One of the best instructional strategies for ELs is using lots and lots of pictures. I found these books at the Dollar Tree that included 100 vocabulary words with activities. Add in the cost of page protectors and three-pronged folders and the cost was less than $2 per book. I'm excited to use these books… Continue reading This Small Classroom: Dollar Store Vocabulary Activity Books
Tag: ESL
Online elementary ESL materials: games, print-outs, sight-word books, oh my!
Today I was searching for online activities for a certain student of mine and came across this wonderful resource: hubbardscupboard.org. Since I'm on the topic, I just wanted to list out a few very helpful and very free websites that I've used for elementary ESL. Hubbard's Cupboard has take home books (by topic and target… Continue reading Online elementary ESL materials: games, print-outs, sight-word books, oh my!
Plot Box
All this project takes is a box (a cereal box should work fine) and some paper. After reading a story, I give each student a part of the story that they are responsible for. The students draw a picture of that part of the story, and can add words if they want. Then, we put… Continue reading Plot Box
Kindergarten Lesson: Directionality in Reading and Writing
This is one of those lessons that make me want to keep a camera in my classroom so I can take a picture of the board at the end of the lesson. Let's just say it was covered in words, pictures, index cards, and little dot stickers (red and green). It was a very happy… Continue reading Kindergarten Lesson: Directionality in Reading and Writing
Teaching Adjectives: Post-it Notes
This was a fun, hands-on, run-around-the-classroom-'cause-it's-the-end-of-the-day activity that I did with my first grade class this year. We were working on adjectives and adjective ordering. I gave each of the students 5 post-it notes and told them to pick any 5 objects in the room and describe them using two words. Then, they could label… Continue reading Teaching Adjectives: Post-it Notes
This Small Classroom: Letter Cubes
This Thursday when I was at the Dollar Store, I came across these packages of foam cubes. They are 50 for $1. I got three and I think I'm going back for three more. There are so many good things these could be used for, but I really need letter tiles at this point for… Continue reading This Small Classroom: Letter Cubes
The ELL teacher home office… part one
(Part two is in the closet, (thank goodness for walk-in closets in the bedrooms!) which would be a little weird to post here.) Since I teach at three schools -- and don't have my own room at some of them -- it is better to do most prep work/store supplies at home.
This Small Classroom: Flashcard Books
The students I teach are Kindergarten and 1st grade. There is a wide range of reading ability between them. For the literacy center activity, I wanted to include books that emphasized vocabulary, but also had an option of stretching the student's reading skills. I had previously purchased First Word and Numbers flashcard from the Dollar… Continue reading This Small Classroom: Flashcard Books
This Small Classroom
I teach five classes a day. Some classes are really well behaved, others are not so much. During my planning time last Thursday, I sat in each chair of one class that was particularly hard to manage. In each chair, I tried to imagine that I was that student. At this point in the year,… Continue reading This Small Classroom
thoughts and songs 