Keeping Up With the Hendricks: Around the World, the Last Installment

Today I taught my last day of summer program lessons at Stepping Stones. I can't believe how quickly the 8 weeks flew by and how much fun I had learning and doing with the kids! Of course there were moments of frustration, as well as some failures, but overall this was a great experience for me and an interesting way to spend my summer. So, here's what we did in the last two weeks:

Week 7: South America

We read a story about the Ecuadorian rainforest and a little boy who lives there. We learned about pink dolphins that live in the Amazon river. We read a story about a man who took books into the hills of Colombia on his burro.

We made (and the kids devoured) Chilean sopaipillas (pumpkin fritters with a delicious orange spice syrup). We also created Ojos de Dios (God's Eyes) in the colors of the Bolivian flag to remind us that God is always with us and watching over us.

Week 8: Central America and the Caribbean

We connected with a local family spending time in Guatemala as missionaries. We looked at pictures of the national bird of Guatemala, the quetzal, which is also what they call their money.

We constructed Mayan-style pyramids out of sugar cubes and somehow managed to keep everyone from eating them!

On Tuesday, we had the most fun of all... we tie-dyed t-shirts while studying Jamaica!

This was my first time tie-dying, and I was nervous about doing it with a bunch of little ones. They turned out so well though, and it was a lot of fun. Kelly and Grandma came to help us out that day so that we had a few more hands on deck. While they were there, we also dyed t-shirts for Hannah, Sophie, and Carter (well, it was a onesie for Carter).

We studied Mexico and created little sombreros out of cups and plates, as well as ponchos that we painted on brown grocery sacks.

We made authentic flour tortillas, some of which we put cheese on to make quesadillas.

We read a fabulous story about a little Caribbean island and the little boy that goes to visit it as his birthplace. Then we constructed our own underwater scenes with fish, coral, and all kinds of ocean creatures.

By the end of the eight weeks, the classroom was decorated with all the vestiges of our summer of learning!