World Famous Chicken Drop?

Good evening Carolina Forest Eagles!
It is our last full day in San Pedro, Belize.  This week has flown by-we can not believe that it is already time to come home.  We are excited to come home, but we will miss this beautiful country and its beautiful people.  Today we did another professional development on differentiation and learning styles at La Isla Bonita School.  The teachers at La Isla Bonita are very nice and they were eager to participate in the professional development.  After leaving La Isla Bonita, we stopped and got milkshakes from a local vendor.  They were delicious (especially the banana milkshake)!  We walked along the beach and stopped and had lunch while overlooking the beautiful water.  We talked about how much we had learned on our trip and some of the things we wanted to share with we returned to school.
After lunch, we went to San Pedro Roman Catholic School and went to our classes.  Ms. Gholson helped paint fire trucks, Mrs. Candela did a pen pal letter writing lesson, Mrs. Martinez discussed plagiarism, and Mrs. Bulris played games.  During the break time, we had soft drinks in a bag, bread pudding, and powder bread.  They were very yummy treats!

Tonight we will visit the local high school for a farewell function from the schools in San Pedro.  We are also going to go to the world famous chicken drop tonight.  If you do not know what that is, you should Google it. 

We will be leaving tomorrow and we will not be able to update the blog until the weekend.  When we return to the United States, we will be posting pictures and answering the questions that we have not been able to answer because of the Internet connection.

Have a great night Eagles!

It is so good to hear from home!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013:
What a great day Eagles!  We had the pleasure of Skyping with Mrs. Candela’s and Ms. Gholson’s classes this morning.  It was a great way to start our morning in Belize!  Our students had a lot of good questions to ask about Belize and they were very excited to talk to our group.  We miss you all very much and we can’t wait to talk to you about our adventures in person.  After Skyping, we walked to the beach and ate breakfast at a waterfront café.  It was fun to answer some of the questions from the blog as we were waiting for our food.  After breakfast, we walked to La Isla Bonita School and did a professional development session on classroom management for their teachers.  The teachers at La Isla Bonita were excited to learn about the things that our teachers do at Carolina Forest to manage their classrooms.  After completing our professional development session, we walked to a restaurant for lunch.  Can you believe that there is a tree in this restaurant and there is sand on the floor?  It was so neat to see!

After lunch, we headed back to San Pedro Roman Catholic School and worked with students.  Mrs. Bulris had the chance to try coconut water and it was very good.  It was so funny to drink from a coconut and to use a straw to do it!

We have one more full day in Belize tomorrow.  Wonder what our adventures will be on Thursday?

Have a great night Eagles!

The Adventure Continues.....

Tuesday, April 9, 2013:
Good evening Eagles!  Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog.  Internet service is not as readily availible here as it is at home.  Our pictures had to be posted when we returned from Belize.

We had a good day working in San Pedro Catholic School.  Ms. Gholson worked with her classroom of students and taught them a lesson on telling time.

 Mrs. Candela worked with a creative writing class and a grammar class and taught the students about prepositional phrases. 

Mrs. Martinez worked with students in the school's computer lab.  The school has a computer lab and a teacher.  There are no speakers in the computer lab so students can not hear sounds from the computer.  There is one projector in the school office.  If a teacher would like to use the projector, they have to check it ou

t.  Mrs. Martinez worked with the students on Microsoft Powerpoint and showed them Prezi. 

Mrs. Bulris worked in some of the classrooms and went on a brief tour of the island with Ms. Kay, the school's principal.  The weather continues to be beautiful in Belize.  It is quite hot and we have to do a lot of walking around the island.  Water is very important supply that we keep very handy!  Flat Jacey had a good day too-especially when she had lunch on the waterfront today!

