Dr. Miguel Munoz-Laboy visited with the fourth grade in December and gave a comprehensive presentation on Puerto Rico: the history, the culture, Hurricane Maria and its aftermath. Below are a few examples of thank you letters students wrote in response to this share.

December 15th, 2017

Dear Miguel,

Thank you Miguel for coming in and sharing with us! I really liked how you presented all of your ideas. It was really entertaining. I like that you took a survey about what kind of beach we like. It was really interactive. I think it’s cool that someone from the mainland came to Puerto Rico to help clean up. Wasn’t she from Boston, Mass.? From your share I learned that Hurricane Maria split Puerto Rico in half. I learned that hurricanes need warm water. You inspired me to donate food to a food pantry that’s giving to Puerto Rico. I still have 1 question: In the Spanish – American War, did the battle of the Alamo happen, or was it earlier?

I loved your share.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Dear Miguel,

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to come and teach us about hurricanes.

One of my favorite parts of your share was when you shared about schools in Puerto Rico. I thought it was interesting because high schoolers wanted to come back to school even though they didn’t have all the materials they had before the hurricane.

Another one of my favorite parts was learning about hurricanes levels and areas. This slide was interesting because it included the levels of the hurricanes almost everywhere.

I thought that the Spanish Empire part was really interesting because I’ve always thought that Christopher Columbus was a really interesting topic and him finding the Caribbean lead to the Spanish ruling some of the Caribbean. The Spanish ruled for 404 years and they only had one year of independence before the Spanish-American War began.

The last of my favorites was the size of Puerto Rico. it was really surprising to me that a whole territory is only the size of the small state of Connecticut.

One thing that I learned about Hurricane Maria is that it had officially left the island by September 20th. And it went diagonally north across the island.

Something that I learned about hurricanes in general was how they form and travel. I learned that they form only in the ocean and they need moisture and warm water to be born.

A question I still have is why is there a different level of probability for hurricanes around the world. Is it because of the amount of water? Is it because of the humidity? Is it because of  the temperature of the water below?

Sincerely,

Sonia Stomberg