Valle de bravo II

The place the kids stayed at in Valle de Bravo is called "Campamento Icaros", but most of the time we were visiting different sites near the camp like this cascade or waterfall.
It is called "Velo de Novia" (Bride's Veil). It is not a big waterfall, but the trail leading to it was beautiful. It goes along a small stream, and since it was a weekday, there was only one more person, besides my students, visiting the place. So it was really nice and quiet.
Again the photos are not the best, but I tried.

The waterfall at a distance.

The falls are not in a big open space.
It is more like in a crevice (is that word correctly used?).



A bit closer.

I could not take a picture of the waterfall without people.
The students were constantly posing in front of it.
So I only got photos like this.

There was another, smaller fall
further back from the main fall.

View from the other side. I liked this one a lot.

Some shots of the creek.

The air felt cool here.

There was lots of moss and fallen leaves.

I even got to see this guy peeking through some leaves.

This is a very nice place you should visit if you ever come this way.
Tomorrow, more stuff.
Buenas noches...

Valle de Bravo.

Where have I been? Besides finishing off the school year (although I still have to go on Monday and Tuesday) I went to a camp at Valle de Bravo with my sixth grade students. This is something that is done every year. It's like a graduation trip.
Valle the Bravo is located in Estado de Mexico (the state, not Mexico City). It is a small town on a lake with conifer forests all around it. It is a really beautiful place.
But me, just having gotten home from the six hour trip, will at this moment give you some photos and go to bed (yep, I'm tired).
But I promise to post more about the place tomorrow.
Meanwhile enjoy a few...







Not the best, but tomorrow's photos will be better.
Loved the place, but I'm glad to be back home.
Hope all of you have been well.....
Till tomorrow.

Mandala.

Another activity I did with the kids was coloring mandalas. I downloaded thirteen different mandalas, and had the kids color them with crayons or colored pencils (the waxier, the better). When they had finished coloring them, they had to wrinkle the paper with the mandala.
Afterwards the mandalas were covered with tempera paint, and let to dry. The idea was to have the paint get into the cracks that was done when the paper was wrinkled. This technique here is called "crackeling".
Once the paint was dry, the mandala is "washed" to remove the excess paint. We took the mandalas and the boys to the bathrooms (here the bathrooms are outside, with the sinks in plain view). The day was windy and the boy's mandalas were ruined. So I took the girls to the teacher's bathroom (with only one sink!) and had them wash the mandalas one by one. These came out great.
After letting them dry, they were cut along the line and pasted to colored posterboard.
The boys made some new ones, but didn't want to wash them.
Whew! Kinda long explanation. Hope I didn't bore you.
Anyway, here are the photos of the process.

Coloring a square mandala.

This one looked like a snake's skin.
(At least up close.)

After the wrinkling, tempera paint is applied.

We used different paint colors.

Here the mandalas are drying after washing. This one
has red paint.

Purple....

...and green
(pretty obvious).

These two were not washed....

....but these were.





All lined up.
We think they came out pretty cool.

Kids also enjoyed this activity. I give the boys three cheers for being great sports, and coloring again after their first try was ruined.
Tomorrow another activity.
Hope I don't get you snoring with all this art attack, though if you're suffering insomnia, you have just found the cure.
Have a great beginning of week!

Barro.

As I've stated before, we have finished with all the academic work at school, and the report cards have been given out, but because of the influenza bout, we still have two and a half weeks left of school.
So here we are (teachers), going crazy about what to do with the students. Fortunately, a physical education teacher, here at school, knows how to do clay modeling. So she stepped in to the rescue of a few hysterical teachers.
She brings all the material needed for a very low price, and explains a very simple but entertaining procedure for making clay figures. These figures do not have to be baked, and the whole thing from start to end took three days (yipee!).
The photos show both girls and boys making their figures.

The teacher uses some foamy templates for
one of the figures chosen by the girls.

After outlining the figure,
it was "cut" with toothpicks.

Using small pieces of clay for the crown.



Using the toothpick again, the rest of the "drawing" was made,
and a little crown was attached.
This is going to be a small "Virgen de Guadalupe".

The girls also decided to make a picture frame.
Here they are "kneading" the clay.

Attaching the borders to the frame.

The boys were going to make some cute bunny
piggy banks...

....but they started getting "creative", and designed some
crazy creatures.

After having completed the design,
the girls started to apply white glue to different parts.
What for, you may ask?

Well, for the GLITTER, of course.
Because, what 12 year old girl in her right mind
does not LOVE glitter?

Oh, I forgot, what 12 year old Girl or Boy in their
right mind doesn't love GLITTER?
(Yes, the boys liked it also.)

The pig still needed to have the eyes pasted on.

This is one of the "Virgen the Guadalupe"made
and decorated by the girls.

Here's another one.

One of the picture frames.
Nice and sparkly, don't you think?

The students really enjoyed this activity, and got to develop their creativity.
We have been making more stuff I will share with you tomorrow.
Do you have any ideas for fast, easy, and cheap crafts for 6th graders? If you do, let me know. I will be thankful forever.
Good night!

¡Felíz Cumpleaños, Ian!

Happy Birthay, dear son!
Sunday was my "baby's" birthday. Twelve years old!!
Can't believe he's so big, and time has gone
by so fast.
How did we celebrate? We took the birthday boy for pizza,
then to the cinema to see Up.
In the evening, a delicious chocolate cake.

We are so proud of him. He has great grades at school,
and is always making us laugh!!

For breakfast, his dad made him his
num. 12 birthday pancakes.
Kind of crooked, but very good.

The chocolate Birthday cake.

We love you so much, dear son. God bless you!

¡Feliz Dìa del Padre!

Happy Father's Day!

Se fueron las Jacarandas, llegaron los Tabachines.

When spring started, Jacaranda trees stared to bloom like crazy with their purple flowers . Well, they're all gone now. In their place, Tabachines have made their appearance filling the space with bright red flowers. Many parts of town have these trees that are appropiate with the red hot weather we are living.
Although we do not have marked seasons here (cold winters, cool springs, etc.), we do have different trees and flowers that bloom at certain times of the year marking each period with a special color or form.
So here is the Tabachin...

These trees grow to a considerable height.

The streets below get covered with a beautiful red rug.

In Puerto Rico these trees are called Flamboyán. The
name comes from flame (fire).

And I end this post with the view from my school.
The vegetation is still gray and brown, but once the rain starts,
in less than two weeks it will turn into a luxuriant green.

We really need the rain. Everything is wilting, even the people. Any day now, the rain season will start with a boom (thunder), and then we will have lots rain and even flooding.
Yes, this is a country of extremes.
Have a good night.