Día Cinco

First Day of School!!

Finally the first day of school had arrived, and I couldn't be more excited to get stuck in! (Although the 6am start was not what I wanted). First things first is to get out of Santiago and up the mountain, picking up some pupils along the way. Things are much different at this school compared to those at home, for example, school starts MUCH earlier. So I thought that by us arriving at 7.50am would leave us with plenty of time to settle in, oh how I was wrong. The children arrived to school at the same time as us, so there was no time to prepare for the day ahead. 

The day started out with a big welcome from the Primary team, which made us all feel very at ease. Then off to classes we went! My class teacher and myself went and took the register and did the morning task and then sent the children off to their music lesson so we could go and get some planning done. This planning took us up to break time, then we had two hours of maths!! (Poor children) Within this session I had a chance to get to know the children slightly better by having my own group during the carousel of activities. The children here surprised me with their English speaking, reading and understanding abilities. They all understood that I knew little to no Spanish so were very good with their English around me. (Although they were all still very shy so would talk very quietly). The children especially made me feel welcome with lots of hugs and kisses throughout the day as they are very tactile (and also introducing me to their parents). 

After maths came lunch (YAY!) not sure what todays lunch was but it was yummy. Almost like a donner kebab lasagna...(trust me it was good). After lunch was MORE planning (these teachers have sooooo much free time during the day!). Following this team planning was back to the classroom to dismiss the children from the school day. One thing that shocked me was at 3.05 my class teacher turned round to me and said that I could leave....AT 3.05! And that ends my first day at Craighouse, bring on the rest!!