Anonymous wrote:We had a bad kinder experience. There is one teacher pair I would certainly avoid. Others have good things to say about them, but, they were not a fit for my child and it was a rough start to full time formal school. Teachers since then have been great, and I have been so thankful to be on the really good end of the teacher spectrum since Kinder.

One thing I am currently feeling like I need to sort out is what is going on with science. Allegedly there were not science experiments done last year and there were questions about if it was being taught online or something along those lines. I did not have the energy to try and figure out what was what was year, and accounts seemed to vary, but, it does concern me.

I think the principal is really engaged and committed, and there is good community.

Yeah science last yr seemed heavily ipad based. Hope it changes this yr.

We had a bad kinder experience. There is one teacher pair I would certainly avoid. Others have good things to say about them, but, they were not a fit for my child and it was a rough start to full time formal school. Teachers since then have been great, and I have been so thankful to be on the really good end of the teacher spectrum since Kinder.

One thing I am currently feeling like I need to sort out is what is going on with science. Allegedly there were not science experiments done last year and there were questions about if it was being taught online or something along those lines. I did not have the energy to try and figure out what was what was year, and accounts seemed to vary, but, it does concern me.

I think the principal is really engaged and committed, and there is good community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would love to hear from current families on the good and the bad. How many kids have continued on in immersion through middle school?

Great community - not for every kid. You won't know if the right place unless you try it. There is alot of attrition over time - families that move away, kids with disabilities, families who leave for other reasons. And few non-Spanish speaking kids would likely be able test in after 1st grade.

Recruiting Spanish speaking teachers is a challenge, but there are great teachers there. They seem to want to stay and some APS employees send their kids there.

On the flip side, if your family doesn't speak Spanish, their Spanish skills often don't "solidify" until middle school. We moved our kid out because they were missing too much instruction for things like science and math etc. Not that essential at early grades, but a real deficit by upper grades. So my kid wasn't learning Spanish and as a result wasn't learning things like math and science.

NP. So if, as it sounds like, your kid wasn’t learning Spanish and there was a deficit in math snd science, how did you remedy the math and science gap?

We didn't. That's why we moved. Could have made up the math gap with a tutor but isn't that why they're going to school? Science would have been harder. And not understanding half the content impacted DC's feeling about school, self-image, friends. Have heard that 4th grade is often the decision point for families who haven't left sooner for other reasons. Families that make it thru 4th grade stick it out, but not all continue on to MS immersion.

Do you want child to learn another language? That's the first question.

We love Claremont, but I am able to recognize it's not for everyone. We have some good friends leaving this year because their kid was diagnosed with some learned disabilities. They were happy with the services received at Claremont, but they decided to take the extra language out of the learning equation. My "typical" kid is thriving and doing really well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would love to hear from current families on the good and the bad. How many kids have continued on in immersion through middle school?

Great community - not for every kid. You won't know if the right place unless you try it. There is alot of attrition over time - families that move away, kids with disabilities, families who leave for other reasons. And few non-Spanish speaking kids would likely be able test in after 1st grade.

Recruiting Spanish speaking teachers is a challenge, but there are great teachers there. They seem to want to stay and some APS employees send their kids there.

On the flip side, if your family doesn't speak Spanish, their Spanish skills often don't "solidify" until middle school. We moved our kid out because they were missing too much instruction for things like science and math etc. Not that essential at early grades, but a real deficit by upper grades. So my kid wasn't learning Spanish and as a result wasn't learning things like math and science.

NP. So if, as it sounds like, your kid wasn’t learning Spanish and there was a deficit in math snd science, how did you remedy the math and science gap?

Anonymous wrote:Would love to hear from current families on the good and the bad. How many kids have continued on in immersion through middle school?

Great community - not for every kid. You won't know if the right place unless you try it. There is alot of attrition over time - families that move away, kids with disabilities, families who leave for other reasons. And few non-Spanish speaking kids would likely be able test in after 1st grade.

Recruiting Spanish speaking teachers is a challenge, but there are great teachers there. They seem to want to stay and some APS employees send their kids there.

On the flip side, if your family doesn't speak Spanish, their Spanish skills often don't "solidify" until middle school. We moved our kid out because they were missing too much instruction for things like science and math etc. Not that essential at early grades, but a real deficit by upper grades. So my kid wasn't learning Spanish and as a result wasn't learning things like math and science.

I have two kids at Claremont. One is going into 2nd and the other is going into 5th. We really love the school. My 5th grader has gotten really good in Spanish. I also really love the community. The PTA does a lot to help those that are less fortunate. For example, there is a food pantry, a winter clothing drive and a gift drive during the holidays. The school also plans on doing a lot of fun social events this year to bring us back to "normal" hopefully it is a fun year!

As for academics, I have heard that it can be hard for kids that sufferer learning disorders. For example, math is in Spanish. If your kid is struggling in math, part of it might be because they are struggling in Spanish. However, the state is not required to provide a Spanish resource teacher and the school doesn't have the budget to provide one. So any additional Spanish help your kid needs would need to be done with private tutors.

That being said, my kid is on the other side of the spectrum. Gifted services appear alright, nothing too special. My kid was getting pull out services last year for English. For math, he just works with a classmate that is at his level. I don't think this is just a Claremont problem though (just how APS manages gifted work at the ES level).

I think a fair amount of kids continue immersion in MS. At least all my eldest's friends are planning to go to immersion. I know the official numbers are in some APS document somewhere (but have no idea how to find it lol)

Would love to hear from current families on the good and the bad. How many kids have continued on in immersion through middle school?