Cherry Park Elementary School of Language Immersion is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing a safe and secure environment, recruiting and retaining the best teachers, improving student achievement, fostering an effective school culture and communicating with all stakeholders. Last year, we recruited so many great staff members. Alberto Leon shifted from being a third grade Spanish immersion teacher to become our first Dean of Students. Luz Rosario was hired as a kindergarten Spanish assistant. Mia Berindea taught second grade French immersion. Carlota Canteli was a former kindergarten assistant who became a third grade Spanish teacher. We were so blessed to have Ms. Saint-Aime and Mrs. George move from second to third grade. In fifth grade, Carrie Missaggia and Stacy English were English Language Arts teachers and Candice Clerqui was a French immersion teacher. Frances Banning taught our students in Related Arts as a Language and Culture teacher. She spoke French fluently. Yahulda Lelonek taught our gifted third and fifth graders. Each of these staff members contributed in such important ways to our students. As a school, we concentrated our professional development in two areas. Lynn Fulton shared best practices with our staff in language immersion. She provided lots of insight through research and background building so our teachers could understand the "why" as well at the "what" of deep acquisition of a second language. In addition, Casey Leffler led our teachers in understanding best practices in acceleration in order to improve student academic growth. One reason why we were so successful was because of the supportive and positive culture at Cherry Park. Throughout the course of the year, parents, businesses, and the Parent Teacher Organization appreciated teachers by providing goodies and gifts. Their generosity, love and care were incredible sources of support for the staff. As a school, we completed a book study on Stick Together by John Gordon. We came to understand that "we will either stick together or we will fall apart." We took our next steps in working closely together to ensure all students will achieve at high levels. Our grade level teams collectively determined the learning targets, rigorous assessments, necessary interventions, and opportunities for acceleration for children. This work was done in Professional Learning Community meetings held on a weekly basis during teachers’ planning periods. In addition, our French and Spanish teachers further developed the second language literacy program which parallels our English language arts program. Students learn language and literacy skills in similar ways in both classes. At Cherry Park Elementary, we are changing the lives of children so they can go and change the world. We are so proud of our students, parents, staff and school family for coming together this year to ensure that teaching and learning were meaningful and relevant despite difficult circumstances. We are grateful and humbled by all our school family who worked together to help our children succeed.
