Summer is around the corner

As I write this last post for the school year, we have just one full week plus 2 days left of this school year.

All of our ELPA21 scores have come back, and next week we will congratulate our students who scored Proficient and will be exiting the ESL program. Promoted, but not forgotten-- we'll monitor their progress for four years.

Like the butterflies we released into the school garden a couple of weeks ago, our students will soon "fly" off into summer sunshine. Lucky for me, I'll get to see most of them back here again for 2018-2019. Good luck on your next chapter to the 5th graders moving on to middle school!
For everyone-- may summer be everything you hope for!

As promised last month, a couple of photos of adult insects. The mealworms became...

Adult Darkling Beetles

...Darkling Beetles. You could ask a 1st grader why they are different colors. Or do an internet search, if the 1st graders you know are busy on summer adventures!
As most students had predicted, the Painted Lady Caterpillars became...

Painted Lady Butterfly withfascinated 1st graders. (Sorry this is sideways; I don't know how to turn it.)

...Painted Lady Butterflies!

Interestingly, some Painted Lady Butterflies have a migration story that was only relatively recently discovered. I'll include a link to a video about it to the right here:

Happy Summer!

~Kristin

May insects

Happy May!

I will highlight what is happening in English Language Development in the 1st grade this month.

This is the fourth year that we have integrated English Language Development with science content for classroom based lessons in 1st grade classrooms. The classroom teacher works together with me to create this opportunity for students to explore science themes while also developing their skills in speaking, writing, reading and listening in English. This year, the schedule allowed for only one 25 minute time block to do this at the end of the day. We have made the most of the time we have to allow for as much science exploration as we can. The Emergent Bilingual students (also called English Language Learners) from the next door classroom "walk to science" during the time, and a handful of students from the classroom I teach in walk over and join science with the neighboring teacher. This allows me to connect with all of the 1st grade EBs during this time. All 1st graders are engaged in an Insects unit right now, in all 3 classrooms.

The students have been enjoying our Insects unit. We are observing the development of Milkweed Bugs, Mealworms, and Painted Lady Caterpillars. At this time, all of the Caterpillars and many of the Mealworms have entered the pupa phase of their life cycle. Students are making and sharing predictions about what kind of adult insects we will see, and what they will look like. Spring is a great time of year to pay attention to insects, because there are so many opportunities to observe insects outside. Students come in with stories about what they have seen, and where.

Painted Lady caterpillars soon ready to become chrysalises

We have many mealworm pupae.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I will post pictures of the adults when they begin to emerge.

If you are part of the Grout community and have any questions about ESL at Grout, stop by to visit in room 206.

~Kristin