District Message: (Scroll down for the El Sierra School message)
Dear Incoming Kindergarten Families,
As you may have heard, District 58 is beginning a two-way Dual Language program this fall. The program will begin with one kindergarten two-way dual language classroom at El Sierra School, taught by a bilingual teacher.
A two-way dual language classroom contains students whose native language is Spanish (or who have primarily learned Spanish at home) as well as students whose native language is English. The goal of a dual language program is that the students become biliterate in English and Spanish over the course of their education.
For the dual language experience to be authentic, the classroom should be balanced with native Spanish speaking students and native English speaking students; based upon our demographics in District 58, this means that there will likely only be between 10-14 spaces for monolingual English students to join the program. In the initial year of the program, we have committed to starting on a smaller scale, knowing that things could expand in the future. In keeping with that, we are offering these spaces in next year’s dual language Kindergarten classroom first to El Sierra incoming Kindergarten students whose families are interested in the dual language program. If we do not fill the classroom with interested families from El Sierra, the remaining spaces will be offered districtwide via a lottery system.
While spaces will be very limited, we do want to ensure that families are able to receive information about the program. We are hosting an informational night on Thursday, May 19th at El Sierra to share that information. A flyer can be found here. Families will be asked that evening to indicate their level of interest in the program. Recognizing that this is short notice for the meeting, if you are unable to attend but are interested in having your incoming Kindergarten student enrolled in the dual language classroom, please contact the El Sierra school office to have your name placed on the potential lottery list. We will share information from the meeting early next week.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly with any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Justin Sisul, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, District 58
jsisul@dg58.org, 630-719-5867
El Sierra Message
Dear El Sierra Incoming Kindergarten Families,
As you may have heard, District 58 is beginning a two-way Dual Language program this fall. The program will begin with one kindergarten two-way dual language classroom at El Sierra School, taught by a bilingual teacher.
A two-way dual language classroom contains students whose native language is Spanish (or who have primarily learned Spanish at home) as well as students whose native language is English. The goal of a dual language program is that the students become biliterate in English and Spanish over the course of their education.
For the dual language experience to be authentic, the classroom should be balanced with native Spanish speaking students and native English speaking students; based upon our demographics in District 58, this means that there will likely only be between 10-14 spaces for monolingual English students to join the program. We are offering these spaces first to El Sierra incoming Kindergarten students whose families are interested in the dual language program.
We know that you will have many questions about the program; to address those questions, we are hosting an informational night on Thursday, May 19th at El Sierra so that you might be able to learn more about the program. A flier can be found here. Families will be asked that evening to indicate their level of interest in the program. If you are unable to attend but are interested in having your incoming Kindergarten student enrolled in the dual language classroom, please contact the El Sierra school office.
We hope to see many of you at the informational meeting and are happy to answer any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Jason Lynde, Principal El Sierra School
Justin Sisul, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, District 58