Good readers make predictions and inferences while they read. Inferring is how readers “read between the lines.” Much of what an author conveys in English is not directly stated. It is implied. English language learners (ELLs) need to learn strategies to infer meaning. The goal is to help readers get deeper meaning from the text by making connections to prior knowledge, visualizing, and predicting. Inference is a very difficult task for English language learners. In addition to struggling with decoding, grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary and a myriad of other language and reading skills, ELLs are also trying to understand what the inferences mean. We want English language learners to develop critical thinking skills, interpret the text that they read and draw conclusions. These skills must be explicitly taught. Teachers need to give their English language learners a model in a frame to help them to express their ideas. Teach students phrases such as *I predict . . ., My guess is . . .I think that….., My conclusion is… I infer that……”
Let’s visit Mrs. Schnee’s 1st grade ESL class. Her students are on the rug on a cold winter day. They can see the field covered in snow from the window. Mrs.Schnee is holding up the book, The Snowy Day (Keats,1976) and tells students, "When I look at the cover, I can infer that this story takes place in the winter. I infer that because I see snow, just like outside my window." She then asks students to infer from the picture what happens in the story. One student, Karim, said, I infer that boy can’t play outside for a long time. ” He used the language that he had been taught to describe what he believed had occurred in the story. When Mrs. Schnee asked him why he thought that, he replied, “My schema tells me that it is winter and the snow is cold.” Then, Mrs. Schnee asked Karim to point out what in the picture helped him think it was winter and Karim pointed to the snowsuit that the boy is wearing and the snow, Thus, she checked for Karim’s understanding by asking him for a rationale for his answer. All students need strategies and language to infer meaning from pictures and text. English language learners especially need this modeling from the teacher and peers with a clear demonstration of how the inferences are made.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Part III – Reading comprehension Strategies for ELLs: Determining Importance of Information
Ms. Mc Bride was teaching animal adaptations to her 3rd grade science class. She wrote down the key idea of the chapter that the class is reading on the chalkboard: Adaptations are important to an animal’s survival. She taught her students that relevant information is that which is related to the key idea. She gave several examples of information from the chapter and asked students to practice deciding what is relevant and what isn't. Students then read the chapter. When they were done, Ms. McBride divided them into groups and had them brainstorm what they'd learned. Students in each group wrote a list of information they'd learned from the chapter, and then placed an R next to facts that they feel were relevant. Ms. McBride made a large T-chart and displayed the relevant and irrelevant facts from the groups' lists in front of the whole class.
Good readers can distinguish between important and unimportant information in nonfiction text. This ability is key to understanding the content that students must read. First, teachers should introduce students to the conventions of nonfiction text, such as by having them scan chapter titles, headings, subheadings, picture captions, maps, glossaries, and indexes. English language learners should receive plenty of support before they even begin to read the text. They need to understand that reading is not necessarily a front-to-back task.
Students can then learn to identify the title, table of contents, bolded words, photographs, captions, maps, headings, subheadings, and labels in a textbook chapter to preview information. These conventions of nonfiction text help students to identify what is important in the text. Even though the text as a whole was above the reading level
Good readers can distinguish between important and unimportant information in nonfiction text. This ability is key to understanding the content that students must read. First, teachers should introduce students to the conventions of nonfiction text, such as by having them scan chapter titles, headings, subheadings, picture captions, maps, glossaries, and indexes. English language learners should receive plenty of support before they even begin to read the text. They need to understand that reading is not necessarily a front-to-back task.
Students can then learn to identify the title, table of contents, bolded words, photographs, captions, maps, headings, subheadings, and labels in a textbook chapter to preview information. These conventions of nonfiction text help students to identify what is important in the text. Even though the text as a whole was above the reading level
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future
I am at TESOL 2010 in Boston, an international conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. It is so energizing to be with the 7000 attendees that have come from all over the world. Tonight I attended Howard Gardner’s Opening Plenary on Five Minds of the Future with approximately 1500 other people. Dr. Gardner’s speech was so relevant to many of the topics that I have discussed on Twitter with educators in my PLN about the future of education.
Rather than tweet lines from his speech, I decided to put together a blog and outline his what he said.
