Belize Independece Day 2013

Belize in you, Belize in me, Land of the free!  

2013 Casey Community School and Sylvester Village Independence Day celebrations.

Happy 32nd birthday Belize!

Realities of Jungle Life 2

The lines between work, daily life, and nature get blurred often in Gallon Jug, but a few incidents from this past week really emphasized this plurality.    

Each school week at the Casey Community School begins with the singing of the national anthem, after raising the flag.  The Belize anthem is long and beautiful and strange, and probably deserves a post all its own, but that will have to wait.  This week, sometime between the singing of the anthem and the conclusion of our beginning of the school week assembly, an ornate hawk-eagle - one of the apex predators in our local ecosystem - killed and began eating a young ocellated turkey on the far end of the schoolyard. 

For those unfamiliar, I would say that the ornate hawk-eagle is to the eagle, as the ocellated turkey is to the the wild turkey:

same basic function, but with a little more pizazz. 

Suffice to say, it was a fun 'teachable moment' with each class taking turns looking through binoculars at the snacking bird.

By first recess there was only a pile of feathers and two turkey feet marking the special visit.

Deer and turkeys are a daily occurrence at the school, but it is not uncommon to have other visitors to the school, though usually they are nighttime visits and leave only hints that they were around:  a tipped over garbage can, a pile of fur/ feathers, or unfamiliar droppings on the sidewalk or veranda. 


This week we also took steps to reclaim and replant the school's garden.  Over the course of what at least felt like a short summer, the garden made its best effort at reverting to its jungle roots.  With the help of a gas powered weed-whacker, and weeding of individual garden beds by the students, the Roots and Shoots Garden is officially back in business.  This school year we've added composting to our list of activities. 

 In order to accommodate this process, we moved a large plywood box from under the school, where it was used for ball storage, as well as an occasional garbage can, and general recess time nuisance (as it hindered efforts to keep kids out from under the school).  

I took it upon myself to move the 'compost' box out from under the school, having the inclination that it might be housing more than just our recess and PE equipment.  I will spare the details, but will add this...in my experience any rock, log, or other moveable object tends to hide about one creepy-crawly per square foot.  

Take this log planter in the garden as an example:

When nudge to the side, the comfy home of one of our creepier ecosystem inhabitants is revealed.

 UGH!



And to finish on an un-creepy note, the warm and fuzzy animal of the week is: 

The Toucan! 

These guys have been regular morning time visitors to my new house.  The trumpet tree (pictured above) has a fruit this time of year that the toucans seem to enjoy for breakfast. 




  

CASEY COMMUNITY SCHOOL 2013 - 2014 (Week 1 in pictures)

Week 1 at the Casey Community School is nearly in the books.  Already lots of learning happening.  Here's a quick peek inside the classrooms and and around the school yard.

Kinders getting in some Dora time.

Infant 1 hard at work.

Math time in the Infant 1 & 2 classroom.

Standard 1 & 2 language arts time.

Standard 3 & 4 working on poems.

Standard 5 & 6 researching the solar system.

 Ok, we'll add a few plugs.  Thanks to the generous support of friends of the Casey Community School from Minnesota State University, Mankato, our students now have multiple sets of Marcy Cook Math tile activities.  If you are an educator that is unfamiliar with Marcy Cook Math check it out:  http://www.marcycookmath.com/ A wonderful supplement to any math curriculum.

And a plug to a personal favorite Pass the Pigs!  Great for anyone that loves a fun game and doesn't mind doing a little math in the process.

Even Belikin made a surprise visit to check out the action.

We've been doing a good job balancing work and play!

Standard 3 & 4 conducted a science experiment using paper airplanes early in the week.  Ever since plane fliers have been showing up every recess trying to improve their results.

Even the tree frogs are checking out the action at the school.

Elvis agrees, the school year is off to a great start!

Casey Community School WELCOME DAY 2013

After a week of workshop activities, prepping, planning, and last minute shopping, the Casey Community School officially kicked off the 2013 - 2014 school year with Welcome Back Day this morning.

2013 - 2014 CCS Teachers

I have the honor and privilege of working with a dedicated group of teachers this school year, all of whom happen to be much more creative and artistic than I am.

Once the kiddos arrived it was all business.  Unfortunately didn't have a chance to break out the camera again until the students headed home at noon and the teachers went to Chan Chich Lodge for lunch.

Looking forward to the first full day of school on Monday!

Jungle Ball

 At the center of Sylvester Village is a community 'park' with soccer field, a large palapa, and plenty of room to run around and play.

Prior to our second soccer match last school year, versus the Linda Vista School from Blue Creek, we moved the school's volleyball net to the village so that the Casey Community School and Linda Vista School girls could have a friendly volleyball match while the boys played soccer.

The initial introduction of the volleyball court in the village was a success.  It created a co-ed sport opportunity that could be enjoyed by both students and community members. 

 In the late afternoon it has been common for groups of kids to come to the field to play volleyball and soccer. 

After the workday in Gallon Jug is done, groups of adults join in on the action and the games steadily grow more competitive. 

Even a parrot decided to stop by and check out the action.  As someone who has limited to no time for soccer, I've enjoyed being able to head over to the village a few times a week to get in on the games. 
In a few weeks we will begin having volleyball practices and officially add a new sport to the docket at the Casey Community School, which in the past has only had boys soccer. 


An Homage to Pouch Water

Though preparations for the impending school year have been happening since before last school year ended, today was the first day that I've been back in the school since leaving for the summer.  We have three hardworking ladies from the Gallon Jug sauce works that are helping to give the school a thorough cleaning. 
With the warm weather and hard work I picked up the first bags of pouch water for the school year earlier today.

Pouch water, for those unfamiliar with the concept, are little bags of drinking water, that happen to come in big bags.  I wont pretend to know the commercial or environmental impact of such packaging, but I do find them quite enjoyable to drink, and you can't help but to toss them when giving them to kids - which also makes them fun - though none have yet popped like a water balloon.
I've come across pouch beverages other places during my travels, but only in Belize have I seen them so closely resemble ice packs, which they do serve reasonably well as.  My go to treatment at the school for everything from headaches to bug bites is to have the ailing student hold a pouch water on the spot that hurts until it cools off, and then drink the water.  Works every time.
My favorite pouch water memory to date happened while snorkeling in San Pedro.  As people returned to the boat, the crew offered them beverages.  One guy asked for a water, just as he was biting into it an overzealous friend slapped it away, thinking that it was an icepack.

Thank you pouch water for the refreshment and entertainment!