Castro Elementary School

Mariano Castro Elementary School is one of the elementary schools in Mountain View, California. It's very special because it offers a bilingual program in which students can learn in Spanish and in English. Most of us start in this program in kindergarten. Some of us speak English at home and have learned Spanish in class, while others speak Spanish at home and have learned English in class.

Our day starts at 8:10am. We are in fourth and fifth grade with Ms. Douglas. She teaches us all our subjects. We usually start with Language Arts, which includes an hour of writing and an hour of reading. After recess we usually study math. In math we are now looking at fractions. In the afternoon we study Spanish, Social Studies and Science.We get out of class at 2:55pm. Some of us stay after school for homework club. In this program we get help with our homework, as well as play sports and do arts and crafts.

Some days a week we have special classes. Once a week we go to Computer Lab where we are taught how to type and use the internet. Three times a week we have PE, which the 4th and 5th grade teachers teach in rotation. Now we are in a soccer program. We also get Art and Music. The fourth graders study the recorder and fifth graders can chose any instrument they want to play.

We feel very fortunate because we don't have to pay to go to school, we have fabulous teachers and we can learn in two languages. ~ Gisela and Daniel