My week at Thomas Jefferson by Alison Pourciau

HOLA! I wanted to give you all a little summary of my days here in Concepcion, Chile! I hope you all enjoy and that I didn't get too personal ;)

Monday

Monday was our first day and when we arrived at the school we were given a tour. We stopped during the tour to meet our teachers and take a look in on some classes. One class in particular was so adorbale. It was music class and the students had just been taught two songs on their recorders! It was adorable and they were so proud of themselves! 

When I got to my classroom I met my teachers Ms. Carolina and her assistant Ms.María Elena. They were super sweet and welcoming. I introduced myself to the students and then sat next to them while they had carpet time. They were reviewing the information they preciously learned about Winter.  Since I am in Kindergarten they speak only English all day long. It is crazy how smart these students are! Their retention levels must be high to be this advanced in Spanish AND English! 

Thomas Jefferson School's Mission Statement 

Today they made clay snowman to go along their Winter theme!

Tuesday 

Back to school, I was so happy when I discovered we switched classes and even had a break for snack time. Kindergarten at this school is unlike any other school, I can't believe they aren't self-contained. Today we started with a little motor skill practice then our "Good Morning" song which was adorable. We then switched classrooms for math. The students go across the hall and we worked on separating tens from ones. I can't believe how advanced these kindergarten students are compared to our students and THIS IS THEIR SECOND LANGUAGE! It's so intimidating. 
The Math teacher's name is Ms. Carolina as well and was so sweet and welcoming to me. She has a student in there from Maryland doing the same study aboard program as LSU. She is an Elementary Ed. Major at Lynchburg College. I look forward to working with her more. After we went back to our classroom for calendar math then ELA, where they did a word search to find the consonants they are studying: p,t,n,m,s, and l. Today I definitely felt more accountable in the classroom, with the exception of Spanish class. I am more comfortable asking for something to do and just helping with their work.

Pictures from recess

The Misses (Teachers)

Wednesday

Today was the best day so far at school! I am so glad I put my foot in the door because I now have more of a presence in my classroom. The children respond to me positively and the teachers seem like real friends. School was a short day today so we were going to be self-contained. The teachers have daily meetings on Wednesday so the school lets out early for them. The more I think about it the more I like this school...coffee breaks, get out early, switching class in Kindergarten haha. 

We love our "coffee/tea" breaks!

After free play time, we had circle time to sing our Good Morning song. I still haven't learned it but it soo cute and talks about waking up and having a great day. The kids are very good with English songs! After, each teacher tells them "Good Morning" and they say it back, "Good Morning Miz Alison" It makes my heart smile every time.


Today our activity was about clothes in the winter time. It was my first time leading instruction so I was pretty nervous but my students were very responsive and it went smoothly! We dressed a snowman with all the clothes that keep us warm! After the students created their own pictures of their warm snowmen and we displayed them outside in the hallway! They were so adorable!

The snowman we dressed as a class

 

Thursday

Ok...so about today! It was another success at TJS! I love this school more and more every time I am there. The teachers are great and the students are even better. Today was very normal and relaxed.  I am starting to learn more and more about each student and their specific personalities. 


School was great and I am really feeling useful in the classroom. In math I could definitely see my help being positive to the students. At the end of the day, before music, we had our last activity which was making ear muffs. I explained to the students what we were going to do and told them we would later add elastic so they could actually wear them. They turned out so cute...I can't wait until they are finished!

Oh and I finally introduced Mike the Tiger to my students! They ADORED him! We had circle sharing time and each one got to kiss and hug the stuffed tiger! And then I taught them the GEAUX TIGERS cheer! I have created some more tiger fans!

Friday

Today was very chill and I can tell I am feeling like more of an addition to the classroom and school. The days go by smoothly as if I have been here for months!

In Spanish they had a spelling test on the words in the picture above. I had to help with some students...this consisted of Numero Uno...puma, Numero dos...te, Numero tres...fiesta. Easy enough but I still managed to mess it up a little bit. When is this Spanish thing going to get easier for me :(

At free play time, my babies finally put together the Peter Pan puzzle. It's a little large so of course I helped. I taught them that its easier to start with the outline pieces first and then fill in! They were so proud of themselves.

Well that was a summary of my first week at Thomas Jefferson! I hope I didn't bore you with all the specifics of my day! We are all having such an amazing time here and absolutely love all Chile and it's culture has to offer!


Wish you were here,
Alison Pourciau