La Semana del 27 de Agosto (The week of August 27)

"Hablas Espanol?" were the words that greeted me in the morning after two and a half days of training. The kids stood outside the school at 8:30 in the morning in their uniform with big back packs. Students looked at me in a bit of confusion as I held the "Classroom 313" sign. Many of them whispered, "Where is Mrs. E.?" Then one of them finally had the courage to ask the stranger, "Eres nuestra maestra nueva?" (Are you our new teacher?) With a smile and a giggle I answered, "No, I'm going to be your second teacher." At that moment all my Education classes came rushing to mind; inside I was ready to finally put everything in practice 24/7.

My classroom is made up of 27 Latino students and 1 African American student; 7 of those kids are in the gifted program and, according to the records we received, all of them should be above their reading level. They all speak English, but a lot of them are comfortable with Spanish and don't mind asking questions in it. Mrs. E. says that it's good that I can relate to them at such a level. 

Since we only had 2 full days we decided to do a lot of "getting to know you" activities, tours of the building, rules, etc. It went quite well. Fifth graders certainly have a lot to say, especially if you give them the chance to. 

A new experience for me was that I learned more about my students from their past teachers in the first couple of days. They told me some things to look out for, or interests they had. I know that it's not recommended to get the scoop, but for a new teacher, every little bit helps. I know that they are a whole year older, and being here until December gives me the chance to learn about them myself.