Message for Prospective Parents and Visitors to Amigos School

Dear Prospective Amigos Families and Visitors to the Amigos School,

Welcome to the Amigos School! The Amigos School is a Cambridge Public School located outside of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Amigos Program was established in 1986, and in 2001, Amigos became a school. We are very proud of our school and its achievements.

The Amigos School is founded on a dual-language immersion model. The dual-language immersion model is a rigorous academic program where students are expected to become biliterate - to read, write and speak with the same high level of proficiency in both Spanish and English. This model is based on an equal respect for different languages as well as equal respect for the cultures of which those languages are a part. The community of the Amigos School supports an environment that develops cross-cultural understanding. Our teaching focuses on individual strengths with an emphasis on cooperative learning in a culturally and linguistically integrated setting.

At Amigos, we follow the Massachusetts Department of Education frameworks including Mathematics (TERC and Connected Math), English Language Arts (The Literacy Collaborative), English as a Second Language, Spanish Language Arts, Social Studies, History, Science, Art, Music and Physical Education. In addition, Amigos offers a number of enrichment programs including: Reading Buddies, Lectores y Amiguitos, The Responsive Classroom (K-5), Developmental Designs (6-8), Metropolitan Opera, Hispanic Writers Week, Fogg Museum, Discovering Justice, CitySprouts school garden, CityStep, and the Observation Project.

Amigos School students reflect the overall population of our city. They are drawn from diverse ethnic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Generally, they are grouped in two broad categories: those from families where Spanish is the dominant language and those from families where English is the dominant language. This means that, in addition to our highly trained and experienced teachers, staff, and administrators, Amigos students are important resources in the two-way bilingual learning process.

We invite you to explore our website and to tour our school. To schedule a tour visit, please contact our Family Liaison, Lillian Rater. She can be reached at (617) 349-6315. Lillian is also a great resource if you have any questions about Amigos.

Or, please feel free to contact these Amigos School parents with questions:
Vionette Matos ------ 617-491-6634
Peter Cohen --------- 617-812-0594
Michelle Mentis ------ 617-497-7189
Kimberly Goldstein -- 617-547-3732

Sincerely,
Deborah Sercombe
Principal
Amigos School