Where Did the Time Go?

What can I say, time sure has flown by. This past week was a busy one. With not having school Monday the students were a bit excited to be back on Tuesday. All week in Writing Workshop we were working on publishing their fairy tales. They all have been working so hard on these and we have a very cool way for them to publish their work using Seesaw. On Tuesday, in Science I taught the lesson on land forms. I started the lesson with a yes or no game where the students had to answer the question by moving to the right if they thought the answer was yes or to the left if they thought the answer was no. They really enjoy this as I asked questions about land forms that some of them knew and some didn't. The purpose was to get them thinking about land forms. Then at the end of the lesson we played the same game to see what they learned throughout the lesson. The students learned all about the different land forms and then drew five of them. In Reading Workshop and Math was centers for the students to engage in different activities. For Math it is almost the end of the unit and my center was assessing the students on a standard previously taught. Friday, the whole second grade had a field trip to Fossil Land. We left school early as this was an all day field trip. We took buses and the students and I had many conversations and joked around. A couple of the girls even helped me with my Spanish! Then once there we all had to wear helmets and the adventure started. There were many parents who attended as well. My class was split into groups and throughout the day the groups competed against each other to see who could complete the task and then get back together the quickest. The tour guide only spoke in Spanish and at times it was challenging to understand what he was saying. But my students did learn a lot about fossils and the land. We hiked up a mountain, a river and even used ropes to pull us up. The students got to dig for fossils and crystals and they got to keep one. Most of the students enjoyed this trip. On the way home many of them fell asleep! Friday night, I was invited to my mentor teacher house for dinner. It was great to talk with her and the other second grade teacher. My mentor teacher has two sons and I enjoyed playing with them and showing me all around. I truly enjoyed that night. On Saturday, I went to Braulio Carillo National Park on a tour. This tour included transportation, lunch, an areal tram ride, and a hike. It was very interesting to see the rain forest from different levels. I rode in the tram on different levels and was able to see the the bottom of the forest as well as the tops of the trees. It was very green and nothing like I have ever seen in Ohio.It did rain on the ride but at the same was so peaceful. I saw many different trees and plants as well as butterflies, frogs, snakes, and insects. One animal I saw was the tapir which is a very rare in Costa Rica and it looks like a pig with a big nose. On Sunday, I went to the market bright and early. It always amazes me how many vendors are there and all the fresh fruits and veggies. On the walk back I got very sad as that was my last market trip (I didn't know the market had the much of an impact on me but it did!) Then I went to Playa Jaco, which is a beach about an hour away from San Jose. Although we took the bus and it was about a two hour ride there. I went with three friends and it was a great day just soaking up the sun. The beach was very rocky and the waves were big. I got my fair share of sun and I can't complain. Then the bus ride home took about four hours due to traffic and multiple stops. We were going to get ice cream when we got home but that didn't happen due to the travel time. I am excited for my last week but also very sad. I'm going to take one day at a time and enjoy my students and mentor teacher!