Summer School
Summer school is four weeks, during the month of June. Summer school is only in session in the mornings. After lunch, an ESL program is provided for those students who need it the most. ESL teachers will recommend which students should attend the ESL program. All students who attend the ESL program must also attend summer school in the morning, which will prepare the students for the skills they will need to succeed in their next grade. Students in grades K-2 will go to summer school at Fairmont. If your child is in third grade, summer school will be at Indian Trail, and the student will return to Towne Acres for fourth grade. Click the button for more information about summer school at Indian Trail.
Math Without Words
ST Math is scientifically designed to use images and games to teach math concepts. It uses brain research to build the students' spacial-temporal reasoning skills. This is good for students who can't yet use their new language to understand verbal explanations of math concepts. Your child can go to this website and use the free demo games to get some ideas about adding, subtracting, using fractions, etc.
Information for parents in Spanish or English
Parents: You can go to http://www.colorincolorado.org/familias/ to get information in Spanish or English about how to help your children at home in reading, comprehension and writing.
Listening practice for Parents and Students
Go to this website to listen to short conversations or see short videos, and answer comprehension questions. Click on the gray button.
What is the best way for ELLs to benefit from their reading time?English Language Learners should read 20 minutes a day, like all students. However, it's not the number of books that is important. The student needs to be reading books that are on his/her own comprehension level. That's the strong point of the AR reading program at Towne Acres.
Encourage your child to take the time to understand the story, instead of rushing to finish many books. It is better for an ELL to read one book three times than to read three books. Each time they read the book, they will absorb more meaning from it. Not only will they likely make a higher score on the AR test, they will also learn more words and phrases that will make the next book easier to understand. Don't let anyone tell you not to read to your child in another language besides English. Students who learned to read in their first language before they learned English have been shown to learn to read faster and with less struggling. Children benefit from time spent with a parent sharing the reading experience with them, no matter what language they use. Encourage your children to look for books on their level that are about the same topics that they are learning in Science and Social Studies. This will help them understand the concepts using words that are simpler, with lots of pictures to support comprehension. |