GETTING STARTED IN YOUR
IMMERSION CLASSROOM:
IDEAS FROM TEACHERS AT
EAGLE BAY ELEMENTARY
By: Aubree Gardner & Natziely Avila
Overview
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Organizational Tips
Switching Classes
Dealing with Parents
Classroom Management
Teaming
Scheduling
Creating Opportunities for Small Groups
Checklist for Getting Started
Organizational Tips
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Color Code Classes
 Color
code notes home to parents (i.e., permission
slips, volunteer notes, etc.)
 Color code folders for each class
 Color code supplies for each class
 Color code name tags on desks
 Have separate bins for classes to turn in papers
Organizational Tips
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Have a folder for each student to store unfinished
assignments.
Organizational Tips
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Try to have a similar set-up in both classrooms. For
example, post schedules or homework assignments
in the same area so the students know where to
look, no matter which classroom they are in.
Desks
 If
you are having students share desks, make sure
there is one specific side for each class. Place
nametags on opposite sides of the desks to help
students remember which side is theirs.
Desks
 Limit
the amount of items you have students store in
their desks. Keep books and papers they don’t
need every day in color coded bins or drawers.
 Every Friday, have one class take 5-10 minutes to
clean out their desks and straighten papers.
Alternate which class does this each week.
 Instead of sharing desks, you could also have one
class use the desks to store items, and the other
class use cubbies or other designated spaces in the
classroom.
Switching Classes
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Try to keep the number of times you switch classes
to a minimum—it will save you a lot of time!
Practice transitions at the beginning of the year until
your class can do them in a matter of minutes.
Throughout the year, remind them of expectations
for cleaning-up for the next class and getting in line.
Always line up in the same place in each classroom
and rotate in the same way. For example, many of
our classrooms have adjoining doors, so classes
always go out one door and in another.
Switching Classes
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For the younger grades, we find it easier if they don’t
have to take any materials with them (that way nothing
gets dropped, thrown, lost, etc.!) Keep pencils, scissor,
crayons and other supplies in places where both classes
can use them.
In upper grade classrooms, students store all their
supplies in pencil boxes. They carry this box with them
to each classroom.
Switching Classes
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Sometimes when it’s time to switch classes, your
partner might not be ready. Have something to do
while the students are waiting in line (sing a song,
play a review game, etc.) so they don’t get too
rowdy before you send them to the next teacher.
Parents
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Always encourage parents to contact their child’s
homeroom teacher.
 We
have found that a majority of parents contact the
English partner when they have questions or concerns. In
order to keep the English partner from having to spend
all his/her time dealing with parents, we send home a
letter at the beginning of the year. It explains to
parents that the target language teacher is happy to
communicate with parents through emails or a
scheduled meeting, but cannot speak English to them in
front of the class.
Parents
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When parents do email one teacher, be sure to
forward the email to your partner and sign both
names when responding.
Send home a weekly newsletter so parents know
what is going on in both classes.
Ask parents not to send their students with any
personal supplies to school. When students are
sharing desks and switching back and forth
between classrooms, pencils, erasers, journals, and
other items students bring tend to get lost.
Parents
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Have a sign-up sheet at the beginning of the year
for parent volunteers. Be sure volunteers for the
Spanish class speak Spanish.
Limit the number of parent volunteers to 1 or 2 a
day.
Classroom Management
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Keep as many procedures as possible the same in
both classes. For example, if one teacher has the
students raise their pencil when they’re ready for
the next question on a test, do the same in the other
class.
Have similar consequences for misbehavior and
rewards for positive behavior in both classes.
Classroom Management
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Talk with your partner and make sure you have the
same expectations for your students. It will be hard
for one teacher to get students to raise their hands
before answering each question if the other teacher
doesn’t expect the same.
Be sure your partner is aware of discipline
problems in your room, especially if a parent is
contacted.
Teaming
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Talk with your partner every day!
Each Friday, we meet as a grade-level team to
discuss the following items:
 Curriculum
being taught
 Student Concerns
 Upcoming Projects/Activities
 Questions for Administration
Teaming
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Always be sure you know what is being taught in
your partner’s classroom.
After we meet with our team, we also meet together
to plan/discuss what will be taught the next week,
how to help students, etc.
 If
the class is struggling with a concept in Spanish, it is
reviewed in English the next week.
