Meandering to the Mangos 2

Standard 3 & 4 Poems

Standard 5 & 6 Poems

Meandering to the Mangos

If a list were compiled of the favorite spots of the Casey Community School students and teachers around Gallon Jug, near the top of most lists would be the mangal.  About a five minute walk from the school is Gallon Jug's 50 acres of mango plantation.  The mangos are used for the primary purpose of making Gallon Jug sauces.

This was a particularly good year for mangos, so we were able to get permission for the students in standards 3, 4, 5, and 6 to go to the mangal and pick enough mangos for all of the students at the Casey Community School to take home a mango.

 Mango picking presented an opportunity for teamwork and problem solving for the students. 

And a 'teachable moment' for the teachers, with students working on a 5 senses poetry project while at the mangal. 

Sports Update

Athletic practices are in full swing at the Casey Community School.  Boys and girls have been participating in weekly soccer and volleyball practices.

 

Additionally, this weekend Belikin and I had the chance to cheer on Meghan Houlihan, and the Keuka College woman's volleyball team, as they completed a 3 game sweep in their Senior Day match. 

Way to go Storm!!
http://keukastorm.com/2013/10/26/womens-volleyball-sweeps-on-senior-day/

Putting Up With the Rain

If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.  - Dolly Parton

My walk with Belikin this afternoon yielded a nice photo op of the school, and a quick google search yielded a pretty fitting rainbow quote to some up the last few weeks in Gallon Jug.
 
We are getting to the end of the hurricane/ rainy season, which has lived up to the rainy part.  There have been few rain free days of late, which has meant constant puddles on the playground and mud tracked into the school.  The kids have been pretty good about rolling with the weather related punches, but it has made things difficult at times for teachers, with additional activities needing to be plan when rain causes the cancellation of a recess or P.E. class.

The winter months, and the accompanying lovely weather are near, hopefully there wont be too much more rain to put up with, though I do like the rainbows.

Garden Update

The wet weather hasn't been all bad.  The Roots and Shoots garden is off to a great start.

All of our garden beds have been planted and producing.  The students have also been planning and planting additional growing plots.

Our mahogany nursery is looking great.  We had around a 50% success rate with our initial planting.  Students have been sprouting additional mahogany seeds to fill out the grow bags that haven't sprouted yet.  It wont be long and we will have 100 mahogany seedlings ready to be planted around Gallon Jug.

One garden issue that we are continuing to have is beating the birds to the cucumbers.   

There is a gardening adage in Belize that you know when cucumbers are ready to be picked because the birds have eaten them.  It has never been more true than in the school's garden this year.









It has been easy to get lulled in to a false sense of security because the birds literally wait until the day the cucumber would be picked to eat it.  So far their system has been flawless, as not a single cucumber has been picked for student consumption.  In stead we have been left with bits and pieces to add to the compost bin.  

So far we have tried 'hiding' the cucumbers from the birds under there own leaves and under palm leaves.  No luck. 

Monday we'll be hanging pie tins over the plant beds to see if that keeps them out. 

Any additional suggestions are welcome.