March Madness and Other Things

March Madness is keeping Stephen busy.  I, on the other hand, have been busy helping the New Life spellers and the ladies of Hilo, Aguja y Biblia.

The fifth graders spent time in the computer lab on Wednesday afternoon and the 7th graders did the same on Friday.  We're using the BigIQKids website because it allows teachers to create personalized spelling lists.  I am able to put in the spelling bee words and then the kids hear the words pronounced and used in a sentence.  There are various activities, including an introduction to the words, games using the words, a simulated spelling bee and a spelling test.  They can even login and use the program at home. 

The only problem we face is that the computers are old and very slow;  there are only 8 of them.  So, on average, it takes more than 15 minutes to turn them on, load the Internet, load the program and get the students logged in.  Still, it allows them to work at their own pace. 

I will try to take some pictures of the computers (let me know if you'd like to help them get something newer) and the kids next week. 

At Hilo, Aguja y Biblia today the ladies worked on their "Hogar Dulce Hogar" (Home Sweet Home) cross stitch projects.  Some of them came with the project almost finished and others had just started.  

Happy Graduation

I was blessed with the opportunity to hand out diplomas to the New Life Christian School sixth-graders on Wednesday night.  Graduations down here, at whatever level, are a very formal occasion and during the procession, graduates are accompanied by their parents.  The event Wednesday was also the closing program for grades 1-6, so it was quite long--almost two hours--with each grade presenting a drama, song, dance or other type of entertainment.  Stephen and William provided the music for the sixth-grade song, "God my Rock," by Paul Baloche.

Here are some pictures of the night.  It was awesome seeing the graduates so dressed up and looking like young adults.

Spelling Bee Fun

Roxana Quiñones, Principal of New Life School; Frank Pagluigh, 5th grade spelling coach; five 5th-grade students; seven 6th-grade students and I all arrived at Escuela Cristiana Oasis yesterday morning for the ACSI Spelling Bee.  Mr. Pagluigh and I had worked with each of our grades for the last month.  

More than 15 Christian, bi-lingual schools across El Salvador sent participants--there were 178 students this year.  Due to the size, each grade level was divided into two sections.  The four top spellers from each section met in grade-level finals where the grade-level winners were decided.

It was so exciting to have three of our 6th-graders in their grade-level final and to watch Amy Flores receive the 3rd place medallion for 6th grade.

Sixth-grade champions

 Andres, Carlos and Amy--our 6th grade finalists

Amy and me

Amy with Mrs. Roxana and Mrs. Patty, plus a close up of her and her medal

Today, Roxana, Amy and I returned for the final competition.  Sixteen students (4 grade-level winners from each grade (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th) participated in today's final round.  Before today's bee started, ACSI Spelling Bee Coordinator, Ana Lucia, reminded all of the students that they were already champions.

We were so proud of Amy--she did an amazing job with words like "affability" and "avid."  She completed five rounds and finished in 6th place!  

With Ms. Roxana and Amy after the final round this morning

After today's event we returned to New Life to distribute the diplomas to the participants.  

5th Grade Spellers--Valeria, Daniela, Ericka, Laura and Kenneth

6th Grade Spellers--Alejandra, Amy, Sofia, Gaby, Andres, Juan Carlos and Carlos

We are proud of the entire team--we know how hard they studied.  Now it's time to start preparing for next year!

Spelling Bee Preparation

On Wednesday I started helping the sixth graders at New Life Christian School prepare for the spelling bee.  They just received a copy of the sixth grade words so that's where we started.  The word lists include three levels of difficulty, and, as I'm sure I mentioned last year, sixth graders in the states would find many of the average and most of the difficult words very challenging.  For New Life kids, these words are in their second language so that makes them even harder.

I found an online spelling program that allowed me to build word lists for a class and provided an individual login for my students.  The best part is that the program pronounces and uses each word in a sentence.  Since we have access to the small computer lab, each student can login and complete their own practice.  It is a great way to maximize our time.  Even better, the students with computers can access the program at home.  

On Fridays school is dismissed at 12:30.  My seven kids brought their lunch and then we worked from 1:00 to 3:30.  We mixed things up a bit with some computer work, then had a traditional spelling bee, then had a lightning round with the easiest words.  If they missed them, they had to go write the word 10 times before they could come rejoin the round.

We don't meet again until Wednesday so, hopefully, they will find time to study the rest of the 6th grade words so we can start on the 7th grade words on Thursday.  We have 11 more practices until the spelling bee on Tuesday, April 29.