Have a great day Eagles!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013:
Good evening Eagles!  Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog.  Internet service is not as readily availible here as it is at home.  We will be posting pictures as we can, but note that we will continue to work on this blog even when return home.
We had a good day working in San Pedro Catholic School.  Ms. Gholson worked with her classroom of students and taught them a lesson on telling time.  Mrs. Candela worked with a creative writing class and a grammar class and taught the students about prepositional phrases.  Mrs. Martinez worked with students in the school's computer lab.  The school has a computer lab and a teacher.  There are no speakers in the computer lab so students can not hear sounds from the computer.  There is one projector in the school office.  If a teacher would like to use the projector, they have to check it out.  Mrs. Martinez worked with the students on Microsoft Powerpoint and showed them Prezi.  Mrs. Bulris worked in some of the classrooms and went on a brief tour of the island with Ms. Kay, the school's principal.  The weather continues to be beautiful in Belize.  It is quite hot and we have to do a lot of walking around the island.  Water is very important supply that we keep very handy!

Have a great day Eagles!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013:
Good evening Eagles!  Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog.  Internet service is not as readily availible here as it is at home.  We will be posting pictures as we can, but note that we will continue to work on this blog even when return home.
We had a good day working in San Pedro Catholic School.  Ms. Gholson worked with her classroom of students and taught them a lesson on telling time.  Mrs. Candela worked with a creative writing class and a grammar class and taught the students about prepositional phrases.  Mrs. Martinez worked with students in the school's computer lab.  The school has a computer lab and a teacher.  There are no speakers in the computer lab so students can not hear sounds from the computer.  There is one projector in the school office.  If a teacher would like to use the projector, they have to check it out.  Mrs. Martinez worked with the students on Microsoft Powerpoint and showed them Prezi.  Mrs. Bulris worked in some of the classrooms and went on a brief tour of the island with Ms. Kay, the school's principal.  The weather continues to be beautiful in Belize.  It is quite hot and we have to do a lot of walking around the island.  Water is very important supply that we keep very handy!

Have a great day Eagles!

Welcome Back to School!

Good evening Carolina Forest Eagles!  We hope you had a great first day back to school after last week's spring break.  Can you believe we only have nine more weeks of school?  Now, do not get too excited-we have a lot of learning to accomplish between now and the end of the school year!  Our group visited the schools of San Pedro today and began the important partnership work that we will do this week.  Mrs. Candela, Ms. Gholson, Mrs. Martinez, and Mrs. Bulris will spend part of the week at La Isla Bonita Elementary School doing some professional development with their teachers and part of the week at San Pedro Roman Catholic School working in classrooms.  By a funny coincidence, the schools in San Pedro returned to school today after a break just like Onslow County.  You may look at this link for La Isla Bonita Elementary School to learn more about it.  The link is:
http://www.ambergriscaye.com/labonita/index.html

You can also look at a link for San Pedro Roman Catholic School at this address:
http://ambergriscaye.com/school/index.html
San Pedro Roman Catholic School also has a Facebook account that highlights various aspects of the school as well.

Before school begins, students gather in the courtyards surrounding the school.  They are able to talk with their friends while they are waiting to go inside.  There are no teachers outside supervising the students.  They are very self-sufficient.  When the bell rings for school to begin, students line up in front of the door of their class and wait to be told to enter the room.

Students can buy snacks through the wall of the school yard.  They can hand money to the seller on the other side of the fence and he passes snacks back to them.

Miss Kay, the principal of the school, had all the students come to the center courtyard and welcome our Onslow group.  The students said the national prayer, the Belizian national anthem, and the pledge to Belize.  It was very warm and welcoming to our group of Onslow County educators.  We spent the rest of the day visiting San Pedro Roman Catholic School and working in classrooms. 

The classrooms are very small.  Each class has about 30 students.  There is no air conditioning in the classrooms and it gets quite warm!

We would love for you to make comments or ask question on the blog.  Talk to you soon!

What a Beautiful World!

