Las Noticias Winter2013

7/29/2019 Las Noticias Winter2013

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Volume 2 Winter 2013

Las NoticiasA periodic

newsletter of the

Spanish Immersion

Program at

Ventana Vista

Our Spanish Immersion

Webpage

https://sites.google.com/a/cfsd16.org/sp

anish-immersion/

Dear Immersion Parents,

Welcome to the second edition of our

newsletter just for Spanish Immersion

families at Ventana Vista!

Our advisory board met for the second

time this school year, on January 14,

2013. We debriefed our first Parent

Education Evening, and made some plans

for steps that may be taken by parentsto support Spanish language learning

outside of school.

Please read the meeting minutes in this

newsletter, including information on

who to contact for some outside-of-

school immersion networking!

Thank you for your continuing support!

Sincerely,

Kim BolingPrincipal

Spanish Immersion Advisory Board

Parent Representatives

Kindergarten Steve Przymus

(Mars Dad)

[email protected]

First Grade Christie Iacomini(Zoes Momand Annas, gr. 3)

[email protected]

Second Grade Mark Rowley

(R.D.s Dad)

[email protected]

Third Grade Jennifer Schowengerdt

(Joaquins Momand Diegos, Kdg.)[email protected]


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lorem ipsum dolor issue, date

Minutes from 1/14/13

Advisory Board Meeting

Thanks to Christie Iacomini for

taking notes!

Kindergarten

students enjoy

hearing Spanish-

speaking 5th

graders read

aloud to them!

Attendees: Kim Boling, Amy Acua, Steve Przymus, Maria Baca, Brittany DeFazio,

Christie Iacomini, Maribel Miranda, Jill Paulos, Mark Rowley, DeDe Plante, HollyKnutson, Jennifer Schowengerdt, Sheryl Castro

Reintroductions & Celebrations

The board introduced themselves again and shared celebrations in their journey in

the Spanish Immersion program

Amy Acua, Gr. K Teacher (Spanish). Kids are using words from the Spanish books in

other contexts!

Maria Baca, Gr. 1 Teacher (Spanish). The new schedule (a full day with each

teacher) seems to help with writing. It is nice to have extra time with the students

and it is paying off.

Britney DeFazio, Gr. 1 Teacher (English). She sees the students using Spanish in

her class!

Maribel Miranda, Gr. 2 Teacher (Spanish). She sees the kids understanding what she

is saying more and if they know what to say in Spanish, they say it.

Jill Paulos, Gr. 2 Teacher (English). Cross-curricular aspect is working as she

observes kids building background knowledge in both languages.

DeDe Plante, Gr. 3 Teacher (Spanish). She doesnt have to keep reminding kids to

stay in Spanish.

Holly Knutson, Gr. 3 Teacher (English). The kids fluency is continuing to increase.

Sheryl Castro, k-12 World Language Coordinator. As VVE has demonstrated the

immersion program can work, Sunrise is going to have a k-5 Mandarin immersion

program.

Kim Boling, Principal. Interest in Kindergarten and Spanish immersion info nights

are usually split but at this point VVE has had FAR more interest in the Spanish

immersion program.


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1/14/13 Minutes,

continued

Steve Przymus, Kdg. Parent Rep.

Christie Iacomini, Gr. 1 Parent Rep.

Mark Rowley, Gr. 2 Parent Rep.

Jennifer Schowengerdt, Gr. 3 Parent Rep.

Parent Education Evening on 12/6/2012 DebriefOver 50 parents attended this evening!

A huge thank you to Steve Przymus for the presentation on the Bilingual Brain. A

copy can be found on the Spanish immersion web page for those who missed it:

https://sites.google.com/a/cfsd16.org/spanish-immersion/useful-links

Thanks also to Sheryl Castro who discussed ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012.

More information can be found on the Spanish Immersion web page, including a link

to a you-tube video that describes the different proficiency levels:

https://sites.google.com/a/cfsd16.org/spanish-immersion/useful-links

Pinterest This is a great resource for parents that can be found on the Spanish

Immersion web page. Thanks to the immersion teachers for putting it together and

taking the time to explain how to find it and how to use it.

http://pinterest.com/ventanavista/ventana-vista-spanish-immersion/

Parents were given forms to provide feedback on the event. In general all very

positive! Specifically, the board noted:

- A request to organize the event periodically.

- A suggestion to offer it per grade.

- Many parents learned that code-switching is a good thing and OK to do! (See Steve

Przymus presentation.)

- One parent noted that it would be helpful to get an evaluation of their child with

respect to the achievement levels (the chart of levels of which Sheryl Castro

explained was used to evaluate progress amongst the grades).

- Pinterest and the tutorial by the teachers were extremely helpful.

