Irish Elementary students will transition to middle school bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural with a strong foundation of 21st century learning skills to be successful in a diverse, multilingual, global society.
We are here to nurture every Irish Elementary student to his/her full academic, social and emotional potential through diverse language and learning experiences that build 21st century skills.
Our Beliefs About Student Learning
We believe that our students:
- learn best through opportunities for personal exploration and for communication with others.
- learn best, through explicit modeling of important concepts, with high quality instruction in an environment of high expectation and mutual respect.
- achieve their greatest potential in a safe, non-threatening environment where students’ basic needs are met and a positive relationship exists between students, instructors, family, and community.
- are intrinsically motivated to learn when concepts are presented within authentic contexts that respect the varied learning styles within a classroom.
- are academically successful when their native language is valued, developed, maintained and used as a bridge to access their second language.
- most effectively learn a second language when they are consistently provided quality instruction from educators who conscientiously employ strategies based on best practices research in the area of second language acquisition.
- will be motivated to learn when they are empowered to respect their heritage and the heritage of others while in an environment that prepares them to be life-long learners in a multicultural world.
- benefit from a consistent implementation of a developmentally appropriate school-wide behavior plan that allows students and teachers to focus on learning.