Today was a great day in our Belizian adventure!  After a wonderful breakfast, our group from Onslow County headed out for a day of snorkling and exploration.  We boarded a boat and headed out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve for some snorkeling.  Hol Chan means "Little Channel" in Maya.  This reserve was established in 1987 and this five square mile reserve was the first of its kind in Central America. Here is a photograph of Mrs. Candela, Mrs. Martinez, and Ms. Gholson getting ready to snorkel.



There was so much to see when looking underwater.  The water is very clear-it is almost like looking into a mirror.  We were able to see so many fish, plants, and even a loggerhead sea turtle!

After a while, we left Hol Chan and went to Shark Ray Alley for a second round of snorkeling.  This was another beautiful area!  At this location, we saw several sting rays and some nurse sharks.  Check out these pictures!

After leaving Shark Ray Alley, we spent the afternoon in Caye Caulker.  It is another beautiful part of Belize!  Then it was back to San Pedro to rest from such a long but wonderful day.  Tomorrow, we will visit the schools here on San Pedro.  Our group from Onslow County is very excited to work with the staff and students from each of the partnership schools.  So long until tomorrow!

Have a great first day back to school after spring break!

Day 2: Getting There is Half the Fun?

Good evening Eagles!
Mrs. Candela, Ms. Gholson, Mrs. Martinez, and Mrs. Bulris have had a VERY LONG DAY!  The day started very early with our 7:00 am flight out of Wilmington, NC.  The flight to Atlanta, Georgia was very smooth.  We landed at the Atlanta airport (by the way-it is very big!) and decided to have a little breakfast.  As you can see, even Flat Jasey needed to eat this morning!  Mrs. Martinez and Mr. Ehmann did a great job sharing with her.

The Atlanta airport has some very beautiful art work displayed in several of its terminals.  Artwork that has been created by elementary and high school students hang all around the airport.  The airport also has many historical exhibits-including a section devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It is also very ironic that there are several exhibits highlighting cultural art work from around the world.  It is ironic in that our CFIES team is in Belize for our global partnership.  On a side note, Atlanta is buzzing with Final Four Fever today!
We left Atlanta to fly to Belize.  This flight took us a little longer-approximately 3 hours.  It was a very smooth flight and we got to watch a movie during the flight if we chose to do so.  Flat Jasey got to visit the cock pit and see the pilot of the airplane.  Check out this picture!

When we walked off the plane in Belize, it was wonderful to be in the warm air!  The temperature when we landed was 78 degrees-much warmer than the weather we have been experiencing in Jacksonville lately!  Even though we were in Belize, we still had some traveling to do.  We had to take a taxi to the water taxi area in Belize City and then we took a 2 hour water taxi ride to San Pedro Island.  San Pedro is a beautiful place!  Mrs. Candela, Ms. Gholson, Mrs. Martinez, and Mrs. Bulris walked around Belize and went to a restaurant called Tacklebox.  Mrs. Bulris had shrimp ceviche and it was yummy!

As you can tell, our group did a lot of things today.  We are all a bit tired so we are going to go to sleep and rest up for our adventures tomorrow.
Have a great evening!  GO EAGLES!!!!

Preparing to Go!

What a whirlwind kind of day!  Our group from Carolina Forest Forest International Elementary School leaves with the Northside district schools tomorrow.  It has been a busy day with packing, getting the family coordinated, unpacking, packing again, checking for the passport, etc.  I hate to be away from the family but I am very excited to be heading to Belize tomorrow!  The opportunity to visit schools such as La Isla Bonita and to work with their students and staff is very exhiliarting.  We (Mrs. Candela, Ms. Gholson, Mrs. Martinez and I) will try to make sure that we update this blog each day.  Oh, I forgot to mention-we will have five Eagles traveling to Belize.  I will be taking Flat Jasey from Mrs. Davis' Kindergarten class with me.  Flat Jasey is excited too!  Check out this picture-we are packed and ready to go!  (My cat, Disney, will not be going!).

Have a great night everyone!
Mrs. Bulris