Visitantes Muy Especiales

On a recent sunny day at Lower Campus, excited whispers rippled throughout the playground, the theater, and the lunch tables. The day of Maestra Suzie's special visitors had finally arrived! These visitors hadn't come from far away and they were far from strangers – two of them had even walked the halls of Lower Campus themselves years ago – but they caused much happy anticipation nonetheless.

Two second-graders shuffle across the field, passing rapidly from sunlight into the friendly shadow of an ancient pine tree. Leaning in toward each other, one exclaims: "The visitors are here today!" Picking up their pace to a run, the energetic pair opens Mestra Suzie's classroom door and quickly slips inside. Waiting for them there is a smiling, towering bunch: Tío Riches and his high school Spanish 4 students from Pinewood's Upper Campus – very special visitors indeed.

After exchanging greetings and introductions, our high schoolers shared original stories that they had written in Spanish in preparation for their visit to Lower Campus. As hosts, our K-2 students taught the high schoolers to play Simón Dice (Simon Says), Piccionario (Pictionary), and a special handclap game called Cho-co-la-te.

One beautiful aspect of language is its power help us connect with others. In Maestra Suzie's classroom, these two groups connected with each other by speaking Spanish while sharing stories, playing games, learning from one another, and sharing lots of laughter. That was definitely worth all of the excitement!

Thank you to Maestra Suzie and Tío Riches for collaborating to make this fun and memorable day happen!