Above is Ms. Kayla Logan, English II Sheltered Instruction teacher at Robert E. Lee High School. All students are expected

to write every day. As students walk into Ms. Logan’s class, students write quick reflections about their day. The teacher is

seen as a writer as she models the process for her students. Outstanding work Ms. Logan!

Crazy/Locos about Writing

Message from the Director

of Bilingual/ESL Education

Issue # 2, February 2015

March 3rd-12th Supplemental TELPAS

training. Only for raters who fail

calibration Set 2. By appointment only!

March 15th GCCISD HAABE Bilingual

and ESL Teachers of the Year

Announcement. Do not forget to

nominate your teacher of the year!

March 23rd or 24th EOY LPAC Update

Training Sessions for administrators

and lead teachers.

Save the Dates:

Dear Administrators and Teachers:

Welcome to the second issue of the Bilingual/ESL

Department E-newsletter. February has been a short but

eventful month. As our bilingual/ESL team visits

campuses, we continue to notice the outstanding tasks

students are engaged in. This month’s newsletter

showcases the Importance of Writing. Writing is all around

us. We see student writing inside and outside classroom

walls, in journals, on anchor charts, on word walls… Out

of the four language domains, writing is the productive

skill that may take longer to develop. That is why it is

essential to expose our students to writing as much as we

can across all core content areas. Writing is crucial for

many reasons. It helps us reflect, heal, retain, and

communicate for many different purposes. The student’s

writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who they

are. In their voices, the reader should be able to hear the

content of their minds, their hearts and their souls.

Happy reading and writing,

Pilar Moreno-Recio

Bilingual/ESL Department E-Newsletter

Did You and Your

Students

Write Today?

2

The Writing Process

Nunc cursus magna quis

Published work is found on the walls at

Primary school. Ms. Avena’s

bilingual kindergarteners integrate writing in Science as they learn about

the sun.

Gold

Medals

.

At Elementary School, our 5th grade

bilingual students learn about what authors do.

Anchor charts created by students depict the

reciprocity of reading and writing. Students learn

about the different types of narrators and write to

record their learning.

Revising

Brainstorming

Publishing

Editing

Drafting

At Primary School, Ms. Diaz

and her first grade bilingual students

work on the different stages of the writing process. Above, the teacher models for her students how to select a piece of writing to publish.

WACA Training

Writing Across Content Areas

February 16th Goose Creek CISD District

Professional Development Day WACA training

focused on writing across content areas.

Teachers at enjoy an

engaging presentation on writing to learn

strategies by bilingual specialist, Janie Jimenez.

Writing to Learn Strategies Applied in the Bilingual/ESL

Classrooms

HEADLINERS IMPLEMENTED IN MRS.

GRAVES’ 6th GRADE ESL CLASS AT

FAST FOOD FOR THOUGHT

STRATEGY

AT

SENTENCE FRAMES to reinforce

language objectives are Found

in Mr. Luis Garcia’s 3rd GRADE

BILINGUAL ClASSROM AT

4

FEBRUARY

Celebrating 100 Days

in the Bilingual Classrooms

Ms. Hernandez, Prek bilingual teacher at Banuelos

Ms. Reyna, first grade bilingual teacher and Ms. Hernandez, bilingual Pre-k teacher celebrate the

100 days at by reinforcing counting to 100 using hands-on learning and technology.

Bilingual/ESL Family Night

February 3rd,

Elementary hosted a

bilingual/ESL Family Night to go over the

importance of TELPAS. Above: Parents participated in a make and take session

to support instruction at home. Left: Bilingual/ESL

teacher team at Bañuelos during the family night.

Family Involvement Coordinator,

Ms. Jacquet, received a grant from the

Education Foundation to purchase

translation equipment that can be used

for meetings and family events. The

system allows our Spanish speaking

parents to participate in the same

sessions as our English speaking

parents. One of Travis bilingual

staff members uses a microphone to

translate and parents have a headset

to wear to listen to the presentation

in Spanish. Well done Travis!

5

Bilingual/ESL Professional Learning Community February 9th Pk-5th grade bilingual teachers met at Banuelos Elementary school to meet

Director of Bilingual/ESL Education, Pilar Moreno-Recio. Teachers had an opportunity

to preview the bilingual/ESL linguistic sequence plan, expectations for the program and

professional development news for the 2015-2016 school year. Thank you to Steve Koester

and Regina Rogers from the technology department for their Edmodo training. Bilingual

teachers can now enjoy a platform to network and exchange ideas.

Fall TELPAS Writing Collections Bilingual Specialists, Janie Jimenez, Ahime Ornelas and Jazhel

Mendez presented teachers with findings on the TELPAS writing

samples collections. Specialists celebrated the growth in writing

from K-5th as well as points to consider to support writing in the

classroom. Outstanding writing growth from the newcomer students at

Alamo Elementary was shared. Grade level bilingual teams exchanged

ideas on how to support students with writing development.

Above PK-5th grade level teams of bilingual teachers exchange ideas on how to support writing in the classroom.

Thank you to the following campus administrators for their presence at the Bilingual/ESL Teacher PLC:

Ms. De Leon, principal at Ashbel Smith; Ms. Baca, principal at Hopper; Ms. Capetillo, principal at Bowie; and

Ms. Gonzalez, assistant principal at San Jacinto. Thank you Bañuelos for hosting this event!

Reminder: Next Bilingual/ESL PLC will be April 16th at Travis Elementary from 4:00-5:30 p.m.