today we had science for the first time. i thought, since i kind of have free reign for the day, why not do a fun, get-your-hands-dirty, exploratory science activity? so we planted carrots, turnips, and radishes, because for some reason those seed packets were in our kitchen!
we definitely succeeded in the getting dirty part. it's was really fun though, and the kids weren't quite sure what to do with themselves. jose, bless his precious heart, saw what we were doing and brought out a book of pictures of flowers. he then ripped off the cover, tore it into pieces, and tried to plant it. he thought that if he planted a picture of a flower, a flower would grow! it really does make sense, if you think about it from his perspective.

i have had to scale back my thinking and planning so much...it's really been interesting. our class is made up of such a range of ability levels for one. another thing is these kids have had such different experiences than most of my students in the states. yeah, they occasionally watch movies and learn some stuff that way, but at the same time, none of them have a "typical" view of a family. this is and has always been their family. there aren't any leaves that change color here. they don't understand that cows make milk...and a lot more! this makes it so fun, though, to do something like plant seeds. to help them realize that our veggies won't grow without water, soil, and sun. their world opens up a little more every time they learn something else in school.

parts of them are very much like my students in the states...omar and marcos spent the whole day asking when we were going to have gym! they called me profé today, which is a step above maestra (teacher). it was cool but at the same time slightly awkward and uncomfortable because chuy is their teacher - their 'profé.' we will work on that.

marisol and i worked together again today. learning the names of letters isn't something that happens overnight...it will take a good chunk of time. i'm really thankful though because she's super eager to learn and always wants to do more. works for me!

laerma, the woman who works with the boys, invited paco and i to her church this week! paco can't go because he leads worship at marta's church, but becky and i are going to go. she told us to bring shorts and a camera because there's running water. not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds like fun! i'm really excited to see another church. i talked to her husband today about a field trip. he works at the jersey factory, a huge dairy company. they have a factory about 15 minutes from casa gabriel with a park for kids - a playground, a train, a play area, and some other fun stuff. i want to make it part of a unit - study cows and the whole dairy process and then go as a class. the only thing we need to go is 3 jersey milk caps per person. good thing we have a bag of them in the office!

joanna, a lady who works down below, brought homemade corn tamales to work today. oh my. delicious. who knows what was in them, but delicious.

tomorrow we will have the first of our weekly english lessons!