Choosing Adventure Over Security: Halloween and Zoo

I'm trying really hard to keep this updated, but since I (aka Dereek) has to go to the papeleria every time I want to take pictures off my card, I only get around to it once every other week or so. I just want to update everyone on our Halloween fun. I was super excited to find out that they actually celebrate Halloween here! You can find costumes and Halloween decorations; so that was nice since Halloween was essentially isolated to our little AIS campus back in Anaco, minus the occasional house party. Halloween at school took up the whole day. Everyone dressed up and we had lots of events. The kids watched "are you afraid of the dark" (in Spanish) in the library, they went trick-or-treating to all the school offices, had a "parade" in the coliseum, and saw a live storyteller. And we did some things in our classroom. It was hectic, but fun. Sometimes it's good to take a break from all that academic stuff and just do something relaxing (at least for the kids). Angela (the other second grade teacher) and I even dressed up. We were Annie and Moby from the brain pop jr videos. No one understood except our students, but our students loved it.

Myself and my second graders!

So intrigued by Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Angela and I as Annie and Moby. See the resemblance?

I spy Moby.

In class we made "magic poison apples." I carved out the inside and the kids filled them with baking soda and black and orange glitter. Then we added vinegar and watched them explode. They loved it.

Lots of messy fun for Halloween.

A few of us also recently got to go to the Matacana zoo one day. It was definitely no Bronx zoo, and I felt a little bad for some of the animals, but it was still something to do for an afternoon and a way to get out of the city a bit. We were told that the animals will be moving to a bigger animal theme park that is in the process of being designed and built. Hopefully they'll have more space there and I'm really looking forward to seeing what it will turn out like. Also, Angela and I will be taking our second graders to the zoo this Friday because they've spent the past few weeks researching animal classifications and designing their own zoo. We thought it would be a fun way to end the trimester.