How We Became Flat

Prior to Miss Janet leaving to Guatemala, the students in Ms. Katrina's and Ms. Tameshia's classes read "Flat Stanley". After the reading, the kids were challenged to write their own stories of how they became flat and create their very on "Flat Friend". The snow days trumped our flat friend creations, so Ms. Katrina and I created two flat friends in the images of two our students (Lamarcus and Tytiana) to travel to Guatemala with Ms. Janet.

Enjoy some of their stories below....

"I was fighting with my brother and he sat on me to make me flat."--Lamarcus

According to Niesha, our class has become flat on many occasions....

"Once we were at the NBA Jam Session playing basketball against Dirk and the Mavs. He fell on our entire team while trying to dunk and smashed us all flat."

"Another time... we were walking to the After School Academy after school when a very STRONG wind blew us into the side of a building and smashed us. In order to get normal, we rode through the wind on a giant leaf to the nearest gas station. At the gas station, we used the tire air pump to get back to normal."

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Soon, we will be sending out the rest of our "Flat Friends" to other places around the world. If you're interested, in hosting our "Flat Friends", please email: roselandasa@gmail.com. (Please include "Flat Friends" in the subject line)

Iesha's thinking moment

Iesha is our thinker. Every time it takes her a minute to remember something, she puts her finger up to her temple. Somehow, I guess that finger has magical powers because she soon remembers. I love it! :)

You can see her thinking in progress in this video below:

"Dr." Iesha taking care of Lamarcus

Lamarcus was complaining about his knee hurting, so our very own "Dr." Iesha took a moment to share some of what she learned at physical therapy with Miss Janet. She gave his knee a massage and shortly after he exclaimed "My knee is better now!"

What's school like in Guatemala?

Ever wonder what schools in other countries look like? Ever want to know if children in other countries do the same things as we do here?

Here are two schools I was able to visit. The first one is a school where Esteban, Natalia, and Laura go:



The next one is a school in Guatemala Antigua that was celebrating it's 114th birthday:

Financial Literacy: shopping for snacks on a budget

In March, both Digital Connectors and Teen University, will be engaging in a series of financia literacy activities. Their first assignment was to purchase enough snacks for 25 people with a budget of $125 for our trip to Huston-Tillotson and University of Texas. It was not an easy task to accommodate the taste buds of some many people but Shannon, Chisa, and Alexcia did a wonderful job working together and staying in budget. Their bill was $124.88!

"Shine" on them for staying after the program hours to make a brown bag of snacks for each person and for accepting the challenge.

Shannon taking a moment on the big comfy couch.

Alexcia and Chisa

Kids Workshop at Home Depot

Lamarcus, Joshua, and Hakim attended the "Kids Workshop" series at Home Depot with Mr. Phillip and Mr. Casey. For the first workshop the boys made a car display rack. Check out the pictures below. Next month, they will be creating rain gauges.

Hakim showing off his rack......

"The Too Cool Brothers" Lamarcus and Joshua

(Photos Courtesy of Mr. Philip)

Visiting Tikal

Who's seen the movie 2012?

I haven't seen it, but when I took the tour, they talked about the Mayan calendar and how 2012 was what the Mayans have always said would be the end of a cycle. The movie is based on the Mayans' theory.

Visiting Tikal taught me a lot about the sophistication of the Mayan people. They made temples with exact precision...had elaborate structure and jobs/responsibilities for each person...and created an amazing calendar system.

Below is my video diary of the trip.

Becoming flat in Guatemala

On my last night in Guatemala, Natalia, Laura, and Esteban asked if they could make their own Flat Stanley's. So...here is the result.

Natalia is a doctor and was crossing the street while attending Harvard University and a car ran over her...making her flat.






Esteban is a Saints football player. He was walking through Price Smart (the Guatemalan Sam's Club) when, all of a sudden, one of the large boxes on the very top fell and flattened him.








Laura is a princess. There are many volcanoes around Guatemala City. The volcano erupted and a piece of volcanic rock fell on her and made her flat.









Janet (me) had just come back from the beach. We were all relaxing on the bed when Laura and Juan Luis dogpiled me. I was completely flattened.



