Pasar a primer grado incluso terapias, llanto, exámenes y mucho mas.

Version en Español (ver Abajo)

Some of you know we have been working for a year to get Stella through Kindergarten and into first grade.
I look for advice from friends and family until we figured what we would do.

Some parents said to us your daughter should repeat kindergarten.

Some others said to us how you could put a 6-year-old through so much stress, and others told me, follow your mom’s instinct.

Months went by, and I figured our story should be said, why? To hopefully help other parents who may be going through the same. We keep teaching our kids that no matter what if you work hard, you will get what you want; if you work hard, you will succeed.

For one year, our little girl at such a young age went through all kinds of tests. She studied her whole summer, to continue in her school and to move onto first grade.

I was not opposed to our daughter repeating kindergarten, only if there was a real reason for that (besides it was kindergarten). We were able to financially support her therapies, doctors, time off from work, etc.;
But I guaranteed you if we would not be on top of this situation, Stella may have repeated kindergarten.

Finally, on August 14th, after eight weeks studying every single day during summer break working on math, reading, writing, etc. Stella had her summer test to see she will move to first grade, and her teacher said she is moving to first grade. Finally, WE WERE ABLE TO TAKE A BREAK!!! A WELL DESERVED BREAK.
We talked so much to Stella telling her how proud we were of her hard work, of all, she had done, and she will say to us I am ready for 1st grade.

When I got the email about Stella passing the test, I had tears and could not stop crying, because we have worked so much for her to move to first grade and finally, after all, WE DID IT!!!

I hope God gives me the strength and wisdom to help other families.

Those less fortunate, those who don’t have enough money to treat their kids or to take them to therapies, to test them, etc.; are the ones who DO need our help.

If your kid is bilingual, you have to work harder; there may be some delays in their learning abilities, but that does not mean your kid is not capable.

After all this, we have gone through I keep wondering what happened to families who only speak Spanish at home, who somewhat understand English? And can’t even understand what is going on.
I hope to see different educational methods taught at schools, not all kids learn at the same pace, not all kids learn just sitting at their desk, not all kids are good at math (I was one of them) oh well! But that doesn’t determine your success in life.

Our situation may sound ironic to some, ridiculous to some, overwhelming to others, but it happens; the question is? Is it too soon for a kid to be reading and writing almost flawlessly in kindergarten. Things have changed over the years; as my mother says, I do not remember you were writing not even reading in kindergarten.

Do you remember that? I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS

I am pretty sure our story may be similar to many families. Although to be honest I never thought we would be going through all this and we hope to give you some ideas on how to help your bilingual child.

Our story began two weeks after school started. When we request to meet and greet our kids’ teacher, we like to share a little bit of who our kids are. For us, education comes from home and school.

We met with our daughter’s kindergarten teacher. She showed us different assessments where Stella had performed poorly; her teacher was very concern about our daughter learning abilities. She mentioned to us, she had tested the worst Pre-k student, and he had performed better than our daughter.

If our daughter speaks another language (which she does, she speaks Spanish), it will be best to stop doing it.

She may get confused; her teacher also mentioned Stella seemed bored.
Stella falls asleep in the afternoon at school(maybe she needed time to adjust to her new full-time school routine); besides, her teacher told me in her 14th years teaching she has never seen a kid like Stella. (How could you feel as a parent?!)

It was the 2nd time we would go through this, as our son was also requested by his Pre-K teacher to be pre-screened through Child Find, he seemed to have learning disabilities. Tyler didn’t know how to communicate in English; he knew just a few words.

Ever since Tyler was born, he immersed in the Spanish language.
When he attended Pre-K, he was so desperate to communicate, so he used his hands to describe (anyhow that is another story).
Long story short, his tests came back as an average bilingual child, in-process or learning, without any learning disabilities concerns.

We are going back to Stella. Her teacher recommended testing her learning abilities. We should take her to her pediatrician and to therapies to see if there was something else going on. So our therapy year began in September of 2018. In a way, it is great to have the opportunity to find out if there is something else that we couldn’t see.

We began searching what public school system does in this instances as her teacher from Aquinas Regional School mentioned there might be some help we could get from the Public Schools System.

We met with the Aquinas School principal. I went to a catholic school in Perú. If you go to the principal’s office is most of the time for something BAD.
Going to the principal’s office was the last thing I wanted to do because it was only for BAD THINGS that you go to the principal; so I could not even sleep thinking about this meeting. My husband would tell me everything will be OK.

Finally, it was the day of our meeting. Stella’s teacher shared her concerns with the principal and us. I am pretty sure the principal had already heard about it, so mainly Sister Kateri Rose (our principal at Aquinas), said we are here for the best of your child and to try to help her love learning and being in school. Then I told her about my experience going to Catholic school it was the worst thing going to the principal’s office (BIG LAUGH from everyone)

During the meeting, we also admitted we as parents made mistakes since we weren’t doing much homework with Stella when she was in Pre-K. Both of us work, and in all honesty, we were lazy, BUT we also knew when Stella got into Aquinas, things will change, because we had already heard about the high academic standards Aquinas in which we knew we would be doing homework, reading daily, etc., etc.
At the end of the meeting, the principal and Stella’s teacher asked us to reconsider Stella’s placement into kindergarten and that we should consider to transfer her to Pre-K, to what I firmly said we have to think about it. That is a HUGE decision to make. And of course, they gave us time to think.

It was only the 6th week into the kindergarten school year, and to us, it was too soon to determine Stella’s learning abilities. As a mother, I wanted to fight for our daughter; this would not be the first time going through this, as our son had also been considered to have learning disabilities and he was merely bilingual. But perhaps there was something else, besides all kids are not the same.

We continue communicating with Stella’s teacher through the next months, the very next day I called Leesylvania Public School, and they were beneficial, explaining to me that we should have an intervention meeting with the Social Worker or the school, the psychologist of the school, Leesylvania kindergarten teacher, Stella’s kindergarten teacher, and School Administrator.

My husband and I were in the meeting, of course. Stella’s teacher explained her concerns as well as she showed Stella’s worksheets. Some of the crucial moments during the conversation was when Leesylvania kindergarten teacher mentioned to Stella’s teacher that she had 14 kids like Stella in her class. She said during the meeting that sometimes kids when they do not understand something, is because, in their brain, they are trying to process both languages. Bilingual kids can learn, although it is easier for them to learn using different methods, like singing, popping balloons with letters, games, playing outside, discovering in The Leesylvania Kindergarten teacher gave great ideas to Stella’s teacher, that could help Stella.
We agree Aquinas Regional School has high standards when it comes to teaching at any school grade. Perhaps Stella was performing just fine as a kindergarten in a public school but not for Aquinas High Academics standards.

Many nights went by thinking about what could we do to help our daughter. I kept telling myself; this is my daughter; her teacher is concern about her learning abilities; what should we do? How can I prove there is nothing wrong? Or if something is going on, find the best method to help her continue growing academically.

Another thing I was concerned was if Stella felt good with her teacher, because that is important and THANK GOD, Stella loved her teacher, and that meant a lot to us. Because if she would have a bad relationship with her teacher, it will be even worse.

We worked together, we kept Stella’s teacher about her therapies, Aquinas ESOL also helped us A LOT, she will come to her classroom to read with her or even Stella will be removed from her class to do extra work with her.
Some kids DO NEED EXTRA HELP; it will be nice if there is an afterschool dedicated program to help them. I am pretty sure there are a lot of kids who will perform better if they received that extra help, right?

We began her therapy sessions, some of the things we learned through her sessions were that she was so spoiled we would not even let her say complete sentences. Like if she wanted something she would say: Mommy apple, instead of saying Mommy can I have an apple? Or she would say Mommy door, instead of saying Can you open the door? And when she cried, every time she cried was the worst, we guessed everything and never let her speak. And if she was around her Peruvian grandparents, YESSSS the blonde, a blue-eyed girl will get away with anything with a simple cry or pointing at things. SO WE LEARNED, from now on, she needs to speak in complete sentences.

Another thing we have been learning from her therapy is Stella needs to get to know her different emotions like when she is sad, happy, scared, surprised, frustrated, etc. etc…and learn to differentiate from each of them.

In our case, we learned if our daughter cries, we come down to her and tell her, what is going on? Explain to us why you are upset? What happened and little by little that will help her open up, not only in situations where she is frustrated but in general, and it will help her express her feelings.

When Stella had to learn about the sound of letters to start reading I could not help her (until this day I can say she knows more than me when it comes to the sound of the letters) I read in English almost perfectly although when I went to school NO ONE taught us the sound of the letters. Now it makes sense, but I never learned it, so how could I help her? I sent an email to our wonderful mother in law asking for help (you know) any phone call with Bryan, will ask, are you reading to Stella? You need to sit down with her and practice. She also sent us books and games to practice with her.
Bryan sat down many nights with a peanut Reese cup as a reward if she practices the sound of letters. Daddy worked so hard with her, and it paid off.

During all this process as a bilingual parent, I agree to something. For the best of Stella, anything academically had to be in English, and all personal, at least with me will be in Spanish.

Every year we take the kids to Peru, but this will be a different year. It will be best to stay and focus on Stella academics to move on to first grade. Hopefully, we will be able to continue doing our summer immersion attending school in Peru so that that time will tell.

To our friends and family THANK YOU for giving us HOPE.

To Stella’s teachers and her school THANK YOU, for their patience and support.

To my husband, for not giving up, for learning together about being parents. It is not easy, and for all his patience during this time.

HAPPY 1ST GRADE DEAR STELLA ROSE,

May GOD bless you and guide you every day!

Love MOM & DAD

VERSION EN ESPAÑOL

Algunos de ustedes saben que hemos estado trabajando durante el año eescolar y para que pase a primer grado.
Buscamos consejos de amigos y familiares hasta que decidimos qué haríamos con lo que estaba pasando Stellita.

Algunos padres nos dijeron, su hija debería repetir Kindergarten.

Otros nos dijeron cómo estresamos tanto a un niño de 6 años, y otros me dijeron que siguiera el instinto de madre.

Pasaron los meses y pensé que nuestra historia debería ser contada,  ¿por qué? Podríamos quizás ayudar a otros padres que puedan estar pasando por lo mismo. Seguimos enseñando a nuestros hijos que el  trabajando duro, obtendrás lo que quieres; Si trabajas duro, tendrás éxito.

Durante un año, nuestra pequeña niña a una edad tan joven pasó por diferentes tipos de pruebas. Estudió todo su verano, para continuar en su escuela y pasar al primer grado.

No me oponía a que nuestra hija repitiera el kindergarten, solo si había una razón real para eso (además era Kindergarten). Felizmente Pudimos apoyar financieramente sus terapias, médicos, tiempo libre del trabajo, etc .;
Pero les garantizo que si no estuviéramos al tanto de esta situación,Stella podría haber repetido el kindergarten.

Finalmente, el 14 de agosto, después de ocho semanas estudiando todo los días durante las vacaciones de verano estudiando matemáticas, leyendo, escribiendo, etc. Stella tuvo su examen para ver que pasaría al primer grado, y su maestra dijo que SI pasaría a primer grado. . Finalmente, PUDIMOS, TOMAR UN DESCANSO !!! Un merecido DESCANSO.
Hablamos mucho con Stella diciéndole cuán orgullosos estábamos de su arduo trabajo, de todo lo que había hecho, y ella nos decía, estoy   listo para el 1er grado.

Cuando recibí el correo electrónico que decía Stella pasó el examen, me saltaron las lágrimas y no pude dejar de llorar, porque hemos trabajado mucho para que ella pase al primer grado y, finalmente, ¡¡¡LO  LOGRAMOS !!!

Espero que Dios me dé la fuerza y ​​la sabiduría para ayudar a otras   familias.

Aquellos menos afortunados, aquellos que no tienen suficiente dinero para tratar a sus hijos o llevarlos a terapias y atenderlos, etc .;  son los que NECESITAN nuestra ayuda.

Si su hijo es bilingüe, debe trabajar más duro; Puede haber algunos  retrasos en sus habilidades de aprendizaje, pero eso no significa que su hijo no sea capaz de ser exitoso.

Después de todo esto que hemos pasado. Me sigo preguntando qué sucedecon las familias que solo hablan español en casa, que de alguna manera entienden muy poco inglés. Y que ni siquiera pueden entender lo queestá pasando en el colegio de sus hijos.
Espero algún día poder ver diferentes métodos educativos enseñados enlas escuelas, no todos los niños aprenden al mismo ritmo, no todos  los niños aprenden simplemente sentados en su escritorio, no todos   los niños son buenos en matemáticas (yo era uno de ellos) Pero eso no determina tu éxito en la vida.

Nuestra situación puede sonar irónica para algunos, ridícula para    algunos, abrumadora para otros, pero sucede; ¿La pregunta es? ¿Es demasiado pronto para que un niño lea y escriba casi sin problemas en elkindergarten? Las cosas han cambiado con los años; como dice mi madre, no recuerdo que estuvieras escrito ni siquiera que hayas leído en  kindergarten.

¿Lo recuerdas? BIENVENIDO TUS COMENTARIOS;)

Estoy bastante seguro de que nuestra historia puede ser similar a    muchas familias. Aunque para ser sincera, nunca pensé que pasariamos por todo esto y esperamos darle algunas ideas sobre cómo ayudar a su hijo bilingüe.

Nuestra historia comenzó dos semanas después del comienzo de la escuela. Cuando solicitamos conocer y saludar al maestro de nuestros hijos, nos gusta compartir un poco de quiénes son nuestros hijos. Para    nosotros, la educación proviene del hogar y la escuela.

Nos reunimos con la maestra de kindergarten de nuestra hija. Ella nosmostró diferentes evaluaciones donde Stella había tenido un desempeñomuy bajo; su maestra estaba muy preocupada por las habilidades de    aprendizaje de nuestra hija. Ella nos mencionó que había hecho una prueba para peor estudiante de Pre-kínder, y él había tenido un mejor  desempeño que nuestra hija.

Si nuestra hija habla otro idioma (habla español), seriá mejor dejar de hablarle en español.

Nos comento que ella puede confundirse; su maestra también mencionó  que Stella parecía aburrida.
Que Stella se duerme por la tarde en la escuela (tal vez necesitaba  tiempo para adaptarse a su nueva rutina escolar de tiempo completo); Además, su maestra me dijo en sus 14 años enseñando que nunca había  visto a una niña como Stella. (¡¿Cómo puedes sentirte como padre ?!)

Era la segunda vez que pasábamos por esto, ya que a nuestro hijo     también se le solicitó que se realizara una evaluación a través de   Child Find, porque parecía tener problemas de aprendizaje. Tyler nuestro hijo,no sabía cómo comunicarse en inglés; solo sabía unas pocas  palabras.

Desde que nació Tyler, se le expuso mucho mas al idioma español.
Cuando asistió a Pre-K, estaba tan desesperado por comunicarse, por  lo que usó sus manos para describir y comunicarse (esta es otra historia).
Las pruebas de Tyler regresaron con resultado de es un niño bilingüe promedio, en proceso o de aprendizaje, sin ninguna preocupación de   discapacidad de aprendizaje.

Regresando a Stella. Su maestra recomendó hacer pruebas para ver sus habilidades de aprendizaje. Deberíamos primero llevarla a su pediatra,  terapias psicológicas, para ver si habia algo más que pudiera estar sucediendo. Entonces, nuestro año de terapia comenzó en septiembre de 2018. En cierto modo, es genial tener la oportunidad de descubrir si hay algo más que no podamos ver.

Comenzamos sus sesiones de terapia, algunas de las cosas que         aprendimos a través de sus sesiones fueron que estaba tan malcriada  que ni siquiera le permitíamos decir frases completas. Como si cuandoquisiera algo, diría: Mami manzana, en lugar de decir Mami, ¿puedo tener una manzana? O ella diría la puerta mamá, en lugar de decir     ¿Puedes abrir la puerta? Y cuando lloraba, cada vez que lloraba era lopeor, adivinamos todo y nunca la dejamos hablar. Y si ella estaba cerca de sus abuelos peruanos, YESSSS la rubia, niña de ojos azules se  saldriá con cualquier cosa con un simple llanto o señalando cosas.   Así que aprendimos, de ahora en adelante, ella necesita hablar       oraciones completas. 

Otra cosa que hemos estado aprendiendo de su terapia es que Stella necesitaba conocer sus diferentes emociones, como cuando está triste,  feliz, asustada, sorprendida, frustrada, etc., etc., y aprender a    diferenciar de cada una de ellas.

Aprendimos que si nuestra hija llora, nos acercamos a  ella y le decimos, ¿qué está pasando? Explícanos por qué estás molesta? Que sucedióy poco a poco eso la ayudará a abrirse, no solo en situaciones en lasque está frustrada, sino en general, y la ayudará a expresar sus     sentimientos.

Cuando Stella tuvo que aprender sobre el sonido de las letras para comenzar a leer, no pude ayudarla (hasta el día de hoy puedo decir que sabe más que yo cuando se trata del sonido de las letras) Leo en     inglés casi perfectamente, aunque cuando fui a la escuela NADIE nos  enseñó el sonido de las letras. Ahora tiene sentido, pero nunca lo   aprendí, entonces, ¿cómo podría ayudarla? Le envié un correo         electrónico a nuestra maravillosa suegra pidiendo ayuda y me dice no te preocupes cada vez que hable con Bryan, preguntaré, ¿le estás leyendo a Stella? Necesitas sentarte con ella y practicar. También nos envió libros y juegos para practicar con ella.
Bryan se sentó muchas noches con una chocolates de mani Reesecups,   como recompensa si practicaba el sonido de las letras, Bryan le daba su chocolate. Bryan trabajó muy duro con ella y valió la pena.

Durante todo este proceso como padre bilingüe, acepte algo muy       importante; Lo  mejor para Stella académicamente deber ser aprendido en Ingles, y cuando hable conmigo en todo lo personal lo haríamos en español para que no pierda el Español.

Cada año llevamos a los niños a Perú, pero este seriá un año         diferente. Será mejor quedarse y enfocarse en el avance académico de Stella para pasar al primer grado. Ojala en el futuro, podremos continuar haciendo nuestra inmersión de verano asistiendo a la escuela en Perú.

A nuestros amigos y familiares GRACIAS por darnos ESPERANZA.

A los maestros de Stella y su escuela GRACIAS, por su paciencia y    apoyo.

A mi esposo, por no darse por vencido, por aprender juntos acerca de ser padres. No es fácil, gracias por toda su paciencia durante este  tiempo.

FELIZ PRIMER GRADO QUERIDA STELLA ROSE,

¡Que DIOS te bendiga y te guíe todos los días!

Con Cariño, 

Mamá y Papá

Pasar a primer grado incluso terapias, llanto, exámenes y mucho mas.

Version en Español (ver Abajo)

Some of you know we have been working for a year to get Stella through Kindergarten and into first grade.
I look for advice from friends and family until we figured what we would do.

Some parents said to us your daughter should repeat kindergarten.

Some others said to us how you could put a 6-year-old through so much stress, and others told me, follow your mom’s instinct.

Months went by, and I figured our story should be said, why? To hopefully help other parents who may be going through the same. We keep teaching our kids that no matter what if you work hard, you will get what you want; if you work hard, you will succeed.

For one year, our little girl at such a young age went through all kinds of tests. She studied her whole summer, to continue in her school and to move onto first grade.

I was not opposed to our daughter repeating kindergarten, only if there was a real reason for that (besides it was kindergarten). We were able to financially support her therapies, doctors, time off from work, etc.;
But I guaranteed you if we would not be on top of this situation, Stella may have repeated kindergarten.

Finally, on August 14th, after eight weeks studying every single day during summer break working on math, reading, writing, etc. Stella had her summer test to see she will move to first grade, and her teacher said she is moving to first grade. Finally, WE WERE ABLE TO TAKE A BREAK!!! A WELL DESERVED BREAK.
We talked so much to Stella telling her how proud we were of her hard work, of all, she had done, and she will say to us I am ready for 1st grade.

When I got the email about Stella passing the test, I had tears and could not stop crying, because we have worked so much for her to move to first grade and finally, after all, WE DID IT!!!

I hope God gives me the strength and wisdom to help other families.

Those less fortunate, those who don’t have enough money to treat their kids or to take them to therapies, to test them, etc.; are the ones who DO need our help.

If your kid is bilingual, you have to work harder; there may be some delays in their learning abilities, but that does not mean your kid is not capable.

After all this, we have gone through I keep wondering what happened to families who only speak Spanish at home, who somewhat understand English? And can’t even understand what is going on.
I hope to see different educational methods taught at schools, not all kids learn at the same pace, not all kids learn just sitting at their desk, not all kids are good at math (I was one of them) oh well! But that doesn’t determine your success in life.

Our situation may sound ironic to some, ridiculous to some, overwhelming to others, but it happens; the question is? Is it too soon for a kid to be reading and writing almost flawlessly in kindergarten. Things have changed over the years; as my mother says, I do not remember you were writing not even reading in kindergarten.

Do you remember that? I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS

I am pretty sure our story may be similar to many families. Although to be honest I never thought we would be going through all this and we hope to give you some ideas on how to help your bilingual child.

Our story began two weeks after school started. When we request to meet and greet our kids’ teacher, we like to share a little bit of who our kids are. For us, education comes from home and school.

We met with our daughter’s kindergarten teacher. She showed us different assessments where Stella had performed poorly; her teacher was very concern about our daughter learning abilities. She mentioned to us, she had tested the worst Pre-k student, and he had performed better than our daughter.

If our daughter speaks another language (which she does, she speaks Spanish), it will be best to stop doing it.

She may get confused; her teacher also mentioned Stella seemed bored.
Stella falls asleep in the afternoon at school(maybe she needed time to adjust to her new full-time school routine); besides, her teacher told me in her 14th years teaching she has never seen a kid like Stella. (How could you feel as a parent?!)

It was the 2nd time we would go through this, as our son was also requested by his Pre-K teacher to be pre-screened through Child Find, he seemed to have learning disabilities. Tyler didn’t know how to communicate in English; he knew just a few words.

Ever since Tyler was born, he immersed in the Spanish language.
When he attended Pre-K, he was so desperate to communicate, so he used his hands to describe (anyhow that is another story).
Long story short, his tests came back as an average bilingual child, in-process or learning, without any learning disabilities concerns.

We are going back to Stella. Her teacher recommended testing her learning abilities. We should take her to her pediatrician and to therapies to see if there was something else going on. So our therapy year began in September of 2018. In a way, it is great to have the opportunity to find out if there is something else that we couldn’t see.

We began searching what public school system does in this instances as her teacher from Aquinas Regional School mentioned there might be some help we could get from the Public Schools System.

We met with the Aquinas School principal. I went to a catholic school in Perú. If you go to the principal’s office is most of the time for something BAD.
Going to the principal’s office was the last thing I wanted to do because it was only for BAD THINGS that you go to the principal; so I could not even sleep thinking about this meeting. My husband would tell me everything will be OK.

Finally, it was the day of our meeting. Stella’s teacher shared her concerns with the principal and us. I am pretty sure the principal had already heard about it, so mainly Sister Kateri Rose (our principal at Aquinas), said we are here for the best of your child and to try to help her love learning and being in school. Then I told her about my experience going to Catholic school it was the worst thing going to the principal’s office (BIG LAUGH from everyone)

During the meeting, we also admitted we as parents made mistakes since we weren’t doing much homework with Stella when she was in Pre-K. Both of us work, and in all honesty, we were lazy, BUT we also knew when Stella got into Aquinas, things will change, because we had already heard about the high academic standards Aquinas in which we knew we would be doing homework, reading daily, etc., etc.
At the end of the meeting, the principal and Stella’s teacher asked us to reconsider Stella’s placement into kindergarten and that we should consider to transfer her to Pre-K, to what I firmly said we have to think about it. That is a HUGE decision to make. And of course, they gave us time to think.

It was only the 6th week into the kindergarten school year, and to us, it was too soon to determine Stella’s learning abilities. As a mother, I wanted to fight for our daughter; this would not be the first time going through this, as our son had also been considered to have learning disabilities and he was merely bilingual. But perhaps there was something else, besides all kids are not the same.

We continue communicating with Stella’s teacher through the next months, the very next day I called Leesylvania Public School, and they were beneficial, explaining to me that we should have an intervention meeting with the Social Worker or the school, the psychologist of the school, Leesylvania kindergarten teacher, Stella’s kindergarten teacher, and School Administrator.

My husband and I were in the meeting, of course. Stella’s teacher explained her concerns as well as she showed Stella’s worksheets. Some of the crucial moments during the conversation was when Leesylvania kindergarten teacher mentioned to Stella’s teacher that she had 14 kids like Stella in her class. She said during the meeting that sometimes kids when they do not understand something, is because, in their brain, they are trying to process both languages. Bilingual kids can learn, although it is easier for them to learn using different methods, like singing, popping balloons with letters, games, playing outside, discovering in The Leesylvania Kindergarten teacher gave great ideas to Stella’s teacher, that could help Stella.
We agree Aquinas Regional School has high standards when it comes to teaching at any school grade. Perhaps Stella was performing just fine as a kindergarten in a public school but not for Aquinas High Academics standards.

Many nights went by thinking about what could we do to help our daughter. I kept telling myself; this is my daughter; her teacher is concern about her learning abilities; what should we do? How can I prove there is nothing wrong? Or if something is going on, find the best method to help her continue growing academically.

Another thing I was concerned was if Stella felt good with her teacher, because that is important and THANK GOD, Stella loved her teacher, and that meant a lot to us. Because if she would have a bad relationship with her teacher, it will be even worse.

We worked together, we kept Stella’s teacher about her therapies, Aquinas ESOL also helped us A LOT, she will come to her classroom to read with her or even Stella will be removed from her class to do extra work with her.
Some kids DO NEED EXTRA HELP; it will be nice if there is an afterschool dedicated program to help them. I am pretty sure there are a lot of kids who will perform better if they received that extra help, right?

We began her therapy sessions, some of the things we learned through her sessions were that she was so spoiled we would not even let her say complete sentences. Like if she wanted something she would say: Mommy apple, instead of saying Mommy can I have an apple? Or she would say Mommy door, instead of saying Can you open the door? And when she cried, every time she cried was the worst, we guessed everything and never let her speak. And if she was around her Peruvian grandparents, YESSSS the blonde, a blue-eyed girl will get away with anything with a simple cry or pointing at things. SO WE LEARNED, from now on, she needs to speak in complete sentences.

Another thing we have been learning from her therapy is Stella needs to get to know her different emotions like when she is sad, happy, scared, surprised, frustrated, etc. etc…and learn to differentiate from each of them.

In our case, we learned if our daughter cries, we come down to her and tell her, what is going on? Explain to us why you are upset? What happened and little by little that will help her open up, not only in situations where she is frustrated but in general, and it will help her express her feelings.

When Stella had to learn about the sound of letters to start reading I could not help her (until this day I can say she knows more than me when it comes to the sound of the letters) I read in English almost perfectly although when I went to school NO ONE taught us the sound of the letters. Now it makes sense, but I never learned it, so how could I help her? I sent an email to our wonderful mother in law asking for help (you know) any phone call with Bryan, will ask, are you reading to Stella? You need to sit down with her and practice. She also sent us books and games to practice with her.
Bryan sat down many nights with a peanut Reese cup as a reward if she practices the sound of letters. Daddy worked so hard with her, and it paid off.

During all this process as a bilingual parent, I agree to something. For the best of Stella, anything academically had to be in English, and all personal, at least with me will be in Spanish.

Every year we take the kids to Peru, but this will be a different year. It will be best to stay and focus on Stella academics to move on to first grade. Hopefully, we will be able to continue doing our summer immersion attending school in Peru so that that time will tell.

To our friends and family THANK YOU for giving us HOPE.

To Stella’s teachers and her school THANK YOU, for their patience and support.

To my husband, for not giving up, for learning together about being parents. It is not easy, and for all his patience during this time.

HAPPY 1ST GRADE DEAR STELLA ROSE,

May GOD bless you and guide you every day!

Love MOM & DAD

VERSION EN ESPAÑOL

Algunos de ustedes saben que hemos estado trabajando durante el año eescolar y para que pase a primer grado.
Buscamos consejos de amigos y familiares hasta que decidimos qué haríamos con lo que estaba pasando Stellita.

Algunos padres nos dijeron, su hija debería repetir Kindergarten.

Otros nos dijeron cómo estresamos tanto a un niño de 6 años, y otros me dijeron que siguiera el instinto de madre.

Pasaron los meses y pensé que nuestra historia debería ser contada,  ¿por qué? Podríamos quizás ayudar a otros padres que puedan estar pasando por lo mismo. Seguimos enseñando a nuestros hijos que el  trabajando duro, obtendrás lo que quieres; Si trabajas duro, tendrás éxito.

Durante un año, nuestra pequeña niña a una edad tan joven pasó por diferentes tipos de pruebas. Estudió todo su verano, para continuar en su escuela y pasar al primer grado.

No me oponía a que nuestra hija repitiera el kindergarten, solo si había una razón real para eso (además era Kindergarten). Felizmente Pudimos apoyar financieramente sus terapias, médicos, tiempo libre del trabajo, etc .;
Pero les garantizo que si no estuviéramos al tanto de esta situación,Stella podría haber repetido el kindergarten.

Finalmente, el 14 de agosto, después de ocho semanas estudiando todo los días durante las vacaciones de verano estudiando matemáticas, leyendo, escribiendo, etc. Stella tuvo su examen para ver que pasaría al primer grado, y su maestra dijo que SI pasaría a primer grado. . Finalmente, PUDIMOS, TOMAR UN DESCANSO !!! Un merecido DESCANSO.
Hablamos mucho con Stella diciéndole cuán orgullosos estábamos de su arduo trabajo, de todo lo que había hecho, y ella nos decía, estoy   listo para el 1er grado.

Cuando recibí el correo electrónico que decía Stella pasó el examen, me saltaron las lágrimas y no pude dejar de llorar, porque hemos trabajado mucho para que ella pase al primer grado y, finalmente, ¡¡¡LO  LOGRAMOS !!!

Espero que Dios me dé la fuerza y ​​la sabiduría para ayudar a otras   familias.

Aquellos menos afortunados, aquellos que no tienen suficiente dinero para tratar a sus hijos o llevarlos a terapias y atenderlos, etc .;  son los que NECESITAN nuestra ayuda.

Si su hijo es bilingüe, debe trabajar más duro; Puede haber algunos  retrasos en sus habilidades de aprendizaje, pero eso no significa que su hijo no sea capaz de ser exitoso.

Después de todo esto que hemos pasado. Me sigo preguntando qué sucedecon las familias que solo hablan español en casa, que de alguna manera entienden muy poco inglés. Y que ni siquiera pueden entender lo queestá pasando en el colegio de sus hijos.
Espero algún día poder ver diferentes métodos educativos enseñados enlas escuelas, no todos los niños aprenden al mismo ritmo, no todos  los niños aprenden simplemente sentados en su escritorio, no todos   los niños son buenos en matemáticas (yo era uno de ellos) Pero eso no determina tu éxito en la vida.

Nuestra situación puede sonar irónica para algunos, ridícula para    algunos, abrumadora para otros, pero sucede; ¿La pregunta es? ¿Es demasiado pronto para que un niño lea y escriba casi sin problemas en elkindergarten? Las cosas han cambiado con los años; como dice mi madre, no recuerdo que estuvieras escrito ni siquiera que hayas leído en  kindergarten.

¿Lo recuerdas? BIENVENIDO TUS COMENTARIOS;)

Estoy bastante seguro de que nuestra historia puede ser similar a    muchas familias. Aunque para ser sincera, nunca pensé que pasariamos por todo esto y esperamos darle algunas ideas sobre cómo ayudar a su hijo bilingüe.

Nuestra historia comenzó dos semanas después del comienzo de la escuela. Cuando solicitamos conocer y saludar al maestro de nuestros hijos, nos gusta compartir un poco de quiénes son nuestros hijos. Para    nosotros, la educación proviene del hogar y la escuela.

Nos reunimos con la maestra de kindergarten de nuestra hija. Ella nosmostró diferentes evaluaciones donde Stella había tenido un desempeñomuy bajo; su maestra estaba muy preocupada por las habilidades de    aprendizaje de nuestra hija. Ella nos mencionó que había hecho una prueba para peor estudiante de Pre-kínder, y él había tenido un mejor  desempeño que nuestra hija.

Si nuestra hija habla otro idioma (habla español), seriá mejor dejar de hablarle en español.