There are several major changes in our culture that have occurred that have led to a transformation in how we view education.
·Globalization has resulted in mega cities all over the world. It is the reason that immigrant children are entering U.S. schools in unprecedented numbers. The emergence of global markets and knowledge-intensive economies are bypassing national borders.
·Biological revolution – The potential of brain science for education are indeed enormous Teachers today need to know about how the brain works. Educators and scientists need to cooperate so the educators know about brain science and scientist know about education
· Digital revolution – I won't go into all that Gardner mentions about the digital revolution but he specifically mentions the advent of social networking such as Twitter and the possibility of allowing students to use cell phones and other electronic devices in the classroom. Technology has changed the way we think about learning.
· Lifelong learners – people cannot go to school and then stop learning in today’s world. We must learn to think outside the box, to be flexible and learn beyond our disciplines.
The Five Minds for the Future are:
* The Disciplinary Mind: The goal of schools can no longer be the memorization of an assortment of facts. Students need to learn to think across many disciplines (historical, mathematic, artistic, scientific) and to become experts in one discipline. t
* The Synthesizing Mind: This is the ability to synthesize information has become more and more important. There is so much information available to students that is undigested and unevaluated. Students need to be able to synthesize the information that is available and communicate it to other.
The Creating Mind: This is the ability of a person to clarify new problems and come up with new solutions. The Creative Mind thinks outside the box and is not afraid to try new things and fail.
* The Respectful Mind is respectful of the differences among human beings. Diversity is a fact of life and we must go beyond mere tolerance to show our respect for others.
* The Ethical Mind demonstrates the ability to conceptualize oneself as a good worker and a good citizen. We must take our responsibilities in these two areas seriously.
So with this new book Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner goes beyond the cognitive realm and into the realm of getting along with other cultures and living up to our responsibilities to our community.
Rather than tweet lines from his speech, I decided to put together a blog and outline his what he said.
There are several major changes in our culture that have occurred that have led to a transformation in how we view education.
·Globalization has resulted in mega cities all over the world. It is the reason that immigrant children are entering U.S. schools in unprecedented numbers. The emergence of global markets and knowledge-intensive economies are bypassing national borders.
·Biological revolution – The potential of brain science for education are indeed enormous Teachers today need to know about how the brain works. Educators and scientists need to cooperate so the educators know about brain science and scientist know about education
· Digital revolution – I won't go into all that Gardner mentions about the digital revolution but he specifically mentions the advent of social networking such as Twitter and the possibility of allowing students to use cell phones and other electronic devices in the classroom. Technology has changed the way we think about learning.
· Lifelong learners – people cannot go to school and then stop learning in today’s world. We must learn to think outside the box, to be flexible and learn beyond our disciplines.
The Five Minds for the Future are:
* The Disciplinary Mind: The goal of schools can no longer be the memorization of an assortment of facts. Students need to learn to think across many disciplines (historical, mathematic, artistic, scientific) and to become experts in one discipline. t
* The Synthesizing Mind: This is the ability to synthesize information has become more and more important. There is so much information available to students that is undigested and unevaluated. Students need to be able to synthesize the information that is available and communicate it to other.
The Creating Mind: This is the ability of a person to clarify new problems and come up with new solutions. The Creative Mind thinks outside the box and is not afraid to try new things and fail.
* The Respectful Mind is respectful of the differences among human beings. Diversity is a fact of life and we must go beyond mere tolerance to show our respect for others.
* The Ethical Mind demonstrates the ability to conceptualize oneself as a good worker and a good citizen. We must take our responsibilities in these two areas seriously.
So with this new book Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner goes beyond the cognitive realm and into the realm of getting along with other cultures and living up to our responsibilities to our community.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Part 2 - Reading Comprehension Strategies for ELLs: Asking Questions
Good readers are always asking themselves questions before reading, during reading and after reading. In this blog, I will discuss how to help English language learners learn to use this strategy. It's difficult for ELLs to ask questions about a topic for which they have no background knowledge.
Let's peek in Mrs. Mahoney's 6th grade social studies class and observe as she discusses the title of a nonfiction book about the Underground Railroad. Mrs. Mahoney modeled “I wonder” questions for the students. Maria, an English language learner in the class, wondered how a railroad could really be underground. It was apparent that she knew the meaning of the words “underground” and “railroad” but had a lot of difficulty with the concept. Through picture books and reading material on her reading level, Maria was able to participate in this discussion.
