Thursday, March 4, 2010

Words here, words there, words in books everywhere

Stopped by Madison Elementary and helped Mr. Apodaca, school librarian, get ready for their celebration of Dr. Seuss/Read Across America. Some students (1st and 4th graders) came by and gave me some well considered book suggestions. A personal note - my granddaughter and I are partial to Horton Hears a Who. But I try to remain open to others' opinions.

Then on to San Rafael Elementary to read to Ms. Torres' dual immersion class (Eng/Span). I nervously practiced in Spanish as I waited my turn to read to the Kindergarteners. There are few things that strike as hard at the heart of this English dominant reader than reading in Spanish. I survived reading the book - the students were kind. I now know that the Cat in the Hat in Spanish is El Gato Ensombrerado.

Last stop, Don Benito where I read in Dr. Bautista's Special Ed Class. She introduced me to her class after we sang a song with sign. Then it was my turn to read Hop on Pop. By the middle of the book Dr. Seuss' words were bringing smiles to all of us around the circle.

Books and reading - what a notion. What a gift!

http://www.mrsjonesroom.com for the image of the hat. She has lots of great ideas and patterns like the one here.

6 comments:

  1. You're doing good works out there, Roberta!

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  2. It was fun! As long as I don't have to wear the hat I'm happy to read.

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  3. My neighbor's daughter was in that class at San Rafael! Can't wait to ask her about it. And next year two more neighbor kids are starting.

    The foreign language immersion schools are a brilliant idea. I'll bet they'll have long waiting lists very soon. If I were a kid I'd be dying to get into a French immersion school.

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  4. Hmmm...Pasadena, world class city with languages of the world available to all our students. Has a nice ring to it.

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  5. I believe there's a Mandarin immersion school already. I've heard there might be an Italian one in the works but I'm not sure how reliable that information is. My neighbor whose daughter goes to San Rafael was instrumental in getting the immersion schools going.

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  6. The Eng/Man and Eng/Span immersion classes were both started this year. It is exciting that the district was able to work with parents to set up the classes. I hope that the work that has been started becomes solid before any expansion of options open up.

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