Focuses on teaching children while parents working.
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BY LORI HAMMELMAN
Staff Writer
They leave their homes each year to work in the farm fields, often with young kids in tow who do not finish the school year. For those young children of migratory workers, leaving their academic studies is not detrimental to learning thanks to a program held at the Rochelle Middle School.
With funding from the Federal Government, this program provides the traditional school subjects such as reading and math along with enrichment activities.
“We have reading, writing, and a curriculum we follow,” said Rosie Arteaga, Program Director. “Along with the school subjects, we take them swimming on Fridays. We try to take them places that they may not have an opportunity to go to.”
Arteaga explained the program’s curriculum is grade specific for the children and is taught by teachers. The textbooks provided are in English or Spanish, although Arteaga said most of the students in the program speak English.
Even though the 20 students currently participating traveled from the Lone Star state of Texas, this program is available for families that come to the area in search of migratory work even if they live in the same state.
The students’ learning levels are assessed at the start of the program, just the same as in a traditional school environment. Arteaga said there are learning goals that must be met as well.
Familiar place
Although migratory programs are not as popular as they once were so long ago, several families return to the Rochelle area each year. One student, Lupita, has been in the Rochelle program since she started Kindergarten. She is now 12 years old.
Double duty
Arteaga said the younger students that participate in the daytime program range in age from Kindergarten through middle school age. There are also older students who participate in the evening program held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:30.
Currently the evening students are working on a STEAM project. Vanessa Belmonte has been instructing students every year since the program began in Rochelle eight years ago. Belmonte explained the project involves asking the students to think of themselves as a third grader, visualizing what their ideal playground would look like. The students are instructed to then design the playground from an engineer’s point, also considering safety factors.
“I like seeing their minds grow, and seeing an actual change in the little time we have with them,” Belmonte said of the things she enjoys while teaching the students each year. “It’s nice hearing back from them…they tell me they are going to school, or that they graduated.”
The evening students write in journals and have been working on a mosaic art piece. Student teacher Rey Arteaga gives credit to the evening students considering they work all day in the fields and still come to class. Rey is finishing his student teaching portion from his classes at Northern Illinois University and is scheduled to graduate next year.