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Flowery hosts dual-immersion info night

Parents of children entering kindergarten in the fall of 2013 are invited to a Dual-Immersion Kindergarten Information Night at Flowery Elementary School. For families thinking about enrolling their children at Flowery, this is the night to learn about the program, ask questions and consider the benefits. The event will start at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, beginning in room 4.1 and continuing in kindergarten classrooms.

Childcare will be provided.

Dual-immersion staff and parents will explain how the program uses a standards-based curriculum taught in both English and Spanish. The evening will include a few words from students, an overview of the program, demo lessons and open discussion groups for both English and Spanish-speaking parents of prospective students.

Based on a successful model developed in the 1960s in Quebec, dual-immersion education provides children with fluency and literacy in two languages while cultivating greater cognitive flexibility, increased attention control, better memory and enhanced problem-solving skills.

Dual-immersion at Flowery began in 1998 with 20 students and a $1 million Title VII grant. In December 2004, the school board voted to make Flowery a “dual-immersion school of choice.”

Then in 2006, Flowery was awarded a $500,000 Foreign Language Assistance Program grant to support final expansion. In partnership with Adele Harrison’s dual-immersion program, Flowery was awarded the Jack London Award for Educational Innovation in 2009 by Sonoma State University’s School of Education.

Dual-immersion extends through fifth grade at Flowery and grades six through eight at Adele Harrison Middle School.

Currently there are 469 dual-immersion students in grades K-8. Flowery’s first dual-immersion class graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 2011 including valedictorian, Noah Huyette.

Flowery Elementary School is located on Depot Road just off of Highway 12 in Fetters Hot Springs. Flowery and Adele Harrison Middle School are partners in providing a dual-immersion program that educates children for success in a global society.

For further information, go to floweryschool.org. To schedule a tour, call 935-6060.