Fun Friday!

It is a little late but I thought I would share what our Halloween Fun Friday cconsisted of! 

Since the Primero (Kindergarten) Classroom spent so much time learning about pumpkins, songs, and colors during the month of October, Megan my cooperating teacher thought it would be fun to have the children decorate pumpkin sugar cookies!  In preparation for our fun Friday, the presholars (preschoolers) decorated little pumpkins and a Happy Halloween sign.  They then put colored noodles on a string (great fine motor activity) and then put there pumpkins on the string!  The end product- a colorful necklace! 

The Primero classroom made pumpkin headbands!  They used black paper and Halloween rub ons (also great fine motor activity) They then created a Jack O' Lantern to go in the middle of their head band!  The kids worked very hard while creating their headbands (better then I had anticipated)! 

We then joined together the two classroom and handed out sugar cookies to the children!  We gave them Orange frosting to decorate their pumpkin and then we had black frosting so they could create a face!  It was a lot of fun and the children seemed to really enjoy their Fun Friday (their was lots of laughs and giggles and children that were working hard)! 

As some of you may know that I normally do not believe in teaching themes with the children but things change when you have different types of children and are in a different country!  The thought process behind teaching in themes to the children at this age is that we are working on building vocabulary.   We do not necessarily plan everything around the them but things can be easily Incorporated such as learning about pumpkins!  The children were learning colors, sizes, shapes, textures, numerals, and so much more! 

Also once a week I lead a conversation group with three children from third grade!  The idea for the conversation group is to provide children with more opportunities to be exposed to English!  Last week I had my first group and to start things off we play Candy Land!  The children had to say the colors and the number of spaces they were moving in English!  I have to remind them to try to speak in English so we say things such as "My Turn and Your Turn" the children were super excited to play!  After the game I had the children draw a picture of their family and then we labeled the family members in English and in Spanish!   I have really enjoyed the two conversation groups that I have had so far! 

More to come soon!

Exploring El Cajas

On Saturday the 29th,  we left Cuenca around 8a.m. and headed to El Cajas national park! 

El Cajas was declared a national recreation area in 1977 and a national park in 1996, "El Cajas" (Boxes) covers an area of 29,000 hectares (72,000 acres) of mountainous terrain between 9,700-13,500 ft.  The park is situated on the western cordillera at the continental divide, about 30 KM west of Cuenca.  A once glaciated region ( U shaped valleys and rigid peaks) over 400 lakes and lagoons formed after the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago. 

Today, the park is littered with these pasternoster lake, all inerconnected by visible and subterranean rivers and waterfalls. High altitude and moisture are the dominant climatic variable in El Cajas, forming two interesting ecosystems:  Montaine cloud forest and Andean paramo, or shrubby high altitude grassland. 

Our tour guide showing us one of the plants~

More contemporary Cajas popular history dates to 1989 when the upper-middle class teenage girl claimed to have been visited by the Virgin Mary while campling in the park.  Monthly pilgrimages to the sanctuary are still made by people from all over the Ecuador and from all different backgrounds.  In the last decade the young girl's story has been discredited by the Ecuadorian media, which reflects popular discourse on the topic today.  Nevertheless the site is still of religious and spirtitual importance for many Cuencanos. 

Cajas is also unquie in that it is run by the ETAPA, the local municipality of Cuenca.  It is the only park in Euador to be run at the local level (though still funded nationally), and many of the employees of the park have a long family history with the area.  This was done in part because Cajas provides most of Cuenca's drinking water (+60%), which is managed by ETAPA.  It's elevation and climate means it can get very cold, especially at night.  Heavy fog can reduce visibility to just a few feet, making a knowledge of the area and a compass very important.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its Off to A New Place We Go!

On Sunday October 23rd we ventured out to learn about about the great culture of Ecuador!   We had a couple stops on our way to Ingapirca Archaelogical Site! 
We all meet at the school around 8a.m. and loaded up in a van to begin our journey!  We first stopped at a gas station so people could load up on chocolate and caffefine (to help with altitude sickness)!  I of course got some chocolate to help with my altitude sickness (in which I did not have :) )

Our second stop was in Biblian, where we went to the top of the cathedral (300 + stairs, but well worth it once we got to the top)! 

The Sanctuary of the Virgen del Rocio. The Cathedral, built in stone, is located on the top of a hill. A few minutes Verdeloma there are other populations as well as the beaches of Fatima and St. Louis. For its part, Tambo (to 43 km. Azogues) has a church with several valuable pieces of religious art. Delegate (at 25 km. Azogues) is made as shigras colorful handicrafts (handbags), colorful sashes and ponchos

While we were driving, we noticed a statue on the top of one of the moutians- we were told that it was the Virgin of the Clouds - which kind of made sense because it was at the top of the moutain and I assumed it was in the clouds!  But little did I know we were going to be able to get a great view of it from the top of the Cathedral! 

Inside the Cathedral

Halfway to the top!

A million stairs later, we made it ! 

Third Stop:  On our way to Ingapirca we stopped along side the road at a place that was cooking a pig!  There are several of these little places along the sides of the road, cooking chicken, pigs, and guinea pigs, and etc...   We had the great opportunity to try pig skin!  At first I said that I was not going to try any of it but when we got there I decide taht I will try at least everything once (why not?!?!)  They roast the pig over open flames until the skin becomes totally black, then they scrap the black off and cut the skin into pieces! 

Trying the pig skin (piel de cerdo)

We drove a little further and then stopped at a Market that sells animals.  People come there to buy, trade, and sell their animals.  It is mostly pigs, sheep, and cows that were being sold when we stopped.  There was also people selling kitchen items, clothing, and food as well. 

After the animal market we made our way to The Ingapirca Archaeological Site! The ruins of Ingapirca, located approx. two and a half hours from Cuenca, are the most important ruins in Ecuador.  Ingapirca is set on a picturesque hillside and overlooks a small village of the same name.  The area surrounding the ruins is used primarily for agriculutre and raising cattle, with traditional methods (hand and animal power) still used by a majority of the farmers.  

The main structure, the so-called Temple of the Sun, demonstrates some of the Incas' finest mortar-less stonework, and is surrounded by seemingly less important ruins thought to be the residences and storehouses.  There is still debate over the use of the ruins, and archaeologists have at times referred to the ruins as a temple, fortress, or as a royal stopover for imperial runners between Quito and Tomebamba (Cuenca).   

There is so many more awesome pictures !  I will have to show you all when I get back!