Prevent the ‘Summer Slide’! Take a look at our ideas on ways you can work with your child during the summer so they are engaged and practicing all the skills they have grown over the academic year.
Keep reading, asking questions, building experiences!
The Primary EAL team presented at the ACAMIS Translanguaging Conference last weekend. The focus of the conference was maximizing communicative potential and the team shared successful strategies from their own work.
A highlight of the conference was when Yolanda Zhang shared why the pronouns she, he, and it can be tricky for Mandarin speakers who are learning English. Although they are written in different characters, they are all pronounced the same, which can confuse our early learners.
The Primary EAL team invites all elementary parents to their Beating the Summer Slide presentation on May 30th at 9:15am, to help families maintain and build upon the great learning their children have had over the school year, allowing them to return in August ready to go!
Hello to the new families that joined SIS this January! We will share about our EAL program and support services.
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You are invited to an information session about the EAL program on Tuesday, February 12th, at 9:15am in the Gecko Theater.
This is an introductory presentation about the EAL program at SIS. It is for new parents, or any parents that were unable to come in August.
We look forward to seeing you then.
Sincerely,
The Primary EAL team
Thank you to the parents and families that were able to attend our EAL Parent Presentation. We hope that you have a clearer idea of our program and support for your English language learner.
If you were not able to attend or would like to look through our slides once more, please look below:
Please let us know if you have any questions about the EAL program, language support for your child, or general language development questions.
Regards,
The Primary EAL team
Adult-child conversations strengthen language regions of developing brain: Study suggests talking with children from early age could promote language skills regardless of socioeconomic status:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180813133422.htm
Young children who are regularly engaged in conversation by adults may have stronger connections between two developing brain regions critical for language, according to a study of healthy young children that confirms a hypothesis registered with the Open Science Framework. This finding was independent of parental income and education, suggesting that talking with children from an early age could promote their language skills regardless of their socioeconomic status.
As our education practices change, it is important to consider its affects on the traditional requirements of higher education.
“Standardized tests are simply one component of our holistic admissions review, in which quantitative credentials are assessed within the broader context of an applicant’s interests, background, personal qualities and accomplishments,” says Columbia Undergraduate Admissions on the change. “We hope the increased flexibility with our application will ease some of the stress students may feel when going through the college admissions process.”
To read the full article: http://college.usatoday.com/2016/07/18/columbia-and-barnard-are-the-latest-schools-to-drop-sat-and-act-requirements/
Thank you to those of you that attended the ES PSA Coffee yesterday. We were honored to be asked to help present research, ideas, and ways to support your reader at home. For those of you that were not able to join us, we offered a 4 mini-workshops rotation that focused on the following areas:
Choosing Just-Right Books
Monitoring for Understanding
Inferring – What it is and How Can I Help?
Using Home Language to Build Reading Skills
The handouts shared in the session are now available on our “Resources” page under the subject heading “Reading” (click the tab Resources, then Reading).
We hope that it is helpful and if you do have any questions or need additional resources, please contact us and/or your child’s homeroom teacher.
Happy reading, comprehending, and learning together!
From our Principal Mr. Kanabar from this week’s SIS Weekly – some helpful tips and ideas for student support at home:
“Here are some ways in which you can continue to support your child at home:
Engage in your child’s portfolio through the SeeSaw app.
Ensure your child reads with you every day and ask questions about the reading to help develop understanding and connections to the text.
Continue to expect and develop a sense of independence and responsibility.
Ask questions about your child’s school day-see the prompts below that might help.
Subscribe to your child’s blogs so that you have an overview of what is happening during the week. This will make conversations with your children richer. ” http://share.sis.org.cn/elementary-staff-sites
Prompts to engage your children about their day at school:
1. Tell me something exciting that happened today.
2. What did you play at recess?
3. If I walked into the classroom, what would I see?
4. What made you laugh today?
5. What happened today that made you feel happy?
6. If you did today over, what would be different?
7. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?
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