Ambergris Caye Elementary

I'm glad to be back in the schools and back to work. I love being around the kids. They are all so sweet and affectionate. The students here like to call me teacher, miss, or miss Jessi. They go by first names here, which I like. Last week I did some observing in my classroom and in some others and was able to see how a normal day went. I learned the students schedule and how things work around the school. This week I have been doing a lot of teaching in the class. Ms. Mandy has been out for a couple of days with a family emergency so I have been full time teaching. I have enjoyed being able to take charge again because I feel like once you have all the control it is hard to get back into that "assistant" role again. We have been working on fractions in math, which is shocking to me because the majority of my students are six. They are doing really well with them and are so smart. Yesterday and today we worked on making a class poem for Mother's Day. The students came up with such great ideas. One student suggested we end the poem saying "Happy Mother's Day, I will keep you in my heart." I thought it was so sweet. Our poem turned out awesome and I am hoping that they can work on making their own for a Mother's Day card. We incorporated using adjectives and suffixes in the poem also. I have also been teaching religion and Spanish while Ms. Mandy is gone and that has been interesting but I did my best! I did a matching game with prefixes, suffixes, and base words that they really enjoyed. I have also been trying to get their energy out by having them shake all the wiggles out and do jumping jacks. They always have so much energy but the exercises seem to get them more excited so today I tried breathing in and out heavily and that seemed to relax them a little. I don't know how they are always going, going, going in this heat. The kids here all have so much charisma and personality and I love spending time with them. I will miss them terribly when I leave! I hope to keep in touch with them after we get home.