- Resources provided to parents still seem as though they are located in too many

places.

- Recommendations per grade level would be helpful.

- Parents were encouraged to do more at home!

Should we have another parent night? The board discussed and decided, not now. We

got great feedback and now we need to act on it. The events planned will be our

opportunity to continue to reach out to the parents and give them access to other

parents and teachers.

Third graders performed a

readers theatre to promote

students oral reading fluency

in Spanish


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1/14/13 Minutes, Continued

Upcoming EventsParents signed up for suggested events at the Parent Education Evening. The board

discussed how these events might be organized and led by Parent Representatives.

Book club, parent education: Christie Iacomini

- Read and discuss books and / or studies about bilingual education, how the bilingual

brain works, how parents can help their children in a bilingual program, etc.

- INTERESTED IN JOINING? CONTACT CHRISTIE!

Book club, summer reading for kids: Jennifer Schowengerdt with help from Steve

Przymus

- Identify Spanish chapter books for students to read over the summer and then meet

to discuss.

- What if higher-level students read to the younger ones? Dont need as many parents

and gives older kids a sense of power with the language.

- INTERESTED IN JOINING? CONTACT JENNIFER OR STEVE!

Dinner Club: Mark Rowley

- Could order in Spanish.

- Might be more of a social, networking event.

- Mark Rowley knows of a Japanese restaurant where all the wait staff speaks Spanish.

Hell set up the first dinner as a buffet!

- INTERESTED IN JOINING? CONTACT MARK!

Playgroup, board games: maybe another parent would like to host this?

-Cooking night, make your grocery list in Spanish.

- Puppet night. Everyone can bring a puppet!

- Doesnt have to be your house, could be at the park.

- Go to food city and do shopping (it is in Spanish).

- If run per grade, the group may be smaller. But if allow grades to mix, the older kids

can help the younger kids. A great way to engage the older ones and give them

ownership of the language. Good for the younger ones because they look up to the

older ones.

- INTERESTED IN ORGANIZING THIS? CONTACT KIM BOLING!

Attention 3rd Grade Immersion Parents!

Coming soon (before Spring Break; date TBD)

A school event for you, our pioneering families, in Immersion!

What does depth of thinking/understanding look like in

immersion?

Whats next, in 4th

grade and beyond!


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1/14/13 Minutes, Continued

Discussion Topic- How do we not undermine students confidence as they struggle to use the language,

especially with parents and a home environment that are NOT bilingual?

o

Steve Przymus points out programs like these tend to get more attention, moreresources. He specifically cited a 2000 Thomas and Cowell study that shows a

history of success.

o Did these do well because of the parents and type of kid or is it really the

program? Steve points out more resources are provided to these programs

again. Sheryl Castro points out a study that has shown kids of a neighborhood

where students were of parents not as engaged and the kids still did well. She

also reminds the group of Steves presentation about how the brain

continuously uses two systems (e.g. English and Spanish) for day-to-day

functions, whether the brain consciously acknowledges it or not.

o (Note: Our CFSD Immersion Program receives the same financial resources as

our regular education program)

Looking ForwardVVE is planning for Spanish Immersion in Gr. 4 and IDS (Interdisciplinary studies

part of CFSD Gifted Services - 4th

-science and 5th

-social studies are the emphasis.)

- Staff is currently brainstorming what the scheduling may look like. The gifted

specialists are only here 50% of the time so scheduling is a challenge to be

addressed (but not considered a problem).

o These classes are in English. We dont know what the schedule is going to look

like and only for a small number of kids. Boling will have an update in April.

Middle School Programming for Immersion Students

- Some schools offer a core area class in middle school. Easy at larger schools.

o Looking at mingling kids in the Heritage Learner (HL) classes.

o Brainstorming course work that meets the needs of the Spanish immersion

students.

o Sheryl Castro gave a short summary of the brainstorming sessions and ideas

that they are considering which include all-Spanish semester classes that

focus on a given topic (poetry, short stories, art rather than focusing on just

the language). They are considering the type of teacher to hire and how that

teacher fits into the overall curriculum (a dedicated Spanish teacher or a

Spanish-speaking teacher that needs to support other English coursework).

Summer Programming for Immersion Students

o Community schools provides a one-week program at the High school.

o Boling will look further into summer immersion camp opportunities and what

(if anything further) CFSD can provide. She started a conversation with

Community Schools over a year ago.

o UPDATE Community Schools WILL offer an more extended Spanish Immersion

summer program! Watch for details in their summer catalogue (due out March

1).

Questions specific to Immersion to be part of annual VVE Family Survey.

Las Noticias Winter2013

Documents

Transcript of Las Noticias Winter2013