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For our students to use language in all the exciting ways that we can, they must first have the vocabulary to do so. It is not enough, however, for students to have a list of the exact same weekly vocabulary words as everyone else in the room. Just like adults, kids have their own vocabulary that contributes to who they are and how they share about their worlds. Because of this, I want to create “Very Own Words” boxes for each of my students. In these boxes, students store index cards with vocabulary words that are interesting to them. They can be their favorite words from a story they are reading, a word from their home life (such as Mommy, Grandpa, pizza, etc.), or words to express their emotions. Students can add new cards to these boxes throughout the day and revisit them through discussions of family, culture, friends, and community. Not only does this aid in developing a personal vocabulary, but it breaks down power dynamics. By allowing students to choose vocabulary words that are meaningful to them, we are placing them in charge of their learning and showing them that their thoughts matter.

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In my school district (as with most learning communities today), teachers are expected to display their weekly learning standards in the classroom using age-appropriate language. For example, if we are learning about complete sentences, we might hang a paper on our bulletin board saying, “I can write a complete sentence that starts with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark.” While these statements can be helpful for students to focus on what we are learning, we should not stop here. To complement this idea, I want to include a display of academic language my students might need to access throughout the week. They would be specifically next to our “I Can” statements so they can be easily connected and utilized. For my ELs, I will also include translations of the statements in their L1s, so they can better link the concepts as we learn.

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When considering the language our students use daily, there are many phrases they frequently utilize to ask a question, share an idea, converse with peers, or clarify their thinking. To help our ELs fully participate in our classroom, we can create flip cards for students with common phrases they might need. Each card could include a question/ discussion phrase, the translation in their L1, and a picture to accompany the text. By showing a picture of a student raising their hand or pointing to a question on a page with question marks around them, an EL might have a better idea that the phrases shown on that card are used for asking questions. These flip cards can then be easily stored in a student's pencil box or cubby so they can pull them out to refer to when needed. Having these phrases readily available will help students feel more confident in themselves and their language use.

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To best support our students in their language development, we must ensure that they are represented in our classrooms. Displaying children's family pictures in the classroom can be a valuable way to do this. Family pictures provide a meaningful connection to a child's home life and culture, and can serve as a prompt for conversation and storytelling. Children can share details about their family members, their traditions and customs, and their experiences outside of school. This type of sharing can help children build important language skills such as vocabulary, sentence structure, and storytelling abilities. Along with this, displaying family pictures in the classroom can help to foster a sense of belonging and inclusivity by acknowledging and celebrating the diversity of families and cultures represented in the classroom. Overall, using family pictures as a language development support can help to create a warm and welcoming classroom environment that encourages children to engage with their learning and with each other.

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Having a classroom library representative of all of our students is essential. In early elementary, students are getting excited about becoming independent readers, and they are immediately drawn to the classroom library. They are looking for interesting, engaging books, and the books they most frequently pull from the shelves are ones that they can relate to. By including diverse literature in our libraries, we are ensuring that all students are represented and can connect with characters in stories. While my classroom library is inclusive of different cultures, races, socioeconomic statuses, and more, I do recognize that my literature is scarce when considering various languages. Moving forward, I would like to continue diversifying my classroom library to include books in other languages my students might use. Not only would this allow for students to connect with the story, but it would permit them to practice reading in their L1, which we know enables them to be stronger readers in English.

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Morning Meeting is one of the best ways for students to talk and communicate with one another, thus building a positive classroom culture. It allows kids to share about their family and world and connect with classmates. This meeting can look very different from classroom to classroom, but all Morning Meetings are intended to have a greeting, time for sharing, a group activity, and time for announcements about the day ahead. When considering language acquisition in the elementary classroom, time for sharing is essential as students often feel most confident talking about the thing they know the most about: themselves. They can practice language use and pragmatics by sharing about their weekend, a holiday they recently celebrated, news from their family, etc. Additionally, this is a time for students to learn about their peers’ families and cultures and welcome everyone into our classroom. When thinking about our English Learners, this is an excellent time for them to share a greeting in their first language (if they feel comfortable), practice their English in a low-stakes pair-sharing activity, or even observe peer models as the class converses together. Moving forward, I plan to diversify my Morning Meeting activities to provide a variety of ways for students to share with one another. Whether this be to the whole class, in pairs, or in small "family" groups, this will allow for all students to talk with different peers and further develop their language skills.

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In early elementary classrooms, labels are essential for student language development. No matter the student’s first language, providing print-rich environments allows kids to connect text to concrete meanings in their spaces. Whether it's a clock, a bookshelf, the sink, etc., we can label important items and spaces in our classroom for students to link words to their meanings. To support our English Learners, we can expand on this idea by including words in our ELs' first language alongside their English translation and a picture. By seeing a picture of pencils on the outside of a basket, the word "pencils" in English, and "pencils" again in their native language, students can efficiently locate what they need and see themselves represented around the room. This strategy would also help ELs connect with other students. I know that my students would love being able to learn new words in their peers' languages, which would build a strong classroom culture.