Nicole Fernandez

Fernandez's "Guess Whose Who in Our Community" project is geared toward English Language Learners in Kindergarten through second grades. Students will embark on a learning journey throughout their community. Each month, ELL students at Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School will read books related to a selected aspect of a community. Using their knowledge of the topic, students will write interview questions for an unidentified visitor from the community. Based on the prepared questions, students will have to guess who visited the classroom. Each student will also create a book entitled "Who's Who in Our Community," which is based on community visitors and field trips throughout the community. In addition, students will make maps of their community using the "Neighborhood Map Machine" software. The final component of the program is to encourage students to discuss similarities and differences between communities in the United States and their home country. The school has ELL students from a variety of countries including El Salvador, Russia, China and Poland. Fernandez, who lives in Miller Place, will promote multiculturalism and parental involvement by inviting parents to share pictures and stories in their native language about communities with the students.