Planning with the Reading Continuum for K-5

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Holly Tracy

We are always working at moving students toward grade level curriculum. The work we do to provide students English language development with text that is accessible for their language level is crucial in helping them progress through the four domains of language.

Please examine the supports we’re providing. These supports give students a chance to rehearse academic language, skills, and strategies that they will encounter in their general education classrooms while using text that is accessible with teacher support and text that is accessible independently. Both are vitally important as we scaffold and solidify language for kids.

Resources:
Presentation for Planning for the Reading Continuum K-5, including information about what assessments are and are not appropriate for ELLs at various language levels.

K-1 Planning with the Reading Continuum Exemplar

2-5 Planning with the Reading Continuum Examplar

K-1 Blank planning template as a PDF

2-5 Blank planning template as a PDF

K-1 Blank planning template that you can adapt

2-5 Blank planning template you can adapt

Level One 101

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Holly Tracy

“What do I do? This student has no English! They can’t possibly…”

Ah, but they can! We just have to do a few things differently! Our Level One students are acquiring language all day long. We have to make “input” more comprehensible for them and try to create as many “i+1” moments as we can by providing scaffolds and reframing our brain about what “output” can look like.

Language is acquired through “input.” But “output,” or using that language to share your thinking and understanding, is what makes you smarter! Level One students can share their thinking in many different ways. Some helpful ways to support language input and output for Level One ELLs can be found in the resources below.

Level One Scaffolds and Supports

To see one of those scaffolds in action, click here to watch!

The following websites are great for Read Alouds and can easily be paired with a retelling activity, or simply drawing “I liked the part when…” One suggestion…preview the texts beforehand to make sure they are comprehensible! Sometimes, it is difficult to understand the story if the pictures don’t flow well with the text.

Language Notebook Response Ideas for Online Read Alouds

Sundance Literactive Readers: Leveled Readers Meegenius

You can even find some celebrities reading books aloud here:

Storyline Online Read to Me Speakaboos

World Book-Early World of Learning (which has books AND learning games!)

Find great introduction and practice for English language structures, vocabulary and early literacy skills at…

BrainPop for ESL Starfall

To access language support from Lincoln City Libraries, follow the steps found here.

***To make your own Level One Kit, find a list of all the ingredients here!***

How do I access Guided Reading Texts for ELL through Library Media Resources?

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Molly Williams

Lincoln Public Schools’ Library Media has a large collection of guided reading texts ready for ELL teachers to check out for use in their classrooms. The books are a range of levels and genres and can be used to support language acquisition through guided reading. You can either check out these books through your library media specialists at your buildings, or you can come down to LPSDO and search the collections in person.

To locate the titles online, you can follow this pathway:

1. From the Lincoln Public Schools Home page, click on library media services under the instruction tab.

2. On the right hand side, there will be a selection of several different catalogs to search from. Select the Professional Library Catalog.

3. Type in DRA as the keyword. You will see a list of books. To refine your search, look at the bottom left hand corner of the screen.There will be a box with choices for ways to sort your selections. Scroll down to Collections and select it. Some options will drop down for you to choose from. Select Leveled Readers.

4. All of the guided reading texts that are for ELL teachers should come up for you to select from.

Please contact Library Media Services or your ELL Instructional Coaches if you have any questions.

Language Functions and Forms

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Anne Hubbell

Students learning English as their second, third, or fourth language, need support in understanding the language functions and forms in English. The functions or purposes of language could be things such as describing, explaining, or informing. The forms include the grammatical structures such as prepositions, verb tenses, and complex sentence patterns. It is important to understand the progression of how we acquire grammatical structures. For example, students understand and use present tense verbs before they understand and use past tense verbs.

The contrast between form and function in language can be illustrated through a simple medical analogy. If doctors studied only a limited portion of the human system, such as anatomical form, they would be unable to adequately address their patient’s needs. To fully treat their patients, physicians must understand the purposes of the human body and the relationships between organs, cells, and genes (Pozzi, 2004). Similarly, ELLs need to understand both the form (structure) and the function (purpose) of the English language in order to reach higher levels of proficiency.

Bibliography:

http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/krashen.htm

http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/sbd.aspx

Second Language Acquisition

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Anne Hubbell

According to Stephen Krashen (2007), language acquisition occurs when messages are comprehensible and when “speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances, but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.” Krashen is an expert in linguistics and second language acquisition. He is well-known for his five hypotheses about second language acquisition.

“Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition claims that second languages are (1) acquired, not learned. The process is the same as for first language acquisition. Acquisition occurs in a (2) natural order when people receive (3) comprehensible input and their (4) affective filter is low. Rules that people learn can be used to (5) monitor the output, either speech or writing. Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition provides the theoretical base for content-based language teaching.”

Learn more about these hypotheses. Listen to Stephen Krashen explain language acquisition.

Bibliography:

www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html

Freeman, D. and Freeman, Y. English Language Learners The Essential Guide, (2007)

http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/krashen.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTsduRreug

Creating Continuity between General Education and ELL in Reading

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Holly Tracy

Working Towards Independence, Keeping Language a Priority

In order for English Language Learners to work at an independent level on grade level materials, we need to focus on the language of the learning. When ELL students are in general education classrooms, what strategies will they be using? What will it look like? What will it sound like and what will they be expected to do to be an active member in the classroom and access learning at an independent level?

Get to know your students. Where are they in both BICS and CALP language development? How will we use the instructional materials provided in our classrooms such as McGraw-Hill, Rigby and the like as a vehicle to teach academic language and concepts?

