I feel like my life right now is totally revolving around work and school! Whew, it’s exhausting getting back into the work/school routine. I’m really, really enjoying it though! I’ve been at this teaching thing for several years now, so I need to work to keep things fresh and new! I never want to be the type of teacher that just pulls out a lesson of the file cabinet that she’s been using year after year…the kids’ excitement, curiosity and love of learning make my job both challenging and fun. One thing I’m doing to keep my practices fresh and new is using my SMART board much more this year. I try to use it for everything! It’s a whole world out there because I can create my own lessons plus there’s a teacher exchange where teachers from around the world can post lessons and we can all use each others ideas. The kids LOVE to manipulate it and it immediately ups the “coolness” of whatever content I’m teaching…you think place value in math is boring?? Think again when you use a SMART board to manipulate numbers. It’s actually really fun (well, if you are 7 years old, it is J) I’ve also been doing lots of hands on science experiments-our science unit right now is weather, so the kids built their own weather stations in order to record the weather each day (rain gauge, wind gauge and thermometers) They made wind wheels and had a blast experimenting with placement of the wheels, wind directions and running, skipping, jumping with them. Ahhhh to be a kid…

But of course, school/work isn’t the only thing going on! I’m enjoying my yoga classes again and running with friends and meeting new folks. I think I wrote about the weather last week…but the skies have been just gorgeous! Bright blue skies all day long. I’m taking advantage of all the outside time I can while it lasts…I also remember all too clearly the cold rainy days of winter in Quito. Summer can last as long as possible, as far as I’m concerned!

I hope you all are well!

Love, Rachel