First day of school in February?!

All my life, January and February have been some of the coldest months of the year.  And this 2013-2014 winter season has heard the words "winter vortex" and similar phrases thrown around by those who live in the U.S.  But, on the contrary, these months are the summer months here in Costa Rica, and the months when the children are on vacation from school.  They end their school year at the beginning of December, and come back to school today, the 10th of February.  So what have we been doing in the Tutoring Center, you might ask, while the children have been on vacation?  

Jose and I have taken advantage of the time that the students have been off to have different educational workshops with them as well as spend some time on basic skills that many of them lack or need to improve upon.  We have spent time cooking together, doing science experiments, had a fun water day, held "elections" for a Tutoring Center president, and many other things.  One of my favorite days was this past week when we did a literary circle with our 4th-6th grade students.  It brings such joy to my heart to see the kids enjoy reading together, and being able to have comprehension discussions about what they have read.  We even had the students do an oral presentation with visual aids that they made about what we had read together.  I was so proud.  

This coming week will maybe be a bit slow at the Tutoring Center, as the kids are getting back into their school schedule and waking up early again.  But it has been fun to have 6 or so new students coming that weren't a part of our group last year, including one adorable little girl named Tara.  I am thankful for the time that we've had to invest in the kids before they went back to school.  It's important to us that they know we are here for them to help support them in their education, and we also want to continue to dig deeper into the Bible with them and their understanding of the God who loves them.  I look forward to this new school year together!

Here are some pics to highlight some of the fun that we have been having in January/February during the students' vacations:

Making helicopters from cardboard and pencils

Pan-flutes out of PVC pipes

Home made pretzels = yummy!

Two new first graders that are oh so cute

Water day with co-worker Diego in charge of games

They talked me into playing a game that involved shaving cream...

Playing Pictureka with our current semester students

Trying to convince the rest of the 4th-6th graders to vote for her for Tutoring Center president.  She won in the end. :)

The 5th and 6th graders that came to my house for a slumber party.  Lots of popcorn, marshmallows, giggles and screams, and little sleep.  But memories made.