BY Jennifer Lyon
Marguerite E. Small Elementary
1. Our project will help us promote shared reading time with family members at home. Please see our attached letter to guide parents on preparing their child for school. (Created by Mary Oldach-ELL teacher at M.E. Small Elementary School).
2. Our project will help promote a positive home/school partnership and a sense of volunteerism.
3. Our project will help us to promote culture and languages by helping families preserve their culture.
Objectives:
1. Research shows that children who practice reading acquire language more readily than their counterparts. Our goal is to create an environment in which children listen to stories heard in their native language.
2. Research shows that English Language Learners learn and retain English faster when they possess a strong knowledge of their first language. Parents will provide access to their child’s first language across three domains: listening, speaking and reading.
3. Children will become confident in using their first language among their peers, and will foster a sense of pride in knowing another language.
Activities:
1. Parents will enjoy quality family time by reading with their children.
2. Parents will become comfortable visiting and experiencing activities in their child’s classroom. Parents will be invited to visit the classroom to read stories aloud in their native language. Students will also hear the English version of the same story.
3. Children will be encouraged to read and listen to the books using their first language.
How will the project be evaluated (e.g. how will you gauge its success)
After we share the books in our collection with our students, they will be able to check them out for reading at home. Success will be measured by the number of books checked out, and the frequency with which they are checked out. We would like to continuously increase the number of books, the frequency with which they are checked out, and the number of different families that use the books at home.
Parents will be invited to come into the classroom to read to students. It will benefit all of our students, as they will hear other languages and learn about other cultures. It would be our goal to have as many parents as possible share their knowledge in the classroom.
Benefit to the students and the school
The number of students at M.E. Small Elementary who speak English as a second language is approximately 47, approximately 17%. This number is, of course, fluid due the nature of the population with its tendency to move for various reasons. The majority of those students speak Spanish and Portuguese. This population would benefit greatly from access to books in their first language.
Some of our families at school speak limited English, and are unable to help their children practice reading. By having a set of bilingual books for our students, families will be able to read in their native language and see the English words that accompany them. We would like to help create a nurturing, encouraging environment for our families to share stories together. It will help them bond as a family, promote culture and native language, and it will also help our students learn to read.
Budget (Please detail how funding will be used. Itemize as appropriate.)
We would like to purchase 10 Eric Carle books in Spanish as listed from a collection online at Barnes and Noble. We would also like to purchase 8 fairy tales in Portuguese. Please see photo of lists from Barnes and Noble website.
The cost would be approximately $157 for the Eric Carle books.
The cost would be approximately $50.52 for the Portuguese fairy tales.
Shipping would need to be determined.
Any remaining money granted would be used to increase the collection by adding other bilingual books.
Timeline of Project (when will you do the project, if applicable.)
The timeline of the project would be ongoing; however, initially, books would need to be cataloged and promoted with information sent home as a translated newsletter. The books themselves would be available for years to come. We would purchase the books as soon as possible if the grant were awarded. We would like to see parents in the classroom throughout the 2014-2015 school year and in years to come.