Working together, investing in future generations

ALAMOSA — The halls of Alamosa Elementary School were full of excitement and engagement on Thursday night as more than 335 parents and their students participated in K-5 EL Family Night, better known as “Lectura en mi familia.”

Funded by the Migrant Education Program and coordinated by the Alamosa School District Elementary K-5 staff, the evening started off with comments from administrators and teachers, including Superintendent Diana Jones, Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo, 3-5 Principal Michelle Wilson, K-2 Principal Roxi Vigil and EL/ML teachers Elisamarie Heredia (3-5) and Marlene Cervantes (K-2),

Each student was provided with a grade level bag containing, among other things, flash cards and specially created activity books in math and reading to keep them engaged in learning over the summer.

After opening remarks, participants had a choice of attending eleven different break-out sessions held in classrooms throughout the school, all containing games and activities that demonstrated reading, science and mathematics can be both fun and educational. The evening concluded with a dinner, catered by Linda Jalisco, with entertainment provided by the well-known group of folkloric dancers known as Semillas de la Tierra.

“We’re celebrating ‘Lectura en mi familia’, which is our Elementary Family Night,” said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Luis Murillo. “It’s our largest turnout ever and is a testament to our core value, which is about celebrating and recognizing people’s culture and heritage. As you can see, we have a cafeteria full of families – parents and children - who just attended the break-out sessions which focused on reading and mathematics, all culturally based.”

ElisaMaria Heredia, an ELL (English Language Learner) teacher at the 3-5 level, K-12 ELL Coordinator and longtime member of ASD staff, also recognized a very important aspect of Thursday night’s celebration.

“Tonight is an example of how we all work in co-ordination with each other for the good of the students. And that is what all of this is for – the students,” Heredia said. “Dr. Curtis Garcia with ASU’s School of Education brought some of his students to be presenters in sessions on Science, Math and Literacy. There are two people with AmeriCorps who are also doing a session on math. MTSS (Multi-Tiered Support System) is doing a session. Cooking Matters and Promotores del Valle are doing two sessions on cooking. The Migrant Education Program is doing sessions on their program.

“But what also means so much to me,” she continued, “is that there are translators strategically placed in each of these sessions – speaking Spanish or Q’anjob’al so that everyone understands – and some of those ASU education students who are helping were my ELL students in this very building. This shows something very important. By doing what we are doing, we are investing in generations. Working together in co-ordination with each other and investing in future generations. That is what we are doing here.”