El trabajo de los manos pequeños (the work of small hands)

This week I’m officially at my half waypoint for my time in Costa Rica. I’ve been here for 8 weeks and I only have 9 more to go! I still love this beautiful country with fantastic weather. I’m hoping that I will be able to travel around to see more of the beautiful country in the next 9 weeks. Last weekend I went whitewater rafting and zip-lining, which was a lot of fun. I plan on finding some more fun and interesting things like this to do before I leave! 

However, the thing I love the most about Costa Rica is working with the children at Hometwo! They are all so beautiful and simply precious. Whenever I tell people that I'm a preschool teacher everyone automatically says, “You must have a lot of patience!” I’ve always said I don’t feel like I need to have a lot of patience. I believe the kids have to use more patience with me than I do with them! This is especially true here in CR because I do not speak much Spanish! All of the kids are so kind and patient with me as I do not always understand. Luckily, in Montessori we use very little words when giving lessons with most of the “works” in a classroom. I am surprised at how I am able to show a child something, using very little words, and they repeat it almost perfectly! It melts my heart each time and even more so when they take it out the next day because they liked it and want to do it again!

Now, I’m not able to show you pictures of the kid’s beautiful faces. The school has a rule that we are not allowed to post any pictures of the kids online.  Although I’m sad for you, because these children truly are beautiful, I have decided their cuteness is not the most important thing to show you. Instead, I want to show you the work these children are doing. This is the work of small hands.. 

Metal inset

Binomial cube

This is a sweet picture. One child got out the trinomial cube and didn't know how to put it away another little girl asked if she could give the lesson on how to put it away. She did a wonderful job! 

More metal inset work! 

This is comparing the cylinder block with the colored cylinders. I gave this lesson to another child the previous day this child observed and took it out the next day. 

Serving tea.. yes these children are actually serving tea! They are not just "playing tea party"!

This little girl took the broad stair and tall tower out and put them completely at random!! 

However, she still did her work very nicely! 

The long stair. This is one of the melting my heat moments. I gave this lesson the day before and he took it out and did it almost perfectly! 

Initial sound boards. All of the language curriculum is done in english. 

The rectangular box of the constructor triangles. Another teach gave him this lesson the day before and he did it almost perfectly the next day! I just love them!! :) 

Cleaning a chalk board, they love this because you have to write on before you can clean it! :) 

Transferring water with a baster. This is really great for kids working on their hand strength! 

Matching nuts with bolts! 

Washing the dishes after serving tea. 

Metal insets.. the kids love working with these! They are great for developing a better pencil grip for writing and working on their shapes! We have several of these with all different shapes. 

The table rods. These are a miniature version of the red and blue rods that are normally used for math. This little girl just wanted to take them out because they were cute and tiny. :) 

Making bread with jam. The children will make this and then shares with his friends! 

This picture of this ADORABLE child I am allowed to post!! His mom is one of the teachers and she gave me permission! :) 

See... Just adorable... 

Soap grading! They LOVE this!! 

Art

More art.. 

Making a snack... see here she is using a REAL knife! Children are capable of working with knives and not cutting themselves! 

This last picture is of a child who I was showing the spindle box to. He was determined to get the rubberband around the spindles all by himself! I love watching the kids when they are so determined to get something! I believe he had is tongue out and everything! 

I love all of these children so much! Words cannot explain how much I love this job... 

Shaking things up!

This morning at 4:55am things really got shaken up around here! I felt my first earthquake in Costa Rica! I don't normally get up this early but I set my alarm for 4:45 because I wanted to do a few things before work. I am wondering if I would of even woke up for the earthquake if my alarm didn't already go off! Maggie was also pretty sleepy and only woke up for a few seconds and just sat up as if to say "really, can you stop not I'm trying to sleep!!" I didn't even realize what was happening at first, I though just a really big truck was passing by at first and then when it didn't stop and got stronger I realized I was experiencing my first quake! So, then I HAD to know the magnitude. I kept refreshing the "todays earthquakes" page on my phone and then it finally came up and this is what I saw:

 A 6.1 earthquake! I experienced a 6.1 earthquake!! Then later they changed the number from a 6.1 magnitude earthquake to 5.8 magnitude earthquake. This is still stronger than any quake I’ve every felt! The only other earthquake I have ever actually felt was a 4.9 back in 2003. This was MUCH different! The weirdest part was when it was settling back down and I could feel the earth swaying back and forth! Yet another new adventure for me!

