SpellBound

February is Spelling Bee season at the Casey Community School.  A week ago today we held our Casey Community School spelling bee. 

Today our top two spellers competed at the Orange Walk District South West Zone Elimination Spelling Bee. 

Students throughout the country were given a list of 300 spelling words to study before Christmas vacation in December.  These words were used for the first 6 rounds of the zone spelling bee.  Both of our CCS spellers went 6 for 6 to make it into the championship elimination rounds, where they succumbed to the reserve list words.  We were well represented, and since both of our spellers are only in Standard 5 (7th grade), Casey Community School should be a well represented again next year.


Spell Bound

In order to make the 60 mile drive to Trinidad, Belize for the bee, the Gallon Jug contingent - 13 students and 2 teacher - had to be on the road at 7am.  The morning fog had not yet lifted as we made our way into the jungle.  10 miles into our drive we arrived at our first checkpoint, the gate separating the Gallon Jug and Programme for Belize properties.  At the gate, we learned from the guard that another Gallon Jug vehicle had radioed in a tree down across the road a few miles ahead.  With help already on the way we continued on.
 It feels like we have been transitioning from the rainy season to the dry season for the better part of two months.  The roads are actually an improvement compared to what they have been.  Only 4 times today did we come across really mucky stretches.

 The problem was the downed tree in the middle of the muck.

 This tree had fallen only 30 or so minutes before we arrived on the scene.  Bad luck for us, though we only had to wait 30 minutes before a group of workers from Gallon Jug came to our rescue.

2 chainsaws, 3 machetes, and 10 minutes was all that was needed to get us back on the road.  We were only 30 minutes late for the start of the spelling bee, which is pretty much on time in Belize :)

Olympics Update

The winter Olympics are barely a blip on the radar here in Gallon Jug.  I'm pretty sure I can count on one hand the number of people in our community that have even seen snow, which is part of the problem.  Recently though, we received a parcel at the school that created a 'teachable moment' for getting the word out about what's currently happening in Sochi, Russia.

Coming Soon - Spirit Week 2014 at Casey Community School