It seems that in the blink of an eye, our first group of DLBE students are ready to advance to Fox Lane Middle School, where they will continue their bilingual studies. On April 11, DLBE students were honored for their achievement in English and Spanish thus far at a celebration in the Mary Lou Meese Theater at Fox Lane High School. "The Milestone in Biliteracy" recognized Fox Lane seniors who will earn the NYS Seal of Biiteracy upon graduation in English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Next the program featured DLBE fifth graders, who received pins to commemorate this milestone and entertained the audience with moments captured in video and a lively choral performance. MKES Principal Mrs. Morsi-Hogans and Assistant Principal Dr. Johnson proudly acknowledged all students individually as they crossed the stage. Students appreciated the tremendous turnout from MKES faculty and families.

Other guests included Superintendent Dr. Manno, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Adelberg, and FLMS Principal Ms. Ostrofsky. The program was followed by a lovely reception coordinated by the DLBE Parent Advisory Team. Special thanks go to our Grade 5 DLBE teachers for all they contributed in time and talent to make this program a wonderful success: Ms. Berigüete, Ms. Ortiz, Ms. Condon-Kim, and Mrs. Nigro. We are also grateful for the volunteers who contributed refreshments for the reception and facilitated carpooling to ensure that all families could be present for this special event.

As we close another joyful year of learning and plan for our DLBE Summer Workshops, we are busy preparing to welcome new students and families from other parts of the District into DLBE at MKES. As you can imagine, the teachers also will be planning exciting units of study and culminating activities to engage our students in two languages.

Thank you to the DLBE students, families, faculty, and staff for all you do to support DLBE at MKES. Best wishes for a happy, healthy summer break!

Sincerely,

Adrienne Viscardi

Director of ESOL Programs, Bedford Central School District

Inas Morsi-Hogans

Principal, Mount Kisco Elementary School

With the help of their teachers and Artist-in-Residence, Kim McCormack, the second grade students created bilingual community books! They brought urban, suburban, and rural areas to life with moving slides, mouths that open and close, and a pop-up of a landscape image representative of their community of choice. Their hard work was paramount at the parent celebration where books were prominently displayed in both English and Spanish. Each child proudly read his or her book to family and friends; a perfectly fitting experience which embraced our very own Mount Kisco community!

--submitted by the Grade 2 DLBE team

DLBE students in Grade 4 completed their second book project to help reinforce their character study on fictional stories. They selected a "just right" fictional book that they had never read before. Students decorated and designed a cereal box with different materials that told about the book they read. On one side of the box, they wrote a paragraph about the main problem and the main character in the book. On the other side of their cereal box, they described the setting and listed the names of the main characters with brief descriptions of each. Students proudly shared their projects in English and Spanish with families, teachers, and administrators.​

--submitted by the Grade 4 DLBE team

MKES DLBE parents Saily De Los Santos Rodgers and Fabian Patiño joined ESOL Director Adrienne Viscardi in a discussion of DLBE hosted by ABC7NY's Joe Torres on Tiempo, a Sunday morning program focused on issues that have an impact on the Latino community. Ms. De Los Santos Rodgers and Mr. Patiño , who both have daughters in Grade 3 DLBE, appeared in the June 23 edition of the program, sharing their satsifaction with the school, program model, and teachers.

Mr. Torres, also a co-anchor for Eyewitness News, explained that "Tiempo is focused on solutions." He asked questions about the demographics as well as the dynamics of the Mount Kisco community and inquired about the history of DLBE at MKES. Parents shared the advantages of learning all academic content in two languages and indicated their appreciation for the opportunity to participate in an inclusive bilingual program. Mr. Patiño explained how his daughter "learns in both languages as she would at home, as she would in the community." He admitted, "At first we were hesitant to enroll," thinking the program might be a pull-out model, "but we saw how it worked out." Ms. De Los Santos Rodgers added, "What's fabulous is...when [my daughter] comes home, she talks about things that she's learning about other cultures, " noting the diversity of families in Mount Kisco. "I think her social skills are improving...and she is creating interpersonal relationships, which is amazing at a young age," she noted.

In his questions and comments, Mr. Torres underscored the transformative role of DLBE in the larger community as well as the impressive collaboration of the teachers. Congratulations to our DLBE parents and faculty for this well-deserved recognition!

The links to theTiempo interview are available to the public.