Diverse Learners

Dear Cityscape Family,

I can't believe how fast this Spring semester is flying by! So much has happened at Buckner Preparatory and East Grand Preparatory as our diverse learners continue to grow and learn every day! Our students in special populations such as Special Education and Section 504 are getting ready for STAAR, learning to use the tools on their IEPs and IAPs, and continuing to enjoy instructional and related services such as dyslexia support, speech therapy, occupational therapy, instruction for students with visual and auditory impairments, as well as orientation and mobility services. We are so proud of our students as they continue to grow as learners and as people.

In our departmental meetings, we have focused and reflected on the vision and mission of Cityscape Schools:

Vision

Our vision is to work in partnership with families to prepare children and young people to fulfill productive leadership roles in society.

Mission

Cityscape Schools exists to work in an educational partnership with families. We desire to provide a distinctive environment of educational opportunity for all children and young people in our community. Cityscape students will have the opportunity to become well prepared, life-long learners possessing the character, knowledge, and wisdom necessary to succeed, lead, and contribute to their community and to society.

We are grateful to be in this continued partnership with families as our students become the leaders of tomorrow.

Parents, I hope that you find the presentations below helpful. A huge THANK YOU to Ms. Montalvo for translating into Spanish!

Click on the presentation links below to find out more about some great tools that you already have available on your student's Chromebook.

Immersive Reader is an amazing tool that may help you help your student! Immersive reader can read content aloud in over 100 different languages and dialects. Parents can use Immersive Reader to translate reading material into their strongest language to help students at home.

Learning Ally is a huge online "library" of audio books with over 800,000 titles! Help your child place books onto their virtual bookshelf to enjoy on a phone, tablet, laptop, or computer. Using audiobooks helps students who have difficulty reading access the same books that their friends are reading, the books that they have to read for class, as well as exposing them to the concepts and vocabulary that they may not be able to read on their own. Contact your child's case manager or teacher to get a Learning Ally account if you do not already have one.

Don't worry, using technology is NOT cheating, and it does not mean that students will not continue to improve their reading skills. Studies show that student performance and motivation increases when students use audiobooks.

Meet Ms. Dibble

LaTanya Dibble ~ Bio

Greetings!!! My name is LaTanya Dibble and I am a Special Education teacher here at East Grand Preparatory. This is my first year at EGP and I am super excited to be part of the family. I started out as a substitute teacher, then a Special Education Paraprofessional at Grand Prairie. I actually enjoyed working in education 😉, so I decided to get my teacher certification in Special Education. I have taught as a Behavioral Special Education teacher in Arlington and Everman and a Compliance Specialist in Dallas. It has been very pleasant to continue my journey here at EAST GRAND PREP and to meet some awesome people!!

Meet Ms. Montalvo

Daniela Montalvo ~ Bio

Hola!!! My name is Daniela Montalvo and I am the new Bilingual Special Education teacher here at East Grand Preparatory. This is my first year as a teacher and I am very excited to be part of the EGP family. I graduated from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, TX in December 2020 with a Bachelor’s in Interdisciplinary Studies with a specialty in Education. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family and meeting new people. It has been a pleasure meeting all the awesome people here at EGP!!!

It is time for our 8th grade students to begin planning their transition to HIGH SCHOOL! We encourage students to contact the school they will attend next year and request a tour and a meeting with the counselor to plan for a smooth transition into 9th grade.

Remember, you will need a copy of your child's IEP or IAP as well as any evaluations that have been completed for your child so that your new school can help you and your child plan. If you need another copy, contact me at ljohnson@cityscapeschools.org.

If you are interested in a campus visit, or a virtual campus visit, please contact Ms. Dibble (ldibble@cityscapeschools.org). She will be helping our students in special populations plan for success next year.

@MyCityscape

Contact me with questions or ideas: ljohnson@cityscapeschools.org

Cityscape Schools

Department of Teaching & Learning

Office of Special Populations

Email: specialpopulations@cityscapeschools.org
Website: www.cityscapeschools.org
Phone: 972-930-5612
Twitter: @MyCityscape