Thankful for Pan American Montessori Society (PAMS) in Costa Rica!

I am so thankful that I am able to do my Montessori practicum in Costa Rica! I've been learning a little more Spanish every day and slowly, I'm get over my fear of speaking in Spanish! I have made friends with people in the apartments that I live in, or rather, Maggie has made a friend and that has caused me to start talking with Luna's family (Luna is Maggie's friend). Everyone has been extremely nice and I have really enjoyed living in Santa Ana. 

Although, the main reason why I am so thankful to practice in Costa Rica is because I am able to work with people who also have a PAMS training. Because PAMS is not a huge society like American Montessori Society (AMS) or American Montessori Internationale (AMI), it is rare to find schools in the united states, where everyone is PAMS trained. I feel so lucky because I know many other teachers from my training have not had the opportunity to work with a PAMS teacher. Even though all the teachers are PAMS trained, because they were trained by different people than me, there are still some minor differences in the work being done. However, this is another thing that I absolutely LOVE because we are all open and willing to learn from each other! I could not have asked for a better work environment for my practicum! Everyday I have gone into work I just think to myself, “Wow, what a wonderful opportunity I have!”

Today, I am extremely excited to go to work tomorrow! I can’t wait to see all of the kids again and learn even more! I really feel coming to Costa Rica, even for the short time I will be here, has been the best decision I could have made! I would also like to thank everyone for helping me along the way and to those who have helped me since I have been here. I am truly thankful for this experience. 

First Day of School!!!

Today was the first day of school! Last week was a teacher work week getting everything prepared for the children to come. Today they came and it was simply wonderful! I got to meet all of the kids and they were all so wonderful!! I love them all and can't wait to get to know them better. I really do feel more complete being with the children! Here is a picture of all the teachers at the school I'm working at..

Also take a look at hometwo's website! 

Weekend update, part 2 (aka, saturday and sunday)

The last update took entirely too long for me to put together and I'm sure it took entirely to long for anyone to read. Now I well update you on the second half of my weekend, LA PLAYA!!!  I went to the Manuel Antonio National Park and saw all kinds of beautiful!

We got up really early (4:30 am) on saturday to go to the beach. It was about a 3.5 hour drive. The little blue dot in this picture is where we traveled to. I'm not sure if you can see it but we traveled from san jose. 

When we got there we parked and then walked up to the entrance of the park. This is where I do have one semi-complaint about Costa Rica.. Because I am an "international" and not a resident of Costa Rica I had to pay more for my ticket to get into the park. I understand why they would do this which, is why it is only a semi-complaint. We walked a long way looking at all kinds of plants and searching for animals (that we never saw on this walk) until we got to a beautiful beach. 

When we got up to walk to another beach we saw a family of raccoons wanting some food. This was extremely abnormal because they are nocturnal animals. However, because of all the tourist they have adapted to get up during the day to get food. 

These next pictures of are the next beach we went to. Carmen and I both decided we liked this one better. 

When we finally made it out of the park and back to the area where are car was I decided to get myself a little treat :) The sunscreen is in rememberance of how I forgot to put it on before we went into the park, resulting in a burnt forehead, nose, chest, and arms! Yay! 

We spent a little time at this restaurant and then went to yet another beach to finish up the day. Then we went on a hunt for a hotel. when we got to our hotel we saw this, an iguana! I've seen many iguana crossing signs since I've been year but have yet to see one! Now I understand the need for the signs!!! 

