I refuse to accept the fact that week 11 is finished, because that means it is my last week in Saint Lucia. I can pretend and deny all I want, but sadly it is still reality. Luckily, week 11 was absolutely amazing!
On Monday, we wrapped up our unit on forces. In case you haven’t noticed, I absolutely adore active, hands-on learning! I was able to take my class outside to have them physically demonstrate different forces used on the playground such as shooting a basketball, twirling a jumprope, and kicking a soccer ball. Each student was assigned a different force to demonstrate. After the demonstration, the class wrote in their notebook whether they thought the force was a push or pull. It was great to get them not only out of their seats, but also get them outside moving around.
On Tuesday, we played a Jeopardy review game in science. Quite a few of my students are extremely independent, so working on a team is still a little bit of a challenge. They had a lot of fun with this, and their teamwork improved so much as the game went on!
On Monday, we wrapped up our unit on forces. In case you haven’t noticed, I absolutely adore active, hands-on learning! I was able to take my class outside to have them physically demonstrate different forces used on the playground such as shooting a basketball, twirling a jumprope, and kicking a soccer ball. Each student was assigned a different force to demonstrate. After the demonstration, the class wrote in their notebook whether they thought the force was a push or pull. It was great to get them not only out of their seats, but also get them outside moving around.
On Tuesday, we played a Jeopardy review game in science. Quite a few of my students are extremely independent, so working on a team is still a little bit of a challenge. They had a lot of fun with this, and their teamwork improved so much as the game went on!
On Wednesday we got to go on a field trip! Grades three, four, and five traveled to Castries for a fun-filled day at a literacy festival. There were schools from all over the island at the festival…it was packed! Each grade had a number of books they read over the last month, and the festival was a great way to celebrate all their hard work. They did a number of different activities related to the books they read, and even got to meet a few of the authors or illustrators of the books they read! It was a very hot day, but a great experience.
On Thursday, reality truly set in. Thursday marked exactly one week until I will be flying home! Even though I am excited to go home, I am so very sad about the thought of leaving the amazing people here. Friday was an exciting day for The Montessori Centre. The entire school walked over to the aquatic centre near the school for a swim meet. Just as with our sports day, students from the four different houses were competing against one another. I was astounded by how fast some of these little swimmers were, and it really made me miss swimming! Side note: all of the grade 3 girls LOVE playing with my hair. Most of the time I don’t mind, but when their clammy little hands start pulling out my hair, it’s time to stop! They usually come up with some pretty interesting hairstyles for me, but claim that “This is how all the cool girls wear their hair, Teacher Taylor!” |
On Friday evening, Brittney and I enjoyed our final night of fish at the street party. The fish and rice from the street party are definitely some of the foods I will miss the most. After eating, we walked around for a little while; however, as usual, we were exhausted from the week, so we headed home pretty early to go to bed. |
SATURDAY WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEST DAY I HAD HERE!! It was outstanding, and I could not stop smiling. I officially checked off every single item on my “St. Lucia Bucket List”! Brittney and I headed to Dennery with two teachers from her school. We were cruising with the windows down and the music blasting, it was just like a beautiful summer day back in Wisconsin! Once we arrived in Dennery, we made our first stop of the day and went zip lining! I have been waiting for this since I arrived on the island, and it was definitely worth the wait. I have done some pretty cool things here, but zip lining through the rainforest is hands down the coolest thing I have EVER done! Brittney’s cooperating teacher did not zip line, but she met up with us in Dennery and spent the remainder of the afternoon with us. After zip lining, the only thing remaining on our bucket list was seeing a waterfall. (Notice the title of this blog post...) We drove down to Micoud and found one! We both stood underneath the rushing water and swam around for a while. The water was nice and cool, which felt fantastic after being so warm from zip lining! We enjoyed a nice long drive back up to Gros Islet, laughing, singing, rapping, and jamming out to music. We finished out our perfect day by going out in Rodney Bay. Morgan, a St. Norbert graduate, student taught in St. Lucia last year. She and her boyfriend are staying in the apartment below our house for the week. Brittney and I loved having the opportunity to swap stories, get to know her better, and hear all about her experiences from when she was here. |
Sunday was the perfect ending to such a great weekend. We went to church, and (FINALLY) neither of us felt like passing out! It took 11 weeks, but we found the perfect spot in the church, so we were able to feel the nice breeze from outside. We were caught off guard when we showed up to mass and realized that everyone brings their own palms to church. Although we were "palm-less", it was still a great start to our final Sunday here. Right after church, we headed to the beach and spent the entire day soaking up the sun and floating in the beautiful Caribbean Sea. While my favorite experiences from being here are the adventure-filled ones, I am so thankful to have been able to spend every single Sunday relaxing at the beach, simply enjoying the many blessings I have been given. Brittney and I realized that we have been here for 11 weeks, and do not have any pictures of ourselves on the beach! We get so caught up in the fact that we live here and ARE NOT tourists, that we often forget we will not be here forever. We allowed ourselves to indulge in some touristy behavior, and had a little “photo shoot” on the beach! After spending the entire day soaking up the sun, we stayed to enjoy the beautiful sunset on the beach. Sunday night was filled with card games, singing, and dancing. My host sister, Carleen, thought it would be fun to try teaching Morgan and I how to twerk—let’s just say it did not go well!
This weekend was filled with adventure, laughter, family, friends, and so much love. Although my heart was overflowing with joy, I could not help but realize how much I will be leaving behind. I have been blessed with a great host family that has welcomed me into their home. I have created friendships with not only the teachers at The Montessori Centre, but also the Monchy Primary School (where Brittney teaches). These next few days are going to be filled with sad goodbyes and “See you later”s; but as my main man Winnie the Pooh said, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” Here’s to my last few days in what has truly become home for me!
"I can do all things through Him who gives me strength”
—Philippians 4:13--