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Do you plan on adding resources to this communication tool?

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WIDA- Vocabulary Development for Oral Language.

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WIDA- Vocabulary Development for Oral Language.

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This link will take you to several videoed lesson in several different age groups. One video will be a lesson for elementary age children asking and answering questions about the text. The lesson models how teachers can use learning and language goals with students and collaboration to learn about academic vocabulary. Another video is of middle school children this vocabulary development is done by connecting real life experiences to the content. The last video is a high school lesson where students are playing a game to learn about their text.

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Fostering Active Comprehension: Asking and Answering Questions

Shadia encourages her first-grade students to engage in authentic inquiry before reading a text. By asking questions about the topic, students' reading focus is linked to finding answers to their questions. Shadia's students stay engaged by working in pairs.
Submitted by Shadia Salem, a first grade Transitional Arabic Bilingual Teacher at Dorn Elementary in Hickory Hills, IL.
ENL (English as a New Language) High School Students: Encouraging Communication in a New Language

Mindy develops a grade-level, standards-based unit and provides her ninth graders with clear modeling and guided practice using game-type activities for Romeo and Juliet. Mindy also demonstrates working with colleagues to help raise awareness of scaffolding lessons so all learners can be engaged.
Submitted by Mindy Lewis-Hitch, the 9th grade English as a New Language Department Lead Teacher at Ben Davis 9th Grade Center in Wayne Township, IN.

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Learn from real classroom examplesWIDA sponsors video contests for educators of multilingual learners to showcase innovative instruction that promotes language development and content learning.Watch how teachers around the consortium create learning opportunities for students to develop language within academic contexts.

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This resource describes how parents and teachers can use digital resources to support their child's reading development. It includes resources for children's learning, as well as what to be mindful of when getting a child online.

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The PAST assessment is recommended by LETRS. It advances from early, basic, to advanced phonemic awareness. It moves from identifying, deleting, then manipulating syllables, onsets, rimes, and then phonemes. It can be given multiple times to show student grown in their phonemic awareness.

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This phonological awareness assessment will assess students knowledge of initial sounds, have them generate rhyming words, blend and segment phonemes, and manipulate phonemes in a word.

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This pledge highlights the responsibility we have as literacy educators to provide research based, quality instruction to all of our students. Reading is a human right. Given that, we need to provide all children that enter our building access to reading materials and a culturally responsive environment to support the needs of all learners.

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This Padlet is a helpful collaboration tool

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Use this cheat sheet for creating learning and language objectives. Consider using a do/what chart to create success criteria.

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Heart Word Magic - Help Students Learn to Read and Spell High-Frequency and Sight Words

Heart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words and sight words, particularly those that aren't very decodable. Show your students the animations, then try these fun, hands-on free Student Practice Activities

What Is a Heart Word?

Show your students this video to introduce them to Heart Word Magic! We use animations and practice techniques to clearly show students that the alphabetic principle doesn't completely disappear in Tricky Heart Words. The same skills students use for decoding are also helpful in learning to read and spell these less-decodable words. Heart Word Magic helps them to "make the tricky sticky."

What is Phonics Suite?

How can you give your students the skills they need to become strong decoders and accurate and fluent readers? Really Great Reading has a solution. It's called Phonics Suite, a comprehensive set of tools to diagnose, group, and teach students with weaknesses in their foundational reading skills. There are even tools to monitor progress, report, and adjust. Click here to read more>>

Explore Our Library of Heart Word Magic Animations

After showing your students the Heart Word Magic animations, try these fun, hands-on activities with your kids.

Highlight the Tricky to Make It Sticky

One easy way to help students focus on and remember the parts of Tricky Heart Words they need to remember by heart is to simply have students highlight the part of the word that is "tricky" (the phonologically irregular part), such as the letter a in what. Check out our activities below.

Heart Word Magic Spelling Activity Sheet

This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by filling in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned "by heart." Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, have, from, and the.Click here to download Heart Word Magic Spelling Student Activity>>

Heart Word Magic Scaffolded Spelling Activity Sheet

This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then writing down the corresponding spellings. The teacher can give students the spelling for the irregular part of the word that must be learned "by heart." Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, and of.
Click here to download Heart Word Magic Scaffolded Spelling Activity>>

Heart Word Magic Dissect a Word Activity Sheet

This activity allows students to practice dissecting Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then filling in the corresponding spellings. They fill in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned "by heart" and write that tricky part again. Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, of, and could.
Click here to download the Heart Word Magic Dissect a Word Student Activity>>

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Heart Word Magic - Read and Spell High Frequency Words

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Heart Word Magic - Help Students Learn to Read and Spell High-Frequency and Sight WordsHeart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words and sight words, particularly those that aren't very decodable.

