Today was our second day at Country Day School. We each split up and went to our favorite classrooms from yesterday, and also tried some new ones. Some of us even got the chance to teach a lesson! The children were very eager to see us again, and greeted us with many hugs and kisses. One of the popular topics this morning among the students was the earthquake we all experienced last night. Not all of the students felt it, but most did. We got the opportunity to view presentations from second grade classrooms studying the rainforest. The class presented a poem for us that they wrote on the necesity of preserving the rainforest. Each child was an expert on their own animal. All of the classrooms were decorated beautifully to go along with the rainforest theme. We also go the opportunity to view a concert perfromed by a kindergarten class where they sang songs to their parents, and us. They were very excited to host their "End of the Year Concert". During the school day it started to rain very hard. On our walk home (in the rain) we really got a first hand understanding of what the wet season really meant!

Country Day School

Today was our first day of school at Country Day, which is a Pre-K through 12th grade private school. This is an English only speaking school and if caught speaking Spanish in the classroom by a teacher they were told to stop. So, when it came to recess and lunch they were speaking only Spanish to each other. This is a very international school with a very interactive curriculum. All twelve of us were placed into different classrooms based on which one we were interested in watching. Then we were able to observe things like how the teachers run their classroom, what the discipline is like, how well they respect their teacher and what they were learning. Throughout the day many of us noticed how eager these little kids were to ask questions and learn while those in the high school noticed how disciplined and well behaved the kids were during class. Another thing we noticed was that as many similarities it has to American schools the methods they use are very different. For example, there is only one standardized for of assessment, allowing teachers to not have to worry about "teaching to the test." In a first grade classroom, the teacher had found songs to the tune of the macarana to help them learn their days of the week, months and counting by2's, 5'sand 10's in a way they will enjoy and look forward to doing. After a full day of school we returned to the hotel and had a group meeting to discuss the different aspects of the school, classrooms and curriculum that stood out to us. Overall, we had a really good time observing and interacting with the students and look forward to another day at Country Day!

Butterfly Farm and Coffee Plantation

The first place that we went to today was the butterfly farm. That is a very interesting and educational experience. We got a tour of this little place were we got to see a lot of different kinds of butterflies and caterpillars. There were some that were ranging from big, small, colorful, and literally clear. Our tour guide showed us how the butterflies were different and the caterpillars and all their different body parts. Plus they went though how they go from the egg to the butterfly. The whole experience is something that everyone will remember and even might use later in their own classes when they talk about animals.

The second place that we went to of the Coffee plantation. That was also a really fun and educational experience. One of the things that we learned is about the actual coffee bean and the coffee bean tree. A couple of the things that we learned was that the coffee bean tree takes 3 years before it starts to bear fruit and then it wont die for 40 years after that. The other thing is that the coffee bean is really a fruit. The processing to get it out also takes a lot of work even when it is from a machine. Everyone agreed that the coffee that we tasted was really good and you can order in on-line if anyone wants to decide to get some shipped to them at home.

Welcome to Costa Rica!

We have made it to Costa Rica, well all of us besides Maci's luggage! After a quick five hour flight we were greeted outside customs with an Arizona State University sign. Our driver Francisco with the transportation company took us to a local supermarket where we had our first cultural experience, figuring out home much items we wanted to buy were in the local currency, colones. After settling into the wonderful Costa Verde Inn, Francisco took us to a top rated restaurant for the local Costa Rican cuisine. We had a great group dinner and are about to call it an early night so that we can get a good nights sleep for The Butterfly Farm and Cafe Britt in the morning!