Principal's Newsletter
December 3, 2019
Principal's Message
Dear Adelante Selby families,
Did you know that Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion is considered a demonstration/model site for TK-3rd grade for the Sobrato Early Academic Language(SEAL) program? Educators from all over the county and northern California visit our school two times a month to learn our strategies to best meet the needs of students. We have a strong implementation of the SEAL program about which all school community members should be proud. Recently, the 1st grade team had the end of unit "Gallery Walk" which is a SEAL strategy where parents are invited to come and students proudly show them what they have learned during their 6-7 week thematic unit of study. I have included a few photos from the Gallery Walk below. I also want to call your attention to the metalinguistic transfer SEAL strategy teachers are implementing in classrooms. Teachers focus on cognates which are identified vocabulary words in the integrated units of study, e.g., "plantas"/"plants"; "observar"/"observe"; "adaptación"/"adaption". Students learn the vocabulary words in context in Spanish first, and then later identify the cognates in English during Language Transfer or English Language Development (ELD) time. Teachers also use transfer for parts of speech as well, e.g., "--ando/--iendo" ="--ing", "--mente" = "ly", etc. I have included a few photos below of language transfer in classrooms.
The 4th and 5th grade Dance Performance was a wonderful event where students had the opportunity to perform on stage in front of a large audience. There were 8 different classes that performed a variety of dances as choreographed by our Dance Instructor Danny Giray. Danny is a very talented teacher who is able to get a large class of students moving together in rhythm to the music. The colors of the costumes and the vibrant movements to the music were truly amazing! A big Shout out to Tammy Walls the parent coordinator and Maestras Elanor and Rita for their help with the dances. Also, a special thank you to the PTO/Unidos community for funding and supporting dance at our school!
I want to invite the Adelante Selby community to come to the Seussical the Musical performance on Friday, December 13th at 7:00pm or Saturday, December 14th at 1:00pm at McKinley Auditorium. The students did a great job performing one song last night during the Dance Show which was just enough to get everyone excited about the upcoming shows. You can purchase your tickets online or at the door. Tickets cost $10 with a $5 suggested donation.
We have already begun giving School Tours for Kindergarten/TK/new students every Thursday starting at 8:30am in Room 204.Interested families should call the office to reserve a spot on the tour. We go over the 90-10 Two Way Spanish Immersion program, talk about our schedule, behavioral expectations, opportunities for enrichment, and parent involvement. We then go through a tour of the school visiting the Kinder and TK classrooms, the Library, garden, cafeteria and playground. We are a School of Choice School so families need to complete a 2 step process to be accepted by registering as per their home school address and then the School of Choice form for Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion school. Registration and School of Choice both begin on January 15, 2020 at 9:00am. Families will be notified of school placement by February 21, 2020 at 3:00pm. Reminder that current Adelante Selby families have sibling priority including the TK class. We will be sending out a sibling priority form to current families to let us know if you have another child who will be entering TK/Kindergarten next year.
Please visit our school website , Adelante Selby Facebook Page and our PTO/Unidos webpage and social media accounts: unidospto.org, Facebook and Instagram for more information.
Regards,
Director Warren
SEAL Strategies Gallery Walk and Language Transfer
Gallery Walk: 1st grade parents singing a chant
Transfer: Cognates
Language Transfer: Present Progressive Tense
4th/5th Dance Performance
Around our School
Pajama Spirit Day with PE+ coaches joining in!
English Learner Redesignation Ceremony
"Dadelante" volunteers cooked up a storm Día de los Muertos
December Events
- School Tours for new families every Thursday at 8:30am start in Room 204
- 12/3: PTO/Unidos meeting, 6:00pm, Library
- 12/11: School Site Council 3:00pm, Library
- 12/12: Food Distribution Second Harvest 3:30-5:30 Cafeteria
- 12/13-12/14: Seussical the Musical at MIT Auditorium, McKinley campus
- 12/20-1/7: Winter Break, No School
January Events
- School Tours for new families every Thursday at 8:30am start in Room 204
- 1/8 Classes resume
- 1/20 No School MLK Jr. holiday
- 1/24 Family Bingo night 6:00pm
- 1/27 ELAC meeting 8:45, Room 204
- 1/29 School Site Council Meeting 3:00pm, Library
- 1/31 Principal's Coffee 8:30, Library