The Mercer Island School District (MISD) has chosen Sponge to provide Spanish language curriculum for use across all MISD elementary schools as part of the district’s new World Languages Program.

Well known for being innovative and ahead of the curve, the district’s World Languages Program has been in the works for several years and received 90 percent support in a December 2014 community survey. The School Board formally approved the program earlier this year and it was officially launched in the 2016-17 academic year across all Mercer Island elementary schools.

“When we set out to find resources to support our elementary Spanish program, we wanted materials that offered structure to help guide our teachers and flexibility to let them create. The unit themes, pacing and games offered by Sponge have made it the perfect fit for our model,” said Fred Rundle, MISD assistant superintendent of learning services, in a press release from Sponge.

Sponge’s in-house curriculum is based on current research and an immersion approach with emphasis on learning and communication via games, songs and drama. To meet MISD requirements, Sponge enhanced it by creating flexible weekly lesson plans, adding new elements such as activity sheets, self-assessment capabilities and stronger alignment with American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. MISD solicited and evaluated several provider proposals from across the U.S. and ultimately judged Sponge to be the provider best able to meet its needs.

“Our collaboration with MISD and its teachers has been wonderful. We are getting invaluable feedback based on usage of our curriculum on a large scale, which in turn helps us refine not only the MISD curriculum for future years but also bring those innovations and enhancements to classes at our centers and enrichment programs at other elementary schools”, said Khawar Ahmed, Sponge CEO, in the press release.

As part of the Sponge-MISD agreement, Sponge is:

• Delivering lesson plans for all K-5 Spanish classes for an initial period of three years.

• Providing teacher classroom material and associated learning material such as activity sheets, language journals and self-assessments.

• Delivering professional development and curriculum training for MISD teachers for the initial year and future years as needed.

For more, visit www.spongeschool.com.