Las Palmas School

Las Palmas School was the public school across the street. This is the school that we brought supplies for. The original plan was to have all of the kids from the schools come together at Colombus School for math camp. It is difficult to explain, but the class system they have did not allow for the kids to mix together with each other. Because I don't speak Spanish, I did not teach at Las Palmas. They did allow us to go over and visit one afternoon.


The kids and teachers made special decorations for our visit. They put up this sign for us. The picture is me and Ingrid, a teacher from Wenatchee. They also hung an American flag in the school entrance. The classrooms had "kid" designed decorations taped on the concrete walls for a contest they had in our honor.

We took boxes and suitcases with many school supplies. Thanks to all the kids and families who contributed to this, it was very appreciated. This is a photo of the Assistant Principal and my friend Mikki (I taught with her at Elk Ridge). We were both crying as she was explaining to us in Spanish what a difference we were making for them.

I took a photo of these boys. I wish you could have been there to see them. They were all sharing this ice cream together.

These girls really wanted their picture taken. Girls anywhere are "posers" we decided. They let us take their photo and then rushed over to look at it in the camera screen to see what they looked like. I think they would have let us do it all day!

The students here all wear uniforms. This is a photo outside the Kindergarten classroom. They were getting ready to go out to recess. The room was tiny!

This is Luisa's classroom. I think these were First graders. She was having them work together on the floor. These kids were not used to working together. They spend half the day at school. There are not enough classrooms for all the students. So, the younger kids (K-4) come in the morning and only stay until lunch. The older kids (5-8) come for the afternoon and then in the evening it is High School and Adults. They somehow manage to teach almost 800 kids and adults a day here. The teachers said that some of the kids ride a bus for 2-3 hours one way just to get to school.

Janis told us we would come on this trip and go home "changed". I can see what she meant by that now. We have so much where we live. I can see that my own children do not appreciate all they have. And I can also see that being a great teacher is much more important than the "things" and tools you have to do the job.