Schools
D.H. Stanton Elementary Says: ¡Hola, Estudiantes!
Stanton inaugurated its first dual immersion class this school year.
PEOPLESTOWN — "¿Cuántas niñas?" ("How many girls?") the teacher asked the kindergartener.
The girl jumped up and began her little sing-song count, tapping the heads of all the girls in her class.
"Una, dos, tres. . .," she began.
The girl and the other 19 kindergarteners are the inaugural dual immersion class at D.H. Stanton Elementary School.
They will learn all their subjects, from math to reading and vocabulary, both in Spanish and English this year.
The kids are taught by Minerva Guerrero in Spanish and Michael Tanner in English.
"The research supports the fact that if students are able to learn a dual language at an early age, it expands the brain, it will help students cognitively develop quicker than other students that are just learning things in one language," Clara Taylor, Stanton's principal, told East Atlanta Patch.
"For our students, it was an excellent opportunity to present them with an opportunity to learn another language.
Taylor, who has embarked on a number of initiatives at the school, said the chose Spanish because many of her students' friends in surrounding neighborhoods speak Spanish.
That gives them the opportunity to practice what they learned.
Stanton, which received a $15,000 grant to launch the program plans to expand it each year as the kids in kindergarten now, get promoted until it's fully integrated, K through 5.
"What could happen in the future, as students go through and matriculate through elementary school, by the time they reach fifth grade, they should be reading, writing and speaking Spanish fluently," Taylor said.
The hope is that by the time they enter middle school, they will have the option of continuing with Spanish or learn yet another language altogether, she said.
"That way, not only are they bilingual, but then they have an opportunity to be multilingual, so they can go through elementary school being bilingual learning the Spanish, pick up another language at middle school and go on into high school and continue to add so that our students go on to be able to globally compete."
Patch spent some time in the classes with Guerrero and Tanner. Please click on the video to watch and hear a portion of our interview.
The dual immersion program is just one component of the tilt-a-whirl of change Taylor is enacting at the school through a multi-pronged, turn-around plan that's gotten high praise from Stanton parents and the greater Peoplestown community.
The school also received an AmeriCorps VISTA grant through the Annie E. Casey Foundation that allows two counselors to work at the school and work with students and their parents.
One counselor works with students to address the issues at school that take away from their learning experiences, much like a guidance counselor, said William Teasley, a stanton booster and community leader.
For example, one of the main issues with students now is tardiness, he said.
The other counselor works with the child's family as whole. It's that counselor's job to build parental engagement and involvement in their child's education and work to identify those issues and needs the family needs — problems that could distract the student from focusing on school, Teasley said.
Earlier this year, the school launched its "Leader in Me" program, which focuses on building and developing students' leadership skills, which should translate into better academic performance.
Centered around late Stephen R. Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" philosophy, those students also should excel in leadership abilities as adults, as well.
This week, Stanton's teachers began training in a gifted education program designed to help them identify high-achieving and gifted students in their classrooms and develop those skills and techniques to engage and challenge them.
The school also finalized an agreement with Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers to establish a facility on Stanton's campus for area children who are four years old or younger.
The preliminary contract between the two is being reviewed and could be presented to the Atlanta Public Schools board as early as September.
The girl jumped up and began her little sing-song count, tapping the heads of all the girls in her class.
"Una, dos, tres. . .," she began.
The girl and the other 19 kindergarteners are the inaugural dual immersion class at D.H. Stanton Elementary School.
They will learn all their subjects, from math to reading and vocabulary, both in Spanish and English this year.
The kids are taught by Minerva Guerrero in Spanish and Michael Tanner in English.
"The research supports the fact that if students are able to learn a dual language at an early age, it expands the brain, it will help students cognitively develop quicker than other students that are just learning things in one language," Clara Taylor, Stanton's principal, told East Atlanta Patch.
"For our students, it was an excellent opportunity to present them with an opportunity to learn another language.
Taylor, who has embarked on a number of initiatives at the school, said the chose Spanish because many of her students' friends in surrounding neighborhoods speak Spanish.
That gives them the opportunity to practice what they learned.
Stanton, which received a $15,000 grant to launch the program plans to expand it each year as the kids in kindergarten now, get promoted until it's fully integrated, K through 5.
"What could happen in the future, as students go through and matriculate through elementary school, by the time they reach fifth grade, they should be reading, writing and speaking Spanish fluently," Taylor said.
The hope is that by the time they enter middle school, they will have the option of continuing with Spanish or learn yet another language altogether, she said.
"That way, not only are they bilingual, but then they have an opportunity to be multilingual, so they can go through elementary school being bilingual learning the Spanish, pick up another language at middle school and go on into high school and continue to add so that our students go on to be able to globally compete."
Patch spent some time in the classes with Guerrero and Tanner. Please click on the video to watch and hear a portion of our interview.
The dual immersion program is just one component of the tilt-a-whirl of change Taylor is enacting at the school through a multi-pronged, turn-around plan that's gotten high praise from Stanton parents and the greater Peoplestown community.
The school also received an AmeriCorps VISTA grant through the Annie E. Casey Foundation that allows two counselors to work at the school and work with students and their parents.
One counselor works with students to address the issues at school that take away from their learning experiences, much like a guidance counselor, said William Teasley, a stanton booster and community leader.
For example, one of the main issues with students now is tardiness, he said.
The other counselor works with the child's family as whole. It's that counselor's job to build parental engagement and involvement in their child's education and work to identify those issues and needs the family needs — problems that could distract the student from focusing on school, Teasley said.
Earlier this year, the school launched its "Leader in Me" program, which focuses on building and developing students' leadership skills, which should translate into better academic performance.
Centered around late Stephen R. Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" philosophy, those students also should excel in leadership abilities as adults, as well.
This week, Stanton's teachers began training in a gifted education program designed to help them identify high-achieving and gifted students in their classrooms and develop those skills and techniques to engage and challenge them.
The school also finalized an agreement with Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers to establish a facility on Stanton's campus for area children who are four years old or younger.
The preliminary contract between the two is being reviewed and could be presented to the Atlanta Public Schools board as early as September.
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