Lincoln schools hosting 2 information nights on Spanish Immersion program this week

The Spanish Immersion program — which will teach students the same curriculum as other children, with the additional academic piece of learning it in Spanish — will be open to kindergarten and first-graders throughout Washtenaw County.

Lincoln's recently-approved Spanish Immersion program is the first of its kind in the county and the first that Superintendent Ellen Bonter is aware of on the east side of the state.

It will be offered as a School of Choice program through the Lincoln Multi-Age (LMA) school, recently approved to take over Redner Elementary.

The informational meetings will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday in the Brick Elementary School Auditorium at 8972 Whittaker Road.

District officials said the meetings will provide an overview of the Spanish Immersion and Lincoln Multi-Age programs.

The Spanish Immersion program will be operated as a magnet program, like LMA, and also will follow LMA's HighScope teaching and learning methods. The HighScope curriculum is a research-based curriculum developed by HighScope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti. According to its website, it is a participatory approach to learning built on a child’s "natural curiosity" that is "matched" with his or her "current and emerging abilities."

The website states teachers and students are active partners in shaping the educational experience.

Lincoln’s informational meetings this week will address the enrollment and placement processes for both the LMA and Spanish Immersion programs. Both are open to enrollment for any families within Washtenaw County. LMA students are selected via a lottery.

Parents are encouraged to contact LMA Principle Carole McCoy, mccoy@lincolnk12.org, or parent volunteer Jeremy Reed, mrjlreed@yahoo.com, with questions about these two programs.

Reed and his wife, Sandy, played a key role in getting the Spanish Immersion program to come to Lincoln Consolidated Schools. Both their children participated in bilingual preschool programs, but they found Spanish language elementary programs to be virtually nonexistent in the area, they said.

When families in the Lincoln district were surveyed a few months ago, about 75 expressed an interest in a Spanish Immersion program. There are about 20 families who are already prepared to enroll for fall, school officials said. There will be one Spanish Immersion class.

Staff reporter Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.