Mr. Szuszkowski will travel to Mexico for a week in February. The trip entitled "Hands Across The Water" is sponsored by the Monarch Teacher Network and the Education Information and Resource Center and is partially paid for with a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Mr. S. will be joining 18 other teachers from all over the U.S. and Canada in this once in a lifetime learning and sharing experience. The eight day trip includes a guided tour of the Monarch butterfly sanctuaries of El Rosario and Sierra Chincua in the state of Michuacan which lies in the Trans Volcanic Mt. Range outside of Mexico City. He will also tour the sustainable living community of Alternare, where he will learn about efforts to teach local farmers about sustainable living practices including growing crops without using harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides that not only harm the environment but threaten the Monarch Butterflies that migrate to the region. They also teach people how to build homes out of adobe bricks instead of wood so they don't have to cut down the endangered Oyamel Fir Forests that are the overwintering sites for billions of migrating Monarchs. Mr. S. and the members of his group will tour places of historical and cultural importance like Tzintzuntzan, home of the Purepecha Indians who have preserved their language and culture since the times of the Aztecs, they will also visit and climb the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, the third largest pyramids in the world, as well as having the honor of visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Gualalupe, a place of importance in Mexican history, culture and religion that dominates so much of Mexican life, and where thousands flock to every day, and on whose feast day every year, over 9 million Mexicans come to pay homage in the square outside the Cathedral. While in Mexico City, Mr. S will visit the main square or Zocolo in Mexico City where he will tour the Mexican National Cathedral, the ruins of the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan and the Mexican National Palace, the home to the President of Mexico as well as the historical Diego Rivera murals that depict the entire history of Mexico, dating back over 2,000 years. Last but not least Mr S. and his group of traveling teachers will visit la Escuela Primeria Federal "Salvador Escalante" in the copper town of Santa Clara del Cobre where he and the American and Canadian teachers will work alongside Mexican teachers in an International fellowship in an effort to share some of our culture with them, and learn about Mexican culture and customs.

Between now and February 16th Mr. S will be taking up a collection of much needed classroom supplies that he will bring and distribute to the Mexican school. There will be a box outside his classroom so that students can donate pens, pencils, erasers, chalk, crayons, small notebooks and other much needed class supplies that he will gladly bring to Santa Clara del Cobre on behalf of Ironia School. 

While in Mexico between Saturday February 17th and Saturday February 24th, Mr. S encourages the entire community to bookmark this site and  follow his on-line journal as he travels and reflects on his travels, through his daily web journal and photo postings from the many stops along his tour.  Students are also encouraged to e-mail Mr. S and he will respond when he has the opportunity at various internet cafe's along his route.

Today's Weather in the Monarch Sanctuaries