Hurricanes

I am pretty sure we slept through a hurricane Sunday night, at least it sounded like that from all the rain hitting the tin roof. Monday morning I had 10 students missing from my class of 26. My cooperating teacher said that they were absent because of all the rain and the mud that it caused, parents don't want their children walking through all the mud to get to a road that leads to school. Plus, all the rain brings out the tarantulas and snakes, I can't really blame them for not wanting to come. Monday morning I taught a lesson on addition without regrouping and my students were awesome!! They really got a grasp of the lesson and worked so quietly when they had seat work. I even had them play a game in groups (I was concerned about the group work because my cooperating teacher never has them work in groups) and they worked so well together! I could not have been more proud of them! I got to read to them a lot in the afternoon and school ended before I knew it. The school days just seem to fly by. After dinner we convinced Jean "The Beast" (nickname from her awesome driving capabilities) to drive us to the Chinese Market to get some ice cream. We ate away our homesickness with the delicious treat and returned to the campgrounds for devotions. The night was spent listening to the rainfall and preparing for our lessons.

Tuesday: I am already exhausted from school and it is only 12:31. My highlight of the was when I walked into the classroom and saw many of my students huddling around books that I have read and given to them in previous days. They are really learning to love reading. My cooperating teacher handed me the Scripture passage first thing this morning and told me to teach it. So I had a nice impromptu lesson on God providing for the Israelite's needs as they left Egypt and traveled to the Promised Land. I then retaught my addition lesson from yesterday (mainly to catch up the 10 students that were absent). I introduced addition problems that were written horizontally instead of vertically and that proved to be quite a struggle. We worked our way through and made it to morning recess. As I was walking out of the classroom to go get a snack from the cafeteria my cooperating teacher handed me a large sheet of paper and instructed me to write down sentences that had words containing the blended consonants "ch" and "sh". I diligently came up with a few absurd sentences and ran down to get a snack. I returned to the classroom to discover that my cooperating teacher was nowhere to be seen. Recess ended and still no cooperating teacher. I lined the students up, had them enter the classroom, read them a few books, and then taught an impromptu lesson on the blended consonants "ch" and "sh". (My cooperating teacher eventually returned 30 minutes into the lesson.) After the hour long lesson I was finally able to get them some silent reading time. They were so excited to read the books and I was really proud of them for making their best attempt at the words. Prayers are appreciated for all us as we don't know what the afternoon will hold. :) We love and miss you all!