Waverly Students Thriving in FLES Program

Over the course of the first month of school, Waverly’s kindergartners and first graders have been working eagerly in the classroom, learning how to use language to describe themselves.

But although the idea of young elementary students developing their individual voices through an array of classroom activities might not sound out of the ordinary, what’s happening in Waverly this year is nothing short of historic.

After all, these students are learning how to express themselves in Spanish. 

This year, for the first time, the Eastchester Union Free School District is implementing a Foreign Language in Elementary Schools (FLES) Program aimed at introducing the district’s youngest learners to world languages. And under the care of new hires Wendy Torres and Claudia O’Riley, the program is off to a roaring start. 

Both O’Riley and Torres agree that the enthusiasm from the students has been eye-opening through the first few weeks of FLES instruction.

“Since day one, the students have been very open to learning a new language. There’s so much excitement in the classes as they’re learning vocabulary through the songs and the activities that we are doing,” said O’Riley. “And even when they see us around the school, they’re saying ‘hola’ and “como estás’ and using those lessons they have been learning these past few weeks.”

The first unit in the FLES curriculum has challenged students to speak about themselves in Spanish, using self-description as an entry point to a language that many Eastchester students had not previously been exposed to. According to Torres, this allows the students to personalize the instruction, providing a logical pathway to future lessons. 

“We practice our name, how old we are, our physical descriptions, and once the kids get comfortable with that, we use other characters that they may know, like [Nintendo characters] Mario or Princess Peach, that they are familiar with and can talk about,” said Torres. “That way, we are just adding the language component because they already have that background knowledge.”

Waverly students are currently receiving 105 minutes of FLES instruction in each six-day cycle, which includes one 45-minute FLES class and three 20-minute classroom push-ins from O’Riley and Torres. Both educators believe that the current setup is beneficial to students, as it allows them to consistently reinforce the Spanish language on a regular basis. 

“I came from another district where we didn’t have the schedule flexibility to have these 20-minute sessions, and I can say just in this one month, the amount of growth that these students have shown is amazing; the kids can already tell us what the weather is or recite the calendar,” said Torres. 

“We’ve been getting a lot of emails from parents saying that the kids have been repeating the vocabulary and the songs we sing at home,” added O’Riley.”I think in another program, the things that kids might learn in sixth months, we’re seeing these students pick up in one month.”

As the students progress through the units—an upcoming lesson will ask the students to describe their emotions—it is important to remember that the FLES Program is designed not only to promote language skills in elementary students but also to help students use these lessons to gain a more comprehensive worldview. 

Waverly Principal Vidya Bhat believes that the program is already having a profound impact on the students.

“I am so proud to be a part of this incredible initiative and learning opportunity for our students,” said Bhat. “Our students' horizons just got a little broader and brighter at Waverly and the knowledge and cultural awareness that they gain will only help them soar higher in the future.”

Torres and O'Riley said that while the start of the program has been a success, the possibilities for Waverly students are endless. 

“Especially for our multilingual learners, the ones that already speak another language at home, they’re now learning English and Spanish at school,” said Torres. “Sometimes in class they’ll call out and say ‘Oh, in Albanian we use this word,’ so you can see that they’re starting to make these connections.”

“This is just the beginning, and it’s been amazing so far,” added O’Riley. “But as a teacher, I can’t wait to see the final result and see where these kids are at the end of the school year.”

Physical Geology Class Heads to Catskills

Sometimes, the most impactful lessons don’t take place in the classroom. That’s something that Eric Fermann’s students learned last week, when they traveled to the Catskill Mountains to get a firsthand look at the natural formations that inform us about the geological past of our region—and our earth. 

On Thursday, Sept. 28, Fermann’s Physical Geology class left the confines of Eastchester High School and paid a visit to several notable geological sites in the Hudson Valley, including Kaaterskill Falls in North-South Lake State Park. Once there, students applied techniques learned in the classroom, taking field notes and making geological sketches to “see” the ancient environments in the evidence of the geologic formations that are visible today.

According to Fermann, the field trip to the Catskills—a first for Physical Geology students at EHS—prompted a slight re-ordering of the class’s syllabus, but it was one that was well worth it. By beginning the year with lessons about the study of sedimentary rocks, Fermann said that his students had enough background to appreciate the many drastic geological transformations the local area has gone through over the course of the Earth’s history. 



By studying rock formations and patterns, he said, the class was able to see—and understand—the evidence of ancient seas and the tectonic shifts that led to the formation of the Catskills mountain range. 

