Dual immersion information session in Sonoma

Parents of children entering kindergarten in the fall of 2018 are invited to a Dual Immersion Kindergarten Information Night at Flowery School. District families who live outside the Flowery attendance area may request an Intradistrict Transfer if they’re interested in Flowery’s program, regardless of the language they speak at home. For families thinking about enrolling their children at Flowery, this is the night to learn about dual immersion, ask questions and consider the benefits. The event will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17 beginning in room 4.1 and continuing in kindergarten classrooms. Childcare will be provided.

Dual immersion staff and parents will explain how curricula and teaching resources in both English and Spanish are used to deliver a Common Core Standards-based program. The evening will include a few words from students, an overview of dual immersion, demo lessons and open discussion groups for both English and Spanish-speaking parents of prospective students.

Based on a model developed in the 1960s in Quebec, dual-immersion education aims to 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 grant. In 2004, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board voted to make Flowery a “dual immersion school of choice.” 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 continues at Adele Harrison Middle School. There are almost 500 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. For further information, visit floweryschool.org/. To schedule a tour, call 935-6060.