SWS Elementary School
7159 E Grand Ave
Dallas, TX 75223
(214) 826-2323
grand@spanishworldschool.com
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Preparing students for the future by equipping them with two languages, problem-solving skills, and opportunities to learn with their community by creating solutions for real world challenges.
“Once a student creates work of value for an authentic audience beyond the classroom—work that is sophisticated, accurate, important and beautiful—that student is never the same. When you have done quality work, deeper work, you know you are always capable of doing more.”
– RON BERGER, Chief Academic Officer, EL Education
GOAL
Our goal in Elementary is to prepare students in Kindergarten - 5th grade for the future by equipping them with two languages, problem solving skills and the tools to be ethical, self-aware citizens. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are taught through project-based learning, a model that makes learning relevant to students by establishing connections to life outside the classroom and learning with their community as they create solutions to real world challenges. In the classroom, project-based learning gives teachers an opportunity to build relationships with students by acting as their coaches, facilitators, and co-learners. The projects grow in complexity as the students develop, teaching them to make connections, ask questions, solve problems, and think independently.
MISSION
To engage our biliterate students through an authentic language immersion and project-based learning curriculum to communicate, collaborate, think critically, and problem-solve for the 21st Century. Through our Core Values, Spanish World School students, families, and staff will embrace the Spanish language as a tool for responsible community engagement and expression.
PILLARS
PROJECT BASED LEARNING.
Spanish World Elementary students master core academic content while building success skills – how to organize and present their thoughts, how to manage a complex project in a limited amount of time, and how to collaborate with members of a group. The model transforms students by inspiring them to think differently about themselves as learners, collaborators, and leaders. Authentic learning prepares students for success in college, career, and life. The projects grow in complexity as the students develop, teaching them to make connections, ask questions, solve problems, and think independently.
SPANISH IMMERSION.
Spanish World Elementary students achieve biliteracy through authentic learning experiences that cultivate critical thinking and literacy. Following a one-way dual language model, the majority of our students are proficient in English and learn Spanish and English. One-way programs support one language group of students to become bilingual, bi-cultural, and bi-literate.
CORE VALUES.
Our Core Values of Communication, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility were chosen by our inaugural Kindergarten class in their very first Social Studies project. Today these values frame how our teachers lead our Jaguares, connecting their academic learning to meaningful community experiences so that students see how their actions impact others. These values come alive in our Wednesday Family Meetings. Once per week, teachers and students alike present shout-outs to students and staff who embody our Core Values by speaking kindly to all, accepting accountability in difficult situations, respecting the feelings of others and taking responsibility for their own learning. There they show their school spirit, too, with songs and cheers that reflect the joy and unity of our learning community. We live these values in our classrooms and in our Wednesday Core Values projects, too, where the entire student body comes together for dynamic, authentic projects that reflect the difference we want to make at home, at school, and in our community.
ACADEMIC PROGRAM
Spanish World Elementary follows a language immersion model, where students learn in the target language of Spanish through “formal” grade-level academic instruction and “informal” conversation development. Our faculty and staff are trained in the best practices of language acquisition, helping students develop their Spanish literacy whether they have been at Spanish World School since Nursery School or have joined our campus in Kindergarten for their first experience in language immersion. They use dynamic, engaging techniques to help students build their Spanish vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, oral expression, and writing. Our campus, too, thrives with Spanish-language music, dance, conversation, and cultural appreciation every day.
We follow a 90/10 model, where, starting in Kindergarten, students receive 90% of classroom instruction in Spanish. Spanish Language Arts and Reading, mathematics, science, social studies, and specials (Fine Arts, Physical Education, Technology, and Yoga) are all taught in Spanish. Kindergartners learn in English 10% of their day through instruction in English Language Arts and Reading. As our K-5 curriculum progresses, we transition incrementally each year, increasing English language instruction towards an 80/20 model that culminates with fourth and fifth graders learning English Language Arts and Reading and Texas and United States history in English. This approach helps ensure students grow their Spanish, always on grade level and always with an eye towards current and future language fluency, while progressing in grade-level English simultaneously.
Our instruction follows the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for all academic areas of instruction, with the exception of science, where we follow the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The TEKS are thorough and rigorous, challenging students to master important ideas and think deeply and critically through their own learning. The NGSS closely parallel the science TEKS, with an added focus on engineering, design thinking, and scientific habits of study. All projects and instruction in Spanish Language Arts and Reading, English Language Arts and Reading, mathematics, science, social studies, and specials are grounded in our standards, which allows our K-5 students to transition smoothly to any other school and curriculum once they graduate to middle school.
Spanish/English Language Progression
AUTHENTIC LEARNING
Our commitment to Project-Based Learning (PBL) stems from our belief that children grow through learning experiences that are authentic and meaningful. PBL energizes students towards sustained, dynamic inquiry by posing a challenge or question curious students. Teachers connect those challenges and questions directly to science, social studies, and language arts academic standards and facilitate a path through which students themselves identify what they need to know, how they can find it, how it connects to their learning, and how they can use it to support their community. PBL projects feature field trips, expert visits, self-reflection, critiques, connections, presentations, and products. The PBL approach also supports our language immersion seamlessly by giving students meaningful opportunities to develop, deepen, and use their Spanish language.
Recent Kindergarten projects include designing school spirit shirts, creating Day of the Dead altars, making Rube Goldberg machines, participating in a science fair, creating inclement weather emergency kits, and fundraising for local animal shelters. Other grade level projects include comparing mask fabrics for effectiveness through scientific experiments, publishing a school Core Values guide, creating and presenting living museums, writing and producing student plays, creating animal protection campaigns, writing and performing historical songs, generating and presenting product business plans, project fundraising for student-generated goals, creating and showcasing artwork representing local history and creating and presenting our Spring Show.
