Catching Up...

I find that with blogging, the more time that passes between entries, the harder it is to begin again. Life is flying by here in Mexico and I know there must be many things to share. For weeks I have been trying to motivate myself to post something, anything, but I was at a loss of words for where to begin. So, since it has been ridiculously long since I have written anything, I am going to let some pictures walk you through the school year in SMCA so far.

When I arrived back to Mexico in August, I was surprised to find a huge hole in one wall of my classroom! I soon learned that a double wide doorway was being added to connect my room with the middle room so that I could have a clear view of the middle school students that I would be facilitating through an online learning program. SMCA sure is growing and it was becoming a bit too much for two teachers to handle, so we have 5 students (in grades 7,8, and 11) that take online classes, with me as their online teacher. This is a huge load off of me

because I don't have to do any lesson planning or direct instruction, I am just available to

answer questions, grade and make sure that they are staying on top of their work.

Here are some pictures of my classroom that I took in the beginning of the year:

If you remember my classroom from last year, then you may notice some big changes! For instance, the white boards used to be on the opposite wall.

The hole and the back of my classroom! You can see my perfect view into the library.

Part of the library.

My latest Cricut creations- literary genre posters!

My desk... looking pretty neat, considering what it looks like on some days!

Writer's Workshop station

And here are a few quick highlights of the year so far:

My kiddos (minus Colton) all dressed up in red, white and green for Mexican Independence Day!

We have been having fun in Social Studies! This year we are studying medieval times. Here are my students with the class signon that they made to represent our class.

In Science we are doing anatomy. Our first unit was on the cell, so to review the parts of a cell, we created our own edible cell out of a jello mold! It was a ton of fun, and my students loved it- especially since they got to eat the left over nuclei, ribosomes, and lysosomes (aka jaw breakers, Nerds, and M&Ms)!

All of the parts of the cell are in place, now it is time to flip it over and see how it turned out!

Whoops! It seems as though our jello started to melt! I guess this is what happens to cells when there isn't a cell membrane! Well, the kids still had fun and I am happy to report that they all did excellent on their cell test later that week!

Thanks for checking in and I promise to try and be more diligent in my blog updates. Many exciting things are happening in the school, the ministry and the city, and I look forward to sharing all of those things with you as I renew my commitment to being a more consistent blogger! :)

Rich blessings my dear friends!

Jessica