Project+Introduction

Students were given the world celebration ( Grade 6) project and Costa Rica differentiated instruction project ( Grade 7 and 8) today.

The grade 7 and grade 8 students are really excited about the opportunity to choose the project that best suits their personality. The students who are actors and have outgoing personalities have chosen being a tour guide or famous Costa Rican. Many of the boys are looking forward to building a natural landmark, one boy has asked about recreating an exploding volcano ( Arenal). Mrs. Humphrey,our librarian, gave the students an overview of how to research using the Internet. She also was nice enough to order books on Costa Rica from the libraries in Rhode Island's public schools. We are lucky because she also went on the Toyota Teacher's program to Costa Rica two years ago so she will be a great resource!

The 6th grade students are researching world celebrations- they were given the opportunity to choose both the celebration and the country they would like to research. Already they have learned that in some countries the citizens speak as many as 6 or 7 different languages which was an eye opener for some students. Everyone is on track and eager to do a great job on the first World Languages project of the year!

In other news, we have a field trip scheduled tentatively to the Peabody Museum of Harvard in Boston for November 8th. The students will be learning about Mexico's Holiday,The Day of the Dead.The museum has a wondeful exhibit and the students will be able to sit in on a class about the Day of the Dead and even create a craft. For lunch we are planning to eat authentic Mexican food.

Regarding my upcoming trip to Cost Rica, I am still anxiously awaiting the arrival of my passport.Hopefully it will be here any day. I learned that Costa Rica requires that the passport be vaild for 6 months after a visitor's arrival in the country. I am most excited about the possibilitty of visiting government officials and schools to learn about Costa Rica's emphasis on the importance of education. I explained to the students today that while I am in Costa Rica they will be able to see through video all of the places I am visiting. Also this wiki will allow them to ask questions about what I am doing and I will be able to answer them that day.