Ridgetop - The Little School that Does (including Dual Language)

As you all must know by now, Ridgetop Elementary is one of our pilot two-way dual language immersion schools. It is already well on its way for making the first year of implementation successful.

Principal Joaquin Gloria has been out in the community talking to parents about the new design, and all it has to offer both English-speaking and non-English speaking students. The school strongly encourages more Spanish-speaking students to enroll, which would allow for even more students to attend the school on the whole, addressing the under-enrolled issue due to changes in demographics and housing patterns. Earlier this year, I got to see the principal in action when he led the first school-community open meeting on dual language. There, our district staff and the principal answered many questions about the design and plans for Ridgetop. I was very impressed by the energy and vision of the staff and leadership.

That's the plan for the future but, make no mistake, great work is going on today. For example, the support of the community is paramount. For parents, there is a real effort to bring them into the learning structure of school design. I saw the Principles of Learning translated into Spanish as well for parents to better understand what the teachers are expecting of students in the classroom. Further, there is a beautiful sculpture of Cesar Chavez in the front hallway that was created by Sunita Apte and donated to Ridgetop by UT.

Possibly the most clever and useful community support effort was the rain collection system. The 1500-gallon rain tank was donated by the Northeast Austin Rotary Club. Here's the problem: the main office was flooding and the gardens needed water. The challenge brought out the inner engineer in the principal where he worked with the community to build a water collection and distribution system to solve both of the issues. It's located in what is now an outdoor classroom where students grow veggies. Principal Gloria says the school made coleslaw with the first cabbages of the season.

Teacher of the Year Vera Corbett is a kindergarten teacher. We found her doing a lesson on the rainbow fish as part of the ocean unit. The book highlights all of the special parts of the rainbow fish. In a circle, she had the students individually say why they each thought that they were special too.

In the library, I met "Indiana Jane" (Laura Rice, the librarian) who transformed the library into an paleontological dig! With taped dinosaur sounds and songs, the room came alive with T-Rexes, Velociraptors, and Triceratops! The dig, filled with dirt and bones and fossils and other major creepiness, was in the middle of the library. She was decked out for a Jurassic Park experience as she read about the habits of dinosaurs. The book tables, from which students were to choose, were labeled under categories like relic, artifact, paleontologist, fossils, archeology, excavation, and culture.

And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the school celebrated its 70th anniversary this year! It is named for the Ridgetop neighborhood and was once in its own school district, way back when this north central part of town was still rural. I love that Ridgetop has one of those adorable old wooden-chair auditoriums like I also found at Lee Elementary.


The staff and principal are very excited about the work they have done this year, and anticipate high outcomes for their efforts! I am looking forward to seeing them become the BIG school that does!

Goodbye to Ridgetop Elementary. The Rattlers certainly have an impressive can-do spirit. I'm so glad we visited.

 Next stop, Harris Elementary. I hear they have Bulldog Pride there.