RESOURCES
Strategies when working with MLs are crucial for teachers and scholars. Here are a few...
1. The GO TO Strategies - Scaffolding Options for Teachers of English Learners K-12
This set of strategies directly correlates to WIDA scores, separated by language domains: listening speaking, reading and writing. It has served as a wonderful resource when classroom teachers working with ELs need a starting point.
2. Strategies for Teaching Content and Language to ELs
This set of strategies provide unique ideas to present, check and review content and language taught to MLs. It provides visual representation of the strategy and what handout, activities could look like.
This set of strategies focus on writing with a focus on: modeled writing, shared writing, guided writing and independent writing. It gives many suggestions to help MLs on any level.
4. ESL Strategies for Advanced Learners Grade 4-12
This set of strategies provides a set-by-set lesson plan for teachers working with MLs. The main purpose of this document is to help teachers help ELs focus on the purpose of learning and learning strategies to improve language and academic performance.
5. Language and Content Objectives
Here is a list of language and content objectives. This is a key to writing objectives when working with MLs. Below is a link to language objectives cards in .doc with visuals to provide the support MLs need to complete tasks in class/home on a daily basis.
In this handout, you will provide a quick startup list for classroom teachers working with MLs.
7. Fountas & Pinnell Reading Comprehension Questions
This set of F&P Reading Comprehension Questions provides a list of non-fiction and fiction comprehension questions for each reading level. This is wonderful to practice oral and written responses. I printed a few of each set and my scholars use to practice independent writing based on their own reading level.
8. Written Comprehension Question Stems English/Spanish
This is a similar but simplified set to the one above that you can share with parents of MLs who's L1 is Spanish. This has provided my Spanish-speaking families with adequate information to support reading and writing skills for their young ones at home.
9. Sight Words Fluency Phrases
Each booklet contains 100 Fry's words. All 5 booklets track 500 Fry's sight words with corresponding fluency phrases. Each booklet gets increasingly difficult. According to Fry's, these words span from K-5. Meet the needs of your varied levels of readers!
I send these home with my scholars and weekly we do a check in to see their progress. Some scholars require a little time in class to learn the words a few times a week.
10. Watches - Sight Words To Go
These are great and fun! My kids love asking each other the time and listen to their friends practice their sight words.
I use this together with resource #9 above. The words they missed goes on the watch. I keep a few printed on card stock handy. I write up to 4 words on the watch.
11. Sight Word Graphing Bundle
No more BORING sight word practice!! This 3 Packet download includes graphs that cover all 133 Dolch Pre-Primer, Primer and First Grade Sight Words. This activity includes a lot of different fonts which allows students to read words in various printed and published styles.
12. Sight Word Interactive Notebook
This Sight Word Bundle has been designed for students learning high frequency words. Great for those learning Dolch word lists! This bundle includes 220 words. Great for reference and practice! With simple shapes and detailed instructions, the cutting and folding will also benefit fine motor skills. An editable template is also included should you require any further words.
13. Sight Words Booklets for Home with Spanish Instructions for Support
Fluency Strips are an engaging and EFFECTIVE way to practice fluency! This packet of Fluency Strips has 1,440 Simple Sentences to provide a LOT of opportunities to practice decoding simple sentences and sight word recognition. This packet contains 1st Grade sight words and long vowels for each sentence! SightWords.com has a great number of flash cards beyond the ones linked to this page. I use the flash cards as a memory game that students can take home. When printing pdf, you can select to print multiple pages on the same sheet, which will give you smaller squares for the game. I use 4 pages per sheet and print two copies to give to the kids in a ziplock bag.
14. Fluency Strips (The Bundle)
Fluency Strips are an engaging and EFFECTIVE way to practice fluency! This packet of Fluency Strips has 1,440 Simple Sentences to provide a LOT of opportunities to practice decoding simple sentences and sight word recognition. This packet contains 1st Grade sight words and long vowels for each sentence!
15. Guided Reading Comprehension Texts with Text-Based Questions
This product is designed to help kids who are reading at Guided Reading Levels become skilled at reading simple passages and answering text-based comprehension questions. As students find the evidence that supports their answers, they participate in close reading lessons. Here are links to levels C and D, as well as the bundle C-P.