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Don't Be Silly Ms. Millie- Book Companion

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Don't Be Silly Ms. Millie- Book Companion

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SeeSaw is an app and online resource for teachers to create an online lesson or assignment for students. With the many useful creative tools, teachers and students can take a blank canvas and turn it into an engaging lesson that is multi-modal for any content area.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

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Model read aloud lesson using the gradual release of responsibility.

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You want your students to read more, but the books aren't exactly flying off the classroom bookshelves. A book talk may be just the tool you need to engage your students in a new book. A book talk could sell your students on the idea of picking up a new title or author or give them the push they need to find a book they love and convince their peers to read it.

[📷: Top image by mrs._cronk on Instagram.]

What is a book talk?

A book talk is a short presentation about a book with the goal of convincing other people to read it. It's not a formal book report or review. And, it's more persuasive than expository-think sales and marketing. In a book talk, the goal is to engage the listeners and present a fun, exciting, and even suspenseful commercial for your book. A book talk could highlight the plot, like this example featuring the book Smile by Raina Telgemeir. It could focus on a character, like this talk on the book Matilda by Roald Dahl. Or, it could recreate a book's mood to ignite readers' curiosity. Teach your students how to do book talks by modeling the practice. Then hand the reins to students by assigning them book talks in partners or as presentations.

What are some good book talk examples?

Books talks can take many forms. Here are some of our favorite examples:

As you get started, use a book talk template to help students organize their talks.

Choosing a book to talk about

Probably the best way to choose a book for a book talk is to find one that you really like. If students need inspiration to find a book to talk about:

Provide a box of books that are recommended for their grade level, like this list for 4th grade.

As you get to know students, slip them a note card with a personalized book recommendation. The personal touch will give them the confidence to know that they can read the book and that it's a good choice.

Focus on a theme, like Women's History Month, by providing a shelf of books inspired by the topic.

Ensure that students will connect with a book by having them choose a book written in first person with characters that reflect their experiences (check out this list of diverse titles for ideas).

Planning the best book talk

You have a book and know you have to sell it, but students need more guidelines than that. Here are some parameters that will maximize the book talk format:

Don't give away the ending (the exception may be for a series or book of short stories where incorporating the ending to one story might excite readers about reading more from that author).

Similarly, show the book, title, and author at the end of the book talk. Don't lead with it! That'll keep the audience engaged and wondering, Have I heard of this book?

Start with a hook that will get the audience's attention. This can be verbal, like reading a portion of the story (perhaps a cliffhanger), or nonverbal, like reenacting a major fight scene.

End with a hook. Leave the audience wanting to know more by creating a cliff-hanger, like authors do at the end of a chapter, and ending with it. A book talk is successful when the audience has questions.

A book talk should be short. Aim for between one and five minutes, depending on your audience.

No two book talks should sound the same! Bring your own personality and voice to the book talk and encourage students to do the same.

Choose a book that has a strong theme that will be of interest to your class. In middle and high school, books about love, humor, magic, friendship, and problems they deal with every day (breakups, family, school, etc.) are likely to resonate.

Prepare for a book talk while you read by taking notes and placing sticky notes at cliff-hangers, quotes, scenes that surprise you, and parts that you connect with.

Think about craft: What does the author do to keep you engaged?

Like any good presentation, don't memorize it but do have your major points in mind.

Engage your audience-ask questions, take a poll, have them guess what will happen next. The author kept you on the edge of your seat, get your students on the edge of theirs.

Practice, practice, practice! (Teacher bonus: Unlike your students, who take your class only once, you can perfect a book talk and give it year after year.)

Book talks = learning and love of reading

So they're fun and spirited, but there are also real academic benefits to incorporating book talks into your classroom:

They get kids reading-really reading. When students do a book talk, they have to know the book and know it well. A book talk will fall flat if they haven't read the book and can't talk about it.

They get kids sharing reading with others. Reading can be contagious, and book talks are a great way to spread a love of reading throughout your class, one book at a time.

They teach note-taking. As students prepare for a book talk, taking notes and using those notes to summarize the story is an important skill they'll develop.

They build presentation skills. The process of reading the book, thinking through how to present it, and practicing are good rehearsal for later presentations.

