Bilingual Program

We offer a Spanish-English program to support second-language learners. We provide children with many opportunities throughout the day where we can promote first-and second language and literacy

learning such as:

Story time: Keeping books short, reading in small groups, choosing books carefully, read them more than once, and encourage children to "read" to other children.

Snack and Lunch times: These times are important for teachers and children to have conversations that will develop and confirm vocabulary related to the food they eat. Children that listen or participate in this exchange also benefit.

Circle time: During this time children and teachers come together by sitting down in a big circle. Several activities take place here. Some of the most common are taking roll, singing about the days of the week, reviewing calendar, talking about up coming events, the weather, singing songs, exercise, and reading.

Outside time: During games that have routinized rules and can give children a participation structure that is obvious and easy to get into. Many large- group games have repetitive linguistic features like "Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox".

Transitions: Transitions promote self-regulation by helping children know what to expect and actively participate in their daily schedule. Separating from a caregiver, moving from one activity to the next, sitting down at circle time, cleaning up, lining up, coming inside, waiting for an activity to start, and waiting for a turn are all promote and prepare children's language development.

(Tabors, 2008)