Moving Beyond for Multilingual Learners: The Blog

Create mini anchor charts and display them on small hanging rings. I first saw this idea from  TikTok user @teachwithheath_ . I love how these look and also how easy it is have multiple tools ready for students! I'm thinking this would be great for each content area, for example, so that all of the math tools for that unit are available to students in one spot.  Check out my first round of design . Please go to File and Make a Copy so that you can tweak these to fit your needs! I included specific sentence stems/frames for collaboration. These are laid out so that each page has two of the same, so that you could print two tools at a time. The size is set to match the Party City frames (these were only $2.50 each, but I'm sure local dollar stores have something similar). I also had a workshop participant share this set from Amazon !  I used a 2-inch binder ring, but I wish I would have purchased smaller rings.  I love how they turned out! By making these language too...

 By providing scaffolds to students through use of intentional tools (such as stems, frames, or Word-Phrase-Sentence Banks ), we are helping students gain more access to their content learning! Check out these 7 ways to provide such tools to students.  1. Publicly Display the tool. Use a Smart Board, projector, or create anchor charts or posters with the tools. Keep these in a prominent space so that they are accessible to all students. If all students across a grade level are working on common vocabulary, for example, you may wish to use a grade level hallway for this! Get creative and use colorful table cloths from your local dollar store to create these. 2. Put the scaffolds on a ring. This is especially helpful for "I Need" cards or stems/frames to promote student interaction utilizing content-specific vocabulary.  3. Put the scaffolds on small cards and place them onto student desks or tables with contact paper. If you laminate them beforehand, you can simply remove ...

RESOURCE UPDATE! 8/4/2023:  Click here, secondary teachers:  I have added a new resource that is aimed towards high school audiences that shares the same ideas.    HELPING CLASSMATES HELP NEWCOMERS: Before They Start School I'm often asked about how to have conversations with students who are getting a newcomer student in the classroom, especially if this doesn't happen a lot in your community. Oftentimes, kids are eager to support each other and want to help, but they don't always know how. If you know your elementary class is going to have a newcomer student, here is a quick Google Slides Deck to share with your class.   This can serve as a starting point to help you guide discussions with students. You might also share this blog post & resource with a classroom teacher who is receiving a new student before the student starts. Please note that you can go to File, Make a Copy, and Edit this presentation to meet your needs. You may wish to include language f...