Hyung Jae, another ELL in Mrs. Mahoney’s class, read an entire book at home about the American Civil War in Korean. This background information gave him a springboard for asking questions. Although his language was still quite limited,he developed the schema that he needed to participate in the social studies lesson. The important point is that the ELLs in Mrs. Mahoney’s class were able to read about the topic on their own level or in their own language and ask questions that were on their English language levels. They were able to follow much of the class discussion and pose simple “I wonder” questions such as “Why is this family running away?” “Were the people afraid?” Also, they were able to participate because their teacher had made a point to teach her students about the ways to respond to “I wonder” statements. The teacher modeled these questioning strategies and Maria and Hyung-Jae were able to draw from her examples.
English language learners may not be able to ask questions about the author’s language or vocabulary in the same the way that proficient English native speakers do. However, they can begin to make a habit of questioning and this habit will improve their capacity for understanding and thus support their becoming more proficient readers of English text. It is important to emphasis with ELLs that they need to voice what they don’t understand and use reading strategies to figure out answers.
Here are some questions to help your ELLs get started.
• Ask students to predict what the story will be about based on the title and/or a picture on the cover. This is a strategy that can be used at all grade levels.
• Explain that a prediction is a guess. It doesn’t have to be correct. It just needs to make sense. Help students to become aware that their predictions might change as they read.
• Help ELLs identify “stopping places” in the text where they may have questions or should make predictions. Ask them to mark these places with sticky notes or write about them in their reading notebook. This will help ELLs to become better readers and supports their reading comprehension.
Let's peek in Mrs. Mahoney's 6th grade social studies class and observe as she discusses the title of a nonfiction book about the Underground Railroad. Mrs. Mahoney modeled “I wonder” questions for the students. Maria, an English language learner in the class, wondered how a railroad could really be underground. It was apparent that she knew the meaning of the words “underground” and “railroad” but had a lot of difficulty with the concept. Through picture books and reading material on her reading level, Maria was able to participate in this discussion.
Hyung Jae, another ELL in Mrs. Mahoney’s class, read an entire book at home about the American Civil War in Korean. This background information gave him a springboard for asking questions. Although his language was still quite limited,he developed the schema that he needed to participate in the social studies lesson. The important point is that the ELLs in Mrs. Mahoney’s class were able to read about the topic on their own level or in their own language and ask questions that were on their English language levels. They were able to follow much of the class discussion and pose simple “I wonder” questions such as “Why is this family running away?” “Were the people afraid?” Also, they were able to participate because their teacher had made a point to teach her students about the ways to respond to “I wonder” statements. The teacher modeled these questioning strategies and Maria and Hyung-Jae were able to draw from her examples.
English language learners may not be able to ask questions about the author’s language or vocabulary in the same the way that proficient English native speakers do. However, they can begin to make a habit of questioning and this habit will improve their capacity for understanding and thus support their becoming more proficient readers of English text. It is important to emphasis with ELLs that they need to voice what they don’t understand and use reading strategies to figure out answers.
Here are some questions to help your ELLs get started.
• Ask students to predict what the story will be about based on the title and/or a picture on the cover. This is a strategy that can be used at all grade levels.
• Explain that a prediction is a guess. It doesn’t have to be correct. It just needs to make sense. Help students to become aware that their predictions might change as they read.
• Help ELLs identify “stopping places” in the text where they may have questions or should make predictions. Ask them to mark these places with sticky notes or write about them in their reading notebook. This will help ELLs to become better readers and supports their reading comprehension.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Collaborative Teaching for ELLs: Are Two Teachers Better Than One?
Over the past few years collaborative or co-teaching has become more popular as school districts search for ways to best serve the needs of their English language learners. What is collaborative teaching? Does it work? In this blog I will try to explain how collaborative teaching works for English language learners.
