Two Mi Escuelita Alumni, Two Roads to Success
While most 1st grade students at L.B. Johnson Elementary School in Grand Prairie are concerned with grasping the basic fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic, 6 year old Sirena and Sabine Sierra are also spending their early educational career pondering deeper life lesson, such as the uniqueness of being identical twins. Recent fall 2007 graduates from Mi Escuelita Preschool, Sirena and Sabine are not only succeeding with flying colors at their new school, but they are also constantly exhibiting student habits that set them apart from the average 1st grade student.
"As a parent, I felt really proud that my children already had a grasp of the basics when they started Kindergarten," said proud parent Angeles Sierra, who is also employed as a Family Advocate at Mi Escuelita. "They would come home from Kindergarten with only their first name written on their papers. When I asked them why they didn't write their last name as well, they told me that the teacher didn't require that yet because most of the other students didn't know how to write their last name. Sirena and Sabine already knew how, so I made sure they wrote their last name as well."
Sirena and Sabine's ability to write their own last name, their willingness to socialize easily with other students, and their familiarity with reading are all benefits of their early education at Mi Escuelita Preschool, according to Angeles. Sirena and Sabine attended Mi Escuelita's Bethany Site from 2006 to 2007, and they left a lasting impression on their teacher Ms. Heidi Reyes. "They both loved to read and participating in storytime came so easy to them," remembers Ms. Reyes.
As kindergarten students, each girl excelled in their own unique areas. Sirena enjoyed writing and math while Sabine loved to draw and express herself through art. Angeles believes that although they succeed in different areas they both draw from their experiences at Mi Escuelita.
Sirena's kindergarten school year went so well that she was accepted into the prestigious Harmony Science Academy in Grand Prairie, a college preparatory charter school that caters to students who show an early interest in Math and Science.
"They learned so much from Mi Escuelita, but what I am so grateful for is that Mi Escuelita prepared them for school by allowing them to emerge from the program so well adjusted for school," said Angeles. "I would walk into their Kindergarten classroom and I would see children crying, not doing their homework and not knowing things like their numbers or their alphabet. As a parent I was proud that Sierna and Sabine already knew what to expect from school, because of Mi Escuelita."
"Sirena and Sabine thrive on change and new challenges and they got that from being students at Mi Escuelita," said Angeles, who says that her and her husband cannot take all the credit for her daughters' success. "They knew what school was all about before they started elementary school; they knew what was expected of them as students and that's just one of the things that I'm grateful for."
