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Educational Programs

Children's House: Private Preschool and Public Kindergarten

We are currently accepting enrollment in Casa's English (with Spanish enrichment) preschool-kindergarten classrooms.

Spanish Immersion preschool-kindergarten classes are currently full for the 2010-2011 school year.
Casa Esperanza Montessori's classes for 3-6 year olds include the child's Kindergarten year. Opportunities for both individualized learning and large
group experiences occur naturally in this multi-age setting. The wide variety of activities nourish self-confidence, concentration, cooperation and respect
for others.

Our private, tuition-based preschool program is called "Children's House," as is common in many Montessori schools.

Our public, charter kindergarten children attend a full school day from 8:10 to 2:50 p.m., five days a week. These public school spaces are charter spaces and are tuition free.

 

Elementary (grades 1-6)

Casa Esperanza has no more openings for the 2010-2011 school year. Charter spots are offered based on admissions lottery results.

Our elementary classes feature hands-on materials and multi-age grouping to maximize child-initiated learning and ensure a successful school experience. Our elementary children attend a full school day from 8:10 to 2:50 p.m., five days a week. These spaces are charter and tuition free.

A stimulating, enriching curriculum emphasizing academic core subjects, independence and organizational skills is supplemented by a variety of cultural subjects, including foreign language. Students also have the opportunity to participate in on-campus, extracurricular classes after school.

 

Middle Grades Program

Casa opens its inaugural middle grades program in 2010-2011, beginning with 7th grade in the 2010 academic year and followed by the addition of 8th grade in the 2011 academic year.


Fine Arts Enrichment

All students at Casa take part in weekly, in-class art and music activities. All students also benefit from our participation in the United Arts Council
matching grant program, through which we host artists in residence, including authors, fine artists and musicians. Fine arts classes are also available for a fee after school at Casa.

 

Extracurricular Offerings

Casa offers its enrolled students on-site, tuition-based fine arts programming after school through Explore! Art School. Parents may enroll their Casa students in piano, chorus, guitar, or fine art lessons on campus after school.

For further information, please contact Explore! at http://www.explorebeyondschool.com/explore/ or by telephone at 919.862.8866.

 

Casa Upper Elementary students have also completed courses of Junior Toastmasters through local toastmasters chapters. The group meets on campus.

 

4H: Casa Upper Elementary students are welcome to participate in a Casa Parent-Sponsored, 4H group in an off-campus meeting. 

 

Recess

We play outside every day it is not raining or below freezing temperatures. Please send your children to school in clothing appropriate for the current
climate conditions. If students are too ill to fully participate in all aspects of the school day, including outside time, parents may either choose to keep
the child at home that day, or they may come to school to be with the child while the class is outdoors. We staff our program with the correct number of adults needed to safely supervise an entire class during outside time. In order to preserve the adult to student ratio necessary for safe supervision for the entire class while children are at recess, it is not possible for a staff member to stay indoors with a child who is unable to play outside.

Please also review the medical information in the Parent Information Handbook for more specifics about when students must be kept home for
medical reasons.

 

Language Studies Programs

Every child at Casa Esperanza participates in either language enrichment programming or partial- immersion programming.

Language Enrichment Classes
For the 2010-2011 school year, we have

  • one Children's House room (ages 3, 4, and 5 in one room)
  • four lower elementary classes (Grades 1-3)
  • and three upper elementary classes (Grades 4-6)

all participating in our language enrichment model.

In language enrichment classes, core content curriculum is taught in English. Students also participate in daily Spanish lessons. The goal of
Spanish enrichment learning is to familiarize students with Spanish vocabulary, conversation, and culture. Students typically exit language
enrichment classes with the ability to respond in Spanish in limited conversational settings. As community members at a school in which
Spanish is spoken and taught daily, children in language enrichment classes also experience "environmental" Spanish during interactions with their
friends, school adults, in the halls, and during community gatherings.

Partial-immersion Classes
In addition to Spanish enrichment classrooms, we offer Spanish-English partial immersion classrooms. For the 2010-2011 school year our partial immersion program is offered in the following classrooms:

  • two children's house (preK-K),
  • three lower elementary (Grades 1-3), and
  • two Upper Elementary (Grades 4-6)


In these classrooms, students learn core content curriculum in Spanish, including language arts. Supplemental literacy instruction in English is also included daily in these classrooms. As the population of students in immersion programs increase, so will the number of immersion classrooms.

Although our immersion programs are not designed exclusively to serve academically gifted students, enrollment in the immersion program is limited. Admission to Casa Esperanza does not guarantee admission into the immersion program. Because program demand exceeds program space availability, admission to this program may be based on teacher recommendation for currently-enrolled Casa students, previous educational language experience, and/or parent and student interviews. Parents interested in enrolling their student in immersion must attend an immersion information session and indicate their interest in the program in writing. Immersion information sessions are held in the spring of each school year.