In a collaborative or co-teaching setting, the ESL teacher "pushes into" the general education classroom to collaborate with the teacher. Collaborative teaching involves two credentialed professionals who are partners in the instruction of the lesson. One professional is usually a classroom or subject area teacher and the other is a certified ESL teacher. Ideally, co-teachers have equal responsibilities for planning instruction. Together the two teachers are lowering the student-teacher ratio and providing differentiated instruction in a manner that is not possible for one teacher.
Collaborative teachers are using the same physical space. Students are not pulled out of the classroom for one of the teachers to instruct. Although small heterogeneous groups may occasionally be pulled aside for reinforcement, I think that English language learners should not be isolated from mainstream students in the back of the classroom. In elementary schools, ESL teachers may come into the classroom for one instructional period each day.
Over the past few years collaborative teaching has become more popular as school districts search for ways to best serve the needs of their English language learners. If you ask ESL teachers who have tried co-teaching, you will hear both negative and positive responses.
Here is an example for a poor collaborative teaching situation. Paulo is a "push-in ESL teacher in a large school district in N.J. He teams with five different teachers each school day. He also teaches two classes of beginners in a pullout setting. Because of his work load, he is unable to plan lessons with his co-teachers. When Paulo goes into some classrooms, the teacher turns the students over to him and uses the time as a prep period. In others, he is helping a few ESL students at the back of the room while the classroom teacher works with the rest of the students. Usually, he serves as a classroom aide, roving around the room to help students who do not understand the instruction. He is not necessarily scheduled into a classroom when the students need him most. In one class, he comes in when kids are eating snack.
This is collaborative teaching at its worse. ESL professionals are not classroom aides. They should not be relegated to the back of the room with English language learners. What is the point of "push-in" ESL if students are kept on the fringes of the "real" instruction? Both teachers have a contribution to make. The classroom teacher contributes knowledge of the curriculum and of all the students in the class while the ESL teacher brings information about teaching strategies, second language acquisition and diverse cultures.
It is my experience that ESL teachers who are pushing into general education classrooms are generally more satisfied if they:
* have input into their schedule and whom they will be teaching with.
* co-teach specific subject and are in the classroom each time the subject is taught.
* have time to plan with the co-teacher
* enjoy equal status with the co-teacher.
* can discuss and decide their role and responsibilities in advance.
Here are some models that are used when co-teaching English language learners:
* Teach and write. One teacher teaches the lesson while the other records the important points on an overhead or chalkboard. ELLs benefit from this because information is being presented to them through different modalities. Station teaching. Students rotate through predetermined stations or activities. Each teachers works with all the students as they come through the station.
* Parallel teaching. The class is divided into two groups and each teacher delivers the content information to their group simultaneously. This allows teachers with distinctly different styles to work together.
* Alternative teaching. Teachers divide responsibility for planning. The majority of the students work in a large group setting but some students are pulled into to a smaller group for pre-teaching or other types of individualized instruction. The same students should not be pulled into the small group each time.
* Team Teaching. Teachers co-teach each lesson. This requires a great deal of planning and cooperation. Both teachers are responsible for all of the students.
* Lead and support. The lead teacher instructs the class while the supporting teacher provides assistance as she roams around the room. The supporting teacher may elaborate the important points or retell parts of the lesson. Ideally, classroom and ESL teachers should alternate roles so that one is not always the lead teacher. This type of instruction can be misused and the ESL teacher may find herself in a subordinate role.
There are many obvious benefits to co-teaching for students. ESL students have both academic and social benefits. They are exposed to the mainstream content but have the support of a second teacher. They are not pulled out of the class and learn with their classmates.
ESL teachers, however, cite many concerns. They do not want to lose ownership of their students be relegated to the status of an aide. They feel that collaboration is a lot of additional work especially if they are co-teaching with several different teachers. ESL teachers are concerned about beginners, who they feel do not really benefit from learning in the large group setting.
I think the benefits of collaboration outweigh the drawbacks. When teachers share the responsibility of instruction, lessons are more creative because two people are planning them. It's nice to have another adult in the room to be able to provide a range of support to students and to share those "ah-ha" moments.
In a collaborative or co-teaching setting, the ESL teacher "pushes into" the general education classroom to collaborate with the teacher. Collaborative teaching involves two credentialed professionals who are partners in the instruction of the lesson. One professional is usually a classroom or subject area teacher and the other is a certified ESL teacher. Ideally, co-teachers have equal responsibilities for planning instruction. Together the two teachers are lowering the student-teacher ratio and providing differentiated instruction in a manner that is not possible for one teacher.
