Burnt Mills Elementary Partial Spanish Immersion Program

[Anonymous]

We just received word that a spot opened up for DD to enter the Burnt Mills Elementary School's partial Spanish Immersion Program for Fall Kindergarten. I would love some feedback from parents on the program, the learning, the teachers, the facilities, etc. We are not a Spanish speaking household but I would probably take a crash course this summer. Any information and guidance is appreciated. I hope to visit the school next week.

[Anonymous]

We love the K teacher--she is very accessible and has been nothing but helpful no matter what our concerns. I know my child likes the specials teachers as well, and I have heard raves about the other immersion teachers, though I have no experience with them. Overall, we're pleased with our decision to send her there.

Some points: the principal is VERY focused on test scores--we hear a lot about that (and maybe that's par for the course in all MCPS schools; I don't know). There are no birthday or holiday celebrations at school.
Also, we were informed in the fall that it was our job to teach our children to read in English (we got an overview of what reading level they wanted the kids to be at by the end of the year, per the whole "7 keys" thing). That freaked me out, although my child ended up being fine and is progressing on target in English reading.

The K class is pretty diverse--there's no clear majority race, though I suspect that the immersion kids come from a somewhat higher-SES background than the non-immersion kids do (speaking VERY generally, of course). I can't estimate exactly how many of the kids have Spanish speakers at home, but we are definitely not the only non-Spanish-speakers there.

The school is older, but the facilities seem fine. Also, before/after care seems kind of chaotic, but the B/A teachers are very warm and caring to the kids, and I always see them interacting with them.