CHAPTER 4: MRS COOPER

It had been three years since I joined Chicago Elementary school as a Kindergartener. In the fall of August 2010, I walked into school starting my new school year as a third grader; this was going to be a totally different lifestyle from what I was used to back in kindergarten, grade 1 and grade 2. In addition to having a new teacher, would be studying new and different subjects, more homework, and would be doing after school activities for the first time. Of course the usual recess times, lunch times and snack times were still inclusive but the times were different, no more nap times (well that ended after kindergarten). My only concern was finding out whom my new classmates and classroom teacher was going to be…..was super anxious, as I had hoped that I would see Jaime and Chris and we would be in the same classroom.

It didn’t take long for that hope and dream to materialize because when I walked into my classroom, standing right in the middle of the classroom were my two buddies Chris and Jaime and as it turned out they had also been waiting to find out which classroom I would be in for third grade. Once we all found out that we were going to be in the same classroom for another school year we all jumped with excitement and joy hugging each other, this was truly the best news and great way to start the school year.

Jaime and Chris: Diana……Yes!!!!

Diana: Jaime and Chris….Yes!!! Are you guys also in this classroom?

Jaime and Chris: Yup!! We get to be in the same classroom for the rest of the school year.

Diana: This is so cool…my parents are going to be so excited when I tell them tonight. They were quite worried about whether I would settle well and do well in a new class without you guys.

Jaime and Chris: Our parents as well.

Chris: My parents had been worried about who my classmates were going to be, kept on saying “I do hope Jaime and Diana will also be in your class”. I told them not to worry that everything will be OK and if we don’t get to be in the same classroom; we would still in the same school, same grade, and we shall still get to see each other every day.

Jaime: Yeah, my parents were also worried as well, but will not be anymore once I tell them this exciting news.

Jaime, Chris and I had become very good friends since kindergarten and over the years I had always felt that they were the brothers I never had, even though they were older than me by a few months but that didn’t matter. The fact that we have been able to get along so well from the moment we met, being there for each other, helping each other says a lot about our friendship and I knew this was going to be one of the best friendships I would have ever have in my life.

Diana: Do you guys know who will be our new third grade teacher? What subjects are we learning?

Jaime: I saw the label outside the classroom saying Mrs. Cooper.

Diana: There was a lady standing outside the classroom, welcoming us and our parents as I walked into the classroom. Is that her?

Chris: Yes, that’s her.

Diana: Oops, I just passed her and walked into the classroom and didn’t even say hello. I thought she was a mum of one of our classmates (good grief, breathing heavily)….school hasn’t yet started and I am already causing trouble.

Jaime: No worries Diana, you didn’t do anything wrong, and besides you didn’t know that she was our classroom teacher.

Diana: Yeah, I am sure will be OK.

Chris: Oh yeah, we are pretty much (interruption from another student in their class)……

Student A: Hi, I am Carl, nice to meet you! What are your names?

Jaime, Chris, and Diana: I am Diana, I am Jaime and I am Chris, nice to meet you Carl.

Chris: (continues the conversation, while Carl takes a seat next to Jaime) Yeah, so as I was saying, I think the subjects we are going to learn are math, language arts, science, social studies, physical education, computer, music, art and will get to choose a foreign language. It is pretty much like in grade 2, but this year we are learning science, social studies and a foreign language. I think there is a choice of Spanish and French.

Jaime: Can we take both?

Chris: I don’t think so because both languages are taught at the same time, so while you are learning Spanish, the others are learning French. What will you choose?

Diana: I will go with Spanish.

Jaime: I will also take Spanish

Chris: I will also choose Spanish. Carl what language will you choose?

Carl: I am not sure, will have to speak to my parents and see what they say and then decide.

Chris: Well, which language do you like?

Carl: I really like and want to learn Spanish, but not sure if my parents will allow me to choose Spanish. My mum has always liked French, and she has quite a few relatives who are French speaking…so we’ll see.

(Classroom teacher walks into the classroom….classes start around 8 AM)

As the bell rang, we began to gather ourselves and go towards our seating area; I noticed that on each desk there was a name tag on it, which was your assigned seat. My desk was to the right side of the classroom near the window and there were four others who were assigned to my seating area as well, and guess whom? Yup, Jaime, Chris and Carl and Cynthia and I...Five of us in one seating area….couldn‘t have asked for a better group of friends to seat with for the entire school year.

So we sat in our seats and our classroom teacher begun the class. Our classroom teacher was Mrs. Cooper, young pretty lady, seemed to be in her early thirties, from her looks and the way she was talking she seemed quite nice, gentle and humble. She introduced herself, gave us a tour of her classroom, and I have to say in comparison to my previous classes, Mrs. Cooper’s class was huge, well the class size was larger, in counting we were about twenty five students in our class, quite a large number. I liked her class a lot as it was very attractively decorated with pictures of us, plants, and plastic boxes with our names on it and materials in each box, there was a reading circle area with a red carpet where we would seat for story reading time, there were also huge cushions which could be used for sitting and relaxing when we had quiet time and also for reading and finally a book shelf with lots and I mean lots of reading books, and three desktop computers.

On the board was a list of all the subjects written that we would be learning, in front of the board was a smart board and Mrs. Cooper’s desk was on the right side of the classroom, her desk would be the first thing you would see directly in front of you when you entered her classroom. The classroom was fully carpeted in gray color which made it quite comfortable to walk on especially without your shoes which I truly loved as I had a habit of walking barefoot especially at home and in school. It is funny because I sometimes never realize that I am walking barefoot until I start to feel the cold that’s when it hits me I am not walking on a carpet anymore but on tiles or cold hard cement.

Oh and something else that I found interesting in Mrs. Cooper’s class was that on the classroom wall, she not only had our pictures which was a great way of recognizing each other I thought, but there was also a chart with our names on it and at first I just thought it was an ordinary chart which we would have to fill in information but as I looked closer I saw that it was written “Star Chart”. That caught my immediate attention and as I know myself getting curious was a habit by nature. So I raised my hand….

Mrs. Cooper: Yes, Diana, how can I help you?

Diana: I noticed on the classroom wall you prepared a chart with all our names and on the top it says “Start Chart”, what does that mean?

Mrs. Cooper: Let me finish talking about the subjects, then will talk about that in just a few minutes, OK Diana?

Diana: Yes, Mrs. Cooper

Mrs. Cooper had been giving us a tour of our classroom and explaining about the subjects we shall be learning in third grade including the daily schedule and routines of the day. Our seating assignments were assigned for the year, (I was smiling in my heart, saying Christmas came early) however, seating rearrangements could occur including changing and reassigning of seats depending on the situation. This brought on the next topic she talked about which were the class rules, this was one topic which for sure would be of great interest and after what I went through in second grade, was not sure I would want to get myself into any trouble this year. Mrs. Cooper had prepared a set of class rules which she presented on the smart board.