Collaborative teachers are using the same physical space. Students are not pulled out of the classroom for one of the teachers to instruct. Although small heterogeneous groups may occasionally be pulled aside for reinforcement, I think that English language learners should not be isolated from mainstream students in the back of the classroom. In elementary schools, ESL teachers may come into the classroom for one instructional period each day.
Over the past few years collaborative teaching has become more popular as school districts search for ways to best serve the needs of their English language learners. If you ask ESL teachers who have tried co-teaching, you will hear both negative and positive responses.
Here is an example for a poor collaborative teaching situation. Paulo is a "push-in ESL teacher in a large school district in N.J. He teams with five different teachers each school day. He also teaches two classes of beginners in a pullout setting. Because of his work load, he is unable to plan lessons with his co-teachers. When Paulo goes into some classrooms, the teacher turns the students over to him and uses the time as a prep period. In others, he is helping a few ESL students at the back of the room while the classroom teacher works with the rest of the students. Usually, he serves as a classroom aide, roving around the room to help students who do not understand the instruction. He is not necessarily scheduled into a classroom when the students need him most. In one class, he comes in when kids are eating snack.
This is collaborative teaching at its worse. ESL professionals are not classroom aides. They should not be relegated to the back of the room with English language learners. What is the point of "push-in" ESL if students are kept on the fringes of the "real" instruction? Both teachers have a contribution to make. The classroom teacher contributes knowledge of the curriculum and of all the students in the class while the ESL teacher brings information about teaching strategies, second language acquisition and diverse cultures.
It is my experience that ESL teachers who are pushing into general education classrooms are generally more satisfied if they:
* have input into their schedule and whom they will be teaching with.
* co-teach specific subject and are in the classroom each time the subject is taught.
* have time to plan with the co-teacher
* enjoy equal status with the co-teacher.
* can discuss and decide their role and responsibilities in advance.
Here are some models that are used when co-teaching English language learners:
* Teach and write. One teacher teaches the lesson while the other records the important points on an overhead or chalkboard. ELLs benefit from this because information is being presented to them through different modalities. Station teaching. Students rotate through predetermined stations or activities. Each teachers works with all the students as they come through the station.
* Parallel teaching. The class is divided into two groups and each teacher delivers the content information to their group simultaneously. This allows teachers with distinctly different styles to work together.
* Alternative teaching. Teachers divide responsibility for planning. The majority of the students work in a large group setting but some students are pulled into to a smaller group for pre-teaching or other types of individualized instruction. The same students should not be pulled into the small group each time.
* Team Teaching. Teachers co-teach each lesson. This requires a great deal of planning and cooperation. Both teachers are responsible for all of the students.
* Lead and support. The lead teacher instructs the class while the supporting teacher provides assistance as she roams around the room. The supporting teacher may elaborate the important points or retell parts of the lesson. Ideally, classroom and ESL teachers should alternate roles so that one is not always the lead teacher. This type of instruction can be misused and the ESL teacher may find herself in a subordinate role.
There are many obvious benefits to co-teaching for students. ESL students have both academic and social benefits. They are exposed to the mainstream content but have the support of a second teacher. They are not pulled out of the class and learn with their classmates.
ESL teachers, however, cite many concerns. They do not want to lose ownership of their students be relegated to the status of an aide. They feel that collaboration is a lot of additional work especially if they are co-teaching with several different teachers. ESL teachers are concerned about beginners, who they feel do not really benefit from learning in the large group setting.
I think the benefits of collaboration outweigh the drawbacks. When teachers share the responsibility of instruction, lessons are more creative because two people are planning them. It's nice to have another adult in the room to be able to provide a range of support to students and to share those "ah-ha" moments.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
25 Quick Tips for Teaching ELLs
Do you want to create an effective learning environment for your English language learners? Pick five ideas that you have never tried from the list below and implement them in your content area or mainstream classroom. You will be surprised to see how much the learning of ELLs improves.