Being flat has it's advantages. The flat people have gotten to explore a whole new world...and make new friends. Here are our new friends from Guatemala:

If you'd like to be a flat friend with us, here is a way to get started:

http://www.makingfriends.com/f_Friends.htm

Let us know how you became flat and send your photo of your flat person to roselandasa@gmail.com so we can post it along with your story. We'd love to be your friend, too!

Look what we grew......

Radishes!!!

Joshua and David Show

So here is the thing, last week I attended an event that the Dallas Social Venture Partners hosted. The event was “Storytelling” by Andy Goodman. I left the event inspired. My thought was that I was going create a series of videos that explained our story. Videos that really capture our mission statement, “Equipping youth to dream and envision what they can and one day will become”. Well, you see where I am going with this…

My starting point was to interview the youth that attend the ASA, get their thoughts and so on. So I decided to start with two kindergarteners, Joshua and David. Well, of course these two decided to take my idea in whole new direction.

Actually they made it even better.

I now present to you, the season premiere of: The Joshua and David Show

How was gum made?

Chewed any gum lately? Do you know how it was first made??

The Mayan Indians figured out how to make gum and were hired to climb trees and get the sap from the chiclet tree (have you heard of the gum, Chiclets?). The gum company, Wrigley's, use to pay people in the jungle to collect the sap from the trees so they could make the gum. Below is a video from the jungle. The guide explains how the people collected the sap to make the gum.

kids say/do the darnedest things....

Trinity's Life Advice

The After School Academy at the Roseland Library/Bookstore sharing a song that was stuck in their head. (Lamarcus and Niemen mocking the girls)

Shamaria and David: Play Doh Creations

Shamaria and David share their play-doh creations.

Roasting marshmallows on lava from a volcano!

Climbing a volcano and roasting a marshmallow on the lava from the volcano had to be the absolute BEST experience ever! And it cost under $10!

There's really no need for further explanation. Just watch the video.

Flat LaMarcus and Flat Tytiana go to the beach in Guatemala

Who knew that the beaches in Guatemala were so fabulous???

Early in the morning, we took off for the Juan Gaviota beach. It's a private beach with a lot of really beautiful homes. The sand is black...not like the light brown colored sand we're used to seeing.

Watch the video to see what the small towns look like on the way to the beach, see a crab run across the sand, and watch Flat LaMarcus and Flat Tytiana go swimming.

Fast food in Guatemala

McDonald's...Burger King...Subway...and even Taco Bell...

All of those fast food restaurants also exist in Guatemala. But are they the same? Watch this video to find out some things you might not know about fast food in other countries...

Flat LaMarcus and Flat Tytiana visit a school in Guatemala

While Miss Janet went to a museum with her friend, Cecilia, Flat LaMarcus and Flat Tytiana went to school with Laura.

After a full day of meeting new friends and experiencing school in Spanish (and sometimes in English), Flat LaMarcus and Tytiana went to the KidVenture after school program. After the day was all over, Laura, Flat LaMarcus, and Flat Tytiana gave Miss Janet a tour of the school and showed her all the things they do during a day at school:

Meet Crystal: Digital Connector

Hi, my name is Crystal. I was born and raised in Dallas, TX. I am 17 years old, in the 11 grade, and I attend Hillcrest High School.

My favorite sport is track. I love being around my friends and family. I also like leaning new things. In my spare time... I love texting, talking on the phone, and EATING!! That's me...

Breakfast in Guatemala

I believe Miss Tameshia said a lot of you are asking what people in Guatemala eat. A lot of times, they eat the same things as we do! But, sometimes they have food that is the same as ours, but prepared a little different than we do it.

Below is a video on my first morning in Guatemala. Laura ate bread and honey (something I think we might eat) and Cecilia made me huevo estrellada (egg stars) and then taught me how to make them. So here is the video:

Meet Rocio: Digital Connector

My name is Rocio. I was born here in Dallas TX, and have been living her all of my life. I am 16 years old, and was born on January 14, 1994! Right now I am a student at Skyline High School and in the 10th Grade. I am also in the photography cluster at my school, and am in love with it. Literally! I am passionate about photography, I am not the best photographer, Yet! But i am working hard to as were I have some good photographs!