Sunday, March 23, 2014

Just a few Fun things Peace Corps Volunteers do in Their "Time Off"

here are just few activities Peace Corps volunteers on Dominica Island enjoy when we are not working....

snorkeling

walking....and hiking....

visiting  Peace Corps friends on nearby Islands....
hanging out at the favorite French cafe at the beach....

knitting with another Peace Corps volunteer at the beach....

playing rummicube...
reading or sleeping at the beach....


writing letters home....
joining a Carnival Band....



making paper carnival masks while drinking rum punch...

helping to create carnival costumes with local artisans...
jumping off cliffs into the ocean....
eating out together.....
soaking in one of the many hot springs...
visiting a remote beaches....
enjoying  Caribbean sunsets.....

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Creating Carnival Masks

A teacher at St. Luke's Primary suggested to me --with Carnival coming--why not have the students create some Carnival masks?? I had never made Carnival masks, but I got online and did some research, and then created a prototype with astrobright papers and a glue stick. Then for each paper piece in the mask I created a template for the students to trace around and cut out. I showed the students each step, and they got to cutting and gluing--we went through over 40 glue sticks and a whole ream of astrobright paper with around 160 students creating masks.


a finished mask...

cutting out the "petals"

last task--paint around the eyes, which made the eyes pop a little more

applying glue....
I love how they are came out differently even thought they all used the same templates....


after the masks were all glued I had them curl each petal (or feather?) around a pencil to give the petals a slight curl which added more definition to the mask...
all finished !

the mask looks pretty great when she wears it....


6ht graders with their masks

For the grades K through 3rd, we made simpler masks with triangles (I cut those) glued to paper plates. The little ones delighted in gluing the colorful triangle to the plates. I cut bright yellow shapes to go around the eyes....

gluing triangles onto partial paper plate....



finished masks....just need the ties...


we had a Carnival "Come As You Like Day"  ---where the kids came all dressed in whatever costume they wanted and some wore their masks...


this was a fun craft project for all of us....and the kids loved it!