The Language & Learning Post

Weekly News, Tips and information for the classroom teacher of English Language Learners!
web sites & Tools
Apps, Apps, and more Apps! Here are three of my favorite teacher apps! Stick Pick--- this little app will let you add your list of
students and virtually create a can of popsicle sticks for you to draw from. It has question stems that are leveled by blooms
and sticks can be marked used or put back. Its great for making sure you dont always call on the same kido! Running Record
Calculator --- this one will record, time and gure out percentages when conducting a running record. You can then email it to
yourself or others (parents?? PST?? ) as record of reading behaviors. YES the recording will be included in the email!! Make My
Groups-- This app lets you put in your class list and will group kids in any group size you choose. It can be set to make
random groups or pairs, as well as by abilities and such!
Key Ideas--
Last week I gave ideas for supporting student
responses! I Hope some of you are trying sentence
stems and may even have created anchor charts. This
week I was reminded of how important it is for the
teacher to monitor those conversations. Its imperative
to drop in on their conversations. Dropping in allows us
to accomplish so much. We can evaluate their
understanding, support and direct their thinking, build
relationships with our students, show them that they are
more important than our emails, or grading (or any of
the 5 million other things that are on our plates) and the
list can go on and on. I know I fall into that trap all the
time. Ok they are talking, now I have two seconds to
respond to a teammate, check on how my own kid is
getting to baseball practice, fill out that paperwork for
the ESL teacher... etc. (Ok maybe I just told on my self a
little too much) Anywayyyy... you get the drift. I just
caught myself doing this this week with small groups and
when I had a chance to work with a whole class. So I
thought I might not be alone!
A Word about VOCABULARY...
When looking at new vocabulary it is important to identify, if possible from the
context or in the defition, the part of speech. When I know or can conclude that the
unknown word is a noun, for example, I now understand that this word names a
person, place or thing and my thinking is focused on that. If the word is a verb, I
can conclude that it is something that can be done. I never thought about how
useful this is until this past week when I came to the word cunning. I should have
pointed out that in the text, the cunning and strength of the working mans hand ,
cunning is describing the mans hand, thus it is an adjective. We could have
discussed how the line before used the word skill and a working man needs a
skilled hand to do his job well.
ELPS FOCUS For the week of 11/18 & 25 /13
Kinder
use vlsual and
conLexLual supporL
and supporL from
peers and Leachers
Lo read grade-
approprlaLe
conLenL area LexL,
enhance and
conrm
undersLandlng,
and develop
vocabulary, grasp
of language
sLrucLures, and
background
knowledge needed
Lo comprehend
lncreaslngly
challenglng
language.[4l]
FIrst
*se visual and
contextual support and
support from peers and
teachers to read grade-
appropriate content
area text, enhance and
confirm understanding,
and develop
vocabulary, grasp of
language structures,
and background
knowledge needed to
comprehend
increasingly challenging
language.[4F]
Second
*speak using a
variety of
grammatical
structures, sentence
lengths, sentence
types, and
connecting words
with increasing
accuracy and ease
as more English is
acquired.[3C],
develop basic sight
vocabulary, derive
meaning of
environmental print,
and comprehend
English vocabulary
and language
structures used
routinely in written
classroom materials.
[4C]
Third
*demonsLraLe
Lngllsh
comprehenslon
and expand
readlng skllls by
employlng
analyucal skllls
such as evaluaung
wrluen
lnformauon and
performlng
analyses
commensuraLe
wlLh conLenL-area
and grade level
needs 4k
Fourth
*uemonsLraLe
Lngllsh
comprehenslon
and expand
readlng skllls by
employlng baslc
readlng skllls
such as
demonsLraung
undersLandlng of
supporung ldeas
and deLalls...
commensuraLe
wlLh grade level
needs. 4l
Fifth
* demonsLraLe
Lngllsh
comprehenslon
and expand
readlng skllls by
employlng
analyucal skllls
such as
evaluaung
wrluen
lnformauon and
performlng
crlucal analysls
commensuraLe
wlLh conLenL-
area and grade
level needs. 4k
Sixth
* demonsLraLe
Lngllsh
comprehenslon
and expand
readlng skllls by
employlng baslc
readlng skllls such
as demonsLraung
undersLandlng of
supporung ldeas
and deLalls ln LexL
and graphlc
sources,
summarlzlng LexL
and dlsungulshlng
maln ldeas from
deLalls
commensuraLe
wlLh conLenL -area
needs. 4I
by, Alissa Tubbs
ESL Teacher
Lawrence
Just a thought....
As I have said befor, we teachers are professionals at
borrowing ideas from each other! I am always looking for
ways to group kids in the classroom. One fun idea, (totally not
mine to begin with) is Clock Partners. I made a clock with
instructions and will be putting it into the Lawrence Loves to
Share dropbox folder. If you have not already noticed this folder
invite in your email, check back and take a look.