Feliz Día de los Reyes

the GORGEOUS Rosca de Reyes I brought for my kids from the local Mexican grocery

Three Kings' Day was a big hit, as usual!  The kids loved trying the Rosca de Reyes (plus various tropical flavors of Jarritos that I brought them to drink), and they got SO EXCITED for the classmates who found a baby Jesus hidden in their piece!  That really seemed to make the holiday real for them and let them CONNECT to the real people around the word celebrating with their own Roscas!

It was also a great day to CONNECT with my students.  They were genuinely appreciative that I had brought them a special treat, and I got to see a neat side of my 7th graders in the class that had organized the "Secret Kings" gift exchange for themselves.  One of my not-exactly-overachiever boys brought his secret pal a wonderfully thoughtful gift -- a bird-shaped, painted ocarina from his winter break vacation to Costa Rica!  So awesome -- it was really fun for the kids to see a piece of realia from Costa Rica and the kid who got it felt really special.  Another boy gave an intricate papercraft Santa Claus he had made as part of his gift, and everyone had fun learning that he has an artsy side!  You never know what will come out when you give the kids a chance to show another part of themselves -- but I think you can always be sure that it will be amazing!