“Because this trip was new for us, I rearranged the order of the course so they would be aware of what they were going to be seeing when we walked around and looked at the geology of the area,” said Fermann. "I wanted to make sure we covered New York geological history in the first three weeks of the school year so that when we went on this trip, they were able to see things, take notes, and think like geologists.” 

Fermann’s Physical Geology class is one of six elective courses offered at EHS for which students can receive college credit independent of an end-of-year AP test. Outings such as the one his students took last Thursday are representative of that college-level instruction and are well received by students who may not have been previously exposed to this sort of scientific fieldwork.

Although his class won’t be taking another trip to the Catskills this year, Fermann said he has other outdoor activities planned—such as testing soil and water chemistry—that will allow his students to continue to put their scientific knowledge to use.



“The students were asking when we could go on another trip,” said Fermann. “I believe there is an important component to learning, whether it’s geology or another subject, to be able to go out and experience these things for yourself outside of the classroom.”

Parent University Kicks off on Oct. 12

From navigating math-aid programs to accessing portals with analysis of standardized exam results, Eastchester parents will receive a crash course in some important technology next week, as the EUFSD launches Parent University. 

On Thursday, Oct. 12, the district will host an interactive workshop on some of the tech-based resources that parents and guardians will utilize this year to support their studen’s’ work over the next several months.

The workshop, which will be held from 7 to 8:15 p.m. in the EHS Digital Lab, will see K-5 STEM Coach Kim Lattinville, Director of Technology Rob Jacoby, and district curriculum supervisors facilitate a number of different stations that offer insight on how to utilize resources such as Classlink and Home Access Center and navigate programs including First in Math and Reveal Math, tools that will play integral roles in their students’ academic life this year. 

K-12 STEM Supervisor Minnie Iannuzzi said that Thursday night’s event is designed to improve parental familiarity with certain web-based modules that will play a role in both instruction and communication this year.

“Basically this first Parent University is about how parents can support their child at home by knowing what their child has access to through our system,” said Iannuzzi. “We found from feedback that some parents last year were unsure of how to access Reveal Math parent resources and the online textbook, read NWEA assessment reports or how to create a parent account in First in Math.”

To remedy this, Thursday’s workshop will give parents a chance to receive instruction in three distinct areas, using district chrome books to complete activities that should provide them with a baseline-level understanding of the various systems they and their children will be using this year. 

“Parents are going to be working at something different in each of our stations because we believe in learning by doing,” said Iannuzzi. “So instead of putting out a memo or instructions through an email, we believe that parents need to come in, sit at a computer, and access these programs in the way that they and their child will be doing it in the future.”

Currently, the District is planning on holding four Parent University events, each of which will address a different aspect of supporting academic work at home. While Thursday’s focus will primarily be on math and technology, the next event workshop will touch on areas pertaining to English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy. 

Registration for next week's Parent University is closed due to high demand.

This Week in Photos: Scholastic Book Fair/Giving Retriever Returns

The Scholastic Book Fair is back, and Eastchester elementary schoolers are making the most of it!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Anne Hutchinson students had the opportunity to stop by the book fair and pick out their own reading materials, a longstanding tradition that empowers youngsters and fosters a passion for literature in our students. 

Vassilios Stathos, a fifth grader in Deanna Santoro’s class, said he always looks forward to the Scholastic Book Fair and can’t wait to dive into the books he selected.

“I love to read,” said Stathos. “I got ‘A Year in Sports’ and when I finish with that, I’m probably going to read ‘Restart’ by Gordon Korman.” 

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On Wednesday, EHS students got a chance to reconnect with some of the friendliest—and furriest—faces that will be gracing the hallways and classrooms of Eastchester schools this year, as the pups of Giving Retriever were on hand to celebrate another year of partnership with the EUFSD.

Since 2013, Giving Retriever, a company that specializes in training service dogs and providing canine-integrated therapy, has been a fixture in Eastchester schools. The partnership introduces service dogs into classrooms, helping special education students gain valuable skills while assisting in the training of these emotional support dogs. 

Over the course of the school year, Eastchester students across all grade levels will have the opportunity to work alongside Giving Retriever representatives as part of a collaborative educational experience. 



“We’ve created this bond with the students through the dogs,” said Giving Retriever founder Heidi Bonorato. “ And through that, it becomes a conduit for trust, confidence, sharing and vulnerability.”

If you have news or announcements to share, please contact the District's Communications Specialist Michael Smith at [email protected].

Eastchester UFSD | 580 White Plains Road, Eastchester, NY 10709 | 914.793.6130

www.eufsdk12.org