They build listening skills. When students aren't presenting, they're listening. The practice of participating in book talks, listening, and asking questions refines students' listening skills.

Bringing book talks to the next level

Already do book talks? Here are some ways to kick it up a notch:

The cardinal rule of book talks is to talk about a book you like, but challenge your students to give a book talk about a book they don't like. Can they convince people that they actually liked the book?

Partner book talks: As students get comfortable with book talks, you can pair them up in class or across classes for them to have conversations with peers. As they talk about different books, encourage them to find similarities and differences between what they're reading.

Picture-book talks: Challenge older students to hone their presentation skills by having them give a book talk on a picture book.

Peer review: Create a rubric or checklist (like this one) and have students give each other feedback.

Come and share your book talk ideas in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, check out 8 ways to amp up book talks.

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What Is a Book Talk?: Your Guide to Making Them Work in the Classroom

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What is a book talk and how can you use book talks in the classroom? Our WeAreTeachers guide is chock-full of teacher and student tips.

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This video teaches parents how to help their child find the meaning of words as they are reading at home. The main strategy is to: Look in the word, look around the word, and look beyond the word.

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Vocabulary and oral language development techniques include: explicit teaching of specific words, skills and strategies for word development, morphology, wide range of texts use, and intentional oral language opportunities.

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Vocabulary Techniques for Multilingual Learners- Goodwin

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How do you plan to use the information/resource in your classroom? 

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How do you plan to use the information/resource in your classroom? 

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I am going to use the PAST assessment for my SLO.

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Thank you for creating this great tool for us to share resources and ideas!

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What other literacy topics interest you?

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What other literacy topics interest you?

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If anyone has anymore phonics games, specifically for diphthongs, I would appreciate it!

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What information did you find the most useful in this Padlet?

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What information did you find the most useful in this Padlet?

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This is a practical tool designed to help teachers create inclusive and supportive learning environments for multilingual and culturally diverse students. It guides educators in evaluating and enhancing classroom practices across areas like physical space, instructional routines, grouping structures, and digital tools. By using this checklist, teachers can ensure that their teaching strategies affirm students’ identities, build on cultural strengths, and foster equitable access to learning.

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Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Instructional Checklist (2)

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This resource offers teachers a comprehensive overview of the SIOP Model's 30 features, organized into components like lesson preparation, interaction, and assessment. It provides practical strategies and examples that help educators make academic content more accessible for multilingual learners while supporting English language development.

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Discussion 3.2 SIOP Component Jigsaw 2024 (1)

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This video provides a clear, concise introduction to the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) Model, outlining its purpose as a research-based framework designed to enhance lesson planning and delivery for English language learners.

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What is the SIOP® Model? Savvas Learning Company

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The Tell Us About Your Child Survey is a family questionnaire developed by WIDA to gather insights about multilingual learners with significant cognitive disabilities. By using this tool, teachers can build stronger partnerships with families and make more informed decisions about instructional strategies, supports, and language development goals.

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This WIDA Snapshot introduces classroom action research, a collaborative, cyclical process where teachers and researchers work together to identify challenges, collect and analyze classroom data, and refine instructional strategies.

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Action Research: A catalyst for comprehensive teaching and learning in multilingual contexts

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This WIDA Snapshot introduces classroom action research – when researchers and educators work together to address classroom challenges – by encouraging teachers to use their researcher voices to make meaningful contributions to the field, whether through collaborative or independent approaches.

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Instruction to Engage Multilingual Learners with Grade-level Content

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Instruction to Engage Multilingual Learners with Grade-level Content

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This article from The Reading Teacher shares practical strategies for helping multilingual learners access grade level content. It highlights three research based instructional practices: explicit instruction of academic language, the use of visuals to support learning, and frequent opportunities for oral and written language practice. The article also includes examples of sentence frames and instructional scaffolds that teachers can implement immediately.

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners

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This educator guide provides practical, evidence based recommendations for supporting multilingual learners during Tier 1 instruction. The guide includes strategies for building academic vocabulary, increasing opportunities for speaking and writing, and integrating language instruction into daily classroom lessons. The recommendations can be used in whole group, small group, or one-on-one instruction across all English proficiency levels.

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The NCII Academic Intervention Tools Chart compares academic intervention programs using consistent research criteria and summarizes the quality of evidence supporting each intervention. This resource helps literacy leaders and intervention teams identify evidence based Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions and supports data based decision making within an RTI/MTSS framework.