To access the General Education pacing guides for reading, the language required for each skill taught and the common strategies that are used across grade levels, please see the following supports generated by the ELL Instructional Coaches:

ELL Language Support Guides by Grade Level

Kindergarten Fourth Grade

First Grade Fifth Grade

Second Grade Sixth Grade

Third Grade

Language Continuums

Language Continuum for Comprehension Skills and Strategies

Language Continuum for Grammar

Langauge Continuum for Vocabulary Strategies

Pacing Guides Across Grade Levels

Grammar Pacing

Comprehension Skills Pacing

Comprehension Strategies Pacing

Vocabulary Strategies Pacing

Click here for supports in planning and using online resources, as well as for recommendations about what pieces would be most appropriate for use in instructing language learners.

Click here for supports for Kindergarten and First grade in using online resources.

To utilize some of the components McGraw-Hill Wonders curriculum in your ELL classroom digitally, please click here.

For further information about why ELLs need to have language presented at their language level and scaffolded instruction in order to progress through both language learning and speaking, listening, reading, and writing, please read more here.

ELL Symposium for Administrators and Instructional Leaders II

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Holly Tracy

We’ve had the opportunity to share more about ELL and the perspective of students acquiring more English through our Professional Development offering of ELL Symposium II. During this PD, participants had the opportunity to build on the theories and practices shared in ELL Symposium I, explore how these foundations are applied throughout learning communities and examine the impact of English Language Learners within their building community and how to ensure learning is comprehensible throughout the day.

We wanted to share some additional resources with you that we mentioned during this presentation:

ELL Rubric Checklists:

Elementary ELL Rubric Checklists

Secondary ELL Rubric Checklists

Professional Development Offerings for ELL Teachers:

Enhancing Writing in the ELL Classroom: Featuring the whys and hows of instructing ELLs in a variety of writing genres, as well as information about shared and interactive writing and writing for an authentic purpose

Enhancing Reading in the ELL Classroom through Guided Reading: Featuring a look at guided reading for ELLs, as well as how to examine leveled reading assessments through an ELL lens

Enhancing Reading in the ELL Classroom through Comprehension and Questioning : Featuring Information on examining Reading Fluency for ELLs as well as comprehension and questioning

Independent Reading Practice for ELLs: Featuring a look at how independent reading is a gradual release process for ELLs

ELL Essentials: Featuring a look at implementing strategies that work well to provide access and rehearsal for ELL students

Differentiation for Preproduction/Early Production students in the Classroom

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Molly Williams

Belmont Elementary School offered a flex session to staff focused on strategies that could be used in the classroom when teaching preproduction (level 1) English Language Learners. The session was led by Hilary Walker, an ELL teacher and team leader at Belmont and Molly Williams, an ELL Instructional Coach for Lincoln Public Schools.

The main discussion centered around the idea, “When teachers use scaffolding with comprehensible input in mind for level 1 English Language Learners, students will be able to acquire the necessary language to access academic content,” and because of this idea, it is very important to consider input processes (reading and listening) and output processes (writing and speaking) in instruction.

Participants took part in a “show, not tell” experience as they watched lessons and discussed the instructional strategies that enhanced learning through taking language acquisition needs into consideration.

To view the video that highlights effective strategies for level 1 English Language Learners, click here.

To view the powerpoint, click here.

After discussing effective strategies to use keeping language acquisition in mind, three activities were introduced that could be used in the general education classroom promote learning with appropriate scaffolds. The activities were Classroom Surveys, Story Retelling Cards, and Using the Story of Puzzles. To see those activities, click here.

Additional Resources:

Online resources are also a great way to use technology to support input and output processes. There are some great sites that focus on the rich culture of oral storytelling and also the form and function of language and learning. To access a list of online resources, click here.

There are also some great articles through Colorin Colorado and Reading Rockets that have published ways to support preproduction students in the classroom. Click on the specific titles below to read more:

Support ELLs in the Mainstream Classroom: Reading Instruction

Oral Language Development and ELLs: 5 Challenges and Solutions

To watch the YouTube video in full entitle Immersion by: Media that Matters click here.

January ELO Resources

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Laura Bartels

On our January ELO meeting we had the opportunity to work on deepening our implementation of descriptive feedback as an overarching strategy in ELL teaching and learning. Melisa Garcia, an ELL teacher at McPhee, shared one excellent, deep implementation example of this strategy. In this example, students used a kid-friendly rubric for students to self-assess and work on writing targets. Here are the resources: a video demonstration and a link to Melisa’s blog.

We also listened to Hager Mohammed, one of our bilingual liaisons. She shared her experiences and her reactions to Lost in Translation, by Eva Hoffman. We also shared a number of other titles that would be good to read. Mary Reiman’s Multicultural Literature Book Recommendation.

Using Photobooth to Publish

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Holly Tracy

So you say you want to use Photobooth to publish student work? What a great idea! Did you know that Photobooth is so versatile because it is…

good for sharing presentations and a good way to use technology to publish.
a manageable process for students learn the process and use independently.
a good way for students to self evaluate their speaking/listening and presentation qualities as well as their piece of writing.
easily used with multiple genres…biographies are one idea but you can also use poetry nonfiction and beyond.

Resources to Get Started:

Using Photobooth to Publish Planning Guide

Examples of Photobooth Publishing Recordings to share with kids:

Let’s learn our Photobooth Publishing Do’s and Don’ts!

A Non-Example

An Example

What I need to remember when publishing with Photobooth: An Anchor Chart that can be come a self-reflection guide

Presentation Templates:

For Primary:

Presenation Flip cards in PDF format

Edit the Presentation Flip cards, if you wish, in Comic Life

For Intermediate Grades: