We all need a little help during this back to school season. As we try to get our kids ready and excited about leaving their lazy summer days behind for the hustle and bustle of school a lot of us also worry about how our kids will stay connected to their culture and continue to thrive bilingually.

This year Nestlé has taken note and is stepping in. Recognizing the importance of staying connected with our culture and language, Nestlé has created various contests and resources which aim to get our niños excited about school and about staying connected with their roots, something we can totally get excited about! Nestlé is inviting you to visit their El Mejor Nido’s Facebook page, “like” it and be eligible to participate in various exciting activities. Just by “liking” the page and entering the giveaway, you may be able to win one of 700 backpacks filled with school supplies, Nestlé products, and the new bilingual book Poppy’s Best Day Ever!

Another great way to participate is by taking part in the Healthy Lunch Box Contest. Simply submit your favorite lunch box menu ideas for a chance to win $1,000 for yourself and another $1,000 for your child’s school! To enter visit Nestle’s El Mejor Nido Facebook page after August 27th.

Like any bilingual parent we are always on the lookout for bilingual books. Nestlé has designed and produced a series of bilingual books, and they are offering a FREE downloadable PDF copy of “Poppy’s Best Day Ever”

.

We love that Nestle is taking bilingual families into consideration during this back-to-school season. There are many great  prizes and resources for us over at the El Mejor Nido site.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one Nestlé backpack filled with $50 worth of products here!

The backpack includes: one container of Nesquick, Nestlé La Lechera Sweetened Condensed Milk Squeezable Bottle, Box of Nerds candy, can of media crema, two single packs of Nescafé Memento, coupon valid for a complimentary bag of Hot Pockets Snackers, coupon valid for a complimentary bottle of Juicy Juice, coupon valid for a complimentary pack of  Nestlé Purelife Water, pencil case, pack of pencils, box of markers, box of crayons, notebook, Nestlé Coupon Booklet, a bilingual children’s book, and five recipes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{Picture credit: premus on flickr}

The day we’d been awaiting for finally came: first day of school at Franklin Language Academy’s dual immersion Spanish class. Camila, my husband and I had been getting all the essentials like the backpack, lunchbox, name tags and such ready, but we had also been gently reminding the girl that this school would be different than her Montessori preschool because it was all in Spanish. I even took her with me on a trip to Cancun last week where she got to visit her cousins so she could reconnect with them, but also with the language she was already rebelling about.

I have to admit, though, that all the preparation and encouragement didn’t really calm her nerves, although she did a great job at hiding them.

The whole familia of three, walked into the school yard at 7:40 am to check out which of the two Spanish Kinder teachers Camila had been placed with. We found her name under Sra. R’s class (withholding full name until I get permission to use it!) and we walked over to where her group of eager kindergartners awaited under the scorching August California sun. The first girl we met was from Colombian decent, spoke Spanish to us and her name was also Camila! To our right, a couple from Spain were snapping away pictures of their girl next to Sra. R’s Kinder Spanish Class sign. She also spoke Spanish. Then a sea of boys came in and the lively chaos began.

Next to Sra. R’s Kinder Spanish class were groups of kids forming to enter their classrooms for either French, German, Italian or Spanish. I relished from looking around and checking out the beautiful diversity in the school yard. Languages, skin colors, styles, countries all co-existing in one school. In awe.

After a welcome from the Principal and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, while teaching my girl how to place her right hand over her heart, Sra. R announced it was time for the kids to form one line and follow her to their classroom. Parents could walk next to them, kiss them goodbye at the door and then watch them go in without us. We did as told, and with every kindergartener step my heart skipped to see my girl so willing and anxious to start this new phase in her (our) life. What I never expected was to feel choked up and be hit with a feeling of emptiness once that classroom door was shut in front of us. That was it. My girl has a new life, and so do we. I’m happy this new life will build her bilingual skills and make her an even more open-armed citizen of the world.

I couldn’t help thinking and being in awe of the parents who’s children don’t speak Spanish yet and trying to put myself in their shoes and how nervous they must be. I mean, Camila understands Spanish perfectly, though she’s been insisting she can’t speak it well, and when I picked her up from school she had a semi-meltdown because she doesn’t want to speak Spanish in school. Or so she says. I didn’t panic, because I figured it was an emotional outburst due to the stress and expectations of the first day of kindergarten. I will admit that it is difficult for her to have a whole conversation in Spanish only, but she will be able to do it in no time. I know she’ll be fine, but even so it’s a nerve-wracking experience and I’m sure it has to be more so for non-Spanish, or whichever target language, speakers.

Would love to hear from parents who already went through this, or are going through it now, and how your first days of immersion school went. Please share in the comments below.

I can barely believe that in less than a month my girl will no longer be a preschooler! School in my district starts in August, so just days after her 5th birthday, my girl will be starting a whole new and exciting stage in her life: Kindergarten in a dual immersion program!

To tell you she’s excited, barely does it justice. She just can’t stop talking about all the new friends she’ll make, about how she’ll learn to read in Spanish and the teachers she’ll have. Of course, she already made me get her a new and bigger backpack — because “big” girls have big backpacks — and a lunchbox.

What she doesn’t know yet is that once she starts kindergarten she will need to fill that backpack with more than her blanket (she know she won’t even carry that one anymore! She took the news well.) and artwork she made in school. The backpack will now need to carry pencils, erasers, markers, notebooks, books, etc.

Last week we received a box from Crayola and Walmart filled with cool products to fill her brand new backpack and just have fun with. The Dry Erase board from Crayola is a great size for her to hold on her own and practice writing her letters and start making words. For now, she’s mastered her name and original drawings. It’s a great transition for kids to be able to use the special Crayola washable dry erase crayons on the board on either the white or black side. We also got traditional washable dry erase markers and each box comes with a cloth to wipe it clean. Love that there’s no chalk mess or strong marker odor!

I assume she won’t be taking a whole lot of notes yet, but she will be writing out letters and words in notebooks, so it’s lots of fun to be original and arrive at school with Wild Notes, Crayola’s unique pen and paper system that lets kids write in rainbow colors on notebooks, index cards and sticky notes. I think I’ll be borrowing those sticky notes from her stash to write her cute and love felt lunch notes en español.

Truly can’t wait for this new stage in our lives and excited to discover everything that comes with it — even fulfilling the back-to-school supplies list!

Disclosure: We thank Walmart for being our sponsor. 

{Vanessa in front of her school the first day of Kinder}

As many of you know, my 5-year-old daughter, Vanessa, started Kindergarten last Monday. This was a momentous milestone for everyone in our family and so my husband and I walked our firstborn the two blocks from our home to the school armed with cameras, videocameras and iPhones to capture it all.

Growing up, I went mostly to private schools which meant that my back to school photos were of me in my school uniform. In other words, pretty boring. It wasn’t until I moved to this country as a teenager that I got to wear street clothes to school. Needless to say, I was terrified because I only had a few weeks to figure out what was in at my new school so I didn’t look like a total dork – hugely important for a 14-year-old!

Vanessa and I had gone shopping for clothes the weekend before and I let her choose what she’d be wearing the first day which – surprise, surprise – was pretty much all pink! I actually love that her plaid skirt looks kind of like the ones I used to wear back in private school, except mine wasn’t as vibrant!

I took a few photos of Vanessa, but I was a bit overwhelmed by  the whole situation and while I didn’t cry hysterically, I did shed a lot of some tears. My husband took tons of video and we were actually interviewed by one of the local TV stations and so now we’ll have professional footage of Vanessa’s first day of Kindergarten! You can’t beat that, right?

Since we´re sure we all have the most adorable pictures of our kid’s 1st day of school moments, we want to let you in on this fun contest from Cherokee and Cozi where you not only get a chance to boast these pictures, but also win a $1000 shopping spree of Cherokee clothing to get you geared with a cool back to school wardrobe, plus a $300 smartphone, courtesy of Cozi, so your special moments can always be documented and shared.

To enter the contest, visit and Like the Cherokee Facebook page and upload a photo of your kid´s first day of school (any first day of school) and be entered to win. You have until September 30, 2011 to submit your photo. ¡Suerte!

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Sandy!

We want to help you get geared up for your special back to school moment, so we have a $100 Target gift card so one winner can use it to get some nice Cherokee clothing since it´s only sold at Target.

To enter leave a comment sharing how you document your niños first day of school?

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby.

Ex: Head over to @SpanglishBaby for your chance to win a $100 Target gift card, great to stock up on @Cherokee_USA for BTS season!

Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Monday, August 15 at midnight PST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Disclosure:  This sponsored post was made possible thanks to Cherokee.