Nos comento que ella puede confundirse; su maestra también mencionó  que Stella parecía aburrida.
Que Stella se duerme por la tarde en la escuela (tal vez necesitaba  tiempo para adaptarse a su nueva rutina escolar de tiempo completo); Además, su maestra me dijo en sus 14 años enseñando que nunca había  visto a una niña como Stella. (¡¿Cómo puedes sentirte como padre ?!)

Era la segunda vez que pasábamos por esto, ya que a nuestro hijo     también se le solicitó que se realizara una evaluación a través de   Child Find, porque parecía tener problemas de aprendizaje. Tyler nuestro hijo,no sabía cómo comunicarse en inglés; solo sabía unas pocas  palabras.

Desde que nació Tyler, se le expuso mucho mas al idioma español.
Cuando asistió a Pre-K, estaba tan desesperado por comunicarse, por  lo que usó sus manos para describir y comunicarse (esta es otra historia).
Las pruebas de Tyler regresaron con resultado de es un niño bilingüe promedio, en proceso o de aprendizaje, sin ninguna preocupación de   discapacidad de aprendizaje.

Regresando a Stella. Su maestra recomendó hacer pruebas para ver sus habilidades de aprendizaje. Deberíamos primero llevarla a su pediatra,  terapias psicológicas, para ver si habia algo más que pudiera estar sucediendo. Entonces, nuestro año de terapia comenzó en septiembre de 2018. En cierto modo, es genial tener la oportunidad de descubrir si hay algo más que no podamos ver.

Comenzamos sus sesiones de terapia, algunas de las cosas que         aprendimos a través de sus sesiones fueron que estaba tan malcriada  que ni siquiera le permitíamos decir frases completas. Como si cuandoquisiera algo, diría: Mami manzana, en lugar de decir Mami, ¿puedo tener una manzana? O ella diría la puerta mamá, en lugar de decir     ¿Puedes abrir la puerta? Y cuando lloraba, cada vez que lloraba era lopeor, adivinamos todo y nunca la dejamos hablar. Y si ella estaba cerca de sus abuelos peruanos, YESSSS la rubia, niña de ojos azules se  saldriá con cualquier cosa con un simple llanto o señalando cosas.   Así que aprendimos, de ahora en adelante, ella necesita hablar       oraciones completas. 

Otra cosa que hemos estado aprendiendo de su terapia es que Stella necesitaba conocer sus diferentes emociones, como cuando está triste,  feliz, asustada, sorprendida, frustrada, etc., etc., y aprender a    diferenciar de cada una de ellas.

Aprendimos que si nuestra hija llora, nos acercamos a  ella y le decimos, ¿qué está pasando? Explícanos por qué estás molesta? Que sucedióy poco a poco eso la ayudará a abrirse, no solo en situaciones en lasque está frustrada, sino en general, y la ayudará a expresar sus     sentimientos.

Cuando Stella tuvo que aprender sobre el sonido de las letras para comenzar a leer, no pude ayudarla (hasta el día de hoy puedo decir que sabe más que yo cuando se trata del sonido de las letras) Leo en     inglés casi perfectamente, aunque cuando fui a la escuela NADIE nos  enseñó el sonido de las letras. Ahora tiene sentido, pero nunca lo   aprendí, entonces, ¿cómo podría ayudarla? Le envié un correo         electrónico a nuestra maravillosa suegra pidiendo ayuda y me dice no te preocupes cada vez que hable con Bryan, preguntaré, ¿le estás leyendo a Stella? Necesitas sentarte con ella y practicar. También nos envió libros y juegos para practicar con ella.
Bryan se sentó muchas noches con una chocolates de mani Reesecups,   como recompensa si practicaba el sonido de las letras, Bryan le daba su chocolate. Bryan trabajó muy duro con ella y valió la pena.

Durante todo este proceso como padre bilingüe, acepte algo muy       importante; Lo  mejor para Stella académicamente deber ser aprendido en Ingles, y cuando hable conmigo en todo lo personal lo haríamos en español para que no pierda el Español.

Cada año llevamos a los niños a Perú, pero este seriá un año         diferente. Será mejor quedarse y enfocarse en el avance académico de Stella para pasar al primer grado. Ojala en el futuro, podremos continuar haciendo nuestra inmersión de verano asistiendo a la escuela en Perú.

A nuestros amigos y familiares GRACIAS por darnos ESPERANZA.

A los maestros de Stella y su escuela GRACIAS, por su paciencia y    apoyo.

A mi esposo, por no darse por vencido, por aprender juntos acerca de ser padres. No es fácil, gracias por toda su paciencia durante este  tiempo.

FELIZ PRIMER GRADO QUERIDA STELLA ROSE,

¡Que DIOS te bendiga y te guíe todos los días!

Con Cariño, 

Mamá y Papá