Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Aside from the normal wearing green (which I forgot to do) I had the first graders do a lot of fun themed activities for the day so they could get excited about different holidays that they aren't used to celebrating.  :)

The day started off normal because it was a Friday - but then we got into the fun stuff!  For math we worked with Lucky Charms and created bar graphs showing how many marshmallows were in each table groups bowl.  The kids really loved this until I told them they couldn't eat the marshmallows because their hands were dirty.  Next year I will for sure make it individual so they can eat them afterwards.

We also did a math add to 10 game which the kids loved because of all the dice that they got to use.  It was a nice activity to help refresh their brains.

We also made little green men to go around the room.  The kids had a lot of fun making these because we wanted to trap a Leprachaun!  Sadly, the leprachaun could not be caught but all of their little men are having fun hanging out in the classroom.

We also made 'wanted' posters where the kiddos had to make themselves leprachauns and put information about where they were last seen and how tall they are.  The kids had a great time making these and other Mazapan students have had fun tracking them down.

Baby Martin update - we got a sonogram the other day and he is doing great!  Measuring two weeks ahead and he is around 3.5 pounds!  We got to see his face for the first time which was amazing and I saw him trying to suck his thumb.  Here is his first and probably only picture we will get of the little man before he comes out.  We are very excited to meet him and can't believe that it is only two months away!

More exciting news - in June we are officially moving to our friend's Erika and Ken's house.  It is closer to school and has been recently remodeled so we decided it will be nicer for the baby.  Also - Luke is very excited because there is a mango and avacado tree in the yard that actually bear fruit!  Next year will be full of yumminess.  :)

Hope all is well over there.  I will try to be better about updating.

Cheers!

Cayos Cachinos

Another day, another adventure here in Honduras.  For our friend Jenna's birthday, we decided to head out to Helen's Hotel in Sambo Creek and do a day trip to one of the closer islands called Cayos Cachinos.  We could not have asked for better company or better weather and had an amazing time!

The boat ride to the islands is a little bumpy but nothing compared to our Panama trip.  Some of friends were getting soaked on the way and actually had to bust out their snorkels to keep the water out of their eyes.  I can't wait to take all of our friends there.

When we got to the islands, we were told all about how the islands were protected and not to take anything with us.  We were happy to find out that turtles tend to flock to the beaches and lay eggs.  Sadly - the season is between October - December so we will have to do it next year with little Owen.

We went snorkeling and saw some pretty cool fish.  :)  It was fun to get out and swim.  I had to compensate for my now bulging belly and make sure to not touch the coral.  However, after about 30 minutes, I didn't mind jumping on the sandy beach and relaxing in the sun.  The water was that awesome tropical blue and it was great to just hang out with friends and talk.

We then went on a short hike to find the famous 'pink boas' that plague the islands!  Apparently, they have no natural predators on the island and have bred a lot.  We found two that were really cool but we were not allowed to touch them as they were protected.  It made me sad because I really wanted to hold one since I love me some snakes.  :)

After snake hunting - we went to another one of the islands to have lunch.  Everyone had fried fish and I had a coke and some rice.  Overall - it was an amazing weekend!

Baby Martin update - he is doing well (28 weeks and some).  He is kicking all the time and we are getting excited to get the nursery set up in the next couple of weeks.  I have a doctors appointment later this week to make sure everything is progressing and we will go from there.

Hope all is well and we miss you all!

Cheers

Happy Dr. Seuss' birthday!

Well March 2nd was an exciting day for lots of reasons - first, it is official that we are in the third trimester!  I can't believe that in three months we will be welcoming our little man to the world.  He is becoming much more active and I can't wait to meet him.

Second... it was Dr. Seuss' birthday!  That means another fun filled themed day!  In the morning I helped my kids all make hats and drew whiskers on them if they wanted.  We spent the day with Dr. Seuss themed things like graphing our favorite Dr. Seuss book, ABC word sorts, read alouds and so much more.

I have some photos of my kiddos doing their Seuss as well as photos of my updated classroom.  It is still a work in progress but it is for sure getting there!

 Creating their own Seuss animal

 Making up Dr. Seuss words

 Dr. Seuss word sort

 Survey and making Dr. Seuss graphs

 New listening center!

New carpet area

Happy Leap Year!

 Another four years has gone and another Leap Year has come!  I was very excited about this one because for pretty much all of my kids, it is the first LY that they remember.  I took full advantage of this by making it a themed day with a bunch of different LY activities. 

We started with writing where each of my kids had to write what they would do with an extra day.  The most popular responses included, eating pizza, playing video games and sleeping....  Very creative.  Anyway - afterwords, they each got to make a frog to mount their writing on which I am excited to show off to the school.

 Writing and making our LY Frogs

 How stinking cute?!

For math, we watched a video about different animals and how far they could leap.  My kids were very surprised when I told them that fleas were the worlds best jumpers.  I then set up a jumping lane in my classroom so my kids could measure to see how far they could leap.  It was loud - but a very successful activity.  :)

I have also been on a spring cleaning/reorganizing rampage in my classroom.   I recruited Luke to assist me with moving my things around to make my classroom more homey and removed a lot of things that I just wasn't using.  I think it has made a huge difference!  Although my kids are louder in table groups, it helps a lot with center work to have them grouped.  I also believe that it will quiet down a little once the new feeling wears off and they get used to the classroom style. 

As for baby - Owen is growing and the size of a head of lettuce.  He is kicking a lot more and enjoys loud noises from shows like The Walking Dead and so on.  We are getting more excited to meet him as we move into the third trimester at the end of this week.  :)  It is very strange to think that we will be welcoming our little man in three months.  Time sure does fly!

 26 weeks and 5 days pregnant

We had a little scare last week with Wan Tzu.  While I was at the gym, Luke came home and saw that he wasn't using his back legs.  Naturally - he freaked out and took Wan Tzu to the vet here that we have seen before.  Luckily, the vet was in and Luke was able to get a hole of our friend Anuar who translated for Luke what the vet was saying.  He guessed it was just a pulled muscle because his eyes and vitals checked out fine (phew!).  He got a shot of pain killers and anti-inflammatory stuff and was sent home.

I got home before Luke and was of course freaking out not knowing where either Luke or Wan Tzu was.  Tofu and I paced around until they came home 5 minutes later.  Luckily - he is doing well, still walking funny but he is walking which is the good thing.  He is happy and not in any pain so we are just helping him as best we can by giving him all the love in the world.  :)  We appreciated all of the thoughts from you guys and I know that it helped!  

Wan Tzu watching me eat dinner and hoping to get a slice....

Hope all is well!

Fun in the First Grade

One thing I love about being a first grade teacher is all of the super fun art and themed activities that we get to do!  As you can guess - Valentine's Day is kinda a big one and I had lots of different things for the kiddos to do.

Here are some photos of my kiddos and their projects. 

Happy V Day!

Making different hearts and describing them!

Valentines that we made for the parents :) 

Valentine Love Bug dice game :)

Even and Odd Street

(each kid got to make an even and odd house to go on our road)