16. Read It, Build It, Write It
This mat has worked great with my scholars. You will need to print the mat, the sight words set and have magnetic letters. It is wonderful as a timed activity or part of a rotation. I printed my mats in card stock paper and laminated. For the sight words sets, I used different color card stock paper and the magnetic letters I preferred using the lakeshore magnetic classroom letter set where the vowels are red and the consonants are blue.
17. English Sight Word Sentences
This sight words sentence set helps my scholars make a connection to sight words through sentences creating context. I provide instruction through TPR (Total Physical Response). This is based on the coordination of language and physical movement for each word in each sentence to build connection and help scholars connect with the meaning and representation of each word. I create the gestures for the first 10 sentences and then begin creating gestures for each word with my scholars as we go on to the word sights sets. I also use and send the same list we work on as homework and scholars copy each sentence set twice in their Sight Words Sentence notebook. They also practice reading their sentence to each other as they return to our class.
For more ideas on sight words instructions... here is a link to my Step-by-Step Sight Words Instruction.
18. Thinking Maps
Thinking Maps are a set of graphic organizer techniques used in K-12. There are eight diagram types that are intended to correspond with eight different fundamental thinking processes. They are supposed to provide a common visual language to information structure, often employed when scholars take notes.
Thinking Maps are visual tools for learning, and include eight visual patterns each linked to a specific cognitive process. Teachers may apply Thinking Maps in all content areas and all grade levels. The eight map types are:
Circle Map - used for defining in context
Bubble Map - used for describing with adjectives
Flow Map - used for sequencing and ordering events
Brace Map - used for identifying part/whole relationships
Tree Map - used for classifying or grouping
Double Bubble Map - used for comparing and contrasting
Multi-flow map - used for analyzing causes and effects
Bridge map - used for illustrating analogies
Here you will find a set of Thinking Maps Mat and the vocabulary set. I created this as an activity to support scholars to become familiar with the common visual language of Thinking Maps to assist reading comprehension. I also have the keywords for thinking mat to go with the this activity and to support scholars while reading as they decide which map would be most helpful to take notes. This is an important set prior to them expanding their understanding of a based-text question into a written response or paragraph.
19. English Sight Word Sentences
Teaching sight words employs a “whole language approach,” which means it is not phonics based. Students need to know sight words instantly and accurately in order to build fluency and comprehension. When sight words are coupled together with phonics, we build strong, confident and fluent readers. Sight words are not a substitute for teaching phonics. Rather, sight word instruction helps students master reading words that frequently occur in a text so they don’t have to stop and decode every….single….word.
20. Reading and Beyond...
Here are some of the wonderful reading resources I used with my MLs. I created an account for all scholars, and we vary our listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities using this amazing variety of texts.
I combine these reading platforms with Strategy/Resource #7 mentioned above so that scholars can produce a written response for most of the texts they read.
21. Skoolbo... Friendly Competition Against Scholars Around the World
Skoolbo contains thousands of activities on Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Math, Science, Geography, Music, Art, Spanish, Chinese Mandarin, as well as a course on how Money works in our society. Furthermore, kids especially love the challenge of the Brain Games, which build logic, spatial awareness and connection skills
My MLs love Skoolbo and they have learned so much already. Give it a try! It is fun and exciting!
22. The Greatest Showman - This Is Me!
What an incredible message and how my scholars enjoyed working with this song and video. Many of them began walking "taller" after this project. There were so many special moments! I analysed This Is Me- lyrics with my 4th and 5th graders.
23. WONDER book study
In this novel, a boy with facial anomalies tries to navigate the sometimes treacherous world of public school. As part of my Donors Choose project More Chapter Books, we selected the book Wonder as part of our book study. I loved getting my scholars involved in creating and deciding our projects because they were much more excited and willing to take part in every aspect. Since this is an important topic that inspires awareness and kindness, I was thrilled this was one of our books. We began exploring this in early April so that we could finish our study before the end of the school year as part of our year-end reflection. Our goal was to watch the movie the last week of school. Below are the links to some of the materials I used with my 3rd and 4th graders.
24. Phonemic Awareness: The Skills That They Need To Help Them Succeed!
This collection has worked incredibly well with all my Newcomers and struggling MLs. Love it! 5 minutes it is all it takes!
The pre-kindergarten version of these lessons (purple book) uses nursery rhymes to introduce three and four-year-old students to language play. The lessons include the same ten daily phonemic awareness skills as the kindergarten and primary versions.
The kindergarten version of these lessons (blue book) spends more time on each skill. The kindergarten curriculum covers all consonants, short vowels, digraphs, blends, and rime patterns, with long vowel words being introduced in the later weeks of this curriculum. By comparison, the yellow book also goes further into long vowels and introduces R-controlled vowels, special vowel sounds, and multisyllabic words.
The primary curriculum in English (yellow book) is typically used in grades 1-3. It can also be used with individual students or small groups in higher grades for remedial work on specific skills. The revised English Primary Curriculum adds additional teacher instructions, including optional hand motions for some skills, and also includes correct responses to enable the teacher to present the lesson at a consistent, quick pace.
25. Letters and Numbers for Me! & Building Writers
Letters and Numbers for Me! workbook is for kindergarten students or those working at that level. Lessons teach capitals, lowercase letters, and numbers. Activities form good handwriting habits and develop strong writers. MLs entering Kindergarten and many in 1st grade can benefit tremendously from a sequencing workbook of the basic handwriting skills needed to succeed in schools. This program is adopted by other surrounding districts in NC and SC.
Building Writers A composition workbook offers extra practice for writing skills development and can be easily incorporated into a writing block as independent writing or as whole group practice to meet your students' varying needs. Students become better, more fluent writers as they write about cross-curricular topics and practice three writing styles: narrative, information, and opinion. Once again, another workbook provides the sequencing and basic skills that are vital for MLs to master as they explore the English language.
26. Reading & Writing Strategies
Jennifer Serravallo's books are packed with strategies and hand-on activities for all students. These are a must-have!
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Reading Strategies Book
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Writing Strategies Book
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Understanding Texts & Readers
27. Differentiating Instruction With Menus
Differentiating Instruction With Menus offers teachers exciting tools to challenge and teach every child in a mixed-ability classroom. This books provide several different types of menus that students can use to select exciting products that they will develop so teachers can assess what has been learned--instead of using a traditional worksheet format. Differentiating Instruction With Menus contains attractive reproducible menus, based on the levels of Bloom's Revised taxonomy, that students can use as a guide when making decisions about which products they will develop after they study a major concept or unit. Available for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and a few other models.
28. Common Core Writing to Texts
Meet ALL the Common Core State Standards for writing by practicing the required opinion/argument, informative/explanatory, and narrative texts. Instant mini-lessons, practice passages within the required grade-level text complexity bands, text-dependent writing prompts, graphic organizers, and comprehensive rubrics with differentiated instruction included in EVERY grade-specific book.
29. Oxford Illustrated Dictionary
The Oxford Illustrated Math Dictionary explains academic vocabulary at a level appropriate for high-beginning and intermediate students, which accelerates their mastery of content and allows them to be successful in content-area classes. Keep a few of these around in your classroom.
30. Write Source
Write Source is used by many schools in the U.S. It is a great step-by-step instruction to support reading and writing skills. The graphics are wonderful and kid-friendly.
31. Writers Directory by Smart Kids
Flipbooks to help with writing, expand vocabulary and remember writing rules. UK products
Reading Levels
More than showing your scholars what their reading level is, empower them on how they can improve on their own. Keep track of your progress and practice answering reading comprehension questions verbally and through written responses. Use the Reading Level Correlation Chart when you go to your Public Library. The reading levels there will follow the Lexile list.
Tracking Scholars
Self-trackers and more
Building Vocabulary Grades K-2
Sometimes its best to go back to basics
I have a few copies of this book, and the children love to use it as an iSpy activity to reinforce basic knowledge skills of color, shapes, and names of objects, people, and places. I have attached below a few images I used that can be easily found online, but I gather them here to make this your one-stop-shop. I hope this is helpful to you and your students!
I highly recommend this book!
