ELL and ESL strategies

Five for Friday! {RAWR!}

August 8, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 10 Comments

It’s Friday! We’re one week closer to Back-to-School… which the mere mention of gives me anxiety! I’m not ready! I want to soak up more time with my boys, get more things made for my classroom… but that’s how it always is, isn’t it?

How about that Back-to-School sale?! I hope you guys got as great a haul as I did! I have to say that my favorite purchase were Krista Wallden’s dinosaurs… I mean, seriously. Stop. the. world. I bought them not knowing what I was going to use them for and then I heard my two boys “RAWR!”ing at each other. It was then I knew… and this was born!

I am totally on a place value kick right now and I love it. It’s a skill that kiddos need all the time, and I know they are going to beg to place this regularly. I differentiated it so if your kids are working with two-digit numbers but you have some ready for three-digit numbers both needs are met in one game. It’s 50% until tomorrow, which makes it only $1.50! {Leave me a comment with your favorite dinosaur and I’ll pick a winner on Sunday night to get this game!}

My little guy had his Kindergarten screening yesterday and got to meet his prospective teachers. He was so nervous before we went, but then he turned into a totally different kid. We’re talking saying hi to others, using his full name, playing tag, and calling his Nana in New York after we left and speaking to her for almost 10 minutes! I nearly cried because it’s like some little switch was flipped in him. It was SUCH a blessing.

Yesterday I also did my least favorite thing: I went to the dentist. I had to get my first-ever filling {not bad for 28 years old!}. Luckily it wasn’t too painful, but there’s still just something about going to the dentist that is the worst. Here’s to hoping there isn’t another filling in my future!

On Tuesday I went to a fabulous 1/2 day training presented by Yvonne and David Freeman on academic language. I teach almost-exclusively students that speak a language other than English {and next year will have a 100% ESOL class}, so I’m very much immersed in strategies and thinking about teaching through that context. At the training there was a HUGE piece of food for thought that I really think applies to more than just students that come from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

Why don’t we make sure our terminology and “labels” highlight what students have rather than what they lack? We do that when we use person-first language, i.e. “student with autism” rather than “autistic student” — but we don’t do it with students from a diverse linguistic background. Instead we frame it as they lack English.

Discussed was the idea that any student that speaks one language and is in process of learning another should be called an “emerging bilingual.” I love this as it places value on what they come with, rather than what they lack (English). This is especially important in settings where two languages are used, because it truly reflects what’s happening! English-speakers are learning another language, speakers of another language are learning English — both are emerging as bilingual students.

Ugh. This is what I’m bracing for as I’m going to bite the bullet and finally head into my room on Monday to start setting up. I’ve put it off long enough. This meme is also totally relevant because before I start living in my classroom again my husband and I are going to finish binge-watching season 4 of Game of Thrones. We’ve watched ALL four seasons of it this summer. We’re totally behind on all TV shows, but that’s life with a 4.5 year old with special needs and a 15-month old!

Sector 7 {Book Talk Tuesday} + FREEBIE

July 22, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) Leave a Comment

Raise your hand if you love picture books — I know I do! My husband would tell you I love them a little too much… as evidenced by the hundreds of pounds of books sitting in our garage waiting to be re-organized into an extensive classroom library for my littles. I’m linking up with the one-and-only Deanna Jump today to share about one way I use picture books in the classroom.

I love picture books — of all sorts — but as a teacher of English Language Learners (ELL’s), I love wordless picture books most of all.

The benefits to wordless picture books are many, and research supports their use in ALL types of classrooms (and at all levels). Some of the benefits include:

developing vocabulary and oral language
developing visual literacy
developing an unencumbered understanding of story structure
offering inspiration for students as authors
and best of all… fostering independence as readers! {Hello, Daily 5!!!}

I love to start off my year by doing a few book studies using only wordless picture books. This allows my students to feel comfortable interacting and contributing to discussion without the anxiety they can sometimes feel as ELL’s or beginning readers — there are no unfamiliar vocabulary words burdening their understanding and discussion of a text!

This year I used one of David Wisener’s fabulous texts, Sector 7.

You can immediately see from the cover how this text would draw students in! Often, a student’s background knowledge or experiences limit them subconsciously when choosing texts, but what student hasn’t gazed at the clouds above? I know all of my kiddos immediately gasped and were sitting at attention waiting to see (and discuss) more!

One of the important things to do when sharing a wordless picture book is decide how you want to share it. Do you want to ask leading questions? Do you want to model for students how to narrate a wordless picture book? Do you want to just display the illustrations and let students share rapid-fire?

Sector 7 was the first wordless book I shared with students this past year, so I chose to do a little bit of all three. I began by making a prediction based on the cover and had students share theirs. Then, I modeled narrating a page.

“This looks to me a bit like a factory. But something seems strange… mysterious even. There are clouds coming out of a door labeled ‘Cloud Dispatch Center’! Hm… I wonder what’s inside the building? And wait — I see a little boy, riding on a cloud! My goodness, he must be scared and excited, all at the same time!”

Students, once they see there aren’t any right or wrong observations, begin to make all kinds of wonderful contributions to a discussion and narration of a wordless picture book.

What I love about Sector 7, in particular, are the many connections students (and teachers) can make, and the extension activities that are possible! Students will absolutely see themselves in the little boy whisked away to the Cloud Dispatch Center, and they too will want to sketch designs for clouds-to-be!

If the skies are clear — head outside after reading! Let students illustrate and write about the clouds they see, and how they might’ve come to be. Were those clouds from the Dispatch Center, too? Or were they created some other way?

I created a reader’s response for you to use with your students — two different prompts, both in primary and regular lines. Click on the image below to download! I hope you enjoy this book and find a use for it and other wordless picture books in your classroom!