If Memorial Park School moves to a flexible library schedule, time can be found for all students to receive instruction in Spanish.
MPS media specialist Briana Linder gave a presentation to the Waterville Central School Board of Education last week that explained the benefits of a flxible library schedule and how it would open up a spot for offering a second language at the elementary school. Doing so has been a goal of the board and district for a few years and the plan is to put it in place for the 2020-21 year.
Library, Linder said, is one of the four specials, or offerings outside of the regular classroom, that MPS students take. Each class and grade has a scheduled time to take their specials.
Linder said that puts the emphasis on the process, not the product. Flexible library scheduling, she said, makes students and their work a priority.
She would work with the teachers for each class and grade to determine how best time in the library can help them on classroom assignments and projects. “Students don’t come at fixed times every single week,’’ she said. “They come when needed and they achieve deeper learning.’’
Linder, in her first year at MPS after being in Rome, gave some examples of how flexible time can be used for more indepth learning. She showed kindergarteners doing simple coding and robotics, first graders doing animal research projects and students taken virtual field trips to space.
Spanish would slide into the spot on the six-day scheduling calendar MPS uses for each grade. Part of bringing a second language to MPS includes hiring a full-time Spanish teacher.
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