today during art we made snakes from paper plates and talked about why snakes coil up in real life, just like our paper plate snakes. i am trying to teach these kids how to think for themselves, and let me tell you, that is not something that comes easily. i usually show the kids an example of our art project so that if my spanish is less than adequate they can get the general idea. i put my snake away when the kids began working on theirs for this very reason, and when omar asked to see it and i explained why i didn't want him to copy my plate, he got furious. i mean, just angry. he has a very short fuse, which is another thing we've been working on...when he gets mad he snaps and it takes a lot for him to calm down. he can't verbalize what happened or explain how he's feeling. anyways, he was just so mad! finally i let him see my plate because, really, it was just art. he copied the whole thing, color for color, pattern for pattern. but he did calm down and finish the project, which i consider a success.

i had some music on while the kids were coloring and they all started singing during todopoderoso...it was so precious. everyone was happily working on their own project, sharing markers, talking together, without problems. its times like this when i can appreciate the sweat, tears, and frustration that school can sometimes cause :)

here are pictures of our classroom and a video of my singers

during preschool, nay nay walked over to the big alphabet hanging on the fence and said llave (key). she knows lots of words but it can be really hard to understand her sometimes. the more time i spend with her the more i can understand, but we're not quite there yet. anyways, we worked with that alphabet for almost half an hour, and she knew so much! i was really surprised. there's a picture of a man for h - hombre, and nay nay said it was don lupe, one of the workers here. every time she said his name...she was convinced it was his picture. the more i looked at it the more i could see the similarities and chuy thought it was just hilarious.

afternoon school was a little crazy this afternoon because we had some slow eaters at lunch, so we just had pilar and chloe for the last class. becky and i walked with them down the street and it was so nice. pilar can bounce off the walls a lot of the time, and she tends to get in other people's business and be pesky. her eyes were so big the whole time were walking, and it was so fun to be able to take in her surroundings with her. i love when i get to be with the kids individually and experience life with them.

our turnips and radishes continue to grow (still waiting on those carrots), the celery leaves have turned blue, there is an egg that is almost see through in my fridge, 7 colorful snakes are hanging from the roof of our classroom, and we are certain that roosters can't lay eggs. it's been a good week.