Pen Pal Fun With OBE

CFHS had some young visitors on Monday, May 13, as the Teacher Cadets hosted a class of second-graders from Ocean Bay Elementary School students along with their teacher, Ms. Pam Datlof. The group of seven and eight-year-olds have been pen pals since fall with the cadets. They exchanged a journal back and forth in which they wrote friendly, uplifting letters to one another.  

The Teacher Cadets welcomed their guests as they were getting off their bus.  Before having a pizza lunch and sharing their last journal entries, the students were given a brief tour of the seemingly-ginormous school.  The future Panthers were taken to Mr. Ernest’s science lab, Ms. Dutka’s art studio, and Ms. Ehnle’s German II class, where they had time to learn some basic German words.

Cadet Gabby Arambula said, “I really enjoyed guiding the students and showing them around what may be their future school.”

It did, however, seem that the kids enjoyed the Media Center the most. As they roamed around looking at books and paintings on the windows, their amazement was pretty clear.  They loved all the different chairs and couches.  

“The best part was seeing my students connect with the students from the high school who have an interest in educating,” stated Pam Datlof, their teacher from OBE.

When asked what his favorite part of the visit was, second-grader, Kevin Lewis responded, “I loved spending time with my buddy partner after not seeing her for so long!”

After a fun-filled morning and lunch, the Cadets and elementary students walked back to the bus for the short ride back to their school.  It was a bittersweet moment as they told each other to have a great summer and waved goodbye.

Ann Twigg, our Teacher Cadet instructor, shared, “This is our second year of building a community family with one of our area schools.  It is pure joy observing the interaction between the high school students and second graders.  I can’t wait to do it again next fall.”