraging people in this community to protect the mangroves in our area! Because Quepos is below sea level, we are located in what once was mangroves, and have mangroves all around us!

DMT Emma prepared a wonderful presentation on Mangroves!

Looking at pictures of different types of Mangroves found in Costa Rica

Ryan, Bradley and Valeria working on their poster.

"Please protect... "

Having fun making posters!

The whole group! Proud of their posters!

Look what the kids found on the playground...

"Teacher, Teacher, Venga! Vea!"

The preschoolers were outside doing their morning activities, when they were interrupted by...

This little guy! These crabs cover the costal peninsulas of the Pacific Coast. During mating season they migrate, and some have found their way into our pool! Although they don't last long... (above a picture of the kids watching it scurry across our parking lot)

They are beautiful, with bright purple and orange colors, and white claws. This one's body was about the size of my clenched fist. Did you ever hear your teacher say "Kids, don't chase the crab!"

Playground! Step one: getting it here!!

The truck arrived today!

The Lopez family has generously given us their playground set to use at the school!

Unloading the truck

The Slide!

Go, Diego, Go!

Christopher showing me how the slide and tower will be assembled :)

More pictures to come... hoping to get it together over the weekend!

Volunteers

Over the past six months, we have been BLESSED at El Puente by the many different people who been praying, donating funds and materials, and volunteering their time and skills across the board! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our kids have loved having you and you have made a difference in our lives!




Caitlin came for a month and helped in the classroom! She taught English and did some awesome art projects... like these Quetzals!



Jodi is from Belgium and has been volunteering in the preschool and giving swimming lessons!

Jim donated and installed the track for the chalkboard! His wife Diane (below) is a reading aide and spent time reading one on one with our kids! They have a ministry that raises money and brings teams to Mexico to build homes in an impoverished community there. Check out their website at www.lacasamission.org