Enrollment in immersion programs is not limited to native Spanish speakers. While a balance between native Spanish-speaking and native English-speaking students is a goal, currently our programs serve native English-speakers at a greater proportion than native Spanish-speakers. Once a student is enrolled in the partial immersion program, students have a position in the program in subsequent years, unless teacher recommendation is made to re-integrate the student into language enrichment classes, in which instruction is in English with a Spanish lesson every day.

Initial enrollment in this partial immersion program is for students at the preK or Grade K level. Students who transfer to Casa after their kindergarten grade year are eligible to participate in our language enrichment classes. Exceptions to this program's enrollment policy are made on an individual basis following written, oral. and listening proficiency assessment.

For more information on partial immersion options at Casa Esperanza, please

The conviction that learning more than one language is important for every child guides Casa Esperanza's commitment to a language studies program.
Language is not only a means to communicate and an instrument for thinking; it is also an important tool for understanding and appreciating the thoughts of others in our increasingly multicultural world. Knowing two languages is a marketable skill, thus expanding the individual child's later opportunities for constructive engagement with society.

There are cognitive benefits as well. According to Michael Rosanova, Ph.D., a professor of education at Chicago State University, a Montessori-certified teacher, and an expert on bilingual education,

Long term, children who have gone through an early childhood [language] immersion experience show greater cognitive flexibility, greater facility in concept formation, greater creativity and problem-solving skills in verbal and math problems, and, obviously, a greater facility of vocabulary.

Learning a language, however, occurs most effectively and efficiently at a very early age. Young children are highly receptive to language acquisition, and second language learning comes most easily early on in a child's life. Students at Casa Esperanza Montessori are at the perfect age for second language learning.

Casa's partial immersion program has been designed to create the environment, incentive, resources, and opportunity for monolingual English-speaking children to learn Spanish, for monolingual Spanish-speakers to learn English, and for children partly bi-lingual in both to balance and enhance their dual-language skills. To achieve this end, Casa's classrooms are facilitated by faculty members who speak both Spanish and English. The method of daily exposure to and participation in both languages is a rapid and effective means of learning a new or less familiar language.

Casa's partial-immersion program should not be confused with bilingual instruction. In bilingual programs, bilingual teachers and guides are available to respond to a child in whichever language the child is most comfortable. Used by itself, the bilingual approach limits exposure of a child to a new language while creating few incentives for learning it. In the partial-immersion program, the child is in fact educated in both languages by being exposed to two different languages in multiple contexts. It is quite possible for a child to effortlessly acquire two or more languages, and this can be done simultaneously without interfering with the learning process for either.

Dual-language education (also known in professional literature as two-way learning or dual-immersion) is growing throughout the United States.

 

Media and Technology Program

Media

The media center sponsors a Book Lover's Event to help build the school media center collection.

You can participate in this event several different ways:

  • Donate funds for media center collection building
  • Buy a book at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Borders, or any local book store and donate it to the media center (see the wish list at casamediacenter.pbworks.com or in the school front office)
  • Go on line to www.mackin.com to donate library-bound books

 

We hope to add 200 new library materials to our collection in the 2010-2011 school year through this initiative! You can watch this space to learn about our Book Lover's Event success!

 

 

Summer Program

Please watch this space for further information about enrolling in the 2011 Summer Camp offerings. Enrollment will open January 1. School-year childcare will reopen Monday, July 26, 2010.

 

Childcare Program

Early morning, midday (preschool only), late afternoon, early release days, and teacher work days

Childcare is available for students enrolled in the Charter program grades K-7 and the preschool program ages 3-4 years.

Childcare for ages preK-Grade 1 will continue to be based on an afterschool care room model.

Childcare for Grades 2-7 will follow an afterschool "club" model.

Please click on the links below to access childcare information. The childcare application fee is non-refundable; the childcare deposit is non-refundable once child has been accepted into the childcare program. Both responsible parties (parents/guardian and school representative) must sign a childcare contract prior to the first day childcare is given.

 

Uniforms

All children Grades preK-6 at Casa Esperanza Montessori wear a school uniform of navy blue, fitted dockers-style cotton pants, shorts, skirts, skorts, or jumpers.

Middle grades students wear a school uniform of plain navy blue, polo-style collared short- or long- sleeved navy shirt or blouse over khaki colored fitted dockers-style cotton pants, shorts, skirts, skorts, or jumpers.

Shoes are closed-toe and closed-heel. A plain white, polo-style collared short- or long- sleeved white shirt or blouse completes the uniform. Please
see our school uniform policy for complete information. There is also an optional, navy-and-red plaid pattern available for girl's clothing and boys
ties. Red shirts with Casa logos on them are also permitted. for some Additional information about uniform options from the French Toast
Uniform company is available to parents upon enrollment. Remember to use our French Toast source code QS47EXJ when ordering to ensure a
donation to our program!

 

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