Board games welcomed in NEISD classroom
On rainy and dark days, sometimes there’s no place you would rather be than at home.
At Serna Elementary though, in Ms. Gutierrez’s fourth grade class, many students feel like they are already there.
Cassandra Gutierrez has been a teacher at Serna for three years.
She is a former NEISD kid herself and attended Wetmore Elementary, Driscoll Middle School, and MacArthur High School.
She aimed to create a nurturing environment for her students.
“That was a really important aspect I started incorporating last year. I spend so many hours here, they spend so many hours here, more hours than we do in our home sometime and I just thought, we have to feel comfortable,” Gutierrez said.
Ms. Gutierrez keeps learning fun in her classroom and that means board games!
“I introduced it through a morning meeting just as a fun activity for them to do then I started realizing how much they enjoyed them so we started incorporating them into our ‘brain break’ and our math block,” she said.
Students learn about leadership, how to share, and how to work as a team.
10-year-old Julianna Albarado is in the class and said she is learning how to problem solve.
“Like, if somebody wants to play a certain game but it’s only for four people, you can problem solve and do like ‘rock-paper-scissors’ or something, or take turns,” the fourth-grader said.
“One of our big rocks this year is SEL (social emotional learning) and just making sure the students feel comfortable and safe in the classroom so if work gets stressful or we are having conflict, it’s always nice to bring out a brain break or a game activity. That’s something we really want to do for our students,” Ms. Gutierrez added.
The Serna Seals said they love being part of such a fun school.
“Serna Elementary is awesome and I think more people should come here because I think the teachers are really nice,” Julianna said.
Ms. Gutierrez hopes her passion for education will continue to shine on through her students.
“I have known that I wanted to be a teacher since I was in the second grade. That’s just because I had wonderful at teachers that modeled great compassion for students and I wanted to be able to guide students with their different gifts and abilities just so they can have a successful future. That’s why I really enjoy it; just encouraging their gifts,” she said.
Discover the NEISD way, where our educators create a welcoming environment for students to learn and grow.
