Lower School Resources
HOW TO SUPPORT READING AT HOME
Read, read, reaD!
Parents often express their concern over how best to assist their children in immersion when the parents themselves don’t speak Spanish. Relax! Research shows that the best thing your child can do is to read at home, no matter your home language. Only know English? Reading to your child in English is also important. They’re learning intonation, vocabulary, and fluency in Spanish at school (much of which transfers to English) but reading in English with your child at home builds vocabulary and provides an understanding of how a reader approaches texts in English (intonation, pace, pausing, pronunciation, etc.) from another person. Plus, it’s great one-on-one time! (Remember, you don't need to TEACH them how to read at home. Their teachers are working on that at school.)
Here are some additional ideas to help support and build reading in both Spanish and English in your home:
Did you know that RCS has a growing Spanish library? It’s accessible to K-5 children every other week and our librarians are happy to help readers find a book (in English or Spanish) that they’re interested in.
Check out a book from our Hallway Spanish Library. All books have been cataloged with BookSource, so you can check them out and pick them up from our hallway. Instructions can be found here.
Every K-5 student has a RAZ-Kids account where they can access many leveled Spanish titles. Reach out to your child’s teacher if you don’t yet have an access code for your child.
You can visit the Unite for Literacy website. If you click on the left-hand corner, you can click on 'español' and it will populate hundreds of books.
Visit your local library! Hot tip: County libraries have a far reach in accessibility to many Spanish titles.
Search YouTube for videos of your favorite authors reading their books.
Purchase EPIC! It’s an app that has thousands of titles available in both Spanish and English for a monthly fee.
SPANIsh RESOURCES from local libraries
You truly have access to thousands of Spanish books at your fingertips through our local libraries.
San Bernardino County Library:
Did you know that there are over 4,000 books in Spanish in our county library system?! Our county libraries (whether you head to the branch in Highland, Mentone, Fontana, Loma Linda, Yucaipa, or any other location) have a really far reach and can access titles from other county libraries. Head to their website to search what's available, or head into a physical branch to have a librarian search for and reserve a title for you.
AK Smiley Library in Redlands
There are limited Spanish titles physically available in their library (ask a librarian to point out the shelves when you're there), but AK Smiley Library just announced they're offering free, live 24/7 online tutoring in math and language arts in Spanish through California Libraries.
You can learn about membership and other AK Smiley Library provides on their website.
eBooks with the Libby App
With your library card number (from any library that has digital books) you can access any of their eBooks! It's as easy as downloading the Libby App and connecting it with your library via your library card number. More and more titles are available in Spanish. This is for students with access to an eReader (Kindle, etc). Again, lots more titles are available through with a SB County library card.
Learn how english is taught to immersion students
When English instruction begins explicitly for the first time in 3rd grade, students are taught concepts of English grammar, syntax, phonological awareness that are different than what they had learned in Spanish. So, for example, immersion students don't need to relearn what sound the letter p makes (because it's the same in both languages), but they might learn that ph makes an /f/ sound in English. Immersion students don't need to learn what an adjective is, but they may talk about how in English, adjectives always go before the noun. This explicit teaching of grammar that is specific to English is called English Specific Skills (ESS) and is part of 3rd grade and up.
ESS is taught alongside Social Studies in 3rd through 5th grade. As we have learned in all of immersion, the best language instruction is taught within the context of other subject areas and applied in cross-curricular ways. Currently, our students in 3rd grade through 5th grade have ESS + Social Studies three times per week for 40-45 minutes each time (roughly 2.25 hours per week). Our ESS teacher Mrs. Nagelkerk tends to focus on the English focus of the week on Day One, then review those ESS concepts on Days Two and Three while focusing more on the Social Studies concepts and/or projects on Days Two and Three.
ESS in the Middle School looks slightly different; students receive ESS for 40 minutes per week (also provided by Mrs. Nagelkerk) where they are taught English skills tailored to their needs (which are determined by Mrs. Nagelkerk and other teachers). Since it is only 40 minutes, it is not typically embedded with another subject area, though weekly cross-curricular and cross-lingual connections are made.
meet our ESS Teacher!
Beginning in 2022 we developed our English instruction a little differently by having a separate English teacher for our Spanish Immersion students. We call it English Specific Skills (ESS) because we focus on language skills that are specific to English and specific to our Spanish Immersion students. ESS is taught 3 times per week in 3rd through 5th grade. In the 2023-24 school year at the Middle School level, ESS is embedded within the English writing-specific electives offered. While previously it was the immersion teachers' job to also teach English to their students, we felt a separate ESS teacher could increase consistency of instruction and objectives in English language development across the board.
In 3rd through 5th grade, ESS is combined with Social Studies, where students are learning English skills contextualized within social studies.
Parent Charlas:
a great way to support your child in immersion
a great way to support your child in immersion
These quarterly 'chats' are for parents to come support each other, to learn about some new concepts in immersion, and to gain tips for how to support children in the immersion program. Our meetings are casual (bring coffee, bring your toddler) and brief, but they're a good way to connect new AND seasoned parents in our program.
Language proficiency Demystified
