Abriendo Mentes dental hygiene day!

Thanks to the donations of Dr. Jasper Lewis Dentistry and Laura Dominy from Greenville, NC, as well as the help of Dr. Anwar Gazel of Costa Rica, we were able to have our first official dental hygiene day on May 11th! Dr. Gazel came from Playa Grande to teach good dental hygiene practices, and talk about how we can protect our teeth. After a rousing and involved discussion, we had a little oral test in order to win toothbrushes, toothpaste and tooth fairy boxes, all donated by Dr. Lewis and sent by Laura from North Carolina. Very cool way for a dentist office so far away to make a huge impact in a rural village in Guanacaste. The children were thrilled with their new toothbrushes, and hopefully, with the lesson Dr. Gazel gave yesterday, they are all brushing their teeth right now (the correct way of course, 1-2-3-4-5). The highlight of the lesson was when Estiven gave the candid answer to Dr. Gazel's question of "What happens if we don't take care of our grown-up teeth and they fall out?" as "You just buy new ones, or if not you will just be a toothless old man." Always the class clown. Another fun fact we learned, the tooth fairy in Costa Rica is actually called Miguel the Mouse. Interesting, fun, entertaining. All in all a great educational day! Thanks again to everyone who made this day possible.

"K" is for kite

What better way to teach the letter "K" than to make kites in class? Yesterday the Kinder and 1st grade class had a blast using colored paper, wooden skewers and string to make their own kites. And the best part, they actually flew! Granted, it was raining outside so we "flew" them around the Salon, but it was still a lot of fun. The kids are learning more vocabulary everyday, with our focus on one letter a week, as well as the school curriculum - which includes body parts, colors and numbers this unit. It is great to see their minds at work and their creativity growing at the same time. Now we just have to think of something to make for the letter "L". Any suggestions?