Community Service = Super Proud of my 9th Graders

Okay, another non-content focused, fun filled day at Colegio Menor to report....

The National Junior Honor Society organized a day of community service for each of the grades in upper school right before our Christmas break.  My 9th graders spent one gorgeous morning hanging out with a group of blind or deaf students.  I'll admit that I was a bit nervous going into the day...I have a few 'too cool for school' boys (as I'm sure every 9th grade teacher has) and was a bit worried about how they would handle the day.  To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.  My kiddos were AWESOME with their kiddos.  They ran ALL around the field (mostly chasing their young friends that had waaaaaaay more energy than the average teenager), made Fruit Loop (or the Ecuador brand equivalent) necklaces, and supervised Christmas card making.  It wasn't just that my kids stuck by their assigned buddy for the day, but that they really seemed to enjoy the time they spent with the kids.  Here are some photos from the day (hope they capture the fun and awesomeness that is was!)

A pair of 9th graders were assigned a guest student.  I was surprised at how young some of the kiddos were.

While we had some activities planned, it became clear that some of our guest students just wanted to play soccer all day.
(Kids in this country loooooooooove their soccer!)

lots of hand holding!

This little girl was adorable!  And enjoyed rolling the ball with my 9th grade kiddos!!

Two of those 'too cool for school' boys hanging out with their student.

Playing on some equipment with the kiddos.

More fun on the playground.

Marcelo is one of my 9th graders that spent the entire day with his kiddo.  This is probably one of the only moments in the day that they were not sprinting around the soccer field.  Marcelo was such a trooper!

Some Christmas card making (complete with dry pasta decor)

Santiago is one of the other 9th grade teachers that I work with!

Pedro giving a little girl her bag of candy!

It was a really great day for everyone and I had one of my first 'wow, I'm SO proud of my kids' moments which was a cool first year teacher experience.