A bracelet for the teacher.

Today was our first day of teaching. It was a great experience for us to get to know the students better. There was concern about a language barrier--especially from the grade 5 students--so we had to remember to talk slow.

We began this morning by observing teacher Carmela in grade 5 science. Right after that we taught our grade 6 science lesson. We taught about the 8 forms of energy and did activities and used examples to learn more about them.

We then had some free time in which we talked with some grade 3 students and had a chance to take some pictures around the school.

We actually cooked our lunch today- hot dogs! They turned out pretty good. Then we had to rush to go teach our grade 5 math lesson about percentages and following that our grade 6 math lesson about bar, line, and pie graphs. Heather spent some of that time talking to a first grade student, because the teacher is concerned about his fine motor skills.

We then enjoyed talking to students and teachers by the playground as they were waiting to be picked up from school. We played with bouncy balls, learned more Tagalog, and gave our email address to many students as well as our autograph.

We then had some time to rest and prepare for our busy weekend. We then made a very Filipino dish for dinner- white rice! We just got back from a prayer meeting at the church where we were able to meet some church member, sing in Tagalog some familiar hymns (Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art), share prayer requests, and join in a choral prayer with them.

We are now back in our room and preparing for our weekend. Tomorrow morning at 6:00 we will be gathering with the grade 5 and 6 students and teachers. We will be going to camp with them. This is the first time that GCCS has done a camp and the teachers and students are all very excited about it. We will be helping plan some games and enjoy spending time with them there.

The camp will last 2 days and 1 night, on Friday afternoon we will go to Puerto Galera with Pastor Leo, Elma, and Precy. Puerto Galera is on a different island of the Philippines and is on the coast. We will hopefully enjoy some time on the beach and possibly even some snorkeling. We will return here on Sunday afternoon.

While we are gone we will probably not have internet access, so we will not be posting again until Sunday, but expect a lot of pictures at that time!

The third grade students decided they would rather talk to us than be in their PE class.

Heather singing 'High School Musical' with the kids.

Maria teaching math to grade 6.

With 2 of our Tagalog teachers after school.

We cooked rice!

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We are beginning a tour around the school, posting pictures of each of the classes, one floor at a time. Today's post includes the classes of the first floor- Kinder I, Kinder II, and the two grade 1 classes. (we did not get a chance to take pictures of the afternoon kinder classes, so we will post those next week some time). Listed under the pictures are the names of the sponsor students in the class, if you are a sponsor, hopefully you can find your student!

Kinder 1 (am) class with teacher Anna

Sponsor students (some of them might be in the afternoon class): Robbie Gallardo, Marian Grace Madrigal, Kim Jehoia Serrano, Hanna Grace Balete


Kinder 2 (am) with teacher Wilma
Sponsor child: Jasmine Carasig

Grade 1 with teacher Girlie
Sponsor Students: Natalie Obina, Lennox Lontok, Ella Dela Isla, Abbegail Abiado, Jomar Boque, Alyzza Sandoval, Aljohn Cornejo, Regin Rebello, Lois Jillian Alcantara, Marianne Espino



Grade 1 with teacher Maribel
Sponsor Student: Zina Yari Canonoy