Before Teaching the Lesson
1. Determine the English language learning level of your ELLs. Be realistic about what you expect them to do.
2. Plan ahead. Think about how you will make the content comprehensible to your ELLs. Consider how will you link the content to the students’ previous knowledge.
3. Decide what concepts need to be pre-taught and how you can develop content area vocabulary.
4. Prepare teaching aids such as maps, charts, pictures, and flashcards before the lesson is taught.
5. Add vocabulary word banks to student activities.
6. Adapt text so that the concepts are paraphrased in easier English. Eliminate non-essential details.
7. Find non-fiction books in the library written at a lower level about the topic you are teaching.
During the Lesson
8. Build on what ELLs already know.
9. Simplify vocabulary and sentence structure. Pre-teach vocabulary in context.
10. Use embedded or yes/no questions; give ELLs questions you will ask in advance so that they can prepare.
11. Introduce concrete concepts and vocabulary first.
12. Teach students to categorize their information using graphic organizers. Create semantic and story maps.
13. Demonstrate highlighting techniques so that students can highlight important information.
14. Review and repeat important concepts and vocabulary.
15. Provide concrete “real” examples and experiences.
16. Teach ELLs to find definitions for key vocabulary in the text.
17. Help ELLs become acquainted with their textbooks (table of contents, glossary, index, etc.)
18. Model your thinking processes for students using “think-alouds”.
19. Tape record part of your lesson to reinforce learning.
After the lesson
20. Have classmates make copies of their notes for ELLs to use.
21. Have ELLs watch videos or listen to tapes about current lesson using close caption feature.
22. Provide follow-up activities that reinforce vocabulary and concepts.
23. Have students work in small groups or pairs so that language and concepts are reinforced.
24. Adjust homework assignment to your ELLs’ English language proficiency level.
25. Modify assessment so that your ELLs have an opportunity to show what they have learned.
Before Teaching the Lesson
1. Determine the English language learning level of your ELLs. Be realistic about what you expect them to do.
2. Plan ahead. Think about how you will make the content comprehensible to your ELLs. Consider how will you link the content to the students’ previous knowledge.
3. Decide what concepts need to be pre-taught and how you can develop content area vocabulary.
4. Prepare teaching aids such as maps, charts, pictures, and flashcards before the lesson is taught.
5. Add vocabulary word banks to student activities.
6. Adapt text so that the concepts are paraphrased in easier English. Eliminate non-essential details.
7. Find non-fiction books in the library written at a lower level about the topic you are teaching.
During the Lesson
8. Build on what ELLs already know.
9. Simplify vocabulary and sentence structure. Pre-teach vocabulary in context.
10. Use embedded or yes/no questions; give ELLs questions you will ask in advance so that they can prepare.
11. Introduce concrete concepts and vocabulary first.
12. Teach students to categorize their information using graphic organizers. Create semantic and story maps.
13. Demonstrate highlighting techniques so that students can highlight important information.
14. Review and repeat important concepts and vocabulary.
15. Provide concrete “real” examples and experiences.
16. Teach ELLs to find definitions for key vocabulary in the text.
17. Help ELLs become acquainted with their textbooks (table of contents, glossary, index, etc.)
18. Model your thinking processes for students using “think-alouds”.
19. Tape record part of your lesson to reinforce learning.
After the lesson
20. Have classmates make copies of their notes for ELLs to use.
21. Have ELLs watch videos or listen to tapes about current lesson using close caption feature.
22. Provide follow-up activities that reinforce vocabulary and concepts.
23. Have students work in small groups or pairs so that language and concepts are reinforced.
24. Adjust homework assignment to your ELLs’ English language proficiency level.
25. Modify assessment so that your ELLs have an opportunity to show what they have learned.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
K-5 Web Sites for English Language Learners
Attention all elementary ESL and classroom teachers! Do you want to discover great web sites for the English language learners in your class? Here is a painless way to give students English language practice in the classroom or at home. These sites are designed for ELLs in grades K-5.
Sites for Grades 1-2
• Starfall.com- Reading instruction and games for students in Pre-K-1. It's hard to believe this site is free.
• Reading is Fundamental. Look at the many stories for grades 2-6 students.
• Storyplace.org -a site with online stories and activities. Grades pre-K-Kindergarten.
