My answers to the questions from Ms. Austin's third graders: 1. How many kids are in the classes? about 20 kids in each class. There are about an even number of boys and girls: 11 girls, 9 boys. 2. How many classes per grade are there? about four classes per grade, I think. 3. Are you enjoying Argentina and do you miss Dolche? I had the chance to explore most of the city this weekend, my first tourist opportunities! I will post pictures and journal entries later today, hopefully. I miss Dolce SOOOOO much. I have had several dreams about him (but keep that a secret!). When I call my mom and dad, I can hear dolce in the background barking and I have tried to "talk" to him on the phone. 4. How many students are in the whole school? Let me see...if primary is K-6 and there are about 20 kids in each class and 4 classes per grade, what would you estimate? 5. Do the kids act wild? They are no different than you. They are good listeners, but just as you do, sometimes they make the choice of being noisy and not following directions... 6. What are the boys and girls like there? They are just like you are. It seems like the boys and girls choose to play together more. All kids seem to like Disney, boys love futbol, and I have heard some girls say they play Barbies and pretend school at home. 7. What unit are you working on and do they do their units differently from us? The units are totally different that ones at WA. We are starting new units here this week, and I am not sure what they are. I will have to tell you about that later! 8. Which house are you in? I am not in a house here. Once a Westlake Wheatley, always a Wheatley! 9. Do the kids wear dress uniform on Fridays? Actually, from what I understand (and remember I have only been here a week) students have two types of uniforms: one for fall and winter which is just like the dress uniform, and one for spring, which is like our shirts and shorts. So, technically, every day of winter is dress uniform day. Could you imagine??!! On the other hand, if a class has PE, they get to wear the PE uniform for the entire day instead of changing. 10. How high do their rubrics go? I have not seen any rubrics yet, but ask Ms. Ceci. She can give you good answers. 11. Can the kids speak english to you? Yes. They do and they are learning english just like you are learning spanish. SO, the year one students will try to speak in spanish but I have to remind them to use english. Of course, they are still learning words and how to use the language, so it is hard. 12. Do you teach all subjects all day or just english, because we would like to know how you do math with them? So far, we just do reading, writing, spelling, and math. In year one last week, we learned about the calendar and this week we are doing number patterns. In year two, we have done word problems with addition and subtraction. 13. Do you use any special techniques to teach them that's different from here? NOPE! 14. What time does school start and end? Students arrive at 8:00 and we pack up at 3:50. Instead of having flag at the beginning of the day, it is at the end. At 4:00, we head outside for flag ceremony, when they lower the flag. I think dismissal begins at 4:15. Can you believe it! A school that has a day longer than ours! 15. How creative are the children there? They are creative in many ways. For instance, when they do not know a particular english word, they will kind of speak Spanglish-which is when they combine the spanish word and put an english twist to it. Of course we have to correct them when they do this, but it is a pretty creative way of being a communicator. 16. Do you miss us as much as we miss you? I miss everyone loads! You wouldnt believe how much I think about you during the week. I am always wondering what is going on at Westlake and have been thinking about all the excitement that is leading up to Bandana Bonanza. I am sad to miss the Cha Cha Cha performace because I have seen how hard you have been practicing. Also, I would like to see the pine box derby races too. I hope someone will save a bandana for me and take lots of pictures! Make sure Ms. Ceci has a good time. I will see everyone in two weeks! Love, Ms. Schneider