Kennewick, a city in southeast Washington State, is part of a thriving multicultural area. Its school system, Kennewick School District, reflects the robustness of the community. The district serves nearly 19,000 preK–grade 12 students at its 32 schools.

Kennewick School District offers its students 26 different learning programs, including a Dual Language Immersion Program for students in grades K–8. The goal of the program is to create bilingual, biliterate, and cross-culturally aware learners by the end of grade 8. The duallanguage classes use a 50:50 model in which 50 percent of the instruction is in English and 50 percent is in Spanish. Half of the students in each classroom speak English at home, and half speak Spanish at home. In grades K–2, students learn to read and write in Spanish and English. In grades 3–5, students begin to use their dual-language skills in math, science, and social studies.

Advancing Immersion

Crystal Ramos, the district’s biliteracy coach, leads the effort to identify and integrate Spanish-language science resources into the dual-language classrooms. “A key challenge for grades 3–5, which is when students begin studying science in Spanish, is finding high-quality, comprehensive materials in Spanish,” Ramos says. “We found it difficult to find materials that provide all of the components in Spanish, including the teacher’s guide.” Ramos and the Kennewick teachers appreciate Carolina’s Building Blocks of Science™ 3D Spanish materials.

Building Blocks Spanish is a comprehensive Spanish language science learning program that strives for 100 percent Spanish use. That means everything from background reading and instructions to labels and assignments are in Spanish. As Ramos explains, “The fidelity of all the materials being in Spanish means our students are truly immersed in the language.” Ramos and her team found it particularly difficult to find a resource with the teacher’s guides in Spanish. “Carolina took the initiative to prepare the teacher guides in Spanish based on feedback received from us,” she explains. “Now the teachers don’t have to translate that content, so they can focus on teaching and be truly immersed in Spanish along with their students.”

Building Blocks Spanish helps students and teachers integrate science with other subjects— such as reading, writing, and math—all in Spanish. For example, the quantitative data students gather as part of their experiments must be evaluated and tabulated, strengthening their Spanish mathematical literacy.

Having their science reader in Spanish helps students build a deeper Spanish vocabulary that includes scientific terms and language. The roots of many scientific terms are Latinor Greek-based in both the Spanish and English words, which helps students make connections and strengthen their Spanish literacy.