RachelsAdventure.com

I’d like to introduce you to the newest “student” in my class…this is Coco Blaster the wonder hamster.  I have been looking at hamsters all year but had decided against is because of the start-up costs involved (around $200 with the cage, hamster, food, bedding, toys, etc…).  The other day one of the school board members sent an email about this hamster that needed a home and I jumped at the chance…now we have an awesome hamster with a very cool cage. 

Coco is a really cool hamster...we take her out almost every recess and she runs around in the grass (she isn't very fast and the area is fenced in so she can't get very far) and the kids love holding her.

There are always a lot of kids in my classroom because when school is out there are sometimes church activities (the school rents from the church) so I had been preparing myself for the day that I walked into my classroom and found the cage open and Coco gone...I just hadn't been prepared for it to happen so quickly.  The first weekend I left Coco at school someone opened the cage and Coco escaped...I was a slightly irritated.  I mean, I was prepared for it to happen SOMEDAY not the FIRST weekend. 

I looked everywhere for Coco but she was gone.  Dang.

There are pet stores with hamsters everywhere so my plan was to replace Coco before the kids could find out.  No worries, we hadn't really had her long enough to "form a connection" at that point anyway.  haha. 

I never had to buy another hamster because Coco magically appeared in my classroom after our holiday weekend.  Cornelio, the caretaker, told me that Coco had gone to Acapulco for the weekend.  Silly Coco.

Tuesday morning the journal topic for the day was: "What did Coco do this weekend?" and the kids had to write a story about where Coco went and what she did.  So, she's back and we love her and I am sure that she'll disappear again on these days. 

Such is life.

I will be making little Coca Blaster videos for the kids, you can check them out by clicking here...I've also uploaded a quick video of my classroom and some clips of Coco here, check it out.

If you know me/have read my blog for any amount of time you know I LOVE kids (or, as I affectionately and accurately call them: monkeys). 

I just had to share this picture from English Club this week. This is Lupe.  Don't you just want to squeeze her?! :)

Working at a small school is a lot of fun.  I think one of the things that I appreciate most is the overall sense of “family” that we have.  We all work together to help the students learn and grow into awesome adults.

As an elementary school teacher I spend most of my time with other elementary school teachers and kids...they are so much fun.  I have decided that I really like kids of all ages.  I mean, I couldn’t teach all the grades (I am NOT a kindergarten teacher) but I really love playing/hanging out with all the kids.  Because we spend so much time together, when a new student comes to the school, it doesn’t really matter who’s class they are in…it kinda changes things for all of us. 

Recently Miss Julie (1st and 2nd grade) got two new monkeys.  The new little ones: O. and her brother R. are a lot of fun and I think that little R. has the very best imagination ever.  We’ve been playing variations of the same games at recess for the past 3 months…but little R. comes on the scene and we all get to see the field in a whole new light…through the eyes of a very imaginative little guy.  The other day I was sitting talking with the other teachers (ahem, watching the kids) and R. came running up to us in a state of amazed excitement…he’d found dinosaur bones in the field.  Of course I had to go see these bones for myself.  We’d run passed and skipped over those "bones" a million times and only seen them for what they appear to be...plain old rocks…but little R. still spends most of his time at recess excavating those dinosaur remains.

His creativity and excitement inspired me the other day and I had my kids do a creative writing project about a treasure hidden in the field.  In teams they wrote creative stories about pirates, aliens and even crazy monkeys who came to our school and left secret treasures in our field.  Then each team drew a map of the field that with directions to the secret treasure.  I made treasure boxes and filled them with little goodies from home (thank you everyone who sent little toys and things down…they are already being put to good use!).  Tomorrow my 5th and 6th graders will get to read their stories to the younger kids and then lead them on a treasure hunt during recess. 

I’m so excited because I know the kids are going to have so much fun…and my 5th and 6th graders learned how to write creatively and edit papers without even knowing they were doing it!!!

Little R. and his amazing imagination has challenged me to stop, look around, and see my surroundings with new eyes.  It’s amazing what 3 months in a place will do to you…there are times that I get so caught up in the daily “chores” of life that I miss all the interesting things around me.  Living in Mexico had already dramatically slowed my frantic life, but little R. has challenged me to stop, smell the roses and look for the dinosaur bones.

I like to read to the kids after recess each day and they seem to really enjoy it!  We just finished our second book and it's fun to have all the pictures up on the wall (they can draw pictures from the story while I read). 

Most of the time I do not let kids take bathroom break during this time because they need to learn to use recess for bathroom breaks...but occasionally I will make an exception. 

So, I was in the middle of reading and my little funny man needs to use the restroom and I see that "I really have to go" look in his eyes so I tell him to go quickly. 

Well, he's gone awhile.

I was starting to get a little worried, but then he appeared in the door and popped into the room...and as he passed me so did this long trail of toilet paper.  uh oh.  I tried to be causal about it to help this poor guy out before all the kids caught it, but it didn't work. 

"Look behind you, little monkey." I told him, expecting an embarrassed response and a quick grab for his toilet paper tail.  Instead I heard "oh, I know Miss.  I did that on purpose." 

What?!  Have I been out of school so long that it is now cool to walk around with toilet paper hanging out of your pants?  Judging by the responses from the other kids, my little funny man was the only one who felt this way.

Come to find out, there's a wrestler with the WWE who does something with a tail and my little guy thought his toilet paper tail was close enough.  I asked him to remove it and he did, (after much protesting) and then I told him not to do it again... that it was kind of gross. 

I thought we were done with the toilet paper, then he did it again the next day.  The second day he walked in with sun glasses, a chain around his neck AND a toilet paper tail.  Seriously? 

I really should have taken a picture of him and then sent it to him in like 20 years. 

I think I've mentioned before that I have a couple of...let's just say "high energy" boys in my class.  They keep me on my toes. 

Something about 5th and 6th graders + English as a second language + a little bit of machismo makes for a very funny classroom at times.  I've started a little notebook so that I can  try to remember all the things they say.  Today was a funny entry that I wanted to share with you all.

Two of the boys were playing in the classroom.  It was kind of a passing time and they were passing the time by wrestling (just a bit).  Well, sure enough...the next thing I know one of them is crying because he's been hit in a very sensitive area :)  So, monkey number one gets sent to the office (it wasn't his first offense) and monkey number two  is laying on the ground in very obvious pain. 

Well, I figure he's a boy so he needs to learn to walk it off...so I encourage him to get up (slowly) and return to his desk.  He gets up and walks ever so slowly and hunched over almost completely in half (which in itself was very funny...he's a great little actor) and then he sees the other kids look at him and he says (with an accent, which just made it funnier)..."He punched me, you know, in the Ding-a-Ling"

I can't even type it without laughing.

I can assure you, there will be no more Ding-a-Ling punches in my classroom.