The School’s Story

Located just to the West of Central Valley, Lorena Falasco Elementary School serves a unique group of creative and talented students. The school’s motto, Learning for Everyone, represents the establishment’s commitment to reaching every student.

In 2010, school Principal Jane Brittell discovered Letters alive® and knew the technology would be a good match for the culture of the school. Lorena Falasco supports a large population of students learning English. In fact, 55% of the student population is considered ESL. The augmented reality supplemental reading curriculum works to directly support English Language Learners by engaging the students with fun, exciting animals who come alive in the class.

Lorena Falasco Elementary School is located in Los Banos, California on the west side of the central valley. The school’s population is comprised of a highly diverse group of students including 55% English Language Learners and about 75% socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Because of these demographics, English language literacy at home is frequently not available in the Los Banos community.

Technology has become a motivator for the students of Los Banos, captivating and motivating them. Faculty and staff have seen the Letters alive® supplemental curriculum engage language learner students and socioeconomically disadvantage students in a way that non-technology enhanced programs have not. For those that may not have many English language learning opportunities at home, Letters alive® has leveled the playing field by creating a safe environment in which students are so excited to use the augmented reality program, they forget their inhibitions and speak or participate in ways that are typically out of character for them.

Letters alive in Kindergarten

Jane Brittell, the principal at Lorena Falasco Elementary School first saw Letters alive® at the International Reading Association Conference.

Brittell decided to continue to look into the program with her Kindergarten teachers at the school. Understanding her school’s challenges and strengths, she thought the program would be an ideal fit for the culture of these classes. The supplemental curriculum leverages technology, a commitment to which the elementary school already supports, and provides additional avenues for students to acquire reading skills. These two elements made Letters alive® the perfect fit for the school.

Integrating Letters alive with the Current Curriculum

Integrating Letters alive® into the Lorena Falasco Elementary School’s curriculum has been relatively easy.

The school uses a reading curriculum mandated by the State of California that requires the teachers to focus on one letter per week. Teachers use the adoptive Houghton Mifflin California curriculum in the morning and Letters alive® in the afternoon as a supplement. Letters alive® compliments what the students are already learning in the classroom by providing a fun way to remember letters; relating an engaging animal and implementing worksheets for use in class.

Letters alive with English Language Learners (ELL)

Engaging kindergarten students is no easy task at any elementary school. Educators at Lorena Falasco Elementary School leverage Letters alive® and other technology to keep their students excited about learning to read.

In an environment in which over half of all students are language learners, teachers spend twice as much time as a typical school focused on reading skills.

For teachers, the technology Letters alive® brings allows for them to interact with students in a way that regular curriculum may not allow. Students remember the animal’s names and are able to learn background information about each character including where they live and what they eat. Students get excited about seeing their “friends,” and asking them questions.

Letters alive for ESL Students

Literacy instruction for English Language Learners begins in kindergarten at Lorena Falasco Elementary School. The program is intended to be literacy and language rich focusing on sentence structure and vocabulary development.

Through Letters alive® ESL learners are provided with language, sentence structure, vocabulary and background knowledge they may not have had experience with before. Typically, ESL students need more visual aids and more repetition than a student who has grown up in an environment speaking English. Practice, modeling, and reality are imperative for ESL students. Letters alive® provides a captivating and engaging structure for ESL students to learn from that incorporates best practices and techniques for language instruction.

Special Needs Children using Letters alive

Letters alive as a part of Head Start