The rest of our night was pretty uneventful. We went to eat, I had another drink. We tried to search for a place to go and dance or something but we couldn't find anything near our hotel. We heard that the restaurant directly across from our hotel would liven up later. However, because we were up since 4:30 we both ended up falling asleep and not going out. Lame, I know, but it was still very enjoyable.

The next day we woke up and got breakfast. This was our view from the restaurant we ate breakfast at: 

After breakfast we went on another little adventure and found a more secluded beach where more locals like to go. It was a very nice beach and we spent the rest of our morning here! 

After we left here, we went to go pick up our babies (Maggie and Toby) from the place where they stayed for the weekend! Everyone seemed to have a great time this weekend! I know I sure did! I loved how relaxing Saturday and Sunday were. I promise next time I go, there will be more exciting adventures. 

Weekend update!

OK, so I've had a busy weekend and I have A LOT of pictures to share!

So far I am loving Costa Rica! I have really enjoyed everything that I have done so far but I've been a little spoiled. This is my last week before I start working and then my blissful view of Costa Rica may fade slightly. I'll be moving into my apartment on Sunday and then I start work on Monday. This means I have a very short turn around before I get everything settled and start work (this seems to be the story of my life). When I move into my new apartment on Sunday I'll be sure to post several pictures of my tiny little apartment!

That's enough of an update now for the pictures and stories of my wonderful weekend!!! :)

First it started out by going to a volcano with my Carmen's mom, Luisa. I love being able to do things with Luisa because she is so patient with me and my horrible spanish! Our sentences to each other end up being half spanish and half english, the true definition of spanglish. Here is a picture of us at the volcano:

Here is a picture of the crater of the volcano. There was a lake of sulfer that was a greenish color that you can really see here but it was kind of creepy or at least to me it was.

It was really cold and windy up there! I'm may not only be holding back my hair in this picture but also holding my ears because it was so cold!


















Our next stop on Friday was La Paz Waterfall Gardens this place was beautiful and I'll get to those pictures in just a minute. But first, look at this beautiful picture that I took on the drive from the volcano to the waterfall.

I know it's breath taking!!! Look at that beautiful blue sky and that green grass!!! The first thing I want to show you about the Waterfall Gardens is kind of strange but Luisa and I both think its worth sharing!  It's the sinks in the bathrooms! They were beautiful and very creative! The little rock looking thing to the left of the soap was how you turned on the water on and it came trickling down like a little mini waterfall! I want a sink like this in my house one day, when I marry rich! (ok, I'm just kidding it will probably next to my house because I'll be so poor I'll have to wash my hands in a near by creek).

This is the view of the walk way up to the lodge. The lodge was a beautiful hotel where you could stay! So beautiful... 

The first "attraction" we stopped at was the birds! Look at this fun little toucan, I think his name might be Sam. 

I got to hold a different toucan! I think his name is also Sam (I might be a little birdist)!

Luisa also got to hold Sam. He was a very friendly bird! 

This bird scared me like 5 times while we were walking around the bird house! He would just come out of no where! I think he was a little on the crazy side! 

Here is a video of a crazy albino squirrel it was starting to remind me of Finding Nemo and Madagascar where all the animals seem to be a little off when they are living in captivity.  I hate squirrels but this was a little funny and I had to video and share!

Next stop was the butterfly observatory!!! There were literally thousands of butterflies and they were all beautiful! This is a video of them all fluttering around. 

This butterfly landed on this lady and then opened up to show how beautiful it is! 

This is where all the baby butterflies come from! :) 

Next we got see where all the monkeying around happens at La Paz. 

Before I actually came to Costa Rica I heard a lot about how beautiful all the humming birds are here! Well, I havent seen any except for here, I really hope I get to see more soon! 

Here I am with some cows... 

Now for the main event, the waterfall!!! It was BEAUTIFUL!!!! 

 

I took a video of the waterfall so I would be able to share what I was seeing and hearing. Please excuse my shaky camera work!