Finally, it was time to go meet my teacher, Ms. Jamira. This woman is wonderful. She was genuinely happy to see me and seems to enjoy her job, even though she was originally an Infant 1 teacher. (Our school systems are different. Infant 1 = 1st grade.)
For the morning session (8:30 am to 11:30 am) we have 4 year olds. Oh, they are so precious. I got thrown right into the mix when Ms. Jamira asked me to read aloud to the students who were done with the project they were working on. I was really happy to be able to do that, especially since I'm working towards a reading endorsement. So I took a group of about 10 kids to a separate corner of the room and started reading aloud. I read about 4 short books and the whole time the kids were just scooting closer and trying to hear more and see the pictures. It was really great to see them all so involved.
I kind of figured Ms. Jamira was going to stop me when all the kids finished, so she could continue on with her plans but instead she waited until I finished my book and then called the students to get ready because it was almost time to go.
Once the students left, it was lunch time for me and since there were no students, Ms. Jamira told me she didn't eat in the cafeteria. So instead, I joined both of my professors, Dr. Beisser and Dr. Fairbairn, as well as the principal and vice principal of Holy Cross, and the volunteer coordinator who put this all together for us. It was a really awesome experience to be in a conversation with professionals like that. And it wasn't like I was just the lonely undergrad listening in. They actually included me in conversation, which was fantastic. I learned so much from those ladies.When I went back to my room, the 3 year old class (who come from around 1 to 2:45) was starting to show up. They seemed very very shy and quiet while they were playing with their toys. Eventually they got more comfortable and started doing the usual 3 year old things like running around the room, etc. I had a couple students who brought me books and asked me to read to them so once again I was reading aloud. These students had a long period of play time, which I LOVED. I'm definitely an advocate for keeping playtime in preschool. In my opinion, the U.S. is trying to incorporate too much learning and not enough play. The Creative Curriculum? Don't like it at all.
When we finally did some content stuff, the students got out their notebooks and colored in the number 7 and seven little balls, which Ms. Jamira and I drew for them. I flipped through a couple notebooks and noticed they had done this for all the other numbers on the way, which I thought was pretty neat. After this activity, Ms. Jamira had me take the kids outside to play. This scared me a little bit because this school doesn't have a playground yet, just an open sand field, right next to a street. And of course my children ran that direction. One little girl stopped and talked to an adult that was sitting out there waiting for school to be out and I have to admit I panicked for a second, before realizing it was her mother.
While we were outside, a group of students were kicking a ball around. Naturally, someone gets tripped and falls flat on their face. It was scary. I wasn't sure what to do so I went and helped her up and comforted her to make sure she was okay. This was when Ms. Jamira came out and started to play some games with them. They played "Ringa Ringa Rosey", which is what we would call "Ring Around The Rosey". And they played a game called "Cat and Mouse", which included a little bit of chasing and helped them blow off some steam. When we got back inside, it was time to leave.
At around 4, the entire group from Drake gathered around the pool at our hotel and reflected on the day at school. It was really interesting to hear everyone's stories of what happened and comparing the similarities and differences of the schools we're used to in the U.S.
Afterwards, a group of us went to a place called Elvi's Kitchen for dinner. We had heard very good things about it and it was definitely all accurate. I had some empanadas, which I had never had before, and some fried chicken. Delicious.
We then walked around the island a bit, browsing the stuff at the street vendors and inside little souvenir shops. I got my parents a couple things that they collect on vacations and some other fun stuff. Then it was back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow.
Tomorrow's Agenda? Family Day
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