Teaming
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Plan activities around the content you are teaching.
 Interconnections
 Science/Social
Studies Themes
 Reading Comprehension Strategies
 Writing Skills
Teaming
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Plan parties, field trips, and other activities
together, for example:
 Have
activities in both languages for class parties. For
Valentine’s Day, students in our classes rotated through
4 groups—2 in English and 2 in Spanish
 After field trips, the Spanish teacher can create
activities to support what the students just learned.
Teaming
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Report Cards
 Each
teacher records grades for the subject she taught.
 Meet together to write comments for students and
review grades.
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Practiced writing complete sentences on spelling tests, in stories, and in paragraphs. Keep
practicing using capital letters and correct punctuation.
Correctly identified compound words, plural words, possessives, and contractions.
Read at an average rate of _____ words per minute. Expected rate at this point in the year is
55-60 words per minute. Keep working on re-reading stories to help build reading fluency
throughout the summer.
Correctly read 63 out of the 63 sight words for this term. Students need to read a sight word
about 30 times before it is memorized, so keep reviewing over the summer!
Is doing a great job with story problems, telling time, reading graphs, and measuring objects!
Can correctly identify a cone, sphere, and cube.
Is speaking much more Spanish in class! Continue practicing new vocabulary at home and reading
books in Spanish.
Parent Teacher Conferences
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Do conferences together as a team.
Conference Schedule:
 5-10
minutes—student presents in Spanish
 5 minutes—English teacher reviews student’s progress
 5 minutes—write student goals and answer questions
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If the Spanish teacher needs to talk to parents, send
the student out of the room.
Scheduling
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Be flexible!
Cut out the fluff! When planning your classroom
schedule, stick to the most important concepts you
need to cover.
Spent about 10 minutes a day reviewing concepts
that were taught in the target language so student
can also learn the concept in English. One way to do
this is through daily workbooks like Drops in the
Bucket or Daily Math Warm-Ups.
Scheduling
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To plan your daily schedule, add up the total
number of teaching minutes you have each day and
decide how you will split time between classes. We
have found two ways of doing this:
Scheduling
Sample Schedule with One Class in the Morning and One in the Afternoon
*We switch classes at the end of the day to get backpacks and clean-up
Time
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
8:50-11:00
Red Class
Blue Class
Red Class
Blue Class
11:00-11:50
Specialist
(Art, P.E., etc.)
Specialist
(Art, P.E., etc.)
Specialist
(Art, P.E., etc.)
Specialist
(Art, P.E., etc.)
11:55-12:45
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
12:45-2:00
Blue Class
Red Class
Blue Class
Red Class
2:00-2:25
Recess
Recess
Recess
Recess
2:25-3:15
Blue Class
Red Class
Blue Class
Red Class
3:15-3:25
Switch Classes*
Switch Classes*
Switch Classes*
Switch Classes*
Scheduling
Sample Schedule with Mornings and Afternoons Split
Time
Schedule
8:50-10:00
Red Class
10:00-10:25
Recess
10:25-11:40
Blue Class
11:55-12:15
12:20-1:05
Lunch
Specialists (Art, P.E. etc.)
12:45-2:00
Blue Class
2:00
Switch Classes
2:00-3:25
Red Class
Scheduling
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Schedule all special visits from counselors, guest
speakers, etc. to present in the English classroom.
Try to find presenter who speak Spanish too!
Small Group Instruction
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A few times a week, have the target language
teacher take both classes so the English teacher
can tutor struggling students or review concepts
in English. Here are some activities:
 To
save time, in the younger grades we have both
classes do calendar activities together in the target
language every day.
 Have an activity in the target language on Friday
with both classes (review games, stories, art
activities, presentations by parents, etc.).
Small Group Instruction
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In the upper grades, teachers start the morning with
15 minutes of D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read).
On Monday and Wednesday, both classes read in
the English room so the target language teacher can
work with students. On Tuesdays and Thursday,
classes read in the target language room so the
English teacher can do the same.
Checklist for Beginning of the Year
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Prepare your Schedule
Choose colors for your classes
Talk about Procedures (quiet signals, bathroom,
discipline, rules)
Plan your first day of school—teach same procedures
in both classes
Plan Back to School Night
Parent Volunteers
Letter to Parents
Classroom Set-Up
Questions?
augardner@dsdmail.net
mavila@dsdmail.net