I can’t believe our first week at school is almost over ! It’s the last week before school lets out for Easter break, so our schedules were a little off. This is also the last week of preparation for the Miss Isla Bonita pageant, so many of our students were out of class for the afternoon to practice their dancing and modeling. I’ve become so accustomed to following a schedule and carrying out the plans I’ve made a head of time, so it felt very strange to be trying to come up with things to do off the top of my head on a moment’s notice.  I think this is going to be good for me, though.  Not that I won’t plan in my own classroom, but during hectic days or weeks, it becomes necessary to think on your feet and change the schedule around. The “go with the flow” atmosphere I’ve experienced this week has definitely challenged me and will continue to challenge me when we get back to school, but I’m going to try to plan what I can ahead of time the best I can. 

                I took over our math class on Tuesday, so that is one thing I have been able to plan for ! I’m not sure that it was ever stated that I would teach tomorrow, but the math teacher gave me the direction for the next few lessons and I took that as, okay I’m going to go home and plan just in case.

                Yesterday afternoon we celebrated one of my student’s birthdays by going on her grandpa’s boat (another advantage of going to school right on the Caribbean Sea).  First, we went to Shark Ray Alley and swam with huge fish, sting rays and nurse sharks. The kids all thought it was hilarious how scared I was! Then we took a ride to Hol Chan.  I learned that Hol Chan is a Mayan word meaning “little channel”. We were lead over the reef and saw SO many cool things.  The coral was gorgeous and we saw clown fish, sting rays, grouper, an eel and a barracuda !  I was pretty much in shock the whole time, it was unlike anything I have ever seen.  For my 11^th birthday we went bowling or to the movies. This definitely beats whatever it was we did at any of my birthday parties…maybe next year…