Home/ Academics / Our Dual-Language Model

How immersion works · Cómo funciona

Two languages, learned the way kids actually learn.

Two-way immersion. A graduated ladder from 90% Spanish toward more English. Play-based Pre-K, project (mission) based elementary, and a Friday virtual day. Here's how a Sol & Son week actually works — and why we built it this way.

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The heart of it · La esencia

This is not a school with a Spanish class, this is school in Spanish!

Your child will begin fully immersing in the Spanish language from day one of school.

The model · El modelo

What "two-way" really means.

Plenty of schools offer a Spanish class. A two-way dual language classroom is different: native English speakers and native Spanish speakers learn core subjects together, in both languages — and become each other's teachers along the way.

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~50% native English speakers

Kids who arrive speaking mostly English pick up Spanish the natural way — through math, stories, and recess with friends, from the first day of school.

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~50% native Spanish speakers

Kids who arrive speaking mostly Spanish keep and strengthen their heritage language while building full literacy in English alongside it.

= one classroom, two languages, everybody bilingual

Both groups grow up bilingual and biliterate — reading, writing, thinking, and making friends in English and Spanish.

Graduated immersion · Modelo graduado

More Spanish early, more balance as they grow.

Our youngest learners hear the most Spanish, building a strong foundation while their ears are most open. English steps in gradually as biliteracy develops — so kids are never overwhelmed, and never lose ground in either language.

90/10
Pre-K – 1st
90% Spanish · 10% English
80/20
2nd Grade
80% Spanish · 20% English
70/30
3rd Grade (planned 2027–28)
70% Spanish · 30% English

Because immersion depends on that early Spanish foundation, new students join at or before 1st grade — then grow with the school as we add a grade each year, right alongside our founding class.

See every grade & program →

How we teach · Cómo enseñamos

Play-based in Pre-K, project (mission) based in elementary.

Immersion is the language of the day. These are the two age-appropriate ways we fill it.

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Pre-K Enrichment · ages 2–4

Play-based and language-immersive. Half-day, two or four days a week, our littlest learners soak up Spanish through play, songs, and familiar routines — a gentle on-ramp into the dual-language environment.

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Elementary · Kindergarten and up

Project (mission) based learning, full-day Monday–Thursday. A unit like "how does our community get its food?" ties math, reading, art, and field studies together — with both languages doing real work.

The research behind the approach: what is project-based learning? (PBLWorks) · the importance of play-based learning (IES)

A day at Sol & Son · Un día

What the school day looks like.

In person Monday through Thursday, 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM. Each classroom flexes with its grade and the season, but here's the shape of a typical day:

8:30 AM

Llegada & morning meeting Español

Backpacks away, greetings, calendar, and the day's plan — school opens in Spanish, usually with a song.

Morning

Spanish literacy & language Español

Reading and writing in Spanish — the heart of the biliteracy foundation.

Mid-morning

Math & project (mission) work Español

Hands-on math and project units that tie subjects together — asked and answered in Spanish.

Midday

Lunch & recess

Fresh mountain air. On the playground, kids use whichever language keeps the game going.

Afternoon

English literacy block English

A daily English reading and writing block, sized to each grade's immersion ratio — protecting English literacy from day one.

2:30 PM

Closing & dismissal

Wrap-up and often a character moment — then backpacks, hugs, and hasta mañana.

Specials — art, music, and P.E. — are woven through the week, mostly in Spanish, and Biblical character building runs through every subject: the whole day is Christ-centered. This is the rhythm, not a bell schedule.

See the full weekly rhythm & calendar →

Fridays · Los viernes

The Friday virtual day.

For Kindergarten and up, Fridays are a virtual day. A live touchpoint runs 9:00–10:00 AM to connect, set goals, and keep the class rhythm — followed by structured at-home follow-up work families can do on their own schedule.

  • Live 9:00–10:00 AM touchpoint with the class
  • Structured at-home follow-up the rest of the day
  • An intentional micro-school rhythm — sustainable for families and teachers
  • Pre-K does not have a Friday virtual day
What parents notice · Lo que notan los padres

What starts showing up at home.

We won't promise you a prodigy — just what decades of research on dual language immersion consistently finds, and what our families tend to see first.

  • Spanish sneaks home early — a song at the dinner table, a phrase with a sibling — often within the first couple of months.
  • The early dip in English reading that worries parents is real, modest, and temporary — research finds dual-language students match or surpass their monolingual peers by the middle elementary grades.
  • Bilingual kids show measurable strengths in executive function — focusing, switching between tasks, and working through ambiguity.
  • Mixing the two languages ("code-switching") is a sign of a brain working in both — not confusion, and not a speech delay.

Want the deeper dive — research, common worries, honest answers?

Read the immersion guide

See immersion in action.

Reading about it is one thing — watching a room full of kids switch between two languages is another. Come see a morning.

Book a tour