Day 4 - Family Day

I have two words to describe today, noisy and exhausting. And definitely not at all what I expected.

Today was family day in the preschool classroom, where parents came to do a craft project with their kids. In the 4 year old class, only about 6 came out of about 15 kids. It was a little disheartening but I know sometimes things come up or you have to work. What really made me sad though was that the students who's parents did not come, couldn't do the project because they didn't have help and it involved hot glue guns, which a 4 year old should never use by themselves.



So what did these other students do? Why, listen to me read of course! Not even exaggerating, I read 25 books to these students in the hour I could keep their attention. By then, they had all run off to play and Ms. Jamira didn't say anything so I let them. However, I did have a little boy, Jose, who wanted me to keep reading, so I let him choose some books and I read.

Then, we got to chatting. I asked him if he liked school and liked this teacher. Then I asked how old he was. I could tell he was thinking about it, but I never got an answer. So, I decided to use a different approach. I asked him in Spanish. Boy, that triggered something. He answered my question and then just kept talking and talking. I've learned in my ESL methods that it's okay to let them talk in their native language, even if you don't understand, just so they can get it out. So I let him talk and talk.

Eventually, it got to be 11:30. We took a picture of the 4 year olds with their projects they made (a bunny made out of a pencil and cotton balls and a bunny headband that makes them have ears and a face) and it was time for them to go home.

Today I ate lunch with Dr. Beisser, Brittany, Melissa, Molly, and Alex. And boy was there a lot of food. And good food! Much better than I ever had at school. And their program is free!

After eating lunch, I went outside and played with a couple kids from Jana's class and Danielle's class. I learned some interesting new hand games (Miss Mary Mack anyone?) from some Infant 2 (2nd grade) girls.

Then, it was time for the 3 year old class. This class is much smaller and quite a few parents showed up. The ones who didn't have parents just had play time, so I just did a lot of observing. And a LOT of taking pictures. These kids are just too adorable. When they finished, they got their picture taken too and the day was over.

But not for me. I had gotten a new assignment yesterday to take a bunch of photos and videos to show a group of people coming to expand the preschool. (And, this blog is being connected to the Holy Cross School Website!  How cool is that? I'm so honored.) Anyway, to help this assignment, I got to interview the vice principal and Ms. Jamira.

I asked "What is preschool?" and both women expressed the point that it is really to help get them ready for Infant 1, basic things like how to hold a pencil, etc. And for letters and numbers. When asked "What growth have you seen through the children who have gone through it", I was informed that this is actually the first year this program has been put in place but that they're definitely more ready to head to Infant 1 next year. My final question was "What are your goals for this program?" The winning answer for both of them is expanding. They want to be able to take in more kids (right now they can only have 15) and so more of their own kids can go to Infant 1. Also to expand the classroom because it's so small. The vice principal also said she really wants a playground so they can run around and burn off steam. It was really interesting to talk to those people. It was great insight.

After school, the whole group had their reflection meeting again, then Alex, Molly and I went to the grocery store for a soda and some homemade chips and salsa. Soon after, we were joined by both of our professors and Jana and we went over to Elvi's Kitchen again. This time I had nachos.

We also had some really really good discussions. I love how well I'm bonding with everyone on this trip. I feel really close to the other students and now I feel really comfortable with the professors as well. I no longer consider Dr. Fairbairn just a professor, nor Dr. Beisser my academic advisor. I'd say they both can be life advisors. I could definitely go to either of them with anything

Anyway, now the day is over and tomorrow is my last school day.

Tomorrow's agenda? Good Touch/Bad Touch, San Mateo, & Sunset Sail

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