First Visit

On Friday February 12, 2010, I had my first visit to an Elementary School. On Friday I woke up at 815 am to make sure that I would be able to get prepared for my day ahead of me since I did not know what I would be expecting. I was expected to be at the school promptly at 930 and the only thing that went through my mind was if I was going to enjoy today. I had left Thorp Hall at 845 because I wanted to make sure that I would be able to get there on time. On the way to the school I got a little nervous because I did not know what the real name of the school because on the paper that the VIPS head person gave me, it had two school names on it. When I got closer to the school, I noticed that this school was in the area of many other schools. When I arrived at the school it was around 915 and I saw other people walking in. I noticed that I had to ring a buzzer to be entered into the building and then I walked inside the office to put my log sheet into the VIPS binder. After I did everything I had to do in the office I finally got to meet with Ms.W.
The people in the office told me to go up the stairs where I would meet Ms. W. When I went to meet her she told me to take a seat at a table and she told us what we would be doing. I was there along with five other people and she told us what the school is like. The very first thing she told us is about the name of the school and how it has two different names but its combined into one school. Then she continued to tell us that we would just observe today because it was the day before vacation and it was also the 100Th day of school which meant that it was a relaxed day. After she gave us a little background of the school, we went into a room where we had folders which contained activities that the VIPS people brought in to show the class. After that she assigned two people to a class.We found at that each week we came here that we would be going into a kindergarten class halfway through then go to a first grade class. Once she assigned the rooms to us, she took us to the classrooms.
The first classroom I would be going to was the kindergarten classroom. I was very nervous because I would not know what I would be expecting. When I walked in I met the teacher and her name was Mrs. B. I felt a warm welcoming because she seemed pretty laid back. As soon as Ms. W left she told me and the other girl I was with what the class was like and that today was going to be a "chill axed" day since they will be on February vacation the following week.She told us to look around the classroom and get a feel of things. The classroom environment was very warm and welcoming. As I looked around the room I noticed that the walls had a lot of decorations which were mainly posters that showed things such as the alphabet, and reading/word posters. I felt that I would enjoy this class a lot because the kids were welcoming and I felt that they would respect me because the teacher had control over her class. At one point when I was in there I had gotten a little nervous because the teacher started to speak in Spanish. I had a very scared look on my face because I did not know that it was an ESL class or if I had to know Spanish but she had told me that the class is conducted in English.
It was around 1030 and it was time for me to go visit the first grade classroom I would be working in. When I walked in the kids were making necklaces out of fruit loops and they put one hundred individual fruit loops on the necklace. The teacher told us to go around and interact with the kids which I did. Some of the kids were shy except for this one girl who really liked me an she was the one who I talked to the most. She was the youngest girl in the class but she was very exceptional girl. I really enjoyed this classroom more because it was an enviorment I like to be in. It was 15 minutes before I had to leave so Mrs. R asked what grade I would like to do and I told her between 1-3 grade. She told me that 1st grade is one of the hardest grade to teach because this is the grade level where they learn the most important basic information. She said after that it was a pleasure and she can not wait for next time to get me involved with the students.
So the day was about to end and I said goodbye to Mrs. R and the kids and I can not wait until next time because I really enjoyed myself there. I feel that the children are very excited about this experience and I am excited to see what will be in store for me next time.