Hey there, im new to cello and am having some difficulties grasping everything! i know it will take time and practice but im finding it really hard to read music. Ive never played an instrument before so it makes it that much harder. I have a fantastic teacher and i dont want to disappoint her by not progressing. My MAIN trouble at the moment is to do with sharps and flats. For some reason i just cant seem to memorise the notes and keep getting confused. IF someone could suggest a good book / resource that would be amazing.
Just to let you know, ive been playing for about 13 weeks and have just started learning second position and extensions.
Thanks!!

Music IS a second language. As we get older it generally becomes more difficult to learn a new language - however, that doesn't mean it can't be done. What your brain is probably doing is learnign the notes (without sharps and flats) then as you add the sharps and flats your brain gets confused because your brain is being told two things that don't make sense; one is that here is a new word for the same things, and two is that here is the same word for a different thing. Your brain learned the note by their names and now your brain is recognizing the note and then translating it again to figure out the sharp or flat (so it takes you twice as long to recognize, interpret, and react to paly a note when there is a sharp or flat.

First thing to do is relax.
Second thing to do is get a book with all your scales and practic them very slowly. I recommend first playing your scales at about 4 seconds per note. This gives you time to think about your fingering and any #'s or b's. When you can do all your scales at 4 seconds per note, then and only then increase the speed to 3 second per note. Don't play any scale faster than your slowest scale. This exercise will train your brain and your muscle memory. Generally it takes 2 months to learn a fingering for a given note, and 2 years for the muscle memory to memorize it.

Do several short practice sessions as opposed to one long practice session if you can.

how much do you practise?if you practise a lot like, 2 hours a day or something that will help. if you break it up that helps- i agree with john.
when you are reading music, if you are the sort of person who looks at the music and goes, "ok, that note's an Bb...Bb is 2nd finger on the G string..." you're mentally taking two steps (note-letter-finger) and it's gonna take you longer than someone who thinks "that note = 2nd finger".
because i do the second way, and i'm faster at reading manuscript than letter music. it really does help with flats+ sharps. they are very confusing- i tried explaining them to my mum once (who doesn't play) and she said, "so you have the same letter for two notes? that's stupid."
well i hope that helps