There are pages also about:
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Doing things
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Animals
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The street
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The kitchen
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Colors and Numbers
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and so much more
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SOLD on Amazon, eBay, etc
Other versions: Spanish, French, German and Arabic
Writing Strategies & Practices
MLs can benefit from scaffolded writing strategies to build writing skills, confidence, and understanding of structure and expectations. I use writing format #1 with learners from K-2 with some variation (sentence completion for novice/struggling readers), slowly transitioning them to writing format #2, which is used with learners from 3-5. Writing format #2 includes citing evidence sentences with appropriate transitioning words. Once learners have mastered the writing format #2, we begin working on the RACE strategy to reinstate the question to form the opening sentence then practice changing the closing sentence to best reflect a closing to the text/paragraph.
NOTE: Every highlighted word in either writing format is a word that must be included in every learner's paragraph response. I provided learners with a copy of the exemplar as a "cheat sheet" so that they could utilize the formats at home when working independently.
Fountas & Pinnell Reading Comprehension Questions
This set of F&P Reading Comprehension Questions provides a list of non-fiction and fiction comprehension questions for each reading level. This is wonderful to practice oral and written responses. I printed a few of each set, and my scholars used to practice independent writing based on their own reading level.
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writing format #1 - learners from K-2
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writing format #2 - learners from 3-5
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writing responses format FICTION & NONFICTION - 1st-grade beginners
Writing Stories - Sequencing - 2nd & 3rd Graders
This is a practice writing for students to write stories using details and the basic story sequence with a beginning, middle, and end. I used "Finish Me" story images where students must focus on the details of each picture and create 2 sentences per box/picture. Where are they and what are they doing are the key questions students focus on.
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Example Using WIDA test sample - YOU MUST HAVE A WIDA LOGIN TO VIEW
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WIDA test scoring scale - YOU MUST HAVE A WIDA LOGIN TO VIEW
Comparison and Contrast Paragraphs 4th & 5th Graders
This is a scaffolded structure for students to learn how to write a comparison and contrast essay. There are 3 steps I used to get students comfortable:
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1st - Sentence Starters/Paragraph #1 - comparing them to me, then them to a classmate
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2nd - Sentence Starters/Paragraph #2 - comparing a given game to a game of their choice
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3rd - Independent writing - comparing 2 of their favorite game/sport, then two countries and/or states, and finally, a given life of a child in another country to their own. WIDA test sample example response.
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WIDA test scoring scale - YOU MUST HAVE A WIDA LOGIN TO VIEW
Other Writing Resources
Speaking Strategies & Practices
Speaking Image Prompts for grades 3-5 based on South Carolina Standards with a word bank. When utilizing the word bank, give each student a number of chips or other manipulative to represent the number of words learners will use for each slide. Learners will be able to track how many words they were able to use in their response.
FLIPGRID
Flipgrid is simple. Engage and empower every voice in your classroom or community by recording and sharing short, awesome videos … together! Free for educators!
VOICETHREAD
VoiceThread is a learning tool for enhancing student engagement and online presence. With VoiceThread, instructors and/or students can create, share, and comment on images, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, videos, audio files, documents, and PDFs, using a microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file upload.
Seesaw
EMPOWER STUDENTS AND ENGAGE FAMILIES WITH SEESAW
For Students - Seesaw empowers students to independently document their learning with built-in creative tools, and provides an authentic audience for their work.
For Families - Seesaw gives families an immediate and personalized window into their child’s school day, and makes communication with teachers seamless.
For Teachers - Seesaw saves time on organization and parent communication, makes formative assessment easy, and provides a safe place to teach 21st Century skills.
I started using Seesaw with my scholars and we are in love! They are having so much fun using the features of creating, writing, sharing, and commenting on each others work that makes the activities enjoyable and much more interesting. They have taking ownership of their learning to a whole new level! we began with a simple activity of describing themselves, which is already created for you. I absolutely enjoy the skills set area which allows me to view and progress their learning of each skill address by language standard.
Culturally Relevant Classroom Library
Culturally relevant texts illuminate the experiences of members of a particular group. The nuances of daily life are captured accurately, reflecting language use, attitudes, values, and beliefs or group members portrayed.
Culturally relevant texts allow diverse students to…
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See themselves in literature.
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Feel pride in their identities and heritage, cultures, and languages.
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Use prior knowledge to connect and make meaning.
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Learn about the diversity of American society.
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Explore issues of social justice.