New language program debuts in elementary classrooms

Cedar Rapids students head back to the classroom Tuesday morning for their first day of their new school year.

Teachers have worked hard to get their classrooms prepared. One Kenwood Elementary School classroom has been decorated with a Hispanic theme.

The classroom is one of many that will house an elementary Spanish program for kindergarten and first grade students.

It's a brand new program for the 2011/2012 year.

Four newly-hired teachers worked throughout the summer preparing lesson plans and getting ready for the program.

"[We] began visiting other programs that we have right here, very close to us in Cedar Rapids as well as other foreign language programs in the state. We even went to Missouri to look at some there,” said Mary Ellen Maske, Executive Administrator of Pre-K through Eighth Grade.

There are about 100 kindergarten and first grade classrooms in the Cedar Rapids district.

The four teachers will travel to each one throughout the week and will deliver about thirty minutes of Spanish instruction every third day.