• British Council Stories -This site has many stories that are read aloud. Check for spelling and pronunciation differences.
• Games on PBS Kids - Games for K-2. "WordPlay" can be used for students in grades 3-4.
• Arthur -Sequencing activity where students hear a story and put pictures in order.
• Storyline Online -A terrific site with stories read by actors from the ScreenActors' Guild. Grades 1-4.
• Reading-A-To-Z - This is a commercial site with free books that you can download and print. Grades 1-4.
• Raz-kids.com-Reading and listening activities for elementary age students. This is not a free website but is well worth the minimal cost.
• Tumblebook Library – This is a wonderful collection of online books that is well worth the cost. Prices are for schools, school districts or public libraries, not indiviiduals. Take the free trial to check it out.
• Berenstain Bears Games and Songs - Great activities for young children including word games, songs and puzzles. Grades K-1.
• Enchanted learning Printable books and information written for students in grades K-5.
• Continent song Good for students learning the names of the continents.
Sites for Grades 3-5
• Discover Science Simulations Science content from Houghton Mifflin Science Series. Gr. 2-5
• KidsKnowit Network - Learning videos for students is grades 3-6.
• Grammar Gorillas for Advanced Beginners in Grades 3-5
• Bookhive.com -This site has multicultural children's stories told by famous storytellers. Be sure to
• Postcards from Buster - See Buster�s adventures from various places in the U.S. Each city has video, audio, map skills and games. Grades 3-5.
• Scholastic - A program for kids to make flashcards. Grades 3-5
• Surfing the Net with Kids -Site with games and puzzles in different subject areas.
• Book Report - Students make a book report sandwich. Grades 4-5.
• Literactive This site has great oral stories and games for grades 1-12.
• Spelling Wizard - Use spelling words to make a word search or sentence scramble. Grades 3-5.
• Songs and Rhymes- Songs for students in all grades.
• Zoom - Games, activities and science experiments from the TV Show Zoom. Grades 4-5.
Sites for Grades 1-2
• Starfall.com- Reading instruction and games for students in Pre-K-1. It's hard to believe this site is free.
• Reading is Fundamental. Look at the many stories for grades 2-6 students.
• Storyplace.org -a site with online stories and activities. Grades pre-K-Kindergarten.
• British Council Stories -This site has many stories that are read aloud. Check for spelling and pronunciation differences.
• Games on PBS Kids - Games for K-2. "WordPlay" can be used for students in grades 3-4.
• Arthur -Sequencing activity where students hear a story and put pictures in order.
• Storyline Online -A terrific site with stories read by actors from the ScreenActors' Guild. Grades 1-4.
• Reading-A-To-Z - This is a commercial site with free books that you can download and print. Grades 1-4.
• Raz-kids.com-Reading and listening activities for elementary age students. This is not a free website but is well worth the minimal cost.
• Tumblebook Library – This is a wonderful collection of online books that is well worth the cost. Prices are for schools, school districts or public libraries, not indiviiduals. Take the free trial to check it out.
• Berenstain Bears Games and Songs - Great activities for young children including word games, songs and puzzles. Grades K-1.
• Enchanted learning Printable books and information written for students in grades K-5.
• Continent song Good for students learning the names of the continents.
Sites for Grades 3-5
• Discover Science Simulations Science content from Houghton Mifflin Science Series. Gr. 2-5
• KidsKnowit Network - Learning videos for students is grades 3-6.
• Grammar Gorillas for Advanced Beginners in Grades 3-5
• Bookhive.com -This site has multicultural children's stories told by famous storytellers. Be sure to
• Postcards from Buster - See Buster�s adventures from various places in the U.S. Each city has video, audio, map skills and games. Grades 3-5.
• Scholastic - A program for kids to make flashcards. Grades 3-5
• Surfing the Net with Kids -Site with games and puzzles in different subject areas.
• Book Report - Students make a book report sandwich. Grades 4-5.
• Literactive This site has great oral stories and games for grades 1-12.
• Spelling Wizard - Use spelling words to make a word search or sentence scramble. Grades 3-5.
• Songs and Rhymes- Songs for students in all grades.
• Zoom - Games, activities and science experiments from the TV Show Zoom. Grades 4-5.
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