Happy short week, Lake Bluff multilingual families!

I hope you all were able to connect with your child's teacher this week and that you had great conversations about working together to support your child at school. I enjoyed getting to see and check in with many of you these last two days!

The big news this week is that our new playgrounds are now open and ready for all children to come play! Thank you to MAC 3 Oak teacher Ms. Miller for sharing these photos above of the finished playground.

Read on for information about:

• Bilingual Kidspot: How to Raise a Bilingual Child
• Translation help needed
• Job Opening at Lake Bluff: Multilingual Learner Aide
• Lunch menu
• Calendar (there are a few NO SCHOOL days in October)

If you would to see this newsletter TRANSLATED, please use the TRANSLATE button. (If you are viewing in your email, you may need to click on VIEW IT IN YOUR BROWSER above.)

Take care and be safe,

Jennifer Conigliaro

Multilingual Learner (ML) Teacher

I received a few questions from parents at conferences about how to best support their child as they learn and grow in two (or more) languages. Language research tells us that one of the best ways to support English language growth at school is to support your child at home in their family language in the 4 areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This means you might have your child keep a journal or notebook in their family language in which they take turns writing back and forth with a parent or other adult. You might have your child help make a grocery list for shopping, or draw pictures and label them in their family language.

Bilingual Kidspot is a website that often has helpful articles about raising a bilingual child. Be aware that the web site uses the term "minority language" to refer to the family language; this is a term that we do not use here at Lake Bluff.

The linked article, How to Raise a Bilingual Child, reviews three models for raising a bilingual child:

• One person, one language (OPOL)
• Minority language is spoken at home (MLAH)
• Mixing language

You may interested to read about the advantages and disadvantages of the different models.

Lake Bluff is always looking for help translating letters home and interpreting for families. If you or someone you know is interested in providing translation or interpretation help, on a volunteer or paid basis, please contact Jennifer Conigliaro at jconigliaro@shorewood.k12.wi.us. Languages we are looking for now include the following: Japanese, Vietnamese, Nepali, and Korean. Pass the word!

Lake Bluff is now seeking qualified applicants for the position of multilingual learner (ML) aide. The position is 5.5 hours per day. Preference will be given to applicants with experience in education, language learning, or proficiency in the languages of Nepali, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, or Japanese. Interested candidates should apply on the WECAN web site.

This year, school lunch is free for ALL FAMILIES. Your child will have two choices each day for lunch. They will tell their teacher their choice when they arrive at school in the morning.

Students may also bring their own lunch to school if you prefer.

You can click on this link to see the full school calendar. Each event is labeled as follows:

• LB = Lake Bluff Elementary School
• ATW = Atwater Elementary School
• SIS = Shorewood Intermediate School
• SHS = Shorewood High School
• ALL SCHOOLS = applies to all 4 schools in the district

Look for events labelled LB or ALL SCHOOLS for your child.