Good afternoon tigres,

Today I witnessed the 6th grade class explode with joy at seeing snow for the first time this school year. Although it took us a few minutes to start the lesson, it was worth dedicating a few minutes to awe. Hoping for more moments like these, throughout the next six weeks of school, I will dedicate two days a week to be exclusively present in one grade. The aim is to forge more meaningful relationships with students, and offer a hand to teachers where needed. During those days, I will be fully focused on those spaces. For this reason, I ask for a bit of flexibility in response time to emails.

This week 2nd and 6th grade teachers were gracious enough to receive me, and I want to share some discoveries:

• Our tigers are "ferocioulsly" multilingual: Being bilingual feeds curiosity to communicate with the world. For example, in 2nd grade, I had the privilege of learning phonics in English and Spanish with a student who arrived in the country for the first time this week. It was amazing to see the children asking the student to teach them Russian, her native language. They, in turn, shared key words in Spanish. I loved seeing that the first language they taught the new student was Spanish, in recognition of its importance to our pueblo!

• Our tigers are creative and dedicated learners: A 6th grade student I spoke with recently arrived from Latin America, and had spent an entire day memorizing facts and figures about Mexico's economy to prepare for a presentation in Ms. Suarez's class. Listening to him speak, I saw the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve! In the 2nd grade class, we discussed the impact of technological changes on our society, particularly regarding appliances that now require the use of non-renewable resources. In that conversation, I saw surprise and astonishment when Mr. Benson explained how many years it would take to regenerate oil and coal. In that moment, two future environmentalists were born! What a privilege it was to be there.

Students in their presentation about the Dominican Republic.

The week after Thanksgiving, I will be in 4th and 7th grade. I will share my discoveries on December 6, as there will be no edition of the Tiger's Den next week due to the break!

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Carolina Brito